[TimG]

My wife is from Iowa and a friend of hers lost her son in Iraq earlier in the year. We attended a funeral at Fort Hood in Killeen, TX for this man and other soldiers that died in Iraq earlier this year. What a moving tribute when they call the departed soldiers names and do the 21 gun salute in their memory. The speeches were moving, also. A local friend was at a rotary meeting and mentioned that the family from Iowa was going to spend the weekend in Austin since it is only about 60 miles from Fort Hood and they gathered nearly $1,000 on the spur of the moment at lunch one day to provide to the family as a small tribute to help them have fun while visiting our town. My wife and her friend presented the funds to the family and they thanked her, they also had a great time here in Austin visiting Stubbs Barbecue, one of their son's favorite places for food and music.