Southern Illinois community remembers fallen Marine
WOODLAWN, Ill. - The high school in this tiny southern Illinois town will close Friday so students and staff can attend the funeral of a 2004 graduate killed last week in Iraq.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13653995.htm
Associated Press
Marine Lance Cpl. Jonathan Kyle Price, 19, was on guard duty on Jan. 13 in Ramadi, Iraq, when he was killed, reportedly during combat. Price, who was set to return home on Feb. 20, was planning to marry his pregnant fiance.
"He was just a great man," said Kelly Owens, a technology coordinator at Woodlawn High School. "He was a really important part of our community."
Alan Estes, the high school's superintendent, remembers Price as "a cooperative young man who had a goal and a purpose each day" as he walked, smiling, through the hallways.
"You can't have enough Kyle Prices in your school," Estes said.
Shane Witzel, Price's former baseball coach, called Price the consummate team player, "always willing to do whatever it took to make the team better."
"He wanted to be a part of something bigger than himself," Witzel said.
Around this community of 630 residents west of Mount Vernon, ribbons are tied to signs and posts - yellow sashes signifying support for the U.S. war effort, black ones representing a fallen soldier.
"There is a sense of togetherness here, a feeling of trust and caring for each other that you may not find in bigger towns or cities," Owens said.
The high school's Web site features a color photo of a uniformed Price against a black backdrop, along with other photos of Price as a student. An animated U.S. flag flutters at half-staff.
Signers of the Web site's guestbook include Price's Spanish teacher, Debbie Wilson, who wrote that "if I were in any battle, I would have wanted Kyle by my side, and somewhere a mother is whispering a prayer of thanks that Kyle was there."
ON THE NET
Woodlawn High School: http://www.woodlawnhs.org/