SAGINAW -- The flag flies proudly outside Kimberly Napoleon's house this time each year. It’s a cherished season to remember her Army days and her Army husband, Terrill Napoleon.
"He was handsome," Kimberly recalls.
They met at Fort Bragg and eventually got married. But when Terrill passed away six years later from a service-related illness, Kimberly was left alone to raise their young daughter, Tikyra.
"And I'm wondering what am I gonna do, how am I gonna make it,” Kimberly said.
She did though, through faith and lots of prayer. She completed her military service and moved back to her childhood home in Saginaw.
Today, she's remarried. And Tikyra, 21, is in college.
But Terrill is never far from their memory.
"There's pictures, and you have to keep telling those stories of when you were small,” Kimberly described.
She now serves with the VFW Post 2622 and American Legion Post 312 in Buena Vista Township, where she helps veterans and their families every day.
"You ask yourself, you know, what can I do to give back? And I think if Terrill were here, he would be actively involved, doing what he can and supporting in any way he could,” Kimberly said.
She said her own loss has given her perspective on how to approach the grief of others.
"Throw your arms around those service members’ families that are left here on the home front. We have a responsibility to them. We do."
This Memorial Day, the Army wife, mother and veteran is challenging people to embrace and support our troops - the ones who've gone on, the ones serving and the ones coming home.
Kimberly will take part in the Memorial Day parade in Saginaw, which ends with a wreath laying presentation at Hoyt Park.
