Georgia soldier killed in Iraq (Ashley Henderson)

When she was looking at colleges, Ashley Henderson fell in love with Athens, and the University of Georgia quickly became her first choice for school.

“Basically, her only choice,” her father, Mark, recalled Friday.

Henderson, 23, was killed Tuesday in Iraq in a suicide attack on her convoy. A member of the 3rd Infantry Division, Ashley Henderson was to return home in about six weeks.

“She was a good leader,” Mark Henderson said of his daughter. “She enjoyed being a leader.”

Ashley Henderson grew up in Louisiana and New Jersey, but enjoyed living in the South.

“She always to come back to the South,” Mark Henderson said. “She fell in love with Athens.”

Even after she moved to Savannah, Ashley Henderson regularly returned to Athens. She rarely missed a University of Georgia football game.

“They were big ‘Dawg fans,” her father said. “She still had a lot of friends around Athens.”

She married Brian Huff about a year ago.

“She was a newlywed, so she was looking forward to coming home and buying a house,” her father said. “After the leave, that’s what she was focusing on - coming home.”

Read the rest at the Rome News Tribune