Memorial scholarship benefit May 15 in honor of Zachary Gullett
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
It has been three years since a community lined the streets of Hillsboro to welcome home a fallen hometown hero. Since then, a day has not gone by that the family of PFC Zachary R. Gullett doesn’t think about him and his sacrifice he made for his country.
The 20-year-old Hillsboro High School graduate was serving in Iraq with the 984th MP Company when he died May 1, 2007. Weeks after his death, his friends in the community reached out to the Gullett family to work on the creation of a scholarship, to honor Zachary’s memory and to assist in the future endeavors of Hillsboro High School students.
The gesture is a fitting remembrance of the soldier who wanted to help his community by becoming a police officer, according to his parents, Mike and Connie Gullett.
“The scholarship was actually started by students who knew Zachary and (his brother) Ben,” said Connie Gullett. “They got together after Zachary died and they wanted to do something, and they decided a scholarship was what they wanted to do. Something that would live on and on.”
The $500 scholarship is awarded annually to a Hillsboro High School senior, with preference given to students who plan to major in criminal justice, and participate in band – like Zachary.
To raise funds for the Zachary R. Gullett memorial scholarship, a benefit spaghetti dinner will be held Saturday, May 15 at VFW Post 9094 in Hillsboro from 4-8 p.m., with a raffle and Split the Pot.
The Gulletts hope that the fundraiser will help them to eventually be able to increase the amount of the scholarship or help them increase the number of scholarships awarded, and allow the community to participate in carrying on Zachary’s memory.
“We want to get more funds in the scholarship so that we can help more deserving students,” Connie said.
“People can donate food items like spaghetti, or raffle items, or if they want to give money directly to the scholarship fund, it is set up at Merchants National Bank. We’re hoping to do it annually from now on, and we’re hoping everybody comes out and participates.”
Connie said that the soldiers who served with Zachary contact his family each year on the anniversary of his death and on his birthday in July.
Fighting back tears is difficult when the Gulletts speak about Zachary. Looking around their home on Beechwood Road outside Hillsboro, filled with photographs, medals and flags commemorating Zachary’s service, Connie said that in a way time helps them cope, but each day she still misses her son.
“In a way it gets easier, but it’s still hard. He’s in my thoughts every day,” she said.
“Time heals us, but it doesn’t cure us,” Mike said.
Recently, the pain of coping with their loss has been more difficult with the repeated vandalism of Zachary’s grave. Mike said that in the past five weeks Zachary’s and surrounding graves at the Hillsboro Cemetery have had their decorations ripped off, stolen, and broken.
In December, decorations and poinsettias were stolen off his grave.
The vandals struck again last week on the anniversary of his death, and it was a heartbreaking discovery for the family trying to honor their son.
“I go there every day, to his grave, on my way home from work,” Connie said. “So I had been there (April 30). About noon (May 1, the third anniversary of Zachary’s death) I went to his grave. I noticed the solar lights we have around his grave were broken and gone, and I noticed that the surrounding graves had some sort of vandalism, smashed little statues, flowers that were on the graves were gone. They’ve taken some really heavy stones and smashed them over the graves. The veterans’ flags, they just break them in two and destroy them.”
The Hillsboro Police Department is investigating, and does regular patrols through the cemetery, the Gulletts said.
“That’s very hard,” Connie said. “Obviously it’s somebody who has never lost anybody who has been close to them and has no respect.”[[In-content Ad]]
The 20-year-old Hillsboro High School graduate was serving in Iraq with the 984th MP Company when he died May 1, 2007. Weeks after his death, his friends in the community reached out to the Gullett family to work on the creation of a scholarship, to honor Zachary’s memory and to assist in the future endeavors of Hillsboro High School students.
The gesture is a fitting remembrance of the soldier who wanted to help his community by becoming a police officer, according to his parents, Mike and Connie Gullett.
“The scholarship was actually started by students who knew Zachary and (his brother) Ben,” said Connie Gullett. “They got together after Zachary died and they wanted to do something, and they decided a scholarship was what they wanted to do. Something that would live on and on.”
The $500 scholarship is awarded annually to a Hillsboro High School senior, with preference given to students who plan to major in criminal justice, and participate in band – like Zachary.
To raise funds for the Zachary R. Gullett memorial scholarship, a benefit spaghetti dinner will be held Saturday, May 15 at VFW Post 9094 in Hillsboro from 4-8 p.m., with a raffle and Split the Pot.
The Gulletts hope that the fundraiser will help them to eventually be able to increase the amount of the scholarship or help them increase the number of scholarships awarded, and allow the community to participate in carrying on Zachary’s memory.
“We want to get more funds in the scholarship so that we can help more deserving students,” Connie said.
“People can donate food items like spaghetti, or raffle items, or if they want to give money directly to the scholarship fund, it is set up at Merchants National Bank. We’re hoping to do it annually from now on, and we’re hoping everybody comes out and participates.”
Connie said that the soldiers who served with Zachary contact his family each year on the anniversary of his death and on his birthday in July.
Fighting back tears is difficult when the Gulletts speak about Zachary. Looking around their home on Beechwood Road outside Hillsboro, filled with photographs, medals and flags commemorating Zachary’s service, Connie said that in a way time helps them cope, but each day she still misses her son.
“In a way it gets easier, but it’s still hard. He’s in my thoughts every day,” she said.
“Time heals us, but it doesn’t cure us,” Mike said.
Recently, the pain of coping with their loss has been more difficult with the repeated vandalism of Zachary’s grave. Mike said that in the past five weeks Zachary’s and surrounding graves at the Hillsboro Cemetery have had their decorations ripped off, stolen, and broken.
In December, decorations and poinsettias were stolen off his grave.
The vandals struck again last week on the anniversary of his death, and it was a heartbreaking discovery for the family trying to honor their son.
“I go there every day, to his grave, on my way home from work,” Connie said. “So I had been there (April 30). About noon (May 1, the third anniversary of Zachary’s death) I went to his grave. I noticed the solar lights we have around his grave were broken and gone, and I noticed that the surrounding graves had some sort of vandalism, smashed little statues, flowers that were on the graves were gone. They’ve taken some really heavy stones and smashed them over the graves. The veterans’ flags, they just break them in two and destroy them.”
The Hillsboro Police Department is investigating, and does regular patrols through the cemetery, the Gulletts said.
“That’s very hard,” Connie said. “Obviously it’s somebody who has never lost anybody who has been close to them and has no respect.”[[In-content Ad]]