Meet Your Ohio Good Sam Directors

Born and raised in Zanesville, Ohio, Larry joined the Newton Township Volunteer Fire Department (NTFD) as a young pup and continues to serve as Deputy Chief as an actively licensed FF/Medic who still makes runs.  He was recognized for 45 years of service in January 2022.  He started working right out of high school and was employed at NCR in Cambridge until they closed that location down.  He was hired as a firefighter/medic at Franklin Twp. FD in January 1991 working 3-unit.  The last 10 years was spent in Fire Prevention and Arson Investigation and he retired in January 2016.  He was also an auxiliary deputy sheriff for 16 years with the Muskingum County Sheriff's Department. 

Meanwhile, in Canada…  Bridget was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  Bridget joined the Volunteer Program at the Civic Hospital as a Candy Striper at the age of 15 and worked as a cashier until nursing school.  She became a registered nurse in 1978.  She attended a Job Fair held in Toronto and was recruited by Bethesda Hospital, Zanesville, Ohio.  She moved to Zanesville in June 1979 and began working in the ER as a staff nurse.  She retired after 38 years working in the ER including Bethesda, Genesis HCS, SEO Medical Center, Mount Carmel West, and Fairfield Medical Center.         

We met in August 1979 (shortly after Bridget moved to Ohio) when we both volunteered to work the First Aid Stand at the Muskingum County Fair.  We started dating and I moved to Newton Township and joined NTFD.  I got my basic firefighter and EMT and eventually my medic license.  We got married November 7, 1981 and bought our first home.  We got our first dog, a Dalmatian named Flame and Charlie Cat.  We made fire and squad runs together.  We joined the Good Sam Camping Club Chapter 24 Seneca Sams and began camping along with Sue (his sister) and Mike Demp and his mom and dad, Wayne "Pops" and Helen Geiger.  (For those of you who have been with the Good Sam Camping Club for a long time, Mike and Sue are Past State Directors.)  We continued to camp after our first son was born in 1986 and we attended the 1986 International Rally in Springfield, OH.  We had to take turns on who went on the fire/squad runs.  Once our second son arrived and Larry started fulltime with Franklin FD, we had to drop out of the camping club.  

Once retirement was on the horizon, we rejoined Chapter 24 in the fall of 2015 and started camping again and haven't stopped since.  We began to spend our winters in Clermont, FL.  We are enjoying life and have been richly blessed.  We are looking forward to getting know many more of you as State Directors.