Todd A. Motley dies 'of wounds suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle during combat operations'

Spc. Todd Motley is being remembered as an outgoing, caring man who put others before himself.

"He made sure me and the girls came first," said his wife, Karen Motley, 23.

Motley, 23, of Clare, died Friday in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when a bomb exploded near his vehicle, the U.S. Department of Defense said Monday. Muqdadiyah is about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. He was assigned to the 6th Squadron, 9th U.S. Cavalry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood in Texas.

The couple were both 14 when they met at a summer event by Mid Michigan Community College. Both are graduates of Pioneer High School in Clare.

They were married on March 10, 2005, 11 days before Todd was sent to basic training at Fort Knox, KY. They have two daughters, Hannah, 2, and Kaylee, 9 months. Hannah was 2 months old when he left for Fort Knox.

"It wasn't too bad," Motley said of Todd being at basic. "It was harder with two kids."

Motley described her husband as an artist who loved to draw pictures and spend time with his family at the movies and the local park. She said he decided early in life he wanted to join the Army.

"Ever since he was little, that was something he wanted to do," Motley said.

He was sent to Fort Hood after basic training and was deployed to Iraq last October. Karen Motley was pregnant with their second child and had moved back to Clare earlier, in July 2006. Kaylee was born on Dec. 12, 2006.

"I was scared at first, but I knew that's what he wanted to do," she said of his deployment. "He said he wasn't any better than anybody else and that's what he had to do.

"He knew when he joined the Army that that was a possibility," she added. "We had discussed it."

The couple kept in regular contact while he was in Iraq, although Motley said they could only talk about once a month.

"He said he wasn't scared," she said. "There were a couple of times he said he was trapped, like it was pretty bad over there. But he said he was never scared."

Motley learned of her husband's death Friday night.

"I didn't believe them," she said. "They kept asking if they could come in and I really couldn't say anything."

She said the reality of his death hit her Wednesday morning after several people sent her pictures of Todd.

"I knew he wasn't coming back," she said.

Now she must prepare what to say to her two daughters when they are older.

"I'm going to tell them this was his dream and he was fighting for our freedom," she said. "That he was our hero.

"Everybody is proud of him," she said.

A memorial fund has been set up for their two daughters, care of Karen Motley, at Chemical Bank. Anyone wishing to contribute can do so at any Chemical Bank branch.

He also is survived by his mother, Renee; two brothers, Ian and Nickolas; and maternal grandmother, Marcia Dolin. They all are of Hoxie, AR. Funeral arrangements are incomplete and are being handled by Stocking Funeral Home of Harrison.

From the Midland Daily News