Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Family life center honors memory of fallen soldier

The mother of an Army sergeant helps keep his memory alive through a family life center at her church.

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published March 8, 2006

	[Times photo: William Dunkley]
	Rachel Barrett says her faith and church family have given her comfort since her son's death last June.
	Sgt. James Douglas Stewart

ST. PETERSBURG - Sgt. James Douglas Stewart didn't live to marry and have the children for which he yearned. Last June in Iraq, a roadside bomb took the 29-year-old soldier's life and snuffed out his dreams.

In the days after, his mother, Rachel Barrett, 49, knew exactly how she should honor his memory. Instead of flowers, she suggested that mourners make a donation to a project at her church that was being planned to benefit young people and their families.

So far, more than $70,000 has been raised, in small and large increments. Barrett gave a portion herself, but will not disclose the amount.

"That's between me and the Lord," she said.

On Sunday, the congregation at 3901 Park St. N will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for a family life center, a building that will feature a gymnasium, youth room, nursery and Sunday school rooms.

"It's kind of ironic. My son wanted a family so bad and he could never find the right girl he felt comfortable with," Barrett said.

The donations are a wonderful tribute to her son, she said.

"I just think that it is wonderful that we could erect a building that would bring young girls and young boys and their families so that they could know Christ and go to heaven some day," she said. "I wanted something that would live on."

Her son will be recognized with a plaque that will hang in the finished building. It will be presented to her during Sunday's ceremony, which take place about 11:30 a.m.

The Rev. Dan Jeffers, pastor of the 400-member Park Street Baptist Church, said the building will help Barrett keep the memory of her son alive for future generations. "The plaque that we're going to give her will kind of indicate that thought," he said.

The exact words will be, "In honor of James Stewart, the future generations that pass through this building are grateful for your sacrifice."

Sgt. Stewart, who had switched places with a private moments before his armed vehicle was attacked, was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart posthumously.

Sgt. Stewart, known as Stewie or Sgt. Stew to his colleagues, but Doug to his family, attended Dixie Hollins High School. He was a member of the ROTC as a freshman.

He left high school to live for a short while with his father in Georgia, but returned to St. Petersburg and earned a high school diploma through GED studies. Months before he celebrated his 21st birthday, he got a commercial license. For a while he drove trucks and later a taxi for BATS.

The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks changed his life, his mother said. He told her that he wanted to serve his country. He joined the Army, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-grandfather. It was a family tradition, Barrett said.

"I was in the Reserves when I became pregnant with him. So he was actually conceived in the Army. I just never thought that he would be born and die in the Army," she said.

Her faith and church family have given her comfort, said Barrett, a bookkeeper at Agora Leather Products in St. Petersburg. She said she's also grateful for the support of the Vet Center on First Avenue N, and the Ladies Auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars at Holiday Isles.

"It's hard," she said. "You just wonder why God has chosen you and you just have to say, "Okay, God, you've chosen me. Then what do you want me to do?' "

Before her son's death, she said God's answer had been to tithe, to teach Sunday school and to sing in the choir.

"Then he takes my son. It's like what else can I give and then I find out, I can use my son's death for his benefit."

[Last modified March 8, 2006, 01:42:19]