Excerpts from WANDtv.com:

A fallen firefighter’s children were honored on their first day of school.

Micah Wakeman died in a tractor accident on June 12. The 43-year-old spent a long career working for the Decatur Fire Department as a firefighter, leaving behind a wife and four children. 

On Wednesday, other firefighters gave two of them an escort to school.

People who knew Wakeman say he carried a strong presence in the Decatur community. DFD Firefighter Doug Neff previously told WAND-TV the man was “full of life” and “didn’t know a stranger”. Decatur school leaders echoed the sentiment.

“He helped us out a little bit with EMT training for the teachers several times,” said Mt. Pulaski Elementary School Principal Gene Newton. “He was in the office quite a bit. Anything we needed, he’d help out. He was very active in the local church that a lot of our kids are involved in, so all the kids knew him … he was just a very prominent person in the community.”