More Musings on the Arizona Shooting…

Out of all the news and discussions, accusations and controversy swirling around the Arizona massacre, something else stood out.  Something that deserves more than a few snippets mentioned here and there in the news coverage of this story. The heroism of two husbands who tried to protect their wives from the attack...using their own body as a shield.

From the Washington Post about Mavvy and Dorwan Stoddard

Dorwan Stoddard, 76, died shielding his wife from the barrage of bullets. Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard, 75, was shot in the leg several times but is expected to recover, friends said.

"He was a hero," said neighbor Marge Osterman.

Friends and church members knew well the Stoddards' love story: They were high school classmates in Tucson who moved away, married other people and made a life. When their spouses died, they moved back and reconnected. Both were leaders in their church benevolence ministry.

"They normally go out to breakfast every Saturday," said their pastor, the Rev. Mike Nowak. On this Saturday, Mavy told Nowak, she had wanted to tell their congresswoman that she was doing a good job.

I read somewhere else that Mavvy talked to him for about ten minutes after the shootings, his breath labored...and then he stopped breathing. 

The other couple.....Dorothy and George Morris...high school sweethearts

Dorothy Morris, known to her friends as "Dot," was a retired homemaker and secretary who lived north of Tucson in Oro Valley, Ariz. Dorothy died in the shooting. Her husband George, a former Marine and retired airline pilot, remains hospitalized after suffering two gunshot wounds. One of the couple's daughters said George Morris tried to protect his wife of 50 years by throwing her to the ground and trying to get on top of her to shield her. The couple both grew up in Reno, Nev., and were high school sweethearts.

How much these two men must have loved their wives…