The Legendary Life of Local Hero Fred Ramsdell

Key Peninsula native Fred Ramsdell, the KP’s first paid fire chief, died Jan. 4 at his Lakebay home. He was 87 years old. 

Ramsdell was a child of the old breed on the Key Peninsula. By all accounts, the family farm on Herron Road where Fred was born and raised helped to form the self-reliant, can-do-man that necessity made him. 

While attending Peninsula High School, Fred worked setting chokers with his dad for Albert Krause Logging Co. from 1954-56. As a young adult, he found work installing telephone poles locally. Later, he found a job on Vancouver Island supporting logging families living in an area without roads. Ramsdell ferried the loggers’ children by boat to school in the morning and delivered mail in the afternoon before picking up the kids for the return ride home. 

But with the death of his father in 1964, Fred’s older brothers — one in the service and the other more firmly established — insisted he move back to the farm to help their mother. As subsistence farmers, the family was dependent on the cows they milked and the chickens they raised, as well as the fruits and vegetable crops they grew. 

“We were country-poor,” his daughter Denise said. “We didn’t eat store-bought food. I didn’t have a potato chip until I was 7 years old at some other kid’s birthday party.” 

Fred was remarkably handy and could find a way to fix practically anything. He loved working on cars, and his skills as a mechanic were valuable to people whether they had money or, in many cases, none to spare. 

“All the family were very mechanical; Grandpa and his brothers were all like that,” Denise said. “You help the community. You help your neighbors.” 

Fred’s second daughter Eileen said, “Dad could build a car just from parts he could round up. They used to build the hotrod ones, too.” 

“And he raced cars on dirt tracks in the ’60s and at demolition derbies in Bremerton and in Spanaway where he was known as ‘Fireball Fred,’ ” Denise said. 

On top of managing the 11-acre farm, Eileen said his “coolest” job was in the late ’60s at the Port Orchard Independent newspaper, where he worked as the production manager. “Ace Comstock was the editor, big cigar in his mouth, a real character.” 

He worked much closer to home after that, as a machinist for Burton’s Machine Shop in Key Center, where he fabricated everything from electric juicers to military field kitchens to boat trailers. 

In 1966, Fred joined the Key Peninsula Fire District as a volunteer firefighter and was certified as an EMT in 1973. He was hired as a mechanic and firefighter in 1976, making him the first paid firefighter in the ranks. The district needed a mechanic like Fred since the fire engines were old and wouldn’t always start up. 

Mary Gruff became a volunteer at the fire department in 1973. 

On the day she met Fred, Mary had been coordinating a district potluck. He was out drilling with volunteer firefighters. 

“I wasn’t dressed for drilling; I had on a white sweater with embroidered flowers, nice slacks and shoes, my hair was done — so, looking good,” she said. “I walked to the drill ground and could see the battalion chief, and suddenly I was hit with a blast of water.” 

Fred had let her have it. Mary said she initially let out a gasp, but having grown up with six brothers, she was unfazed and kept walking. 

According to Mary, “Fred said, ‘Oh my God! Who is that? I’ve got to meet her! If I’d done that to somebody else, they would have beaten the hell out of me.’ ” 

“He had that little streak in him,” she said. Fred and Mary married in 1981. 

With Fred’s two daughters and Mary’s four kids, Mary said their blended family was like the Brady Bunch. 

Fred and Mary got their own place and started working that land. Eileen remembered how much their dad liked to push trees over with his bulldozers. Denise said their father liked his “boy stuff” but liked his tractors and chainsaws more. 

“He loved anything that’s loud and capable of destruction, anything where he could make a big pile and set it on fire.” 

If there was work to be done, Eileen said there was no waiting around for somebody to tell them what to do. 

And that’s exactly what Fred and Mary did together. They looked for what was needed, took charge, and got things done, not only for the fire district but elsewhere. 

Back then, even the fire chiefs at the Key Peninsula Fire Department were volunteers, and everyone on the crew lived on the KP. “We were out working in the community, for the community,” Mary said. “It wasn’t just a job.” 

The Ramsdells volunteered for more than the fire department. Fred was instrumental in clearing the land for Volunteer Park. In the early days, he and Mary mowed the lawn there, too. Fred served as a park commissioner, on the board of the KP Civic Center Association, and was a member of a long list of civic organizations and fraternal clubs. 

Fred and Ross Bischoff walked the land and mapped out the site along the KP Highway and Lackey Road for what would become the Key Peninsula Lutheran Church. 

The year 2025 marks the 50th Anniversary of Skate Night, an idea born from Fred’s desire to give local kids a place to have fun and get a little exercise. 

Tim Kezele was in a youth group as a teenager and recalled Fred loaning them ice skates one very cold winter when Palmer Lake was frozen solid. 

“One of the kids jumped up and landed hard, breaking the skate,” Kezele said. “I remember being worried sick about returning broken skates to Fred. But he looked at me and said, ‘Did you have a good time? Because that’s all that matters.’ ” 

Chuck West’s start with the fire district was the result of briefly volunteering around the Key Center headquarters, not long after graduating from Peninsula High School in 1976. He said Fred was the one who told him what to do. The two bonded over mechanical stuff, as West was working on some cars at the time. 

West didn’t officially join as a volunteer firefighter until 1982, but even then, it was not uncommon to have batteries dead on a fire engine or to find a little bailing wire somewhere on the district’s 1956 GMC water tender. 

“Fred wasn’t just repairing the rigs or working in the fire station, he was out in the community taking care of little extra things,” West said. “We’d go out on a call and see that some older lady needed a door repair. It wasn’t uncommon to see Fred head back out there to take care of it. That’s just the way he was.” 

But Fred wasn’t all work; he liked to have fun too and knew how to make fun of himself to have a good time. 

“He had a great sense of humor but would get upset if somebody failed to toe the line and do their part,” West said. 

“Fred Ramsdell emulated what a true firefighter should be, with that perseverance and compassion for the members of the community,” West said. “I think he felt in some ways like the community helped raise him, and his goal was to return the favor.” 

Ramsdell retired in 1997 after 30 years with the fire district. 

In 2005, the couple retired to the big island of Hawaii, where they built a house, grew beautiful gardens, and quickly became as involved in volunteering in their new community despite all their thoughts of taking life easy in retirement. 

By the time Anne Nesbit joined KPFD as a volunteer firefighter in 2008, Fred was long since retired, “and yet I felt like I met him the very moment I walked in the door,” she said, because they had been such a staple in the fire service and the community. 

One of Fred and Mary’s favorite jobs was being Santa and Mrs. Claus. Fred built the Santa Sleigh that he and Mrs. Claus used to tour neighborhoods, towed by a fire engine at Christmastime for over 30 years. 

Being the new kid, Nesbit agreed to take on the Santa Sleigh, an annual event that’s now 47 years strong. 

“That was my connection to them, honoring the tradition and love they had for it,” Nesbit said. Whenever they flew home, they always came to the station to visit. 

“It felt to me as if they were the grandparents of the department,” Nesbit said. “Fred and Mary represent everything good to me and why I fell in love with the fire service and serving this community. Carrying on with their traditions was truly an act of love for a family you belong to.” 

After 12 years of living their dream on the Big Island, it became clear that the Ramsdells needed to be closer to family and medical services as they grew older. They returned to stay in 2018 and quickly resumed showing up at the Key Center fire station and supporting the district at every opportunity they had. 

Mary recognized that Fred was showing some signs of a deteriorating memory even before their return to the Key Peninsula. Yet they remained active, with Mary gently caring for the man she loved with grace, dignity and respect. 

In the end, there were times when Fred no longer knew who she was, but Mary was determined that Fred continue to live at home in comfortable and familiar surroundings. It wasn’t easy, but Mary said those last several weeks would have been impossible had she not received help from the fire service family and church members who knew and loved them dearly. 

Chuck West helped put out the call to retired firefighters and others who knew the Ramsdell well. People spent the night, giving Mary breaks so she could sleep, shop, and run errands without worrying about Fred. 

Retired KP Firefighter-Paramedic Mike Riegal worked under Fred when he was Chief and was with him when he died the morning of Jan. 4. 

“I can’t begin to express how grateful I am and will always be for the love and care our whole community has given us,” Mary said. “Together, we are all family.”