Soldier remembered with memorial skate event | News

It's been a month since a local soldier died in Afghanistan. Private First Class Jarrod Lallier was killed June 18th when a group dressed up as Afghan police turned their guns on him.

The Mead High School graduate was a member of the 82nd Airborne at the time of his death. Tuesday night the community held a unique memorial in his honor at Pattison's North Skating Rink. People rolled counter clockwise around the floor filled with people affected by Lallier's death.

"When we lost Jarrod it kinda felt like we lost part of us," said Pattison's owner Shaun Pattison.

The rink was the place Jarrod Lallier chose to work at when he was in high school.

"He had to practice before he applied for the job so he would come and practice before he got the job. But he enjoyed being with people and there's always lots of people. So it was perfect for him," said his sister Jessica Lallier.

Jarrod worked there two years. After school he joined the 82 Airborne Division. Tuesday the community gathered to remember him and those who serve with him.

"There is his ranking and the name right there and then on the other side it has the 3rd of July 1991 to 18th of June 2012," said friend Bailey Riley as she showed off the camo colored bracelets she was selling.

Along with the money raised from the the sale of those bracelets, proceeds from the event went to the Wounded Warriors Foundation.

"With everyone that my brothers friends have been wounded it just goes to them and it's a good cause," said Jarrod's brother Jordan Lallier.

Even though Jarrod carried the burden of war on his shoulders, he kept an upbeat spirit. His friends and fellow soldiers dubbed him Jer-bear. Partly because of his bear like hugs.

"It just brings back a lot of old memories of when he used to be here but it's a good thing to see people come out and support him," said his mother Kim Lallier.

For Jarrod, family was everything. It was that strength that allowed him to reach out to others.

His dad Gary Lallier said, "So he would have been out in the middle of this right now and having fun. He had that warm heart and this brings those types of memories back."