How the Wortingers’ gift is helping young firefighters find their calling in Goshen
Chuck Wortinger remembers what it was like growing up as the son of a Goshen firefighter.
Floyd “Bud” Wortinger was Assistant Chief of Goshen Fire Department
His dad, Floyd “Bud” Wortinger, took them to every parade. His mom, Mabel, would make meals and take them to Goshen Fire Department’s Central Station along Third Street. He was accustomed to his father working 24 hours on and then being home for 24 hours. If he misbehaved on the day his father was working, his mom took care of disciplining him.
“That was our life,” Chuck says. His family wasn’t just his sisters and parents. It was bigger than that. “Part of the family, city, the fire department, my mom and dad. All family, right?” he says.
That was why he and his wife Sheryl wanted to make a gift to honor the legacy and help promote firefighting in Goshen and did so through the Community Foundation of Elkhart County.
Chuck is a retired lineman for Northern Indiana Public Service Co. His son, Corey, became fascinated with the work his grandpa did.
Corey was at their house one day when a neighbor’s house caught fire. His grandpa ran over there to help as the fire trucks were dispatched. “I remember grandpa running down there,” Corey says. “He literally was going to the house to try and do something while the trucks were coming in.”
He would go to Central Station with Bud, who would get a pack of Juicy Fruit from their locker room and hand it to him. Corey saw the brotherhood that developed around Bud and his fellow firefighters. “I just ended up loving it,” Corey says of the fire department.
“That was our life. Part of the family, city, the fire department, my mom and dad. All family, right?”
Chuck WORTINGER, son of Floyd “Bud” Wortinger
Bud ended up buying a used firetruck and then started entering that in parades. Corey was among those riding on the truck.
After graduating, Corey worked for the City of Goshen and then became a Goshen firefighter. He joined the department in 2004, within months of Travis Peak. As they raised their families, they became family, too. And they heard stories of Corey’s grandpa, who was also known by some in the department as “Dolf,” a variation of saying Floyd backwards.
Bud rose to the rank of Assistant Chief and served until 1978. He battled cancer several times, but lived until 1987. He was well-known and loved among those who knew him. After his death, and when Corey was in the department, Mabel would bring cookies or ice cream from The Chief to those at the station.
Bud, Corey, and Travis share a love of firefighting, which is common for those in the profession. “It’s a very hard job and a humbling job for what you see and what you end up doing for people that you serve in their worst times,” Corey says. “So we all pull together, like when we get back to the firehouse, man, that’s who we have to lean on, right? And so I think, in general, as humans, it’s a place full of camaraderie. There’s just a sigh of relief, and you look at each other and you’re like, you can just see in their eyes, like we did a good job, like we helped someone, we tried to do our best. So I think that’s a key to the fire service.”
“There’s just a sigh of relief, and you look at each other and you’re like, you can just see in their eyes, like we did a good job, like we helped someone, we tried to do our best.”
COREY WORTINGER, grandson of Floyd “Bud” Wortinger
As Corey retired from GFD, Travis was transitioning to a new role. He and others in the department wanted to create a trade school within Goshen Community Schools that would help train future firefighters. Goshen and other departments are struggling to find qualified, committed candidates.
Members of the Wortinger family pose for a photo with instructor Travis Peak in the Wortinger Training Tower at the Redhawk Fire Academy.
When Chuck heard they wanted to do a trade school, he got very excited.
Chuck and Sheryl were looking for a way to contribute in honor of the family legacy of firefighting. Sheryl’s family had supported a scholarship fund at the Carroll County Community Foundation and they started conversations with the Community Foundation of Elkhart County around the same time the school was opening.
The fund they established will help support a half-day school program for high school juniors and seniors to learn firefighting and Emergency Medical Services. Six students finished two semesters in the 2024-25 school year and more are starting this fall, with some of those students continuing on for two more semesters.
Some of the students passed a state test that would allow them to be volunteer firefighters once they turn 18. Ivy Tech Community College offers dual credits toward Fire Science and Emergency Medical Technician degrees. Corey and his family hope, along with Travis and others in the department, that the academy will help pave the way for firefighters joining Goshen Fire Department once they turn 21.
The Wortingers love getting letters and hugs from the students they’re helping. They get emotional as they talk about it. Those students, in a way, become part of their family. Just as they have been part of the Goshen firefighting family for generations.
