Sons of Crete native fulfill his final wish of donating brand-new fire rescue truck

CRETE, Neb. (KLKN) – The trucks behind the glass doors of the Crete Fire and Rescue garage are covered in life-saving equipment.

Many of those vehicles along with their various components could take up to two decades to replace, but thanks to the dedication and penny-pinching ways of one Crete native, a new and modern rig is on its way.

“A fire truck doesn’t happen near as often, and one like this means a lot to be able to do this. We would not have been able to do this for another 20 years if we wouldn’t have a donation like this for the family,” said Crete Mayor Dave Bauer.

He is talking about the Kalkwarf family; two sons Greg and Ron Kalkwarf, fulfilling their father Jerome’s last wishes to contribute to the Crete fire department.

“Everybody knew Jerome. Anybody that bought a car knew whom Jerome Kalkwarf was,” said Crete Fire Chief Tod Allen.

Jerome Kalkwarf was a car salesman by trade but also a stoic dad and loving husband to Donna Kalkwarf.

The pair was married over 50 years before Donna passed away in 2018 from Alzheimer’s Disease.

“I knew Jerome and Donna for many, many years,” said Bauer.

“Jerome was one that really enjoyed the community, and the community meant a lot to him,” he said.

This was the case until one day last year when he suffered a heart attack and fell to the ground in front of his home.

He was pronounced dead for several minutes before Crete firefighters used an AED shock to bring Jerome back to life and extending his life for another nine weeks.

During that time, Jerome became determined to donate a brand-new fire rescue truck to the ones who saved his life, but with just one request.

He asked that it would be named JD64; J and D for Jerome and Donna and 64 for the year the two were wed.

On Monday, the family finally announcing that they’ve raised 85% of the $800,000 needed for the new rig.

The funds coming from their parent’s estate and additional fundraising.

“For him to be able to commit his hard-earned money to do something like this, that that’s a pretty special opportunity for my brother to make that come reality,” said Kalkwarf’s son Greg.

“Almost doesn’t seem real. We’ve been talking about this for eight, nine months and now to see it actually come to fruition, it’s pretty amazing,” said Kalkwarf’s son Ron.

The City of Crete approved the purchase agreement earlier this month and now the brothers and fire department are hoping to raise the rest of the money needed through fundraising.

Fire Chief Tod Allen telling Channel 8 what the impact means for the community.

“It’s keeping our head above water or else we’re going to be running equipment that’s 20 plus years old,” said Allen.

“You know, that’s a norm in some fire departments. But, things like this keep us on the cutting edge,” he said.

Assistant Fire Chief James Yost helped design the new truck, which will be manufactured by the company Toyne.

Yost showed guests on Monday exactly how the upgrades will transform their efficiency and response times by pointing the out on one of their current trucks.

He pointed out areas that would expand storage, which allows specialty equipment to be carried on the truck such as items used to rescue someone fallen into a grain bin.

As for what Jerome Kalkwarf would say today?

“He’d have a tear in his eye to know that this fire truck, when it arrives, will be known as J.D.64,” said Greg.

“He’d say, ‘You really pulled it off’,” said Ron, adding “He’d be stunned. He would be just in over the moon, excited.”

The Crete Fire Department hopes to have J.D.64 ready to go by March of 2028.

If you would like to support this cause, you can visit the J.D.64 website here.