David Staats remembered by wife

Meagan Staats still remembers the first letter she wrote to her future husband, David, in December 2001.

She didn’t know the single Fort Carson soldier stationed in Iraq; she just got his name and address from a friend.

Her generic letter began, “Dear Soldier.”

By next spring, Meagan and David had fallen for each other, even though they had never met, and he begged her to attend his May homecoming ceremony at Fort Carson. At first she refused — it was too much pressure for their first face-toface meeting.

“Sure enough, I showed up with my banner,” Meagan said. “It says, ‘Welcome home, David Staats.’”

She still has that banner. She’ll bring it to his funeral Saturday in Colorado Springs.

Staff Sgt. David Staats, 30, died in Iraq on Dec. 16 after a bomb exploded near his Humvee. The blast also killed Colorado Springs native Seth Stanton.

Born in Virginia and raised in Arizona, Staats called Colorado home.

“When you’re in the military, home is where the heart is,” Meagan said. “It’s only appropriate that I bury my husband here.”

Staats enlisted in the Army soon after graduating high school in Glendale, Ariz. His 8-year-old son, Tyler, lives there with his ex-wife. Staats’ parents and sister live nearby.

He connected with Colorado Springs when he was transferred to Fort Carson in May 2001. He was deployed to Iraq in December 2001 and a few weeks later started corresponding with Meagan, who graduated from Palmer High School.

They got married Jan. 23, 2003.

Staats left the Army in late 2004, but he, Meagan, and Meagan’s daughter, Katie, now 8, stayed in the Springs. But the Army was in his blood, Meagan said, and he reenlisted in 2005.

“He told my mom he didn’t finish his job,” she said.

Staats shared a close bond with Meagan’s parents, Homer and Cathy Galloway, who moved to Colorado Springs in 1990.

Homer Galloway took him fishing at John Martin Reservoir near La Junta during the soldier’s first weekend back from Iraq. They talked about tanks, which Galloway worked with during his years in the Army.

“We had a bond right away,” Galloway said.

Staats was always willing to help with projects around the house.

“You needed it done, he'd do it,” Galloway said. “He’d work on your car, string your Christmas lights so your house looked like the Griswolds,’” he said, referring to the family from the movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

Staats treated Meagan’s daughter, Katie, as his own, and in turn the Galloways “adopted” his son, Tyler. There are no “step” sons or daughters, Galloway said.

Staats moved with Meagan and Katie to Fort Hood, Texas, in September 2005, and about two months ago he was deployed to Iraq for a second tour.

Now the family is trying to absorb the reality of his death.

Meagan plans to move back to Colorado in May after Katie finishes second grade. It’s the state Staats loved to explore nearly every weekend he lived here.

“He would say, ‘What do you want to do? Let’s go make some memories,’” Meagan said.

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