WESTOVER - Veteran firefighter Roy Westover Jr. was about the same age as his sons are now when he started as a junior member at the Westover Volunteer Fire Department 28 years ago. He then went on to become a lieutenant.
The 41-year-old father of three died Saturday from a stress-induced heart attack after responding to a structure fire early Saturday, the Cambria County Coroner's Office ruled. (See obituary, Page A7.)
"He was well-liked in the community," Westover's sister Brenda Ferguson said Monday. "He will be missed by the community. He was active in the fire company. He was active in his church; he worked with the youth fellowship and spent lots of time at the youth center. He coached baseball for a year. He did a lot for the kids."
Westover Jr. and his sons Seth, Jordon and Collin went hunting the night before he responded to the fire call early Saturday morning, Ferguson said.
"He and the three boys were always together," she said. "He worked, came home, and they would be together."
Two of Westover's sons are junior firefighters, but junior members do not respond to night calls, so the boys were not at the 12:30 a.m. fire at an abandoned Clearfield County building on Route 36, department spokesman Josh Quigley said.
The fire is being investigated as a homicide because of the possibility of arson, a state police spokesman said Monday. Westover became ill at the scene and died at Minors Medical Center, Hastings.
"There are a lot of additional fires in the area being looked at. We're looking at the big picture," said state police spokesman Trooper Jamie LeVier of Troop C, Punxsutawney. "These things are really complex. But right now, we're trying to piece together what happened inch-by-inch."
Several state police fire marshals are working on the case, LeVier said.
Ferguson and Westover, who worked for Wicket and Craig in Curwensville, last talked on Thursday. They were planning a trip to go Christmas shopping for the boys Sunday.
Westover was a great brother, Ferguson said.
"We did a lot for him and with him - my mom and I and other family," she said.
The boys are staying with their grandparents, Ferguson said.
It's the second major tragedy for them in less than four years. Their mother died in April 2006, Ferguson said.
A memorial was set up outside the firehouse with Westover's jacket, boots and helmet with a wreath of flowers and an attached note reading: "In loving memory of our brother Roy."
The Northwest Central Emergency Response Group set up a command post at the fire station to help the department transition through a line-of-duty death.
Quigley, Clearfield County's Emergency Management director, said he did not know Westover personally, but he gathered that he was a "good guy" who was "very active in the fire company," he said.
Fire companies from other counties will cover for the Westover department, which is out of service until after the funeral service, Quigley said.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today at Lloyd-Dimmick Funeral Home Inc., 91 Rose St., Irvona, with a firefighter memorial service at 8 p.m., and 10 a.m. to the 1 p.m. funeral service at Westover Baptist Church, with the Rev. Charles "Bud" Long officiating.
The Roy E. Westover Jr. Memorial Fund has been set up in his honor at First National Bank, 297 Beaver St., Hastings, PA, 16646.
The family is also accepting donations for a headstone.
