Welcome home
Students greet Iraq war veteran

By Brian Hassler
Staff Writer

SHIPROCK — Students in Luci Charley's kindergarten class have been waiting to meet their hero for months.

Their wish finally came true when Kendrick Lapahie walked into the classroom on Tuesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.

Lapahie had been in Iraq since March 5, 2004 and had been receiving letters and packages from the class since October.

"They were anxious," said Charley. "I told them last week that he was back in the states and they kept asking when he was coming over. I told them yesterday that he was coming and this morning they could not wait. They kept asking what time he was coming. There are some boys here that need a brotherly or fatherly figure and they found him and they have a connection with him."

Anticipation grew as Lapahie waited in the hall as Charley lined the students up in the classroom. Upon entering the classroom, the students cheered for their hero and ran to hug him.

"I never expected anything like that when I was leaving," said Lapahie. "My wife told me and it felt great knowing that there were people that cared about me that didn't even know me. It was great seeing them and I had to give them all hugs."

The idea for the correspondence began with a conversation that Charley had with her daughter and a friend of her daughter. The friend, Nicole Lapahie, is the wife of Kendrick and Charley got the class involved in the Lapahies' lives soon after.

"My daughter is a friend of his wife, they're good friends," said Charley. "One day we started talking and I thought about us as a class doing something like that because we wanted to be able to help someone. We sent him pictures, the children did their own drawings and we even did a care package for him."

Charley had given the class two days to bring stuff to class for the package and soon there was over 60 pounds worth of food and other items for Lapahie.

The drawings had a strong effect on Lapahie and helped when getting through to family wasn't an option.

"It really took effect in down time when it's hard to get a hold of family members," he said. "I had the kid's pictures up in my area next to the picture of my wife and it brought morale up for me. That was my morale saver."

More hugs were given and tears were shed by both students and teachers now that their hero and their brother was home.

"I took leave in October and came back, and they have been writing me ever since, since then they've been a part of my life," said Lapahie. "Once I came back my first priority was coming to see the kids and to thank them."

— Brian Hassler is The Independent's Four Corners reporter based in Shiprock. Contact him at (505) 360-7862 or via email at brianhassler@hotmail.com