On Saturday, February 4, 2023, at our annual Celebration and Awards Banquet, we inducted three new Honorary Members into the Sterling Volunteer Rescue Squad. Randy Breton, Rocky Keplinger and Karen McQuaid were recognized for their decades of assistance and their contributions to our mission success- providing responsive volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) and rescue support to the Sterling community.
Randolph “Randy” T. Breton
Randy’s first association with Sterling Rescue was as a Junior member in 1976, where he quickly developed a devotion and passion for emergency medical services. Randy later moved out of the Sterling area, but he continued to provide leadership to Loudoun County’s EMS system as an instructor, mentor, and leader. His heart remained with Sterling Rescue. During this period, spanning five decades, Randy was always present as an advocate, supporter, and friend to Sterling Rescue, greatly contributing to our organization’s mission success.
Rocky Keplinger
Rocky served as Sterling Rescue’s mechanic for nearly 30 years, going far beyond the role of “just a mechanic.” He made a personal commitment to help us keep our fleet operating, and to address our many standard and non-standard maintenance needs. His unselfish dedication to keeping us on the road and ability to take on countless side projects greatly contributed to our mission success. Randy’s diverse and responsive support included making repairs on the road during adverse weather conditions, restoration of our 1963 Cadillac ambulance, fabrication of support vehicles and transporting the Cadillac ambulance to funerals.
Karen McQuaid
Karen served as the Volunteer Program Manager for the Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System for decades. In this role, she provided support, guidance, mentoring and friendship to Sterling Rescue. Karen helped us increase our membership, streamline member screening and onboarding, and implement important member retention initiatives. She was an articulate advocate for volunteers within the system. Always with a friendly smile and positive attitude, Karen was equally responsive to our leadership on system-wide issues, and to our individual members on volunteer policy and benefit issues.
