"The most important thing to me is being part of the community as a firefighter and having kids be part of the fire department on our volunteer program."

"I left Taos in the 1960's but returned because my roots are here and it is a very beautiful place and the funniest thing is that I never thought I would be a firefighter."

"My most difficult time was when I came back from Vietnam and the local people made it hard for me because I was a veteran. They didn't believe that the Vietnam War was really a war."