Earnie Breeding, lawyer and volunteer firefighter

Earnie Breeding moved his family to Atlanta after 26 years in the Navy to attend John Marshall Law School.

He practiced law nearly two decades before health forced him to retire. He stayed busy volunteering for the Cherokee County Fire Department and serving on missions with Canton First United Methodist Church. In recent years, the Michigan native still wrote letters to U.S. servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I just found that out two days ago,” said his daughter, Leah Kelly of Nelson, “but that was just his spirit, just his nature.”

Earnie Rowe Breeding, 69, of Canton died Feb. 27 of esophageal cancer at his home. The funeral is noon today at Canton First United Methodist Church. Sosebee Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

A lifelong volunteer firefighter, Mr. Breeding’s body will be transported from the church on a firetruck to Georgia National Cemetery for burial. Three rings of a bell will symbolize his last call.

“He was dedicated,” said Dana McPherson, deputy fire chaplain for the Cherokee Fire Department. “If he was close around, he was there.”

Additional survivors include his wife, Caroline Kay Jones Breeding of Canton; his mother, Willie Marie Breeding of Clinton, Mich.; a daughter, Jennifer McLean Ross of Dahlonega; a sister, Linda Lang of Rockwell, Texas; two brothers, Rick Breeding and Ken Breeding, both of Michigan; and four grandchildren.