OVERISEL TOWNSHIP, Mich. — As a rainstorm rolled over the Overisel Township Fire Department, a family with firefighting in their bones shared stories about their late mother and sister, Gail VanAuken, killed in the line of duty.
“She was the trickster of all of us,” said Carole Chisholm, one of VanAuken’s sisters.
“Probably Gail up there, saying, ‘Hey, let’s get this party started,’” said sister MaryJo Damveld, joking about the distant thunder.
In the early hours of the morning on November 2, 2000, Gail VanAuken, a 41-year-old teacher’s aide and firefighter with the Overisel Township Fire Department died in a crash while driving to a turkey barn fire.
Her husband Rick, also a firefighter, was involved in the crash, too, and survived.
“Our lives changed instantly that night we lost her,” said Michelle Green, VanAuken’s daughter. “My mom truly was a hero.”
More than two decades after her death, the family and Allegan County firefighting community still remembers VanAuken’s silly, yet service-minded personality.
On Thursday, the Overisel Township Fire Department revealed a memorial bell mounted on a new engine with VanAuken’s name inscribed on the front, along with the department motto she coined: “Of the community, for the community.”
“Gail gave the ultimate sacrifice,” said Overisel Township Fire Chief Josh Kooienga, who spoke at the evening event. “But for the family, it was still a big sacrifice for them.”
Over the course of several years, Green and her sister and aunts pooled their money together and brainstormed how to honor their mother and sister. Together with the department, they settled on the bell.
“I can’t think of a better story to share with the world,” Green said. “You’re keeping who they were alive, everything she lived for.”
During a hamburger cookout with the department, Allegan County Central Dispatch broadcasted an open page, ending the memorial message by saying, “Rest easy on your rock, Gail. We’ve got it from here.”
“We grew up with that service mindset, Green said. “She was a pillar of this community.“
