SIMI VALLEY : 2 Students to Get Firefighter Awards

Two Ventura County students will receive $1,000 scholarships next week from a foundation set up by the Simi Valley family of a Navy firefighter killed in an explosion aboard the aircraft carrier Midway.

Shannon Nestor, 18, a Moorpark College student, and Kevin Myers, 17, a senior at Simi Valley High School, were selected by the Ventura County Professional Firefighters’ Assn. for the awards.

The scholarship fund was set up by the Firefighter’s Assn. and the family of Shane Kilgore, 22, an aspiring firefighter from Simi Valley who was killed in June, 1990, while serving in the Navy. Kilgore was credited with saving several other sailors after a fiery explosion ripped through the USS Midway, while it was on maneuvers off the coast of Japan. He died from his burns several days after the incident, which killed two other men.

In his memory the Kilgore family and the Firefighters Assn. set up the scholarship to benefit children of firefighters, as well as talented youths hoping to become firefighters.

Nestor, daughter of a Ventura County battalion chief, is a volunteer at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks. She plans to work with burn victims.

Kevin is a cadet at Fire Station 43 in Simi Valley and plans to attend Oxnard College, then become a firefighter.

The pair will receive their awards at 2 p.m. Friday at Simi Valley City Hall, 2929 Tapo Canyon Road. For more information, call (805) 484-8844.