San Francisco, Calif., Jul 30, 2020 / 10:04 am
San Francisco's first Black firefighter, a Catholic convert whose faith helped him endure years of racial abuse within the department, will have a city street named after him.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously June 14 to name a portion of Willow Street between Buchanan and Laguna after Earl Gage Jr. The street runs through the Western Addition neighborhood of the city where the Gage family - longtime St. Emydius parishioners - lived.
"He was a man who kept his strong faith," his daughter Blondell Chism told Catholic San Francisco July 24. "No matter what happened, all was good and he was blessed."
Gage converted to Catholicism to marry his Catholic wife, also named Blondell.