Family remembers Justin Jarrett

When Army Spc. Justin Robert Jarrett, a 21-year-old Jonesboro resident, was killed by an explosion in Iraq on Oct. 2, he left his wife Kathleen Jarrett earlier than planned. However, she said that didn’t stop him from keeping every promise he made to her.

“When we first met he kept making all these promises to me, like he would take care of me forever, he would do everything for me and he would make me happy,” Kathleen Jarrett said. “He kept all of those promises.”

Justin Jarrett’s coffin was flown into Atlanta Thursday, covered by the American flag.

“It was given full honors. All the traffic was stopped and every street was blocked,” said Caroline Nicolella, the 2003 Eagle’s Landing High School graduate’s mother.

The family will be accepting visitors today from 6 to 8 p.m., and Saturday 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at the Ford-Stewart Funeral Home in Jonesboro. The funeral will be held on Sunday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro. He will be buried at Crestlawn Cemetery in McCaysville, Ga.

“We still don’t believe it,” said Nicolella. “We just knew he was coming home for Christmas. It just felt like he was coming home for good.”

Nicolella said Jarrett was going to be discharged in February and he had already made plans to move to the Blue Ridge Mountains and start a janitorial and industrial supply company.

“He just bought his wife a new car and everything seemed to be set in motion for his return,” Nicolella said.

Kathleen Jarrett said she was handling his death well, thanks to support from family and friends. She said his 4-year-old step daughter Amariss, whom he planned to legally adopt, is slowly beginning to understand what happened. Justin Jarrett also leaves behind a 9-month-old baby girl named Kayden.

“It was a knock on my door,” said Kathleen Jarrett. “There were two officers dressed in class As (uniforms). He always told me if something happened to him they would come.”

She said she knew her husband’s fate as soon as she saw the officers, but didn’t want to believe it.

“I just kept asking them if my husband was OK,” she said.

She said Justin Jarrett had a big heart and was an amazing father.

“We were trying to have a lot (of children), around five,” she said.

Nicolella said her son loved to play G.I. Joe and revered the military. She said he tried to sign up for the Army when he was 17, but she wouldn’t sign the waiver for him. He signed up for the Army as soon as he turned 18, Nicolella said.

He served in Iraq as a gunner.

“He loved hard and he worked hard. He was just special,” said Nicolella.

From the Clayton News Daily

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