SHELL ROCK - He tracks his years of service by counting fire trucks and reviewing advances in firefighting equipment.

Tom Hardy joined the Shell Rock Fire Department in 1958. He remembers when volunteers relied on vehicles borrowed from the hardware store and stock tanks to carry water, and he recalls firefighters building or improving their machines using ingenuity and spare parts.

Hardy turns 70 this year and is likely Shell Rock's longest-serving fireman. He continues answering the call because of a love of firefighting and a sense of community.

"This here is all volunteer work," Hardy said. "We didn't get rich off this."

Hardy's duties and the department's equipment and tools evolved over the decades, yielding to innovations, regulations and, in his case, age. While acknowledging a few changes, Hardy is still drawn to the task.

"I just don't move as fast now as I did then," he said.

Fire Chief Dwayne Sessler said his veteran is dependable and dedicated, willing to take on more routine jobs younger firefighters may try to avoid.

"He's always there when you need him, and he does a lot of behind-the-scenes work," Sessler said.

Recent shoulder surgery keeps Hardy closer to the station these days. The retired handyman contributes by filling air packs, driving and maintaining trucks and manning the station during emergencies.

Bob Kimball, who put in 29 years as a Shell Rock firefighter, remembers Hardy as a jack of all trades when it came to plumbing, electrical work and general maintenance.

"He was what they called a handyman's handyman," Kimball said.

Hardy's contributions and experiences influenced two of his sons to join volunteer fire departments in their communities. Roy Hardy joined the Waverly Fire Department in 2003. Joel Hardy joined the Clarksville Fire Department in 1999.

Tom Hardy took his boys with him on calls from time to time as an attempt to deter them from playing with matches.

"This kind of was a family tradition, I guess," Joel said. "I pretty much grew up at the fire station."

But as a firefighter, Tom Hardy also responded to car accidents and drownings and was a storm spotter.

"Every call was different so you know when the whistle blows you go and get the job done … ," he said.

Hardy, a native of Clarksville, follows in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, who also served as firefighters. A brother and uncles were firefighters, too. And now some of his grandchildren want to don the helmets and coats.

Hardy attributes his own interest to a boyhood habit of watching volunteers race off to calls.

"Whenever the fire whistles would blow, I'd always be there to watch the trucks leave," he said.

For Hardy, the pastime has yet to get old.

"Lots of good people have come and gone. I was just one of them who stayed the longest."

Contact Karen Heinselman

at (319) 291-1581 or

karen.heinselman@wcfcourier.com.