Retired Sergeant Robert Grier, one of Winston-Salem Fire Department’s first Black firefighters, has died at the age of 104.
Grier was born and raised in Forsyth County. He attended North Carolina A&T State University and served in the Army during World War II. In 1951, he became one of the “Original 8,” a group of Black firefighters who integrated the Winston-Salem Fire Department more than a decade before racial segregation was outlawed in the U.S.
Battalion Chief Desmond Teal calls himself Grier’s honorary grandson. He says he and his colleagues refer to the "Original 8" as the godfathers who paved the way.
"It's almost like planting that shade tree that you will never get to sit under and get shade, but you know that others coming behind you will get that shade from that tree," says Teal. "Their biggest fear was letting the community down, letting the ones coming behind them down. So they said they could not and would not fail us."
Grier retired after 30 years with the fire department. On Thursday, a funeral service will be held at 12:30 p.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Winston-Salem.
