TURBOTVILLE -- Friday was a day of emotional moments for Wayne Hawley Jr.
Perhaps the most powerful was when he carefully backed his electric wheelchair down the ramp from his van, guided by his wife, Judy, who had driven him from Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia and pulled up in front of the Turbotville fire station.
"Don't be too surprised when you turn around," she told him.
As he swung the wheelchair around, applause, cheers and whistles erupted from more than 60 firefighters from several area fire departments who escorted his van from Interstate 80 to Turbotville.
Smiling, Hawley waved to the men and women who have been supporting him in myriad ways ever since he suffered a serious spinal injury while fighting an arson Nov. 28 in Anthony Township, Montour County.
Hawley didn't know about the procession of 17 fire trucks that escorted his van from the junction of Interstates 80 and 180 near Milton, through Allenwood, Dewart, Watsontown, McEwensville and finally to his fire station at Turbtoville.
As the applause ended, Hawley drove his wheelchair into the truck bay of the fire station, reached up and switched off the outside lights. Those lights had been left on around the clock ever since that November night -- a reminder of Hawley's absence.
Then Hawley drove his wheelchair out the door and down to where his fellow firefighters were lined up to shake his hand, pausing for a moment for a word or a laugh with each one.
"I expected one or two would be here to see me, but not this many," he said. "I can't put words to how I feel right now.
"I'm looking forward to sleeping all night. You don't get to sleep all night in the hospital."
Hawley was taken to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, in November, and transferred to Magee Dec. 26.
"They did a great job," he said of his treatment and rehabilitation at the Philadelphia hospital. "I'm glad I had such great support system behind me. There were a lot of people at Magee worse off than I was, and some of them had no one. No visitors, no one."
After a half-hour of socializing at the fire station, Hawley rolled back into his van for the short trip to his County Line Road home.
There, he found friends and neighbors, as well as colleagues from Service 1st Federal Credit Union in Danville, where he worked until his injury. Two "Welcome Home" banners fluttered in the breeze.
"I'm glad he's home," said Mark Burrows, Warrior Run Area Fire Department chief. "It's been a long time for him."
His family members, of course, agreed. They've been making the trip to Philadelphia every weekend for five months.
"It's been quite a day," Judy Hawley said.
"I'm thrilled," said Meghann Hawley, one of his daughters. "We'll just take it one day at a time."
Hawley sat in the wheelchair on a new deck, built largely with donated labor and materials, basking in the sun, surrounded by his fellow firefighters.
In addition to the deck and ramp, a number of modifications inside the house have been made to accommodate his wheelchair.
"This was all done with a combination of supplemental insurance, workmen's comp, cash donations and donated labor," Burrows said. "Every bit of it."
"It is a wonderful day," Warrior Run firefighter Veronica Melvin said. "The sun is shining and Wayne's home."
n E-mail comments to wlaepple@dailyitem.com
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Wayne Hawley's return draws 60
Scores of firefighters welcome injured colleague home
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