By Craig Lyons
Portland Press Herald
Copyright 2007 Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
WILTON, Maine — Hundreds of uniformed emergency workers paid tribute on Thursday to one of their own who was killed in the line of duty.
Mourners crowded into the Starbird Building at the Farmington Fairgrounds for the funeral of Allan Parsons, a paramedic who was killed in a crash in Turner last week while treating a patient in an ambulance.
Speaker after speaker recalled Parsons, who lived in Wilton, as a wonderful father, son, brother, friend and colleague.
“My dad was a good man,” Adam Parsons said of his father, with whom he said he enjoyed fishing, hunting, four-wheeling, biking and other good times.
Pastor Don Davenport of the Prince of Peace church in Augusta had to finish reading Adam Parsons’ remarks.
“I miss my dad a lot,” he said. “He was the best dad anyone could ever have.”
Allan Parsons was an emergency medical technician for Med-Care Ambulance Service. He was in the back of a Med-Care ambulance around 3 a.m. July 5 when a truck driven by Christopher Boutin, 29, of Turner crossed Route 4 in front of the emergency vehicle, according to police.
The ambulance had its emergency lights on at the time and was en route from Rumford to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.
Allan Parsons was pronounced dead at the scene.
“We have lost one of our own,” Dean Milligan, director of operations for Med-Care, said Thursday.
Milligan said it wasn’t the pay that inspired Parsons to put on his uniform and go to work. “It was the quiet pride of making a difference and saving lives.”
Before working for Med-Care, Parsons worked for Monmouth Rescue and United Ambulance. He attended the Tri-County Emergency Medical Services Program for paramedic education after graduating from high school.
Milligan said that being an EMT isn’t easy.
“It is a calling that only we understand,” Milligan said. “That Allan understood.”
Parsons was a person who was always looking to help others, rarely asking for something in return, Davenport said.
“Most of the moments of his life were spent caring for others,” he said.
Parsons was equally dedicated to his family, his daughter recalled. “Not only was he my dad, but he was my best friend,” said Amy Parsons.
She said she will remember her father’s humorous side. A sentiment echoed by many speakers was his knack for pulling pranks.
“I’ll never forget my dad’s laugh. It was contagious,” said Amy Parsons. “My dad loved to make people laugh.”
Fellow EMTs, firefighters and police officers from all over the state came to pay respects to a fallen comrade.
According to Davenport, Parsons was the sixth emergency medical technician to be killed on the job in Maine in the past 15 years.
Amy Parsons said that whenever she had a bad day, her father would tell her, “Cheer up, smile and have a better day tomorrow.”
“That’s what I’ll do,” she said.