Former Dallas firefighters turned homebuilders honor a fallen captain by donating 10% of their company’s proceeds to support first responder’s mental health.
DALLAS — Eight years ago, Elijah Anthony and Jon Bryan were just starting their careers as firefighters in Dallas. They never imagined they would someday trade firehouses for construction sites.
Last year, the duo launched Elijah Anthony Homes, a custom home construction company in North Texas.
The two met in 2017 at the fire academy and worked together at Dallas Fire Station 10. They served for five years.
“Every third day, you’re there with those guys. You grow to know and love the people you work with,” Anthony said.
Among those colleagues was Captain John “Kenny” Crutcher, who left a lasting impression on both men.
“Station life with Captain Crutcher was awesome,” Anthony recalled.
But in November 2021, Crutcher died by suicide.
“The morning after, it was announced that he took his own life,” Anthony said. “It’s a huge toll.”
Crutcher, a military veteran who served in Iraq, battled PTSD on top of the mental toll of emergencies as a firefighter. To his colleagues, Crutcher was the jokester of the station, always laughing and sharing stories.
“I never saw it happening,” Bryan said. “He had a little daughter, too, so it’s like—I didn’t see that happening.”
But there was more to his story than he shared at the fire station. Crutcher’s mother, Marybeth Crutcher Adams Smith knew about his struggles.
“You see it,” she said. “In a mother’s heart, you see it. He was broken.”
When Anthony and Bryan told Smith about their new construction business, they also shared their plans to honor Crutcher’s memory. The friends created The Crutcher Foundation, donating 10% of the company’s proceeds to support mental health initiatives for first responders.
“I mean, if he can touch lives after he’s gone, it would be his pinnacle,” Smith said.
The foundation aims to address the mental health struggles that many first responders face, challenges that often go unseen.
“He represents everybody that’s struggling,” Bryan said.
Though they’ve left firefighting, Anthony and Bryan see their new venture as a way to continue saving lives.
“If he was here today, he would say, ‘That, my friend, is the job,’” Smith said.