Sean Lyerly remembered

This weekend Central Texas lost another soldier to the war in Iraq.

Captain Sean Edward Lyerly of Pflugerville was one of 12 soldiers killed on Jan. 20. His Army Blackhawk helicopter was shot down just north of Baghdad.

Now, his wife Csilla is raising their 3-year-old son Zachary alone.

"He was very funny. He always had something to smile about, was always cracking a joke about something. Everything was fun with him, a 10-minute ride in the car was fun," she said.

Sean and Csilla met in Florida, married in 2002 and started a family with Zackary's birth. They renewed their vows in a Catholic wedding right before Sean left for Iraq last February.

Sean was a pilot in the Army National Guard and Texas A&M grad with a degree in horticulture. He had a fondness for flying, plants and his family.

"I couldn't have dreamed of a better husband or a father. He was supposed to build Zack a new playscape in the backyard and he was supposed to build us a new four-poster bed. He had already cut down the cedar trees at his father's ranch," Csilla said.

Now the flowers that Sean loved so much fill his house in the form of sympathy gifts, and Csilla said reality has not completely sunk in.

"He's the reason I wake up every morning and I'm just not sure what to do next," she said.

From News 8

Related Link:
Sean E. Lyerly killed in helicopter crash