Hanford High School Teachers, Students Mourn Death of Marine

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Story Published: Feb 8, 2007 at 6:40 PM PST

By Kerith Burke

Ten years ago, Travis Pfister walked the halls of Hanford High School. Thursday morning, students observed a moment of silence.

"You still have a connection to being a purple and gold Falcon, and just losing one of your own over there is tough to deal with," said Corey Kruzan, Hanford's student body president.

Travis lettered in wrestling and football. His old football coach remembered Travis's leadership on the '97 Falcon football team that ended Prosser's winning streak.

“When he was on the football field, he would work as hard as he could, every single play," said Joe Covington, a Hanford math teacher and Travis' former offensive line coach. "Those are the types of things you build character with. So when he went to the military, I knew for a fact he was going to do the same thing. He was not going to do something half way."

Travis's seventh grade teacher Susan Gailey remembered his infectious spirit. Her son played football with Travis.

“My son told me he was going back for a third tour of duty,” she explained. “I thought, he's a real Marine.”

Kruzan said students are brainstorming ideas to honor Travis. “Right now we're working on one of the greatest ways to honor someone by lowering the flag in their name, he said.”

They want to drop the school's flag to half mast, and they're waiting for a nod from the Governor.

But students have another plan in the works-- to hang a new flag in the gym.

“Dedicating it to Iraq war vets, with an emphisis on Sgt. Pfister. We'd like to dedicate something to a war that's really impacted the lives of students at Hanford right now,” exclaimed Kruzan.

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