Bob Redfern, by anyone’s standard, was a hero. And a friend.
Redfern was a Galesburg Firefighter for 25 years, and he was a part time employee of Bruner, Cooper, and Zuck for 48 years doing land surveying.
He did woodworking, loved the Saint Louis Cardinals, and the Chicago Bears.
Redfern was loved by anyone he met, and when WGIL talked to him in June at a birthday party thrown by the Galesburg Fire Department, he knew his, then, nearly 100 years on this earth were nothing to sneeze at.
“It’s been a great life, I tell you,” said Redfern. “Every day you just think, ‘Well, this might be my last day,’ but I’m here today. (The Galesburg Fire Department was) a great bunch of people to work for.”
Indeed, that last day has come. Bob Redfern died last Saturday, according to an obituary, having crossed that century mark.
During his GFD birthday party in June, many paid tribute to Redfern. That included Galesburg Firefighters Association president Joe Brignall, who’s heard plenty about Bob over the years.
“Some of the firefighters that he worked with nicknamed him ‘Bobby Clean Clothes,” said Brignall. “His uniform looked pristine, regardless of whether he just came out of a fire, or when he was hanging out at the station. It sounded like everyone else came out of a fire covered in soot, and dirt, and everything else, and Bob would be just as clean as ever.”
Brignall also said in June Bob Redfern also kept the fire trucks, mostly at the former Brooks Street Station the same way, just as clean as could be.
A memorial visitation for Bob Redfern will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Watson Thomas Funeral Home in Galesburg. He’s survived by a son, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, among others.
