James Carl “Lonnie” Dungey was appointed Marion Fire Chief at a meeting of the City Council Monday night after Herman May, former chief, announced he was taking disability leave.

Dungey will take over on April 1. May suffered a heart attack while fighting a fire at the Dr. A.N. Baker building on West Main Street last November and has not been able to perform his duties as fire chief since that time.

May did handle the book work of the fire department after he was released from the hospital. May has been a city employee for several years having been a member of both the police and fire departments. This was his second term as fire chief.

May was fire chief at the Ordill area during World War II with nearly a hundred men under his command. Dungey has been a regular member of the fire department for nine years and was a volunteer fireman for 10 years.

(Extracted from local newspapers and compiled by Harry Boyd, posted at http://www.marionfire.us )