Woodstock Honors Fallen First Responders With Permanent Memorial Bricks

Woodstock Wire Staff

Two Woodstock first responders were honored this week with a ceremony most cities reserve for their most enduring tributes — a permanent place in the brick walkway at the heart of downtown.

The City of Woodstock held a brick-laying ceremony to memorialize Assistant Chief Kevin Culpepper of the Woodstock Police Department and Firefighter David Gray of the Woodstock Fire Department, according to the fire department's Facebook page. Engraved commemorative bricks bearing their names and departments were set into the Park of City Center, where they will join hundreds of other tributes laid into the walkway over nearly three decades.

That tradition stretches back to 1997, when the city launched the commemorative brick program as part of Woodstock's centennial celebration. According to the certificate of authenticity presented at the ceremony, each brick placed there is meant "to continue the heritage and tradition" begun that year — a living record of the people and organizations that have shaped this community.

The Woodstock Fire Department shared photos from the ceremony on its Facebook page, including an image of Culpepper's engraved brick set into the walkway alongside the framed certificate. The post offered no additional details about the circumstances of the two men's deaths, noting simply: "RIP."

For a department that regularly runs toward danger, the ceremony was a quiet but meaningful way to ensure that two of its own are not forgotten — their names now woven into the same ground where Woodstock residents walk every day.