By By LYDIA GRIMES – features writer
The roar of motorcycles filled the air on Saturday, April 21, when almost 150 of the bikes gathered to ride to benefit Greg Tucker. Tucker is a firefighter with the Brewton Fire Department who has recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The timing of the motorcycle ride and all of the events surrounding Relay for Life and the fight to defeat cancer makes Tucker the subject of this week's profile.
The scan found the cancer and also showed that it had spread to the pancreas and was inoperable. He said he was given about six months, but he is being upbeat about the situation. He is taking treatments and battling back.
Tucker has been with the Brewton Fire Department for several years and his fellow firefighter teammates wanted to do something for him.
Weaver spearheaded the motorcycle event. He spoke with Tucker's wife, Sandra, and they planned the ride. Motorcycles have always been a part of Tucker's life and it seemed like the right venue to stir up interest to raise some money.
The bikers met at Kenny's Motor Sports on U.S. 31 South and traveled to Atmore. They toured through Huxford and Barnett's Crossroads before returning to Brewton to have lunch at O'Bannon Park. After lunch there was a silent auction of items donated by different businesses and individuals.
Tucker was born in Mobile but his family moved to Brewton when he was very young. His father got a job with the Alabama Employment Agency and moved the family back into the house where Tucker now lives on Belleville Avenue. He has two brothers and they all attended the city schools. He lost his dad when he was 15 years old. He graduated from T.R. Miller in 1974 and then went to Ed Reid State in Evergreen. He said he was not much into sports or studies, but was a sort of rebel rouser for some years.
At Ed Reid he studied to be an auto mechanic and that is where he got his first chance to work on bikes and motorcycles.
After he finished at Ed Reid he got a job at J.M. Chevrolet as a mechanic and became the service manager. Later he had the opportunity to go to Sherrer Machine Works on Simmons Street in downtown Brewton. He trained on the job to weld and stayed there for about seven years.
In the meantime he married Sandra Morris from Alco in 1979 and they had two children, Tamara Elliott, who has three children, and Bryan, who has two children.
Tucker left Sherrer Brothers and went to Jay, Fla., as a pipe fitter and worked there for a couple of years with a construction crew. Then he went to Milton, Fla., to work at NAS Pensacola putting in gas and water lines.
He then came back to Brewton to work in a paint and body shop, which he opened with his brother-in-law, Mike Morris. They operated the business for the next 20 years and included Sandra in the business also.
It was about this time that Tucker decided he needed a job that had retirement and benefits. An opening came up with the fire department and since he had been a volunteer firefighter some years before, he applied for the job. This was in 1998 right before John Martin retired as fire chief moving Weaver up to the position and leaving a slot open for Tucker.