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10-10-05, 05:28 PM
Iraq war hits home
Mon, Oct 10, 2005
Family recalls fallen Marine
By JACK MORSE
The Brunswick News
Cristen Stalvey saw them first. A student at Coastal Georgia Community College, she had just arrived home at her mother's house a week ago when another car bearing two Marines pulled up.
They were in dress uniform and had grim faces. They were there to say that Cristen's brother, a Marine Corps sniper, was dead.
Cpl. John Stalvey, 22, was killed in Iraq on Oct. 3 when a roadside bomb detonated near the humvee he was driving. His funeral was scheduled for today.
Thursday, Cristen sat with her mother, Crystal Merillat, who held her as she cried. Other family members sat nearby. They talked in low tones about Stalvey and remembered him as a family member, a friend. Now and then, forgetting for a moment, perhaps, their grief, they even laughed a little as they recalled Stalvey's sense of humor.
A bit of a wag, he could pull off comical impersonations of Archie and Edith Bunker, characters from the once-popular TV sitcom "All in the Family," on the spot.
"We start reminiscing and just remember crazy things," his mother said.
But they also recalled anecdotes about his kindness, his faith in God, his interests, his energy. Stalvey was an athlete and an artist who had recently taken up the guitar.
Stalvey, like his siblings, Cristen, 18, and an older brother, Matt Stalvey, 24, attended Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici. There, he was an athletic stand-out, competing on the basketball, soccer, baseball and track teams. But basketball was his favorite.
"Coach called him 'Mr. Hustle,'" Matt recalled. "He'd pick the best player on the other team and tell John, 'That's your man.' And he would stay on him. John would shut him down."
He also won an art contest and produced multiple drawings and sculptures.
After graduating from high school in 2001, Stalvey moved to Conroe, Texas, to live with his uncle, A.P. Merillat, a law enforcement officer. Merillat recalled a vigorous young man who seemed to have little need for sleep.
"Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night and John would have a light on in his room," Merillat said. "He would be either drawing, sculpting, reading his Bible or doing push-ups. Sometimes, he'd get up in the middle of the night and just run for miles in the neighborhood. He had immeasurable energy."
The terrorist attacks in September 2001 unsettled Stalvey tremendously. He began researching the situation and the events that led up to it, collecting "every piece of information he could about that incident," Merillat said. "He had to have it. And it's still at my house. Stacks and stacks of it."
The attacks prompted Stalvey to dust off an idea he had let lie dormant. For years, Stalvey had nursed an interest in the military. But he needed to get to a recruiter. And with no car of his own, he needed a ride.
"He came to me and said, 'Unc, it's time to go,'" Merillat recalled.
The two drove to a recruiting station, and Stalvey talked to a Marine. He decided he wanted to be one, too.
"I wasn't surprised," Matt said, remembering the day his brother talked to him by phone about the decision. "The Marine Corps was John. He decided on them because they're the best. Those are his words. And he was the best. So it was natural."
As a Marine Corps infantryman, Stalvey went on to serve in Cuba, Africa and Afghanistan. Shortly before deploying to Iraq, he graduated from the Corps' elite sniper school in Quantico, Va.
Now, just days after Stalvey's death and four years after he enlisted, his family members say they aren't angry at the military, the government or God.
"A lot of people say that with talent like that, what a waste of a young life," Merillat said. "But we don't look at it like that. That's not a life that was wasted. That's an important life, and it was a valuable sacrifice. So please know that we're not bitter. No one in the family is."
Stalvey's father, Billy Stalvey, said he finds comfort because of his son's faith in Christ.
"I grieve the loss of him, of course," he said. "But I am a Christian and he was, too, so I know where he is, and I'll see him again, by the grace of God."
He paused, and repeated, "By the grace of God, I'll be reunited with him."
Mon, Oct 10, 2005
Family recalls fallen Marine
By JACK MORSE
The Brunswick News
Cristen Stalvey saw them first. A student at Coastal Georgia Community College, she had just arrived home at her mother's house a week ago when another car bearing two Marines pulled up.
They were in dress uniform and had grim faces. They were there to say that Cristen's brother, a Marine Corps sniper, was dead.
Cpl. John Stalvey, 22, was killed in Iraq on Oct. 3 when a roadside bomb detonated near the humvee he was driving. His funeral was scheduled for today.
Thursday, Cristen sat with her mother, Crystal Merillat, who held her as she cried. Other family members sat nearby. They talked in low tones about Stalvey and remembered him as a family member, a friend. Now and then, forgetting for a moment, perhaps, their grief, they even laughed a little as they recalled Stalvey's sense of humor.
A bit of a wag, he could pull off comical impersonations of Archie and Edith Bunker, characters from the once-popular TV sitcom "All in the Family," on the spot.
"We start reminiscing and just remember crazy things," his mother said.
But they also recalled anecdotes about his kindness, his faith in God, his interests, his energy. Stalvey was an athlete and an artist who had recently taken up the guitar.
Stalvey, like his siblings, Cristen, 18, and an older brother, Matt Stalvey, 24, attended Faith Baptist Christian Academy in Ludowici. There, he was an athletic stand-out, competing on the basketball, soccer, baseball and track teams. But basketball was his favorite.
"Coach called him 'Mr. Hustle,'" Matt recalled. "He'd pick the best player on the other team and tell John, 'That's your man.' And he would stay on him. John would shut him down."
He also won an art contest and produced multiple drawings and sculptures.
After graduating from high school in 2001, Stalvey moved to Conroe, Texas, to live with his uncle, A.P. Merillat, a law enforcement officer. Merillat recalled a vigorous young man who seemed to have little need for sleep.
"Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night and John would have a light on in his room," Merillat said. "He would be either drawing, sculpting, reading his Bible or doing push-ups. Sometimes, he'd get up in the middle of the night and just run for miles in the neighborhood. He had immeasurable energy."
The terrorist attacks in September 2001 unsettled Stalvey tremendously. He began researching the situation and the events that led up to it, collecting "every piece of information he could about that incident," Merillat said. "He had to have it. And it's still at my house. Stacks and stacks of it."
The attacks prompted Stalvey to dust off an idea he had let lie dormant. For years, Stalvey had nursed an interest in the military. But he needed to get to a recruiter. And with no car of his own, he needed a ride.
"He came to me and said, 'Unc, it's time to go,'" Merillat recalled.
The two drove to a recruiting station, and Stalvey talked to a Marine. He decided he wanted to be one, too.
"I wasn't surprised," Matt said, remembering the day his brother talked to him by phone about the decision. "The Marine Corps was John. He decided on them because they're the best. Those are his words. And he was the best. So it was natural."
As a Marine Corps infantryman, Stalvey went on to serve in Cuba, Africa and Afghanistan. Shortly before deploying to Iraq, he graduated from the Corps' elite sniper school in Quantico, Va.
Now, just days after Stalvey's death and four years after he enlisted, his family members say they aren't angry at the military, the government or God.
"A lot of people say that with talent like that, what a waste of a young life," Merillat said. "But we don't look at it like that. That's not a life that was wasted. That's an important life, and it was a valuable sacrifice. So please know that we're not bitter. No one in the family is."
Stalvey's father, Billy Stalvey, said he finds comfort because of his son's faith in Christ.
"I grieve the loss of him, of course," he said. "But I am a Christian and he was, too, so I know where he is, and I'll see him again, by the grace of God."
He paused, and repeated, "By the grace of God, I'll be reunited with him."