John S., a self-proclaimed "boring guy" (he's really just very modest), retired as a captain from the Indianapolis Fire Department in 2020 after almost 42 years on the job.

When looking back on his life, it's clear to see how a career fighting fires and helping the community was an easy choice, yet the furthest from boring. 

John graduated from high school and joined the Coast Guard.  

"That's why I went into the Coast Guard instead of a different branch of service -- it's more about helping people and doing things for others," he said. "When it was time to consider what to do next, it wasn't a huge leap to become a firefighter. I had some basic emergency medical training, and search and rescue training already from the Coast Guard. And I knew I wanted to keep helping people." 

It wasn't long before John was reassured this career was, in fact, his calling. On his very first day on the job, he helped free a small child's hand from a toy. "When he was safe I knew in my gut I was in the right place. I'm doing the right things. I'm meant to be here," he said.

John has many fond memories of his career, most surrounding the people he worked with. "It's definitely a family," he said. "You spend 24 hours at a time with these people and you become very close."  

He credited his fire family for helping him get through the rough calls and unpleasant scenarios. "We're very good about helping each other get past things," he said. "We'd get together and talk about what happened and what could have been done better, and we'd support each other through it all." 

John's son Ted joined the fire department a couple years before he retired, and John had the honor of being on Ted's very first call with him.

"I didn't push him into this career, but looking back he definitely did have a little ride-on fire engine and full firefighter suit and fire hat at six months old," he laughed. "So it wasn't really pushing, but there probably were subliminal messages."

When asked what he'd say to someone considering becoming a firefighter, John said,

"It's the most rewarding job. I never regret it. There was never a day I didn't want to go into work. Even when things went wrong, I was glad I was able to be there to deal with it and help people."  

Now in retirement, John keeps busy with his family and community. He enjoys helping with benefit auctions and driving a tractor shuttle during the Indiana State Fair. He also assists with pyrotechnics during Indianapolis Colts football games and at other fireworks displays throughout the city.  

In his downtime, he enjoys riding his bike and watching TV, especially reruns of Friends and The Big Bang Theory. And according to his wife Vicki, John is known throughout the neighborhood as the man who's always ready to lend a hand.  

"The neighborhood loves him because he goes out of his way to help people with their yards, especially the older people," she said. "He mows people's ditches and just helps however he can. Everyone knows John has any tool you could ever need and will literally do anything to help. He's always been a community person. It just comes easy to him. He has helped people change tires, and he's just a really good guy." 

"I don't mind helping people out," John said. 

The Hoosier Lottery would like to extend our sincere gratitude to John and all the other fire department personnel who make a huge difference in the lives of so many, each and every day.