Engineer-Paramedic, Ray Mecham, 44, died from occupational cancer on March 11, 2003.
He was born April 2, 1958, in Mountain Home, Idaho, the second of six kids. He moved a lot as a child because his dad was in the Air Force. He met his wife, Jan, in Fairborn, Ohio, at the age of 14 while their fathers were both stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. He graduated from Beavercreek High School in 1976 after which he served a two-year mission for the LDS church in the Salt Lake City Mission (June 1977- June 1979). He was hired by West Jordan City Public Safety Dept. where he graduated from the police academy and was cross-trained as a firefighter. For a time he was also a K-9 officer. He married Jan on January 6, 1981, in the Salt Lake Temple and they have six children: Bradley, Heidi, Trevor, Lyndi, Grant, Pamela. He attended Brigham Young University in September 1981-April 1983 then returned to West Jordan Public Safety. He was hired by Clark County Fire Department on August 7, 1989, and moved his family to Overton. He was a member of the FEMA team. He spent his first year at the Clark County Fire Department in rookie school and then paramedic school. He worked at Station 14 and 19 during the rest of his career.