
SPRINGFIELD, Vt. — Army Staff Sgt. Scott Rose told his wife Michele last year that if he were killed in Iraq he wanted his funeral to be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in her hometown.
On Nov. 22 Rose, who was killed when the helicopter he was in went down near Tikrit, Iraq, got his wish.
The Rev. Peter Williams recalls Rose was struck by the church and its community when he and his wife visited last Christmas.
There was something about the church, with its stained glass windows honoring the saints, and its vaulted painted ceiling, overlooking the Black River and downtown Springfield, that spoke to Rose, who was born in Massachusetts and grew up in North...