Patti Kidwell and President Paul J. Demasky, Jr.

Patti Kidwell began her dedicated fire service involvement back in October 1974 with the Bel Alton VFD Ladies Auxiliary.  She is a Life Member of the Maryland City Auxiliary and was an extremely active member.  She served as Auxiliary President for 15-years.  She served as Historian on the fire department side and updated many years of material that was left undone.  She wrote the company history that was included in the MSFA Centennial Book.  While a member there, she started as a regular attendee of the Association meetings.  She joined the Odenton Ladies Auxiliary in 2001 and continued her attendance to the Association meetings (Chuck Rogers gave her the nickname of Miss Daisy because they drive her to the majority of the meetings).  Patti has served as an officer in the Odenton Ladies Auxiliary and continues to serve on several committees most notably chairing the Craft and Vendor Shows.  She assists the fire company side by working every night at the front soda stand during carnival.  She has been banquet greeter for over 10-years and serves as the Publicity Rep at Odenton getting the events in the local media and special recognitions.  Last fall, she read over 50-years of minutes and banquet programs to compile a history for the fire company of the names of each administrative and operational officer from 1931 to present.  Patti is most appreciated for taking the minutes at the Association meetings for Odenton to report back at their monthly meetings and maintain same as an official record (a job Sunny Rose passed on to her years ago).  She served as President of the Anne Arundel County Ladies Auxiliary from 1991-1992 and is presently serving as Secretary and is Chairperson of two committees.  Patti chaired the 75^th Anniversary committee for the Ladies Auxiliary in May 2013 and spent countless hours compiling historical information for the program.  She suggested the Ladies Hall of Fame committee be established in early 1994 and has served on that committee since its inception.  She developed the concept for the Buddy Bear program that provided a small teddy bear to children who were transported by county ambulances and paramedic units.  She was inducted in the AA Co. VFA LA Hall of Fame in March 1994.  She was one of three Past Presidents who had the Ladies Auxiliary portion of the 2010 Convention Book dedicated to them.  She is Secretary-Treasurer of the AA Co. VFA LA Past President’s Club and has served continuously since April 2007 .  On the Association side, she served as Secretary to the Hall of Fame committee for over 5-years.  This involvement started when Sunny Rose was named Chairperson.  During this time, Patti researched information for over 50 members who were in the Hall of Fame but had no write-ups on them as they were committee picked.  This was a very involved process but the end result was very impressive and showed the dedication and commitment of all those inducted.  For the past 2-years, Patti has chaired the Convention Book committee.  In both years she has researched information to add to the book to include a bio of each Past President on both sides, members who have over 50-years of service, where the conventions have been held since the very first one, and three or more generations of family fire service.  Countless hours were spent on these efforts.  She is Co-Chairman of the Public Relations committee.  She also compiled a historical information book of data that was in previous Convention Books that should be retained in a permanent file for reference.   She was inducted in the Ladies Auxiliary to the Maryland State Firemen’s Association Hall of Fame in June 2011 and serves on three committees for the State Auxiliary.  Patti doesn’t do all this for recognition she just wants to do her share.