| From Times
Dispatch Oct 13, 2006:
Atlee graduate killed in Iraq
Mechanicsville soldier remembered for his charisma, love for life
BY MEREDITH BONNY
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Oct 13, 2006
Girls loved Shane Adcock. He had those big blue eyes. But there was just one girl he loved.
Adcock, a captain in the Army's 25th Infantry Division who grew up in Mechanicsville, married Jennifer Skeele on June 4 -- a month before he deployed to Iraq.
Yesterday, Jennifer, a 28-year-old Duke University student, grieved for the husband she promised to love forever and the life together that they had just begun.
"God, there was so much that I loved about him," she said. "His sincerity, his loyalty, his charisma and his love for life. It was contagious."
Adcock, a 1997 graduate of Atlee High School, was killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in Kirkuk province in an attack that wounded two other soldiers.
He was the 87th Virginian to be killed in the war in Iraq.
Jennifer, who met Shane in 2004, said she returned from class in Durham, N.C., on Wednesday about 10 p.m. to find two Army officers waiting for her at home.
"Inside, I knew," she said. "I knew something was wrong. I talked to him Tuesday evening and told him that I didn't have class the next morning. But his computer wasn't on. I thought it was strange he didn't call."
That was about the same time that Adcock's parents, Maris and Vera Adcock, were notified of their only son's death.
"You cry a lot, you pray a lot and you depend on the grace of God to get you through this," Vera Adcock said.
A field artillery officer, Adcock had served in Afghanistan for more than a year before his most recent deployment to Iraq. He graduated from Longwood University in 2003 and was the first graduate of the school's ROTC program to be killed in the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Yesterday, university officials expressed their sadness.
"I had the good fortune to know Shane quite well," said Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs at Longwood in a written statement. "Shane had a real zest for life, and we are all very saddened by this tragic news. On behalf of all of us at Longwood, I want to extend our prayers to his family and friends. He will be missed."
Adcock was a popular student, Pierson said.
As a youth, he was active in the Boy Scouts, attending the National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in 1993 and 1997.
He was involved in sports at Atlee High School, where he wrestled and received the Atlee Ruritan Social Development Committee Scholarship, and in campus activities at Longwood.
"He was a great guy," said Brian Jalbert, a 2001 Longwood graduate and Adcock's best friend.
Adcock served as an officer with Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity and a member of the fraternity's judicial board.
Vera Adcock said her son had taken "the extended program" at Longwood, a six-year course that began with a concentration in girls and parties.
He loved outdoor sports such as surfing and rock climbing. He was close to his younger sister, Shannon, who gave birth to twins last Friday.
Adcock called his sister from Iraq before she went into delivery.
"He wanted to offer words of encouragement," Vera Adcock said.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete. Details will be announced as they become available.
Vera Adcock said she was a proud mother but a disappointed one.
"I always wanted my baby to come back home so that he and Jen could have a long and happy life together." |
