With hymns playing on a church organ, members of the Baltimore City Fire Department silently lined up one-by-one to salute Racheal Wilson. The fire cadet and mother of two died Feb. 9 during a training exercise.
It was a moment of reverence for Wilson during her funeral Friday at New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore where friends, family and public officials gathered to honor the 29-year-old.
“She was so polite, sweet and a wonderful daughter,” said Wilson?s father, Ambrose Slaughter, a police officer from Denver. “When I think of her, I think of what Jesus said: ?Greater love hath no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends.?”
About 1,000 people attended the funeral, including firefighters and police officers from across the state of Maryland.
“Racheal wanted to be a small part of our family, but through her sacrifice she has changed us all,” said Baltimore City Fire Department Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. “Racheal will never be just a small part of our family, but our driving force.”
Wilson died last Friday afternoon during a training blaze that was conducted out of compliance with the regulations, according to preliminary investigation reports.
Firefighters rushed to rescue Wilson, who entered the academy in November, after she collapsed in the burning building.
Paramedics worked to resuscitate her, but she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, officials said.
Wilson leaves behind her two children, Cameron Wilson and Princess “PJ” Davis; her mother, Virginia Ambrose, and father; brother Broderick Slaughter; and fiance Larry Davis Jr.
