Philadelphia firefighter Joyce Craig gave the ultimate sacrifice — her life — in helping save others from a house fire in West Oak Lane in December 2014, becoming the city’s first female firefighter to die in the line of duty.
That is why getting a headstone for her grave took 3½ years.
“We didn’t want to put just any headstone there,” said Lisa Forrest, a captain in the Fire Department and president of Club Valiants, an association for black firefighters, paramedics, and emergency medical technicians. “We wanted to really memorialize her.”
So it has. At a ceremony featuring a violinist and singer, and attended by about 70 of Craig’s relatives, friends, and fellow firefighters — including Fire Commissioner Adam Thiel — a headstone was unveiled Saturday morning at Craig’s grave at Ivy Hill Cemetery and Crematory in East Mount Airy.