Memorial Picture Board for Shawn Blazer
Saw the beauty in fires
Shawn Patrick Blazer, 30, had worked other jobs, but when he started fighting fires last year, he discovered his calling.
“He found something he adored doing,” said Carole Holman, his aunt. “The fires were so exciting to him. He loved to take pictures of the wonder and the beauty of them.
“I’m sure,” she said, “the camera went down with him.”
Blazer grew up in southern Oregon, attending high school in Talent. Holman described her 6-foot-1, 195-pound nephew as a shy, redheaded, late bloomer who “turned into the incredibly tall, gorgeous hunk that he was.”
He loved to hunt and fish, play online computer games, spend time with friends — “just be full of life and ready to go,” Holman said.
Blazer spent part of his teen years with foster parents who cared for boys in the juvenile justice system. Rosanna Hicks, his former foster mother, remembered him Thursday as strong, serious-minded and dedicated to whatever he was doing. “When he came here,” said Hicks, who lives in Drain, “he made up his mind to follow all the P’s and Q’s.”
At the time of his death, Blazer lived in Medford, where he cared for his disabled mother, Verna Blazer. His father, Steve, and sister, Jamie Nodwell, live in California.
Working on his mother’s car this summer, Blazer suffered a nasty cut on his thumb, causing him to miss fighting one or more fires.
“He just couldn’t wait,” Holman said, “to get back in the action.”
– Katy Muldoon
More tribute and memorial sites for Shawn Blazer:
our heroes…. our fallen angels. my choirs on sngels sing you all to sleep. sleep good our fire princes. you will all be missed.
I played a game called world of warcraft with this guy for quite some time, he was a cool guy…. RIP bro