The first honoree on the wall at Southaven’s new Tribute Hall has been a public servant for most of his life.

Former Southaven Fire Chief Vernon McCammon was the city’s first official fire chief upon Southaven’s incorporation in 1980, and has lived in the community there since the 1960’s, according to the DeSoto Times-Tribune.

Mayor Darren Musselwhite said McCammon was an easy decision to be the first honoree.

McCammon joined the Southaven Fire Department when it was a volunteer service in October 1968, being appointed as chief in 1974. He was also part of DeSoto County’s first EMS service. In April 1980, he was appointed chief of the new municipal department. Musselwhite told the Times-Tribune that McCammon led the fire department through the years of land-line phones to being strapped with the most modern equipment possible upon his 2006 retirement.

Tribute Hall was created in 2020 with the idea that it would be a place to honor significant citizens in Southaven’s history, but plans were put on hold during the pandemic. The mayor decided in June that he wanted to bring the idea back.