DANVILLE, VA – An unthinkable, unexpected loss is cutting the Danville community to its core.
“It’s overwhelming, it really is,” Danville Fire Department Battalion Chief Thomas Napier said.
Kaleb Barker: a man who lived for his family and his community
“To be 31 years old, you would have not guessed that, the way he loved his family,” Napier said.
To Napier, Kaleb was more than a coworker. He was a friend in and out of the fire station.
“It’s a lot of memories... all good,” he said.
Their relationship goes back much further than Kaleb’s time at the department.
“Many memories I have, but most of them are just me and him just working or kidding and carrying on at the shop or our houses while we were building stuff,” Napier said.
When Kaleb applied to the Danville Fire Department in 2020, Napier wholeheartedly stood behind him.
“Nobody comes to the fire department to be a millionaire. You have to love what you do, and he definitely did,” he said.
Napier tells me Kaleb was a new dad to one-year-old Noah and a devoted husband to his wife, Natalie.
“We used to kid him, we would call him ‘Mr. Mom.’ He stayed with that baby boy, Noah, on his days off, every day, just a great dad,” Napier said.
He was the kind of man who would drop everything to lend a hand to someone in need.
“People really looked up to him because of that, because not everybody had that ability, and he was one that did,” Napier said.
Support is now pouring in from departments all over for his station and his family.
“We’ve got people donating money from the Ringgold community. Anything we can give to her for whatever. Funeral expenses, anything she needs for Noah, we’re just gathering what we can,” he said.
Napier is reflecting on memories while struggling with the loss of a dear friend he was just with last week.
“I was sitting on his couch visiting with him, and he said that he was having trouble with his grandfather’s death because he didn’t get to tell him goodbye. Now I’m saying I didn’t get to tell him goodbye,” he said.
A fundraiser has been set up for Kaleb’s family. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
