Long-time Woodstock firefighter George Brown, whose death earlier this month is being lamented statewide, was honored on Friday with the ordering of all U.S. and state flags lowered to half-staff.
Brown, who died on July 21 at the age of 73, was a past chief and lifetime member of the Muddy Brook Fire Department, as well as a U.S. Army veteran, nurse and active attendee of local veterans’ coffeehouse meetings.
Muddy Brook Fire Chief Jared Morse said Brown, who he met in 1984, was still responding to calls right up until the hours before his death. He said Brown ran the department’s engine truck, used to pump water at fire scenes.
“His last call was for a water-flow fire alarm,” Morse said. “He was down at the station in case we needed that engine truck and stayed there until the call was cleared.”