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Hood River News Editorial
August 30, 2006
Releasing tears as well as laughter, the community united to honor
Marc Lee, a Navy SEAL who grew up in and loved the Hood River Valley,
and died in Iraq on Aug. 2 (Community
bids loving goodbye to Marc Lee).
About 750 people attended the service, and many had a hand in
organizing, donating goods, services, or funds to the service, turning
it into a unique and heartening community event.
The emotional welcome and the respect paid to the family and to Marc’s
comrades and to the military in general spoke well for Hood River as a
community.
Marc’s life touched people all over, as evidenced by visitors from
throughout the Northwest, and other states, many of them the Patriot
Riders whose tough-but-tender presence added much to the event.
The spirit of the service broadened beyond the life and memory of Marc
Lee. He would have bestowed his distinctive “smirky smile,” as Pastor
Doug Iverson put it, at the words of Lynn Guenther, retired Air Force
Colonel, who said of all men and women who have served, “Because of
their experiences they know the true meaning of compassion, of
suffering, and oh, yes, of sacrifice.” |
