Brian “Doc” Swanson is pictured with Angel, daughter of Fluvanna Fire Chief Walid Al-jabiri. Submitted Photo

He may have been born Brian L. Swanson, but to his family, friends and the countless people he encountered through his various roles with the Fluvanna Fire Department, he was simply “Doc.”

“No one called him Brian, not even his wife or children. He was ‘Doc,'” said Walid Al-jabiri, chief of the Fluvanna Fire Department and longtime friend of Swanson. “If someone called out Brian, he probably wouldn’t turn around.”

A graduate of Bemus Point High School, Swanson made a life of serving and helping others — from 22 years in the U.S. Navy to a valued member of the fire department that he so dearly treasured. He served numerous roles in Fluvanna, as a firefighter and emergency medical technician to calling Bingo numbers on Tuesdays.

Doc, who followed in his father’s footsteps into the fire service and logged an estimated 3,000 calls as a volunteer himself, died at 8:50 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at UPMC Chautauqua. He was 81.

Al-jabiri announced Swanson’s passing during Bingo, a fitting tribute, he said, to recognize a man who became synonymous with the weekly fundraiser crucial to fire department operations. News of Doc’s death was met with silence.

“You could just hear the silence,” Al-jabiri said. “It was like there was a vacuum in there — it sucked all the noise out of the room.”

It wasn’t unusual to see Swanson at the fire hall every day. Over the years, he served as the department’s president and treasurer; he was named Firefighter of the Year and, according to his obituary, he also was an active member of the War Vets Recreation Club where he was a past president and auditor and volunteered for many activities over the years.

Born Feb. 26, 1941, he was the son of the late Raymond and Lucille Lee Swanson. After high school, he attended Jamestown Business College.

In his two-decade career in the military, Swanson reached the rank of senior chief corpsman. While serving as a medic he would also earn the nickname that stuck for life.

Swanson received numerous medals and ribbons during his lengthy military career. Among them: the Good Conduct Medal five times; the U.S. NAVY Achievement Medal twice; the U.S. NAVY Commendation Medal; the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon twice; the Vietnam Meritorious Unit Citation with Gallantry Cross; the Vietnam Service Medal with 1 Bronze Star; the Civil Action Medal 1st class with Palm citation; and the Combat Action Ribbon.

Afterward, Swanson was employed by Valeo Engine Cooling for several years and, following retirement, worked for Jamestown Radiologists.

It was his time as a volunteer firefighter that many would come to know “Doc.”

Al-jabiri said Swanson’s father also was a firefighter, during a time in which volunteers placed sheep skins on their seats and shoulders to keep warm while riding on un-covered fire engines. On one occasion, as Al-jabiri tells it, hot water had to be poured on Raymond Swanson’s hands after they became frozen to the truck’s steering wheel.

“Doc was at the hall and saw that,” Al-jabiri said.

Swanson would go on to become one of the fire department’s most important members.

“He was one of the best firefighters in the department,” Al-jabiri said. “He operated the pump panel and responded to EMS back in the day. … He called Bingo. Everyone who played, and their mothers and grandmothers, knew him.”

Al-jabiri recalled one fire in particular, around 2011, in which he, Doc, another volunteer, Jim Oleniacz, responded to High Acres Mobile Home Park. He recalled the blaze was “ripping big” inside a metal maintenance shed.

“It was hot, with lawn mowers in there and gas cans,” said Al-jabiri, who noted how Swanson, even at his age, got off the engine upon arrival and went to work. “Doc took control of the (pump) panel. We obviously lost the building — it was a hellacious fire. But without him, we would have been dead without the water.”

His role on Bingo nights also were important. Swanson never missed an evening, and he helped to reset the board and made sure the games ran smoothly. Of course, there were some hiccups, like if the wrong number was accidentally announced.

“You’d be surprised how far an old lady can throw an ash tray,” Al-jabiri joked.

Fondly, he added, “There are very few left like Doc in the fire service in general.”

Swanson is survived by his wife, Barbara Allenson Swanson; two children, Keith Swanson and Amy Ackerman; two grandchildren; a brother, Bruce Swanson; and a former daughter-in-law, Cinnamon Swanson.

The funeral will be at 1:30 p.m. today at the Fluvanna Fire Department. The Rev. Robert Benson, fire department chaplain, will officiate. Burial will be in the Fluvanna Cemetery.