Making in Bibb County is as we discussed earlier.

I think he was very well known.

One of the main things about Chief Smallwood being out in our community on all of those week nights when the community would see him.

It was all about life safety.

And when he was promoted to our fire prevention chief, that was one of his main goals was making sure that our community was safe, always in working fire marshal events from the Coliseum to the football games.

Every organization that I know of that put on any kind of event that had a large crowd.

Chief Smallwood was always the one that they reached out to and made sure that they had a proper number of fire marshals on site and made sure that they had everything they needed.

So that's why he was so well known in our community.

The other aspect about Chief Smallwood was he received numerous awards over the years.

We were in Atlanta a couple of years ago, where he even received an award from the governor uh up there for uh his service and his dedication and his commitment to fire prevention and keeping our community safe and making Bibb County as well as the state of Georgia.

And the last thing I can say about him is he was a true historian.

Uh he can tell you anything about the fire service.

We went to the uh for for many many years, I was fortunate enough to go to the Capitol for Firefighter Recognition Day.

And when I would be with Chief Smallwood in Macon, it was all about history of the Macon Bibb County Fire Department.

So we got to the Capitol one day for Firefighter Recognition Day, and then it turned into a history lesson of eight hours about the history of Georgia.

So uh I say Chief Smallwood is a true historian, not only to Macon Bibb County Fire Department, but even to the state of Georgia.

He has so much knowledge about everything and history.

Uh it's just he's truly been missed.

And this opportunity to to name our fire convention building and fire prevention bureau after him, which is the office that he served in for many, many years.

Uh actually, all the years I've been in the fire department, he was always in in that building.

It's just a true honor, and I truly appreciate Mayor, Commission, and Commissioner Wynne.

Thank you very much for bringing this to the table so that we can honor Chief Smallwood as we

should.

Thank

you, Chief.

We appreciate that.

Uh,

Mayor

Pro Tim Will.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Thank you, Chief.

Um, first I want to say

that

Chief Larry Smallwood was a good man.

You want to know that right off the bat for the family.

My husband told me to tell you that he knew your father, your husband, in high school.

We went to high school together.

He was a pretty good athlete, he said, and uh a good man.

And he also said that he also ran into him later as they were working, my husband worked for a company that built the Mercer Lofts, and that Chief Smallwood would be over there all the time.

I I'm sure it was checking out the business, right?

Okay, to see if everything was being built properly.

But my husband got to know him then.

He does like to talk a

lot,

uh, talk a lot about history of Macon and the fire department.

Very true.

Um, he was and it's already been kind of mentioned, but if you don't know him, you hadn't been around Macon very much, because he was everywhere.

He wasn't just a fireman for 44 years and worked his way up to the chief of fire safety.

He was a good man that did things right for the city of Macon.

The reason he was in so many places is he was not just talking to people, he was checking things out to make sure everything was in good shape.

Um, but you'd see him at the auditorium, you'd see him at the Coliseum, you'd see him at the Grand Opera House, you'd see him at graduations, you'd see him everywhere.

And every time I saw him, he greeted me with a hug, Kathy, if that's okay, uh, and and a smile, and he always had a few words to say.

But a very good man, and he did a lot for this community.

He didn't, he didn't the fire safety is so important here in our community.

But I like to say that he was just a good person.

He did a lot of things for Macon.

He's probably seen more concerts than any of us in this whole community and heard more music and seen more plays than anybody.

I think he was just um a person that you could talk to.