CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – When you work in a fire department, the bonds built here are close to family, and that is why losing Jeremy Compton will be something the Christiansburg Fire Department and community feel for a long time.
“If you didn’t know he was sick you would’ve never known he was sick because he just never let that get him down,” Brandon Turner said, captain with the Christiansburg Fire Department and longtime friend to Jeremy.
Jeremy Compton’s dream was to be a firefighter and he got to live out that dream, until he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2023.
“It’s tough, but you don’t want to see him suffer,” said Turner. “He was at peace with what was handed to him.”
The 35-year-old husband and father had his first bout with cancer in 2020, and after winning that round and getting back in the fire truck, the cancer came back until he passed on May 30.
Now, an entire community is in mourning.
“I think right now we knew what was coming, but it’s still not easy,” Turner said.
I talked to some members of the Christiansburg Fire Department who knew Jeremy for years and they told me they want to remember who Jeremy was—a man with a positive, go-getter attitude that wanted everybody to smile.
They said even in the worst of days, Jeremy still cared about the people around him first.
“He was a fighter, and it didn’t matter what he was going through or how bad he was feeling, if he saw you, he wanted to know about you,” said Forest Redd, deputy chief and childhood friend of Jeremy’s.
They said even though Jeremy is gone, the Compton family will always be a part of the Christiansburg Fire and EMS family.
The family will have a funeral for Jeremy on Wednesday, June 5, and then there will be a memorial benefit ride in Christiansburg on June 8.
You can find Jeremy’s obituary here.