Procession route set for fallen KCFD paramedic, neighbors plan to honor him

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Friends, family and the community will say goodbye to firefighter and paramedic Graham Hoffman Friday afternoon. Mourners will gather in the Northland to pay their respects to the 29-year-old before he’s driven all over Kansas City for the last time.

The route goes from the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Liberty, then south on I-35, to Highway 71, and gets off on Bannister Road. It will then proceed south on Hillcrest Road, past Fire Station 42 in south KC, where Hoffman worked. Finally, it heads north on I-435 to White Chapel Funeral Home.

You can expect to see signs of love and endless respect. That’s already being seen at Station 42 off East Red Bridge Road, where Graham Hoffman worked. If you look right below the flag, the flowers are growing. There are also many black curtains showing the department is mourning, so now it’s the neighbors answering the call to help.

Connie’s Shear Heaven Hair Salon sits less than 100 yards from Station 42. But the Kansas City Fire Department is even closer in Lou McKinstry’s heart because her nephew is a firefighter. So come Friday, she knows her whole workplace will take time to honor Hoffman driven by Station 42 one last time.

“We’re all mourning with them,” McKinstry said. “It’s a terrible loss. He was so young, and we’re just really sorry that they’re all going through this. They’re not alone.”

Much of the procession will be on the interstate and Highway 71, but KCFD says people can still gather on bridges to watch the procession safely. Brian Isbell lives right off the route by Station 42.

“Let them know there’s a lot of people in the community that do them,” Isbell told KCTV. “And I think there’s far more community than there is detraction. Let them know I’m here, a presence in the neighborhood.”

Because of Graham Hoffman, locals around Station 42 feel their neighborhood is a better place and everyone else will show it by lining the streets.

“I’m sure people will be lined up by the tons,” McKinstry expects. “The neighborhood will for sure be out.”

“We have our own culture in here where everybody s everybody,” Isbell added. “So, I’d like to think that everybody will be out there to give their respects to the gentleman that ed.”

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