Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and perform all types of noble deeds.
In Smyrna, TN, mother of four Pamela Brown read in a local paper that the vile Westboro cult, led by Fred Phelps was coming to Middle Tennessee to picket two funerals of Army National Guardsman killed in Iraq.
From the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle:
Pamela Brown wants a wall of people to stand silently and peacefully between anti-gay protesters and participants in today's funeral for an Army National Guardsman killed in Iraq.
Brown, a Smyrna wife and mother of four children, said she was outraged after reading in newspapers Thursday that members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., would demonstrate against homosexuality at today's 2 p.m. funeral for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn of Lebanon. The service will be at First United Methodist Church, 300 Sam Hager St., Smyrna.
Westboro Baptist members announced they also will protest outside the funeral of Spc. Gary Reese Jr. of Ashland City, who served in the Army National Guard's 278th Regimental Combat Team with Hawn. On Aug. 13, Hawn and Reese were killed while on patrol in Tuz, Iraq, when their vehicle was hit by rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
Reese's funeral will be at 1 p.m. today at the National Guard Armory, 1935 state Highway 12 South, in Ashland City.
"I thought about the Hawn family's 12-year-old daughter," Brown said Friday afternoon. "I thought it would be awful that during this sad day, she would have to see them and read their signs. I felt I just had to do something. It came to me that we should build a wall of people to shield the family from the protesters."
Brown picked up the Yellow Pages and started calling churches in Smyrna. At Stones River Baptist Church, secretary Zanie Mullins, answered and immediately responded to Brown's plea. Mullins starting spreading the word through the church's prayer circle phone and e-mail lists. Other churches responded in kind, and the message was moving. She called Nashville daytime talk radio host Phil Valentine, who started talking about the idea.
Brown said her husband, Keith Brown, and Sgt. Hawn worked at the Nissan auto plant in Smyrna before Hawn was deployed to Iraq, but the families had never met. Mullins said Stones River Baptist had offered support for the 278th in the past.
By 4 p.m. Friday, Pamela Brown said she was confident a sizable crowd would assemble for the funeral today to shield the mourners from the Kansas zealots. She doesn't want any confrontations or verbal exchanges, and trusts her churchgoing neighbors will act with dignity.
"We want the family to know we support them, and we want to honor Sergeant Hawn for his bravery and sacrifice," she said.
Pamela Brown. Hero.
(Still awaiting word what happened in Tennessee today. Stay tuned.)
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