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Marilyn Lea Gabbard (1960-2007)

GABBARD, VAN CANNON, BANFORD, DANIELSON, WILSON, SCOTT, POMMIER, NOREM, ROBINSON

Posted By: Ames Tribune
Date: 1/27/2007 at 11:09:48

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Friday, January 26, 2007.

Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, formerly of Boone and Waterloo, died Saturday, Jan. 20, while serving her country in Iraq. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the family and a memorial will be established.

Funeral services are pending with the Schroeder-Walter Funeral Home at Fifth and Story streets of Boone.

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Saturday, January 27, 2007.

Command Sergeant Major Marilyn L. Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, formerly of Boone and Waterloo, died Saturday, Jan. 20, while serving her country in Iraq. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Boone High School Gymnasium, 500 Seventh St., in Boone. Burial will be in the Fair View Cemetery north of Madrid.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m., with the family present from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday, Jan. 29, at the Central Christian Church, Eighth and Greene streets in Boone.

A complete obituary will be published Sunday.

Schroeder-Walter Funeral Home at Fifth and Story streets in Boone is handling the arrangements.

THE AMES TRIBUNE, Ames, Story County, Iowa, Sunday, January 28, 2007.

Command Sgt. Maj. Marilyn Lea Gabbard, 46, of Polk City, and formerly of Boone and Waterloo, was killed Saturday, Jan. 20, when the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in which she was a passenger crashed northeast of Baghdad, Iraq.

She deployed from Iowa on Dec. 16, 2006, assuming her duties as the Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the National Guard Affairs Team in Baghdad, Iraq, on Dec. 26, 2006.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 30, at the Boone High School Gymnasium, 500 Seventh St., Boone. Chaplain (Capt.) Gary Selof will officiate.

Military personnel are encouraged to take the military shuttle from the Boone Iowa National Guard Armory to Boone High School, with the last bus leaving the Armory at 10:40 a.m.

Burial will be in Fairview Cemetery, north of Madrid. Full military honors will be conducted at the graveside by the Iowa Army National Guard.

Marilyn was born Oct. 29, 1960, in Boone, the daughter of Melvin Lee and Mary Lou (Banford) Van Cannon. She graduated from Boone High School in 1979. She has lived most all her life in Boone and some years in Waterloo.

She married Edward Deloy Gabbard March 16, 1990, in Waterloo.

She began her 27-year military career as a private in the Iowa Army National Guard on Oct. 28, 1979, serving as a personnel management specialist with Detachment 2, 47th Adjutant General Company, Boone. She last served as the State Operations Sergeant Major at the Iowa National Guard's Joint Forces Headquarters in Johnston.

Upon her promotion to Command Sergeant Major on April 1, 2001, she became the Iowa National Guard's first female Command Sergeant Major and only the second woman promoted to Sergeant Major in the Iowa National Guard. Among her military decorations are three awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, which is bestowed to "members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguished themselves by outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service to the United States."

She also has served as the national secretary for the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States, as past president (Army) of the Enlisted Association of the Iowa National Guard and as past president of the Iowa Sergeants Major Association. She was a member of the American Legion of Boone and Polk City.

She enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren. She also enjoyed scuba diving, snorkeling, roller coasters, fishing, golfing and playing card games with family.

She was preceded in death by her father and her grandparents.

She is survived by her husband, Edward D. Gabbard; one daughter, Melissa Danielson, and her husband, Ben; one step-son, Terry Gabbard, and his wife, Cathy; step-daughters Sherri Gabbard, Kerri Wilson and husband Rick, Gerri Gabbard, Mari Jo Scott and husband Harold, Deborah Pommier and husband Michael; her mother, Mary Van Cannon; her sister, Marla Norem; her brothers, Mark Van Cannon and Mike Van Cannon and his wife, Carol; her grandchildren, Benjamin and Austin Danielson; and step-grandchildren, Paul Gabbard, Sunnie Robinson and husband Sean, Christopher Gabbard, Cassandra, Brianne and Courtney Wilson, Jessica and Jeremy Scott, and Kayla Pommier.

Schroeder-Walter Funeral Home at Fifth and Story streets, Boone, is in charge of arrangements.

A visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, at the Central Christian Church, Eighth and Greene streets, Boone. Family will be present to greet friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the family and a memorial will be established in memory of Command Sergeant Major Marilyn Lea Gabbard.

http://www.amestrib.com
 

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