A ladder truck parked in front of the Lyn-Dan Volunteer Fire Department Friday morning, lifting a lone firefighter to carry out one solemn mission: to drape black shrouds over the building.
Those same, sad decorations covered a fire truck inside; a vehicle that will carry firefighter Patrick Moody to his final resting place.
"Patrick was a man of God, a man of his family, and a man of service," said Moody's friend and fellow firefighter, David Cox.
Cox said service defined every aspect of Moody's life.
"He was always wanting to help the next person," Cox explained.
His desire to help led him to become a firefighter, and sustained him when he was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer.
"He was such a motivation to me," said Cox, who is battling a health crisis of his own; a neuromuscular disease called Myasthenia Gravis.
When he was first diagnosed, Cox said Moody was his support system.
"A lot of times I went to have a pity party for myself, and I looked at Patrick and said 'he don't complain!," Cox said.