By Taylor Boyd
Longtime Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department Chief Steven “Steve” Dwayne Peal died May 24 at SOVAH Health-Martinsville after a battle with cancer. He was 59.
Peal served with the Woolwine Fire Department and the Fairystone Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years. Earlier this year, he received the Fairystone department’s Firefighter of the Year Award.
He is survived by his father, William Eldridge Peal; four aunts, Faye Rorrer, Sue Carter, Verna Shepherd (Ernie), and Alma Dowell; an uncle, Larry Rorrer; several cousins; and his beloved dog, Tucker.
Friends and fellow firefighters remembered Peal as a dedicated public servant, trusted leader and loyal friend whose humor helped others through difficult situations.
Fairystone Assistant Chief Travis Newman said Peal was a one-of-a-kind friend who always found a way to lift spirits.
“We were on the same team for quite a while there, and he was always smiling and laughing and always had a joke. Anytime we’d have a bad day, Steve would have something good to say,” Newman said.
After years of working together through emergencies and difficult calls, Newman said Peal had a gift for helping others cope with challenging situations.
“He had a real good way of making the best out of a bad situation. We always had a joke in the emergency services that we would deal with a lot of bad stuff. Most of the time, some of our best days happened on other people’s worst days, and Steve always made a joke that, regardless of the most heinous thing going on, somebody was always going to say something. It was just out of the blue there to take everybody’s mind off, and he was usually the first one to do that. You could always count on him for that,” Newman said.
Some of Newman’s favorite memories were not made on emergency calls but during quiet afternoons at the fire station.
“We would sit out in front of the truck area watching cars go by and trying to solve all the world’s problems. We had some good times doing that, just doing what we’d call waiting on the next disaster,” he said.
Peal also earned a reputation for arriving quickly when calls came in.
“We’re neighbors and live within half a mile of each other, and it seemed like nobody could beat him to the firehouse in the middle of the night when a call came out. Ninety-nine percent of the time, he beat most of us that lived a whole lot closer. We gave him a hard time that he would sleep with his clothes on or sleep sitting up with his shoes on, ready to go,” Newman said.
Fairystone member Terrance Barber said Peal devoted himself to helping others.
“He devoted his life to the fire department. He was a good friend, neighbor, and gave everybody a chance to look up to him,” Barber said.
Barber recalled a close encounter in 2019 when the two returned to the fire station after a call.
“We had come back from a call, and there was a bobcat outside. He stepped out first. He didn’t see it, and I didn’t either, but I was right behind him, and then I saw a glimpse of it and yanked him back in the building,” Barber said.
Woolwine Fire Chief Bennett Shuff said he first met Peal following the Bull Mountain Fire in 2006.
“He got interested in it and came up and actually joined the Woolwine Fire Department in June 2006. We’ve worked a lot of fires together. Woolwine and Fairystone are close-knit, and we do mutual aid for each other, so we do a lot of fires together,” Shuff said.
Shuff described Peal as knowledgeable and enjoyable to be around.
Each year, Woolwine hosts a family day during the summer and a Christmas dinner in the winter.
“Steve would always come to those, and after the meal we would sit around and talk and laugh and tell tales, and sometimes we’d do that till 1 a.m. That was really fun times — just sitting and talking and joking and telling tales and laughing,” Shuff said.
“I’m going to miss him really bad. Keep his family in your prayers.”
Patrick County Emergency Management Director Scottie Cassell said Peal was deeply committed to serving county residents.
“He will be greatly missed. A very caring guy, and would give you the shirt off his back without thinking twice about it. He took his job very seriously as chief and spent a lot of time in my office talking over stuff,” Cassell said.
Cassell said Peal was baptized about three weeks before his death.
“He said it was like a blanket came over him, and he wasn’t afraid of death anymore, and he wouldn’t worry about all of that. Pretty much when they presented him with the Fireman of the Year award for Fairystone, he told them he loved them, but he was ready to go,” Cassell said.
The large turnout at Peal’s funeral reflected the impact he had on the firefighting community, Cassell said.
“There was probably at least 30 firemen there, and rescue squad workers and everything. That little church was overpacked,” he said.
Stuart Volunteer Fire Department member Terry Dalton described Peal as a hard worker and respected leader.
“He was somebody that people trusted to not get them hurt. He was a leader who made sure that the job got done and that people’s property was protected as much as possible and that the fire was put out and that everybody went home at the end of the day,” Dalton said.
On emergency scenes, Dalton said, firefighters listened when Peal spoke.
“He was trusted on the fire scene,” he said.
Dalton said he last spoke with Peal about a week before his death when they met at the Stuart Family Restaurant.
“I asked him how he was doing, and he said he was tired, just tired of the doctors, tired of the medicine. He said he was ready to go home,” Dalton said.
