Gavin McMenama was having a bad day at his job just before Christmas when he checked his mail and discovered a thick package from the Lexington Fire Department.
This wasn’t the type of package he was accustomed to seeing. After receiving rejection paperwork 13 times from the fire department, he was all too familiar with that sort of letter.
That 2001 package he received, which instantly turned around a rough day, was his golden ticket to a job he had coveted since he was 9 years old. Gavin McMenama, born and raised in Lexington, had finally been accepted into the Lexington Fire Department.
McMenama’s determination — rare then and now — to be a Lexington firefighter despite rejection 13 of 14 times offers a lesson about never giving up as he’s pursuing a promotion to lieutenant nearly 17 years later.