Lauderdale County Fire Service Coordinator Allan Dover, left, and Toomsuba VFD Chief Billy Stuckey attended the ceremony Tuesday along with other members of the Toomsuba VFD and family of Larry Gressett Sr.

    The name of a fallen Lauderdale County volunteer firefighter has been added to the Memorial Wall for Fallen Firefighters at the Mississippi State Fire Academy in Pearl.

    The name of Larry Gressett Sr., (Alamucha 6), was added to the memorial during a ceremony Tuesday morning along with the names of three other state firefighters who died in the last 24 months. Gressett’s children, Larry Gressett Jr., 5, and Waylon Gressett, 4, were on hand at the ceremony along with Gressett’s fiancee, Jackie Vargas. Also looking on were members of the Toomsuba Volunteer Fire Department and Lauderdale County Fire Service Coordinator Allan Dover.

    Vargas says the ceremony was a short but sweet event.

    “They had a couple of speakers and the bagpiper played “Amazing Grace,” says Vargas. “It was all very nice.”

    Gressett drowned on Feb. 17 when he jumped in a pond on Sam Hurt Road in Toomsuba to try and save Odell Presswood. Presswood died in the incident.

    The other three firefighters were Charles Foster of the Barton VFD, Jacob Anthony Carter of Becker/Athens VFD, and Joshua Wilkes of Unity VFD.

    Recently, Gressett’s children were honored by the Military Order of the Purple Heart with a memorial plaque at the Toomsuba Fire Station.