After 20 years of service, cancer claims firefighter

By Jean Reid Norman

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | 12:02 a.m.

UPDATED STORY: Firefighters bid farewell to fallen comrade

On Henderson firefighter Jeff Mann's last day of work Feb. 2, the 57-year-old climbed to the roof of the Cha Cha Cha Apartments, 640 E. Horizon Drive, hauling a chainsaw and 12-foot rubbish hook in one hand and steadying himself with the other.

He had no trouble keeping up with firefighters half his age, Capt. Tim Veit said. He worked as long and hard on that fire as he had on any during his 20-year career with the Henderson Fire Department.

What Mann did not know as he worked at the Cha Cha Cha was that a melanoma cancer had taken root in his eye and had already spread to his liver. Mann was diagnosed the following day and died Feb. 27 of the cancer.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. March 4 at the Arrowhead Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 801 Arrowhead Trail, Henderson. Interment will follow at 1 p.m. at Palm Mortuary, 800 S. Boulder Highway, Henderson.

Members of Las Vegas, Clark County and other surrounding fire departments will be covering shifts at all Henderson fire stations to allow Mann's co-workers to attend, Battalion Chief Jeff Lytle said.

Veit said it was impressive enough to see Mann keep up with the young firefighters just months before his planned retirement. In retrospect, he said, it was a feat to remember.

"At the time, he was also just riddled with cancer, and to have the strength to do that was a remarkable thing," said Veit, captain of Station 82, 401 Parkson Road, where Mann and he worked together. "He worked as hard on his last day as the youngest guy we have. He was a rock of a man to be able to do so."

The cancer moved quickly, said his wife, Patrice, a nurse. She asked a doctor friend of hers about it.

"I said, 'I just can't wrap my brain around this. How can someone go from working to three weeks later being dead?'" she said. "He said it was an extremely aggressive form of melanoma. He said unusually aggressive."

During those weeks, Patrice Mann said, firefighters and their families surrounded her and her husband with attention, always providing someone at his side through every doctors appointment, including two trips to California.

"I can't even describe the love," she said. "I lean on them."

It was giving back to Mann the attention he constantly gave to others, Veit and Lytle said. "If someone needed something, he was always there," Lytle said.

Veit said Mann was his mentor when he first joined the Henderson Fire Department 18 years ago.

Veit was 25 and Mann was 37 and had been at the department for only two years. He had become a firefighter after years as an Air Force mechanic, where he worked for the Thunderbirds demonstration team at Nellis Air Force Base.

"Of all the guys I've ever met in my life who would do something for you — anything for you — he was that guy," Veit said. "He had done it his entire life."

That extended into his marriage, Patrice Mann said.

"No matter what — if we had been in an argument, fight, hadn't been talking for a day or two — if I asked him for anything, he would never have an attitude about it. If it was remotely possible, he would do it," she said.

"He did not hold a grudge, even if he should have. No one had to earn forgiveness with him. He just did it."

In addition to firefighting, Mann was a licensed contractor and ran Jeff Mann Concrete and Jeff Mann Masonry, his wife said. He had been looking forward to giving those businesses more attention and slowing down a bit when he retired later this year, she said.

"He wanted to spend more time and not work so much," she said. "That's all he's done all his life. He's always worked, sunup to sundown."

The 37-year Henderson resident was born Sept. 24, 1951, in Long Island, N.Y. He was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his children Jeffrey, Tiffany, Brian and Lacee Mann of Henderson and Tonya Aghas of Henderson; stepchildren Russell and Eric Chandler and Amie Griffie of Henderson and Branden Peterson of Alaska; brothers Gregg, Ronald, Donald, Allyn, David and Glenn Mann; and 24 grandchildren.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. March 3 at the Arrowhead Chapel of the LDS Church, 801 Arrowhead Trail.

Arrangements were handled by Palm Mortuary-Henderson.

Jean Reid Norman can be reached at 990-2658 or [email protected].