Battalion Chief Billy Obenchain won't miss the reheated lasagna and dry meatloaf his firefighters have tried to pass off for dinner at Roanoke's Fire Station No. 2.

But Obenchain is going to miss giving those cooks a hard time.

"Those guys love to serve frozen lasagna and bread in a bag," said Obenchain, whom firefighters sometimes refer to as the "cook cop."

Obenchain, 54, is battling cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a cancer of the blood.

He'll retire early next year, ending his 33-year career as a firefighter.

"I'm not ready to leave," he said. "The passion for the job, the desire to do the job, is still there."

Obenchain is a lifelong resident of Vinton and the town's vice mayor. He said he'll try to continue to serve in that role, which he's held since 2002. Obenchain has served on Vinton Town Council since 1994.

News of his retirement has hit the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department hard.

"It's going to be a loss, a serious loss," said 1st Lt. Loren Thompson, who likened Obenchain's retirement to having a close family member move.

Acting Deputy Chief Ralph Tartaglia has worked with Obenchain for 25 years.

"That's one of the blessings in life," Tartaglia said, "to get to know people like Billy Obenchain."

In the five years Obenchain has been receiving chemotherapy, he hardly missed work until he went on sick leave in June.

He decided to retire mostly because he doesn't want to endanger his firefighters if his thinking is affected by the illness.

Doctors have told him that his cancer will not get better, and the most they can do is keep it from spreading.

Despite the rigorous chemotherapy, Obenchain has gone out of his way to meet his obligations at the fire station and in Vinton.

If he had a treatment scheduled during a town meeting or a shift at the fire station, he'd make the 3¹₂-hour drive from Duke University Hospital to fulfill his responsibility.

"It shows his dedication and desire not just to the job, but to the people he worked with, too," said Lt. Brian Conner, who works under Obenchain.

Obenchain said he doesn't consider firefighting a job. It's his life and passion, and that's why he didn't miss work, even when he felt nauseous and had aching joints and fever because of the chemotherapy.

When his wife, Karen Obenchain, urged her husband to stay home, he said, "Every day I can get up and go is a day I can beat it," she said.

He said he's determined to keep going because "if you're not busy being born, you're busy dying," he said. "Every day I try to make myself think I'm being born."

For five years, his refusal to surrender to the disease, his faith in God and the support from his family and friends have kept him going.

Obenchain's determination to persevere has also had an interesting effect on those he works with, Tartaglia said.

Other firefighters have quit calling in sick because they said if Obenchain can go through chemotherapy and come to work, they can work while sick, too.

"He inspires and he leads by example," Tartaglia said.

He's also a consummate father who disciplines, praises and comforts those in his department, Tartaglia said.

For all that he does, the firefighters try to give back, but it's difficult. Obenchain is a proud man. He gives for the satisfaction of seeing the people around him happy, and doesn't expect, or want, anything in return.

"You can offer your heart, but he doesn't take a lot of hand-me-outs," Conner said.

His crew recalls having to hide cash in his glove box and other places to reimburse him for dinner or tickets to a baseball game.

He hasn't told them yet that he returned all that money in small increments by depositing it into the kitchen fund at the station.

The fire crew has done little things that mean a lot to the Obenchains, such as tidying up their yard and bringing dinner to the hospital every night the couple was there.

The firefighters also pitched in for an all-expenses paid trip to Daytona Beach, Fla., for a stock car race and helped fund a vacation to Las Vegas.

"They just couldn't have been anymore supportive," Karen Obenchain said.

Perhaps the firefighters' biggest success, though, has been selling T-shirts to raise money for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma research. They've raised about $1,200.

The back of the shirt is inscribed with a poem Billy Obenchain wrote:

"If you wanta be a clown, you'd better be lookin' for a circus.

If you're lookin' for a free ride, here's a dollar, call a cab.

If you want to be a Showman, Vegas will welcome you with open arms.

If fulfillment of an ego is high on your priority list, might I suggest Hollywood.

And if you want to be a millionaire, by all means this ain't for you.

But if you don't mind hard work, sweating in freezing weather, getting back less than half of what you give, and finding your name at the bottom of your own priority list, then stick around!

I believe you could be a FIREFIGHTER."

To order a T-shirt, call Fire Station No. 2 at 853-2276. Shirts are $15, and proceeds benefit cutaneous T-cell lymphoma research at the Duke University Cancer Research Department.