thedrifter
02-17-06, 01:15 PM
Article published Feb 17, 2006
War hits home
Cutler family prepares to bury 19-year-old killed in Iraq
By Tracey La Monica
Staff writer
CUTLER — “We were always talking about the future. He knew exactly what I wanted. He knew everything.”
But now Janie Chavez, 19, must face a future without her husband of two months, U. S. Marine Pfc. Javier “Javi” Chavez Jr.
He isn’t coming home. On Feb. 9, he was killed in Iraq after he stepped on a land mine.
Chavez first met her husband-to-be in the seventh-grade but wasn’t impressed.
“I didn’t really care much for him,” she said, laughing. “He was just a guy with a big head.”
But years later, the two met again at Orosi High School in ceramics class where he had a flair for crafting and she needed help.
“I asked for his help with a pot, but he wanted to make it himself,” she said.
The sparks flew between the two then 17-year-olds when she threw a Cheeto at him and he invited her out.
He showed up with his friends and his Chihuahua, Pancho, dressed as Superdog.
They began seriously dating not long after that.
In June 2005, he went to Camp Pendleton for boot camp after graduating early from high school.
“He wanted to graduate early,” said Orosi Assistant Principal Martha Calderon. “He was very mature.”
Calderon said Chavez was focused on his desires to be a U.S. Marine and was fatalistic about dying.
“If I die, I die,” Chavez told her.
In November, Chavez took Janie to Pismo Beach, complaining all the time that he was broke and she soon discovered why.
As the waves crashed on the beach, he proposed to her with a diamond ring.
On Dec. 3, they were married by a justice of the peace and planned to have a big wedding when he came back from Iraq.
“We had a date set in March 2007,” she said quietly.
She found out about his death on Feb. 9. She had been in Visalia and received a call from the Marines. They had something to tell her and advised that she should not be alone when they arrived.
So she went to a friend’s house and waited. The Marines arrived and passed on the news. Her husband was dead.
“I started crying all day,” she said.
But Janie is not the only one who misses and remembers the quiet man who had a lovely smile.
Alberto Gonzalez, Janie’s brother, remembers Chavez playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a video game, and joking around.
Javier Chavez Sr. remembers his son as a little boy who had been baptized wearing a tiny white suit.
Emiterea Leon, 38, recalls a son who always defended his older brother though he was younger.
But Leon had not been pleased with Javier’s choice to join the Marines.
“The last day, I begged him not to go, I cried,” she said in Spanish through a translator.
Chavez’s friend, Myrna Valdez, 17, loved him like the brother she never had and recalled the words he used about being a Marine.
“I’m going to be a hero for everyone,” he told her.
“He would always say he wanted to be a hero,” she said.
When Valdez found out about his death from her aunt she burst into tears.
“I never thought he would pass away like that. Once I see the body, it will tear me down,” she said. “I’m glad he died doing something he liked. But he’s leaving behind a lot of people.”
As Janie Chavez contemplates a life without her husband, she is surrounded by his family.
And she says she’ll hold tight to his memories by continuing her education at College of the Sequoias. One day, she plans to become a counselor.
“Javi wanted me to go to school,” she said. “He wanted me to stay in school.”
i The reporter can be reached at tlamonica@visalia.gannett.com.
Rest In Peace
Ellie
War hits home
Cutler family prepares to bury 19-year-old killed in Iraq
By Tracey La Monica
Staff writer
CUTLER — “We were always talking about the future. He knew exactly what I wanted. He knew everything.”
But now Janie Chavez, 19, must face a future without her husband of two months, U. S. Marine Pfc. Javier “Javi” Chavez Jr.
He isn’t coming home. On Feb. 9, he was killed in Iraq after he stepped on a land mine.
Chavez first met her husband-to-be in the seventh-grade but wasn’t impressed.
“I didn’t really care much for him,” she said, laughing. “He was just a guy with a big head.”
But years later, the two met again at Orosi High School in ceramics class where he had a flair for crafting and she needed help.
“I asked for his help with a pot, but he wanted to make it himself,” she said.
The sparks flew between the two then 17-year-olds when she threw a Cheeto at him and he invited her out.
He showed up with his friends and his Chihuahua, Pancho, dressed as Superdog.
They began seriously dating not long after that.
In June 2005, he went to Camp Pendleton for boot camp after graduating early from high school.
“He wanted to graduate early,” said Orosi Assistant Principal Martha Calderon. “He was very mature.”
Calderon said Chavez was focused on his desires to be a U.S. Marine and was fatalistic about dying.
“If I die, I die,” Chavez told her.
In November, Chavez took Janie to Pismo Beach, complaining all the time that he was broke and she soon discovered why.
As the waves crashed on the beach, he proposed to her with a diamond ring.
On Dec. 3, they were married by a justice of the peace and planned to have a big wedding when he came back from Iraq.
“We had a date set in March 2007,” she said quietly.
She found out about his death on Feb. 9. She had been in Visalia and received a call from the Marines. They had something to tell her and advised that she should not be alone when they arrived.
So she went to a friend’s house and waited. The Marines arrived and passed on the news. Her husband was dead.
“I started crying all day,” she said.
But Janie is not the only one who misses and remembers the quiet man who had a lovely smile.
Alberto Gonzalez, Janie’s brother, remembers Chavez playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, a video game, and joking around.
Javier Chavez Sr. remembers his son as a little boy who had been baptized wearing a tiny white suit.
Emiterea Leon, 38, recalls a son who always defended his older brother though he was younger.
But Leon had not been pleased with Javier’s choice to join the Marines.
“The last day, I begged him not to go, I cried,” she said in Spanish through a translator.
Chavez’s friend, Myrna Valdez, 17, loved him like the brother she never had and recalled the words he used about being a Marine.
“I’m going to be a hero for everyone,” he told her.
“He would always say he wanted to be a hero,” she said.
When Valdez found out about his death from her aunt she burst into tears.
“I never thought he would pass away like that. Once I see the body, it will tear me down,” she said. “I’m glad he died doing something he liked. But he’s leaving behind a lot of people.”
As Janie Chavez contemplates a life without her husband, she is surrounded by his family.
And she says she’ll hold tight to his memories by continuing her education at College of the Sequoias. One day, she plans to become a counselor.
“Javi wanted me to go to school,” she said. “He wanted me to stay in school.”
i The reporter can be reached at tlamonica@visalia.gannett.com.
Rest In Peace
Ellie