John F. Repp

1926 - 2022

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade staff writer

John F. Repp, a retired Toledo firefighter whose long service with the Toledo Firefighters Museum followed a full career of fighting fires and saving lives, died March 2 in his West Toledo home. He was 95.

He'd been in decline after a fall at home in October, said his daughter, Trilby Collins. Before that, he could be found most days at the museum, 918 W. Sylvania Ave., where he was curator.

"Whatever needs to be done, I do it," he told The Blade in 1997. Mr. Repp, who retired in 1981, said it was the late Clarence Blanchard, chief of the fire prevention bureau, who interested him in the museum. He took in memorabilia, tools, and apparatus donated or acquired by the museum and made sure those items were restored.

He also had an eye for creating displays to highlight the collection.

"The fire service is a passion,' said Toledo firefighter Jamie Ferguson, whom Mr. Repp regarded as a son.

"Anyone who's in this career, they do it because they love it. This was a segment of the fire service. It kept him involved," said Mr.
Ferguson, who is assigned Station No. 23 on Laskey Road, from which Mr. Repp retired, and is on the museum board.

Mr. Repp also worked with the late John Stecker in building the memorial alarm used to honor firefighters who have died. If the family of deceased firefighter requests the tribute, the memorial alarm, mounted on a trailer, is taken to a fire station where the firefighter had been assigned, Mr. Ferguson said. Firefighters stand at attention as the funeral procession passes.

Mr. Repp took part in more than 200 of the drive-by ceremonies.

"John would stand there and ring the bell every third vehicle that would go by," Mr. Ferguson said. "I've stood at many of them. It's our way to pay our last respects to the firefighter who passed."

He was in tune with every detail at the museum, even stopping by on Sundays to make sure the last one out on Saturday had turned off the lights. And so a 90th birthday celebration in May, 2016 at the museum proved a true surprise party.

"I never realized they pulled this off on me," Mr. Repp told The Blade then. He received a proclamation from the mayor's office, which noted his years of dedication, his dedication, and his depth of knowledge.

His daughter said: "He never felt that he should be recognized the way he'd been recognized. He was a very humble man. Very proud and very humble. He was my hero, absolutely my hero."

Mr. Repp had joined the fire department on May 1, 1953 and was on duty June 10, 1961 among the firefighters responding to what became known as the Anthony Wayne Trail Fire, in which a gasoline tank truck crashed, burned, and exploded. The inferno killed four firefighters and injured 71, firefighters and civilians included.

"'Our rescue squad was on the scene just before the explosion occurred,'' Mr. Repp told The Blade in 1997. "I missed the worst of it because Chief Ewald Bode sent me down the street to meet a pumper that was responding to a second alarm. I heard it from a half-block away. William Genson, one of the men who worked with me on the rescue squad, and Chief Bode both received fatal burns."

At the 50th anniversary, Mr. Repp said, "The chief who died - he told me to walk away. He saved my life."

Four years later, Mr. Repp received an award for heroism for his part in rescuing a man from a silo on Water Street.

'"The man was removing cement from the wall and it caved in on him," Mr. Repp said in 1997. "'When we got there, he was up to his shoulders in cement dust. We had to build special shoring around him to prevent further cave-ins, and send firemen down one at a time. The rescue took several hours, but we brought him out alive."

He was born May 21, 1926, to Caroline and Dale Repp and was a 1944 graduate of DeVilbiss High School. He served in the Army Air Corps as a flight engineer and a crew chief aboard a B-17. His duty was to rescue any fliers who went into the Pacific Ocean. He was recalled to service in the Korean War and served stateside. In 2011, he took an Honor Flight to Washington.

"John was just the coolest guy ever," said Mr. Ferguson, who became a Toledo firefighter in 1998. "I never saw John as an older person. We became friends. We laughed at the same stuff. He was a constantly entertaining guy."

Surviving are his wife, the former Jean Snyder, whom he married in August, 1999; son, John Repp, Jr.; daughter, Trilby Collins; stepsons, Randy Snyder and Mark and Jeff Anderson; a granddaughter, a great-grandson, and six step-grandchildren.

At Mr. Repp's request, his body was donated to the University of Toledo Health Science Campus, the former Medical College of Ohio. The family is planning a celebration of life event. Arrangements are by the Bersticker-Scott Funeral Home.

The family suggests tributes to the Toledo Firefighters Museum or Hospice of Northwest Ohio.