6/21/2008 – GEORGETOWN, Del. – Large crowds turned out to pay their respects for a Sussex County paramedic. The funeral for Stephanie Callaway was held in Georgetown on Saturday.
She was killed Tuesday morning in an ambulance crash. The ambulance crashed on Route 24 because the driver was trying to avoid hitting a deer.
Callaway is the first Sussex County EMS employee killed in the line of duty. More than 100 fire, police and ambulance departments across the state participated in the procession. There were departments as far north as Boston and as far south as North Carolina, all wanting to pay their respects.
Calloway’s viewing was at Delmarva Christian High School and the funeral at Delaware Technical and Community College Owens Campus.
Those who knew her say is hard saying goodbye.
”Right now, I’m still very numb, it’s still hard to believe that she’s gone, of all people, she’s not somebody we wanted to lose,” said Tammi Brode, former Ambulance Captain for the Harrington Fire Department.
Brode says she’s known Callaway for eight years – her nickname for Callaway was ”giggle-medic.” She described her as an extremely dedicated paramedic.
”God took home his angel, that’s exactly who she was, she was an angel to us down here, now she’s an angel up above, looking down on us and her boys,” Brode said.
Callaway’s paramedic number 1357 is being retired. At the end of the procession, Sussex County EMS Headquarters, the EOC Callboard and Station 77 issued a ”last alarm” for her. She leaves behind a husband and two young boys.
Callaway was not the only victim in the crash, it also killed the patient inside, 82-year-old Betty Jane Hall. Hall’s funeral was also held Saturday.
The Daily Times
Photos by Brian Slattery
