After having rushed to countless scenes to help people in the snares of tragedy, two Toledo-area residents became victims.
Charlie Adair, 45, and Ron Lumbrezer, 64, were both struck by cars and killed last year.
Adair, a volunteer firefighter, had stopped to assist crews in a car crash Oct. 28 when a passing vehicle struck her.
Lumbrezer was hit Jan. 11, 2011 while he was crossing the road in front of his house.
Lumbrezer’s son, R.J., and Adair’s husband, Craig, planned a community track meet April 29 at Holy Trinity School. Tickets are $5, or 5 for $20, for a full day of dashes, runs, relays and mother/daughter and father/son competitions. There will be tug of war, baseball
throwing and hitting competitions, a corn hole tournament and a foul shooting contest.
Various fire departments will also play a tug of war for donations to their department and the Charlie Adair and Ron Lumbrezer Memorial Fund.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department will attend to fingerprint kids and the North Star BHP Steel company will discuss safety and demonstrate to children the differences between candy and medicine.
“It’s not just a track meet,” Craig Adair said. “It’s more a family get-together and have fun day and that’s what she would always want to do.”
Following Adair’s love for children and involvement with the Holy Trinity, the memorial fund will be split up among scholarships for students and teachers.
Present or future students who need financial help to attend the school will be eligible for scholarships from 75 percent of the memorial fund. The other 25 percent will go toward a teacher’s assistance fund, R.J. Lumbrezer said.
Adair taught sixth grade, coached volleyball and helped struggling kids get through their homework in tutoring sessions. She had started talking about wanting to become a volunteer firefighter in 2001.
Always known for getting things done, Adair made it happen a few years later. She was a volunteer firefighter for about six years, Craig said.
“If there was more of her in the world it would be a lot better place,” he said.
Lumbrezer also had a history of serving. He was in the National Guard and also the Metamora Fire Department years ago. He then worked in the insurance business for more than 40 years, starting with Prudential and later owning and operating Lumbrezer-Malone Insurance Agency until 2008.
He served musical tastes too. Lumbrezer played guitar in his band Sound Garden for 25 years. The group played covers of many genres, including country, pop
and rock, for weddings and other formal events. They also played for square dancers.
R.J. said the funeral was packed, with a two-and-a-half-hour wait to see the casket.
“He was very well-liked,” he said. “He was very good with people and it didn’t matter who you are, Dad could identify with you regardless of social differences on any end of the scale.”
