Tyler Troyer - American Hero, Beloved Nephew

This morning at 7:30 I was privileged to be with all of Tyler’s parents, brothers and sisters, along with many aunts, uncles, cousins, other relatives, school personnel, and friends gathered around the flag pole at West Albany High for a flag-lowering ceremony in his honor. Afterward we went to Memorial Middle School office (where I work). A teacher there had made cross wreaths, one for Dave & Sandi, one for Terri & Michael, and one for my family. They presented them to us, as well as a patriotic wreath to take to the funeral home. Tyler didn’t attend Memorial but Brittany and Michael did and are well-loved by all of us there. The staff at West Albany High School and Memorial Middle School have been so wonderful in caring for all of us in Tyler’s family, especially Michael and Brittany. Times like this bring out the best in people.

Obviously Tyler has been constantly in my thoughts since that horrible phone call I received from Dave on Saturday telling me that he had lost his life in Iraq. So many memories of the busy little boy Tyler. He started walking well before his first birthday, and soon no door knob was too high for him to reach up and open! He needed to explore everything around him at an amazing speed!

After Tyler’s parents divorced and his dad moved to Portland, we didn’t get to see Tyler and Brittany as often as we used to. We were delighted when they moved in next door to us with their mom and step-dad about a year after we came to live in Tangent, probably in 1998. Soon there was a pack of boys skating in the neighborhood, with Tyler and his cousin Craig in the middle of it. Tyler was the lone roller blader among the skateboarders. His skills were greatly admired by all and videotaped often by his cousin Eric, the non-skater. Many times I stepped out my front door and gasped in terror as I watched Tyler on his blades take a flying leap off a homemade ramp and sail over the four mailboxes across the street, or worse yet, fly over a row of prone boys lined up in the street. Talk about trust! He would land safely and circle around with a big grin, to the cheers of his buddies. He could even do flips in mid-air. The boy knew no fear.

At a Thanksgiving service at church when Craig was in sixth grade, we were given an opportunity to share what we were thankful for. Craig was sitting with friends in the second row, and he stood up and began to talk about his cousin Tyler. We began to grow restless as he talked on and on about Tyler, but finally he got to the point. He was happy that Tyler had come on a middle school youth trip to Seattle. They got to see a Mariners game and a Passion Play. After the Passion Play, Tyler asked Jesus to be his Savior, and that was what Craig was most thankful for that year.

We always had a house rule that no friends could be here if parents weren’t home. The boys got off the bus around 3:00, and I got off work at 4:00. They frequently tried to convince me that Tyler should be an exception to that rule. I held firm that even Tyler shouldn’t be over until I got there. One day I came home to a very large hole in the wall at the bottom of the stairs, about three feet tall and probably two feet wide. Craig said he had been running full speed down the steps with his backpack on, tripped and felled about halfway down and crashed into the wall. Will didn’t think the story rang very true, but Craig stuck with it. Will patched the hole with about one-inch thick plywood, declaring that no one would ever break through it again. He did a good job, but the texturing never quite blended in, so I have an enormous framed poster covering it up. Recently, Craig must have decided the statute of limitations had expired and it was safe to tell us the true story. Tyler was visiting after school that day and both boys were jumping from the top of the stairway to the bottom, where they had a pile of pillows. They jumped successfully several times before Tyler leaped a little too far and crashed through the wall! Knowing Tyler, he probably tried to do a flip on the way down! Nobody wanted to get in trouble for breaking the "no visiting" rule, so they concocted the phony story. Boys, boys, boys.....

When Tyler and his fiance Megan visited last March, I was working on a family history scrapbook for Brittany’s graduation and had become aware of how special were the few pictures I had of myself with my aunts and uncles. So I made sure I had a picture taken of Will and I with Tyler and Megan when they came for dinner. I was so impressed with the way Tyler made an effort to see so many family members when he was home, even family who hadn’t stayed close. Over the past few years when I spent time with Tyler, I thought and commented so often what a wonderful young man he grew up to be. I have been sending my blog postings to him and hope he got a few smiles out of them.

Tyler was a child of God, and I have no doubt he did a lot of praying the last days of his life as he was on a battlefield. We will never understand why he had to leave us so soon, and the pain of our loss is almost unbearable. I can imagine him now in the Extreme Thrills section of heaven, with his grandmothers (who both went to heaven before his birth) watching and gasping with delight at the amazing heights he can reach and the mid-air flips he can do on his new heavenly roller blades.

Tyler, I am honored to be your aunt. It is also an honor to be called Aunt LeAnn by your sister Brittany, your brothers Michael and Jeremy, your sister McKenna, and your brother Jeremiah. I have always loved all of you and always will. Thank you for making this world a better place for all of us.