Classification Talks

Posted by Gary O'Rielly 
on Nov 23, 2015
 
Two new members of our Club from the Lake Stevens Fire Department gave Classification Talks this past week. Captain Ron Rasmussen has been a member since June 16, 2015 and Chief Kevin O'Brien has been a member since July 17, 2015.
 
Ron Rasmussen was born and raised in Bothell. Ron's father was a teacher and mother a stay-at-home mom. He has two brothers and a sister. Played high school baseball and football. Started college at UNLV in Las Vegas but ended up playing baseball for Shoreline. Marriage followed and than it was off  to Central Washington for a degree in Law and Justice. When he saw a poster about a career in the fire department, another change took place and Ron was hired in 1999 as a full time firefighter. Ron and his wife Kim have three daughters. Kim is a teacher at Glenwood  Elementary in Lake Stevens after a career in the human relations field. Ron has many talents. He attended Harborview Medical School to become a medic and now is a Captain EMT and teaches EMT at Everett Community College. Plus, Ron is an accomplished furnace repairman and technician. Welcome Ron and Kim to our club.
 
 
Kevin O'Brien joined our Club shortly after Ron did in July 2015. Grew up in Federal Way but along the way, his parents bought an old house on Orcas Island, moved to the Island where he played in all of the school sports. There were 25 kids in his class. His mom became a totem pole builder and his dad was a fisherman, later opening up a sporting goods store on the Island. In 1983 Kevin was a ballboy for the Denver Broncos. The owner of the Denver Broncos at the time, lived on Orcas Island. Kevin repeated his senior year in Spain living outside of Madrid with his host family. Kevin has three Spanish host brothers. Later, he discovered that his host father was in charge of Spanish intelligence. Afterwards, Kevin returned to Washington, enrolled at UW taking five years to complete his degree. During college Kevin earned money by painting houses and cleaning boats. His great uncle and uncle were Seattle firefighters. Met his wife Nancy at a friend's wedding. Kevin and Nancy have three boys. He started his firefighting career in Auburn, followed by being the Chief of the Orcas Island Fire Department and now this year was named Chief of the Lake Stevens Fire. Nancy is a teacher as well but is getting the boys acquainted with Lake Stevens before looking for a job in education in Lake Stevens. Welcome Kevin and Nancy to Lake Stevens and to our Club.