John McKeldrey served as the Graham County Ranger with the N.C. Forest Service for 31 years, from 1953-84.
Christy Clayton – Forest Management Clerk at District 9 headquarters in Sylva – was instrumental in providing information for this story. According to information she helped gather, only one other person is listed as having worked for the N.C. Forest Service in Graham County before John, and that was Wayne Ayers.
I first became acquainted with John in 1967. Hoot Gibbs and I had started working for the U.S. Forest Service that year, he in April and I in July. That fall, someone set a fire on Old Roughy around midnight. This was long before a road was constructed to the top of this mountain. The only way to get to the top was to start climbing from U.S. 129.
Hoot and I were young then and could go through the woods at a fast pace, even uphill. We were sure that we would be the first ones to the top. Much to our surprise long before we got to the top, we met John coming down the mountain building fire line as he came, without a light. From that moment on, I had a lot of respect and admiration for John. This was the first of many fires I would be on with John, until his retirement in 1984.
John did not have a ranger station to work from,, but used his home and stored firefighting tools in the basement. When district personnel from Sylva came to see John, his wife Flossie provided delicious, home-cooked meals for them. This likely brought about more visits to Graham County.
The first firefighters I remember John having were Marvin Satterfield and Cecil Orr. John determined when it was dry enough for the woods to burn by how easily a handful of leaves would crumble. John somehow managed to already be on a fire when we U.S. Forest Service folks arrived. I agreed with his rapid response for initial attack on a fire.
Harold Phillips worked with John for nine years as a smoke chaser – before becoming the next Graham County Ranger in 1985 – and later had Bill Myers as an Assistant Ranger.
Harold recalled some incidents while on fires with John. On one fire – which had started burning some brush – John approached the man who had let the fire escape. The man kept ignoring John and walking off. John told Harold to get his ticket book and he would “get that bird’s attention.”
On another fire – which was burning near an abandoned home, with a lot of rubbish piled around – John told Harold that he believed the fire was near the home as he could smell rubbish burning. Harold looked and saw a small wisp of smoke rising from John’s hat where a live ember had landed.
John also helped in the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl programs for school children. He could sound just like an owl hooting which delighted the children.
The photo accompanying this column is of a painting by Rhonda Cutshaw with John’s arm patch, badge and nameplate attached. It is displayed at the Graham County Headquarters, as a memorial to John.
John has been gone since 1994. Yet still on dry, windy days – with a scent of smoke in the air – I recall that in times past, I would be climbing a burning mountainside and would meet John McKeldrey coming down the hill, building fire line.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the Graham County Rescue Squad. Email him at mcclungs@email.com.