Local artist pays tribute to fallen firefighter, friend with mural at Sterling main station

STERLING – The city’s newest mural is a thoughtful, heartfelt homage to a devoted father, husband, friend and firefighter who gave his life in the line of duty.

Lt. Garret Ramos died Dec. 4, 2021, when he fell through the floor of a burning home in Rock Falls. His was the first death in the line of duty in the Sterling Fire Department’s history. He was 38.

At Brittney Ramos’ request, professional artist and family friend Philip Atilano agreed to paint the bright, colorful mural on the north wall of the main fire station at 110 W. Fifth St. as a tribute to her fallen husband.

“I was approached by Garrett’s family, they’re good friends of ours. Brittney wanted to bring me in. She gave me free rein to do what I wanted, so that was how it kind of developed,” Atilano said.

It’s one of two memorials to Ramos the city and fire department is planning, Chief Mike Dettman said.

“The family and the city and the Local 2301 union worked together to move forward with this project,” Dettman said. “We were looking for a way to memorialize Garrett. I think it turned it turned out really beautiful.”

The city has a committee of firefighters who are close to the Ramos family developing plans to honor Ramos’s life and service to the community, City Manager Scott Shumard said.

Officials budgeted $45,000 for the Main Station mural and for a monument at Station 1, at Lynn Boulevard and 16th Street. The committee agreed to have Atilano, design and paint the mural. The final invoice was $7,500.

The design for the Station 1 monument still is under development, Shumard said.

The public is invited to view Atilano’s artwork at the downtown firehouse, where they’ll find Ramos in his S.F.D. No. 2 firefighter’s helmet, his familiar warm eyes gazing straight ahead.

“I wanted to incorporate some symbols into the mural,” Atilano said. “There are two silhouettes of Garrett, one for each of his girls.”

It also includes the new Sterling Fire Department logo – which Garrett designed – and subtle symbols reflecting his Catholic faith.

“I wanted the colors to be very vibrant, to reflect how Garret was, he was a very vibrant person,” Atilano said.

Ramos’ distinctive signature, his initials outlined with a heart pierced by an arrow that he used to sign paperwork at the station, also is there. Many of his friends, including Atilano, now have it as a tattoo.

The mural took about 65 hours over a couple of weekends to complete. He finished on the Fourth of July – fitting, he said, because that was a holiday the Atilanos and Ramoses used to celebrate together.

“it was not planned, it just happened that way, but I believe things happen for a reason,” Atilano said.

Its placement is no accident, either.

The north wall faces St. Mary Catholic Church and its grade school. Garrett’s father, Ed, a retired firefighter, and his mother Jeannie Ramos both work at St. Mary, and his girls, Ruthie and Kepa, go to school there, as did Garrett when he was a child.

“We wanted him overlooking his mom and dad, as well as his girls,” Dettman said.

Ramos’ is the second mural at the Main Station, and the 21st to be painted in Sterling, which is known for its exterior artwork depicting key events and people in the city’s history.

The other is of the first City Hall and fire station, and it features the department’s first two horses, Topsy and Trixie, pulling a hose wagon. It was painted in 1998.

It’s also Atilano’s second work there – Ramos designed a logo for the fire department, which Atilano finished painting on the wall of the station’s workout room after his friend’s death.

Atilano, 42, a Dixon native, and Ramos became friends in 2018, when Atilano and his wife, the former Julia Swartley, moved back to the area from Wisconsin, where he worked for Conrad Schmitt Studios in New Berlin.

They settled in Julia’s hometown of Sterling, just a few blocks away from Garrett and Brittney, and also close to Garrett’s only sibling, Jennifer Brannon.

Atilano was executive director of The Next Picture Show fine arts gallery in Dixon a little more than a year, from January 2022 until February, but it wasn’t sufficiently scratching his artistic itch.

“I’m a creative person, I need to be creating things, so I went back to the studio,” Atilano said.

He’s the lead artist at Conrad Schmitt, doing conservation and restoration work; his current project is restoring a church in Cincinnati. He works there weekdays and comes home on the weekends.

This project, though, this is the one that really hit home, he said on his Facebook page.

“Of all the projects I have done over the past 20+ years around the country, this was by far the most emotional and sentimental.”