Rick Reed, director of music and liturgy at Good Shepherd Church, Cumming, has been invited to perform one of his compositions at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s annual Memorial Weekend, being held Oct. 5-7 in Emmitsburg, Md. The annual event honors firefighters from all over the United States who have been killed in the line of duty over the past year. This year’s service will honor three Georgians, Russell B. Schwantes and Steven M. Solomon (Atlanta) and William LeRoy “Bill” Craddock II (DeKalb County).

Reed has been a firefighter for 29 years and a part-time firefighter in Roswell since 2000. That same year, he composed music for the Fireman’s Prayer, a prayer that is well known in the fire service. The prayer was sung by Reed at the funeral of Roswell Fire Chief Neal Butterworth and has also been used at firefighter funerals across the United States.

The NFFF invited Reed to sing the Fireman’s Prayer as part of the Candlelight Service to be held Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. In addition, a recording of the prayer will be included on a CD that will be presented to all families attending the service.

For the first time, this year’s Candlelight Service and the Memorial Service on Sunday, Oct. 7, will be broadcast live via the Internet. Further information can be found at www.firehouse.com or www.firehero.org, the official Web site of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.