I knew this soldier, part two.

Aaron was the boy that everyone loved. All the the little girls at camp had a crush on him. I think I probably would have had a crush on him, too, but he was just Kelly's brother to me. One of the people in the family that I so admired. There are people who go around trying to be perfect, and they annoy me, but this family was so real. They were fun and silly and were always joking around. All of them were athletic, and all of them were sweet to the core. I loved summer camp for so many reasons, but especially because I would get to see the Holleymans.

Kelly was always so silly. She was obsessed with "Gone with the Wind." She was selectively shy, especially when Davey, the college student music leader at camp that everyone was in love with but that I think secretly loved her, teased her and asked her to recite her favorite lines from the movie. After all these years, I still remember her smiling and sayin' "Quittin' time." 

The first time I met Kelly we were at Centrifuge, a church camp my sisters and I went to just twice (as opposed to the Eastern Montana Bible Camp [EMBC], which we went to every year, sometimes twice a year, from 4th grade to 12th grade.) Kelly had just moved to Montana from Mississippi (and if you ask, she'll tell you the RIGHT way to say Mississippi is "mih-sippi.") We were in a small group together (which was actually about 25 people) inside doing a Bible study and it started snowing outside. Yes, it was June, but in Montana in the mountains sometimes it snows. She got excited and said "I've never seen it snow before!" and she ran outside. It was so cute. I guess I was 14 and she was 13. Somewhere around there.

There were a ton of people at that camp, so we didn't really get to know each other, but at EMBC a few weeks later there were a lot less people and we realized we'd both been at Centrifuge. We hit it off somehow and became church camp buddies. (Picture is my sister Kathy, our best friend Andrea, Kelly, and me.) 

I got to know Aaron (and their little brother, Daniel, and their parents, Ross and Glenda) as we kept meeting up at camp, and since Ross was a pastor the whole family came to camp. I remember being so impressed with all of them. Glenda was so pretty and so nice and always took time to talk to me. Kelly called her "mama," which I thought was so neat -- no one in Montana really calls their mom that.

This picture is on the last day of children's camp, we were all junior counselors that year. The necklace Aaron has on my sister made for me, and he pestered me the whole week because he liked it so much. (For some reason Mary and I always called him "Aay-ron" instead of Aaron). I told him Mary would make him a necklace, but he wanted mine. I finally gave it to him because he was just so darn cute.

I love this picture of me and Aaron. This was the weekend I spent with the Holleymans at their home in Glasgow, Montana. I guess it was my junior year of high school, because Aaron was a year older than me, and I remember as we were sitting there, talking about how he was about to graduate and enlist in the army.I asked him why in the world he would do that. In retrospect, I think he just knew it's what he was supposed to do.

Since I heard about Aaron's death two nights ago, I haven't been able to think of anything else. I can't believe that someone I know was killed in war. I can't believe that of anyone in the world, it was one of the nicest guys I've ever known.

I do take comfort, of course, in the fact that he was a strong Christian and believed strongly in what he was fighting for, and he loved being a soldier. He's in Heaven now and I know we will see each other again.

Comments

[emily]

My heart goes out to this family for their loss.

[Kelly]

I am so sorry Jen.... The pics you posted were beautiful! I know he is looking down on you right now and he is very happy and proud of your beautiful post remembering him!!!! (((((Thank you for sharing this)))))
With love~
Kell

[Tanya]

Oh ((((((Jen)))))) Thank you so much for sharing your story and pictures of this brave young man. I have said a prayer for his family.

Blessings,
tanya

[CaraH]

(((Jen))) I am so sorry - what a bittersweet story.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

[Sandi P.]

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend, Jen. I will be praying for you as you grieve and for his family as they mourn the loss of their brave hero!

Think of how blessed you are to have known this young man!

Hope your weekend goes well!

[Kate]

My first kiss/semi-boyfriend was killed in Iraq a few months ago. I literally thought my heart had stopped when I saw it on the news.

I can't get past how PROUD Aaron looks in his enlistment photo. My heart breaks for his wife and kids, and you Jen. I'm so sorry.

Wishing you peace-
Kate

[Kelly]

thinking of you, hope jake had a wonderful bday!

[Ninotchka]

My deepest sympathies, Jen. He and his family are in my prayers. :(

[Holly]

Jen,

I've just read your recent posts since I was gone... Wow. I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. I know it must be devastating to his family, but I cannot even imagine being in his wife's shoes. How incredibly sad. Thank you for sharing your story. I will be praying for the Holleyman family and for you too.

[Linda]

Jen,

Thanks for the wonderful tribute to Aaron. The Holleymans are members of my church (Trinity Baptist in Carthage, MS) and my friends. Aaron's service was at our church with over 200 people in attendance. It was a very fitting tribute to a wonderful soldier. The Holleymans have shown our church family true faith. They are amazing and their strength rests in the savior that they put their trust in. Please continue to pray for this family in the days ahead and for all our soldiers in harm's way and the families that won't have their soldiers coming home. Thanks for the pictures also. I so enjoyed them.

[Deb]

Jen,
The Holleyman's lived in our neighborhood when they lived in Glasgow. I was so touched by your tribute to Aaron. My son Tyler & Aaron graduated together and had some good times. My heart still aches when I think of him and the lose of such a wonderful young man. The Holleyman's are in my continued prayers.

[Courtenay]

I too knew aaroon. We were childhood friends growing up in clinton, ms. Thank you so much for your words. We truly lost a hero that day. I will always love him and miss Aaron forever.

[Gayla]

Please remember the three children we had together as well as my two older children he was stepfather to. They loved him dearly, and still mourn for him. I still mourn for him as well. Our oldest daughter Erin Michelle, she doesn't know that her daddy isn't coming back. To her....daddy is just gone, but will return someday to see her. Shelby, and Zach are too young to realize what has happened. They will have no memory of their father, but I have pictures of him in out living room, so that the kids can see his face everday, and know who he is. The one yr. anniversary of his death, this August 30th....we made his favorite cake in memory of him. I remember when I carried the flag home on a plane back to NC. We all shed tears. We were married for almost 7 years.

[marty howard]

Jen-- thanks for the stories of you and Aaron growing up. I grew up with Ross and his family in Mulberry,Florida and your stories sound very much like the family I grew up knowing. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Marty

[Brandy]

This is totally random, but I found this post by googling Aaron's name. I didn't know he had died until I received an email from our high school reunion committee, who were working on a memorial for our classmates who have passed on. The second line of your post ("All the the little girls at camp had a crush on him") really made me smile, because I had a crush on him, too, a looong time ago. I was going through some old diaries recently, and transcribed some of the entries. One included Aaron, and it is here, the last line of the entry:

http://my-childhood.livejournal.com/1834.html

I misspelled his name, but hey, I was only eleven. :)

Anyway, I was really sad to hear that he was killed in Iraq. I enjoyed reading your post to see what Aaron had been doing since he moved on from Clinton. I hate that his family is having to cope with losing him. Kids should never have to deal with losing a parent.