The Johnson County Fire Protection District will honor the life and service of Captain Vernon Collett with a procession on Friday, March 14.
The procession will begin at 9 a.m. at Sweeney-Phillips & Holdren Funeral Home. It will travel north through Warrensburg along North Maguire Street, which transitions into Missouri Highway 13.
The escort will travel underneath a large American flag displayed over N. Maguire Street and E. Cooper Boulevard, supported by ladder trucks from the Warrensburg Fire Department and Clinton Fire Department.
The procession will continue on Highway 13 until turning east at Missouri Route E.
Along Route E, the procession will pass by Johnson Fire Protection District Station 6, where Collett served throughout his 29 year career.
The procession will reach an end at Heartland Church, located at 777 NE 23 Highway in Knob Noster. A visitation will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a funeral service that includes firefighter honors at 11 a.m.
A private graveside service will be held at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Dunksburg.
Collett died Saturday, March 8, while working to extinguish a half acre field fire in the 600 block of NE MM Highway.
This is the first on-duty death in the history of the Johnson County Fire Protection District.
