Meet Carl Friend, one of our volunteer firefighters. Carl was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked for State Farm Insurance and was transferred to a regional office in Griffith, Indiana - just outside of Chicago in 1978. According to Carl, it was really cold and one year it reached 80 degrees below zero with the wind chill! After 4 years in Indiana, Carl was again promoted and transferred to Marshall, Michigan - about 20 minutes from Battle Creek - where he remained for 8 years.
Another promotion and a transfer brought Carl to the State Farm Regional office in Birmingham. He and his wife, Sue, started looking for lake property and visited several lakes in Alabama. Sue heard about Willow Point and they rented a condo there for a week. That's when they knew that Lake Martin was the place to be. They bought a cabin on Pace's Peninsula about 7 years ago and have spent the past couple of years converting it to a beautiful home. Carl retired from State Farm in October, 1999, and he and Sue moved here permanently.
Carl first became involved with the fire department a few years ago. He noticed a bunch of guys working on Station 2 one Saturday morning and he stopped to help. After moving here full time, a neighbor who is a firefighter suggested that Carl become a volunteer. Since most of the volunteer firefighters work during the week, it's comforting to know that a few folks, like Carl, are around to handle emergencies on weekdays.
According to Carl, he's a janitor, a mechanic, and a driver. He's done maintenance on several of the engines, and he's constantly cleaning up around the station! Carl attends practice on Monday evenings and he's been on several rescue and fire calls. However, he says that what he enjoys most are the people.
Carl and Sue have a daughter, Kelly, who lives in Auburn and a grandson, Sam. Like any young boy, Sam thinks the fire station is a pretty great place to be. On weekends, if there's any activity at the station, you will probably find Carl and Sam there!
