Children follow in fathers' footsteps
Keeping it in the family is the name of the game for father-child teams in the Cranberry Noon Rotary and Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company.
It builds a bond like no other, especially when you work side-by-side like John Marshall and his daughter, Shavonne Ayres, in the Cranberry Township Noon Rotary Club or Bruce Hezlep and his son, Nathan, in the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company.
Club connection
Ayres is about to take over as president of the Cranberry Township Noon Rotary Club and she's taking advice from her dad, who is a past president of the club.
It's her father who got her interested in the group.
Marshall has been a Rotarian for eight years and Ayres joined three years ago.
“Rotary is very much a humanitarian organization,” Ayres said. “I love to give back to my fellow man. I just like to be part of something bigger than myself.”
The two also work together each day at Marshall's business, John Marshall Catering. Ayres is his second-in-command, Marshall said. Ayres grew up in the food industry, running around at the restaurant her father owned. Marshall said she's been telling people what to do since she was 8 years old.
After he started his catering business, Ayres joined him. They've been working together for 11 years.
“She always looks out for me,” Marshall said. “We don't butt heads too often, and if we do she's usually right … She's my baby and I'm very proud that she decided to follow in my footsteps.”
Ayres said her dad taught her everything she knows, and she's happy to be his right-hand woman. Not only is he a great teacher and a skilled chef, but he's also extremely caring to his family and anybody who needs it.
“He'd give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it,” she said.Volunteering togetherCranberry Township Volunteer Fire Company has six father-son pairs active right now, said Fire Chief David Mack.When you spend much of your free time at the fire station, it tends to draw the kids in, Mack said. Mack's son, Connor, is a firefighter.Along with the Macks, there are Bruce and Nathan Hezlep, Matt and Lucas Moran, Jim and Colin Robinson, John and Matt Pristas and Richard and Tim Barch.Bruce Hezlep joined the fire company 15 years ago, when his son, Nathan, was just 1.“He's been up there since he was toddling,” Bruce said of his son. “He has no recollection of the fire company not being a part of my life.”So when Nathan turned 14, it was an easy choice for him to join the fire company as a junior firefighter.“It's a great source of pride, quite frankly,” Bruce said.Working together in training and at fire calls has given the pair a common bond that not all parents get with their teenage children. Bruce Hezlep, who is a past president of the fire company and a state fire instructor, shares advice with his son that he wishes someone would have given him when he was learning the ropes.In addition to getting close to his dad, Bruce said it's been nice to see Nathan, 16, form a bond with the other sons in the fire department who are close to his age.“It's kind of neat to see the second generation forming,” Bruce Hezlep said.“He's had some good role models in the adults and the kids that are ahead of him too … It's in his DNA I guess, and you see that a lot with fathers and sons.”
