‘Shocked’: Mebane community mourns loss of retired firefighter after accident outside home

MEBANE, N.C. (WGHP) — The Mebane community is mourning the loss of a retired firefighter who was killed in an accident outside his home.

“The city has lost something big,” said Captain Troy Shaw, who worked with John Schultz for more than 20 years.

Schultz served the Mebane community for decades as a firefighter and fire inspector. His legacy lives on in the department. Firefighters describe him as a great firefighter, teacher and man.

On the outside, Schultz had big muscles and an iconic mustache.

“He was a firefighter’s firefighter. He was the man,” Shaw said.

On the inside, Schultz had a heart of gold.

Dwayne Porter, who worked alongside John Schultz for many years, said he would always lend an ear to anyone who needed to talk.

John Schultz always led by example even when tired on early morning calls.

“EMS would get there, and I would be like, ‘I am ready to get back to the station and go back to bed,’ and John would take the extra 20-30 minutes to talk to the patient’s family or the patient themselves,” Porter said.

He cared for the patient and his fellow firefighters. A young Troy Shaw will never forget his first CPR call with Schultz.

“I looked down in shock, and John is just down there doing it, and he looked up at me and was like, ‘Hey new guy. G, get on the chest,’ and I was like, ‘Alright.’ That is the way he was. He was a teacher,” Shaw said.

Those lessons are now his legacy.

“I want to be like John. I want to pass down. I don’t want them to learn on their own. I want them to learn from my experiences, which is then John’s experiences. It just kind of trickles down,” Shaw said.

Last fall, Schultz moved to Arkansas to begin retirement.

“I went and helped him move … I took a picture of him, and I was like this might be the last time I see him for a year or two. I didn’t know it would be the last,” Shaw said.

Schultz was killed last week when the trailer from a semi-truck pinned him in his yard.

“For someone that spent this much time in a business like we are in and then this happens to you after your retirement … It shocked every single person,” Mebane Fire Chief John Wellons said.

He was a dedicated public servant and a man everyone aspired to be.

“If he thought he could help you, he would, and I think a lot of us can learn from that, and I think we would all be in a better place if we all had a little bit of John in us,” Wellons said.

The Mebane Fire Department has been in touch with Schultz’s family and is working on ways to honor him. Right now, they are collecting donations. Head to the Mebane Fire Department Facebook page for details.

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