"Dead and Gone" Charlaine Harris' ninth book in her Sookie Stackhouse southern vampire mysteries.
Saying Goodbye….
On Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, most of the county — and even many in other parts of the world — were glued to their television sets when President Barack Obama was inaugurated as our country’s 44th President. Sadly, I was instead at the funeral of a remarkable young man, Staff Sgt. Justin L. Bauer, who I never had the honor or pleasure of meeting.
Why was I at the funeral of someone I had never met? I was covering the funeral as the reporter and photographer for a local newspaper which gave me the opportunity to take nearly 200 photos. Many were not usable, but about a dozen were. But I’m glad I was able to go and for more reasons than just a good news story.
Staff Sgt. Bauer was a firefighter by the age of 14, one of the youngest in Colorado’s history, was dedicated to serving others and had only just married his wife Kari a few short months ago. The outpouring of sympathy, love and support from the Berthoud community and surrounding areas was truly awe inspiring and certainly moving. Over 800 people attended the funeral and hundreds more lined the streets of Berthoud with American flags in hand to watch his funeral procession pass by.
I’ve posted a slideshow of photos that never made into the mainstream media so others can see images from this remarkable event.
CLICK HERE for slideshow
Shari
[...] Staff Sgt. Bauer was a firefighter by the age of 14, one of the youngest in Colorado’s history, was dedicated to serving others and had only just married his wife Kari a few short months ago. The outpouring of sympathy, love and support …$anchor_text[$anchor_choice] [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 10:10 pmSo incredibly powerful to be able to witness the final goodbye. I was one of the millions of people glued to their TV’s that day, but I’m so glad to read your words of something just as important. Thank you for sharing.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:19 pm