On January 31st, 2026, our beloved senior docent Gary Bohling passed away at the age of 91.
Gary will be sorely missed as a great docent and tour guide. In the previous week before his passing, he estimated that he had conducted about a thousand tours in his 24 years with the Hall of Flame—but also, for many of us, as a mentor and role model. He was an example not only for his fire service career but of a life well lived: a devoted family man, a reliable friend and a citizen committed to public service.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Gary studied business administration at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. While in college in the 1950s, he joined Potsdam’s Volunteer Rescue Squad and also became an American Red Cross volunteer. He became an EMT, one of the first in the state of New York, in 1962.
This public safety experience would go on to influence the course of Gary’s career. While working as an accountant at Chevrolet’s Tonawanda Engine Plant, Gary was assigned to train the plant foremen in first aid, after several medical emergencies at the plant resulted in mass confusion. He also joined the Tonawanda plant’s fire brigade.
“I never liked accounting,” Gary admitted, although earlier this month, in his last official act as a Hall of Flame volunteer, he served as witness to, and signed off on, an internal audit of the Hall of Flame Volunteer Organization. But safety work was Gary’s true passion.
Gary later accepted a position as Safety Director at Allied Chemical’s plant in Buffalo, New York. He was also in charge of the plant’s fire brigade and medical department. In 1972, he moved to the position of Safety Director at CWC Foundry in Muskegon, Michigan where, again, he was in charge of the plant’s fire and EMS Squad.
Settling in nearby Whitehall, he joined the Whitehall Volunteer Fire Department and the White Lake Ambulance Authority as an EMT. By 1981 Gary was Whitehall’s Fire Chief, and in 1983 he became a paramedic. He taught courses in firefighting, EMS and Hazmat as an adjunct instructor at Muskegon Community College.
Gary, who was married to his wife Gail since 1960, retired in 1997 and moved to Phoenix. He didn’t leave behind his interest in safety work, however; he served as an EMT for more than ten years with Phoenix Fire Department’s crisis response team, retiring in 2013 at the age of 80.
Yet even that retirement didn’t end Gary’s devotion to the fire service. Around 2002, he became a volunteer here at the Hall of Flame Museum. He stayed for the rest of his life, becoming one of our most valuable docents: conducting countless tours for both children and adults, informally educating visitors to the Museum and participating in other Museum activities from parades to sweeping the floors.
“During my service as a docent,” he said, “I have met people from all fifty states and about a dozen different countries.”
This suited his personality; he and Gail were avid global travelers, having visited countries ranging from Turkey to Morocco to Italy to Tahiti.
Asked if, out of his long years of public service, he has a favorite story, Gary recalled an incident from his time in Michigan:
“Sometime around 1980 I was working the paramedic shift for White Lake Ambulance Authority in Whitehall, Michigan. In those days there were only five paramedics in the whole community and only one of us was on duty at a time. We had a basic EMT driver.
“We were dispatched to a code at the VFW Hall in Montague. Upon arrival some volunteer firefighters were doing CPR on a 60 year old gentleman. I did a quick look through the paddles, found VF, and shocked him. He converted to a sinus rhythm and started to breathe on his own. I put him on a high flow of oxygen, started an IV, and loaded him in our ambulance and started toward Hackley Hospital, which was about 25 miles away.
“While bending over him, auscultating him with my stethoscope, he opened his eyes wide, looked directly into my eyes and said ‘Are you St. Peter?’ I assured him that he was still alive.
“Lloyd made a full recovery. Later, on several occasions I saw Lloyd after his release from the hospital, and he always addressed me as St. Peter.”
Well, now you’ve met St. Peter yourself, Gary, and we know he couldn’t hope to meet a better guy. Safe travels, friend.
