Justin Wrisley Garvey

TOWNSEND - Sgt. Justin Wrisley Garvey, 23, a talented athlete who left Townsend for a distinguished military career that ended in tragedy, died Sunday, July 20, during an ambush in Iraq. He was the husband of Kate Garner, his next-door neighbor during high school, and they celebrated their first wedding anniversary on June 1.

Sgt. Garvey, was a member of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, and will be honored with the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. He was killed during an attack by a rocket-propelled grenade near Tal Afar.

He was born in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Feb. 28, 1980, a son of Gregg W. Garvey of Keystone Heights, Fla., and Angie (Perkett) Walsh of Townsend. He resided in Florida until 1991 when his family moved to Proctor, Vt. He graduated from Proctor High School in 1998, and was captain and a standout player on the school's varsity soccer team. He and his family moved to Townsend in 1998 after his graduation from high school.

Sgt. Garvey joined the National Guard while still a junior in high school to honor his stepfather, Ron Walsh, who served in the National Guard before he died in a motorcycle accident in 1994. Following graduation he enlisted in the Army.

He completed his basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. and then returned to Townsend, where he worked at Lorden Oil. In 1999, he decided to return to the Army full time and was stationed in Afghanistan before being sent to Iraq.

While in the service, Sgt. Garvey earned many honors including, four Army Achievement Medals, the Expert Infantryman's Badge, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and the National Defense Service Ribbon. He attended the Mortars Logistics Office School, where he was a distinguished honor graduate, and also attended a Primary Leadership Development Course and Air Assault School.

He enjoyed riding his dirt bike, hunting, snowmobiling, and four-wheeling.

Besides his parents, and his wife, who resides in Oak Grove, Ky., near her husband's home base of Fort Campbell, Sgt. Garvey is survived by a sister, Kristin Garvey; a brother, Adam Walsh, both of Townsend; his maternal grandmother, Dorothy Perkett, and his paternal grandmother, Lucille Garvey, both of Willsboro, N.Y.; his paternal great-grandparents, Alton and Marie Wrisley of Reber, N.Y.

He also leaves his mother-in-law, Susan Fucci and her husband David Boelke, of Proctor, Vt.; his father-in-law, Dean Garner and his wife Joan of Jackson, Tenn.; two sisters-in-law, Kristin Garner and Ellena Boelke; his wife's grandparents, Christine and Roger Rhodes of Luray, Tenn.; his wife's grandfather, Louis Fucci of Scotts Hill, Tenn.

He was also the grandson of the late Howard Perkett, Carl Garvey, Marilyn Fucci.