'A spark in her': Clayton firefighter headed to West Point

CLAYTON — Reaghan King aims to become a U.S. Army officer.

The 18-year-old Smyrna High School graduate will take a significant step toward that goal when she heads to the U.S. Military Academy/West Point this fall.

The mission isn’t just fueled by her own strength, though.

Ms. King said the spirits of three others no longer living are pushing her ahead.

Her father, Jim King, died this year, and her fellow Clayton Fire Co. member Ron Augustine and former Chief John Pridemore passed away in 2022.

Ms. King, an associate member of the fire company, was extremely close to all three.

“If they were all here, they would say, ‘Go do this. Go make your family proud. Go make us proud.’ So, that’s a great reason for me — to just go do it for them.”

There’s a fiscal assist, as well, since Ms. King recently received a $1,000 scholarship from Mr. Augustine’s widow, Katy Augustine, who said the funding is in good hands.

Ms. King has “three very strong angels looking over her,” she added.

Recounting the relationship between Ms. King and her husband, Ms. Augustine said, “We have no grandchild and along comes Reaghan with the same burning desire (he had) to be a firefighter. He saw this spark in her, and every day, he’d just come home and say, ‘And Reaghan did this today. And Reaghan did this today.’ He just formed this relationship with her.”

And, when Ms. King was heading on a path that veered from the fire service, Ms. Augustine said her husband recognized that.

“He thought of her as being the grandchild or child that went into the fire service, but he knew in his heart that the fire service was not where she would be going,” she said.

“I think he was hoping she would (be) commissioner of the Philadelphia Fire Department. I think he knew she was headed in whatever other direction she was headed, and when he passed, it was like, right away, ‘I’m doing a scholarship to help Reaghan as much as I can.’”

Ms. King said she had a similar fondness for Mr. Augustine.

“I remember him as very tough, but he was funny, as well, and we had similar senses of humor. He loved the chats. I loved the chats. It was awesome to get the stories from someone older and wiser,” she said.

“Obviously, I’m honored to receive the scholarship but it means even more coming from Ron,” she said. “I’ve always felt close to his family the way it felt close to me.”

At West Point, Ms. King plans to study international affairs, explaining, “I’m very interested in the way countries interact and the way that we use past countries and past civilizations and how they interacted to kind of forecast current and future conflicts.”