PARKSLEY — Hundreds of Eastern Shore of Virginia residents from all walks of life gathered Friday to mourn 30-year-old Bloxom Volunteer Fire Company Rescue Lieutenant David R. Chew Jr., who lost his life in the line of duty Monday when the fire truck in which he was a passenger crashed in Nelsonia as it was responding to an accident.
Members of fire and rescue departments from Accomack and Northampton counties as well as Virginia Beach, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut came to pay their respects to Chew as scores of uniformed personnel lined the perimeter of the Metompkin Elementary School auditorium where funeral services with full firefighter honors were conducted at 1 p.m.
Chew — known to his friends as “Chewy” — was a husband and the father of a 3-year-old son. He worked full-time as an EMT provider with Northampton County Department of Emergency Medical Services and also was a United Methodist pastor.
He formerly served the Greenbackville charge and had just become pastor of Hallwood United Methodist Church. He also was active with Boy Scout Troop 300 of Parksley, had achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and was active in the Chrysalis and Emmaus communities and at Camp Occohannock on the Bay.
“David gave up his life for the sake of service of others...Thanks be to God for this big guy with a tender heart named Chewy,” said the Rev. Tammy Estep, District Supervisor of the United Methodist Church Eastern Shore District.
Estep said Chew, although young, often talked to his wife Becky about what he wanted included in his funeral service.
“He knew his work was risky business,” she said.
The Rev. Alex Joyner said like many in the community he struggled this week with Chew’s untimely death, but said Chew himself “was an EMT because things don’t happen the way they are supposed to happen.”
“I saw him touch lives young and old,” said Joyner, who got to know Chew through the United Methodist licensing process for local pastors and through Emmaus.
“David left us in full flower — he was at the start of so many things — of fatherhood, of a new ministry...In the end, all we have is trust that God will pick up all the loose strands of our life and weave them into something glorious,” he said.
Members of fire and rescue departments from Accomack and Northampton counties as well as Virginia Beach, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut came to pay their respects to Chew as scores of uniformed personnel lined the perimeter of the Metompkin Elementary School auditorium where funeral services with full firefighter honors were conducted at 1 p.m.
Chew — known to his friends as “Chewy” — was a husband and the father of a 3-year-old son. He worked full-time as an EMT provider with Northampton County Department of Emergency Medical Services and also was a United Methodist pastor.
He formerly served the Greenbackville charge and had just become pastor of Hallwood United Methodist Church. He also was active with Boy Scout Troop 300 of Parksley, had achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and was active in the Chrysalis and Emmaus communities and at Camp Occohannock on the Bay.
“David gave up his life for the sake of service of others...Thanks be to God for this big guy with a tender heart named Chewy,” said the Rev. Tammy Estep, District Supervisor of the United Methodist Church Eastern Shore District.
Estep said Chew, although young, often talked to his wife Becky about what he wanted included in his funeral service.
“He knew his work was risky business,” she said.
The Rev. Alex Joyner said like many in the community he struggled this week with Chew’s untimely death, but said Chew himself “was an EMT because things don’t happen the way they are supposed to happen.”
“I saw him touch lives young and old,” said Joyner, who got to know Chew through the United Methodist licensing process for local pastors and through Emmaus.
“David left us in full flower — he was at the start of so many things — of fatherhood, of a new ministry...In the end, all we have is trust that God will pick up all the loose strands of our life and weave them into something glorious,” he said.
