Did you know that ambulance service in the Twin Beaches started at a local funeral home and later ran out of a gas station before becoming part of the NBVFD? Prior to 1956, ambulance service was provided by the Hutchins Funeral Home (now Rausch’s) on Mt. Harmony Road. Funeral homes frequently ran ambulance services in addition to providing funeral services well into the 1970s across the U.S.

In 1956, Hutchins decided to get out of the ambulance business. This would have left Calvert County without any ambulance service.

Julius E. and Thelma Sherbert, active members of the NBVFD and operators of a gas station at 2nd Street and Chesapeake Avenue (today’s Fast Stop), decided to step in and keep the ambulance going. They purchased the ambulance, a 1956 Pontiac Star Chief Regency chassis converted by the Superior Ambulance and Coach Company (Lima, OH), from Hutchins, and began running it from their gas station. The Sherbert’s ran the ambulance under the name “Calvert Ambulance Service.”

Calls for service came in through the phone number that rang at the Sherbert house and the gas station. The first number, according to their son, also Julius, was 257-6444. Julius said whoever answered the phone, his dad, mom, or he would take the call in. At the same time, if residents needed the fire department, they would call a number that rang at the Buckmaster’s residence, where Clara Mae would answer and dispatch the NBVFD members through a phone tree and house siren activation. Julius said calls for the ambulance that came in through the state police were also transferred to the Sherbert’s number. The ambulance ran the length and breadth of Calvert and lower Anne Arundel counties.

The Calvert Ambulance Service was a private enterprise from 1956 to 1964. When Julius E. died in 1962. Julius and his mother ran the ambulance for two additional years, when the North Beach VFD took over the service, replacing the reliable Pontiac with an International Travellall.

Julius and Thelma were active members of the NBVFD for many years, with Julius serving as a chief during the 1950s, and Thelma actively involved in the auxiliary.

As we close out EMS Appreciation Week 2024, the members of the NBVFD salute the Sherberts for their commitment to taking care of their fellow citizens in need and ensuring the community had a way to get to the hospital in times of emergency. The early days of the Pontiac have been replaced by two transport units, one staffed by Calvert County Emergency Services career paramedics and EMTs, and the second staffed by members of the NBVFD.

The NBVFD extends its appreciation to Grace Mary Brady at the Bayside History Museum, and Julius Sherbert for their contributions to this tribute.

If anyone has more information on the Sherberts or the Calvert Ambulance Service, please contact John Tippett, jtippett@northbeachfire.com