WAYCROSS, GA – The Waycross community came together Sunday to celebrate the birthday of Sgt. Kennedy Sanders and honor her service.
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Six months have gone by since Sanders’ family lost her while she was on deployment in Israel.
She was one of three people killed in a drone strike on a U.S. base in Jordan.
Now, instead of celebrating what would have been her 25th birthday with her, they held a memorial dinner and honored her service.
“It’s been very hard for our family,” Oneida Oliver Sanders, Sgt. Kennedy Sanders’ mother said. “We’re still reaching a lot of our first, this is our first birthday, you know, not being here. It’s kind of hard for us, but the community is making it better.”
The dinner was also a fundraiser for the Sgt. Kennedy Foundation.
“We want to just be able to use the funds we’re using this foundation to benefit some of the people in the community. Youth sports programs, parents who have lost children, different things that we want to be able to contribute to in her name,” Oneida Sanders said.
RELATED: ‘She was serving our country’: Community pays respects to Army Sergeant Kennedy Sanders
Friends from her unit were also in attendance, including James Gurley who was at Tower 22 with Kennedy Sanders.
“The night before the incident, unfortunately, we were up late, making keychains for the unit. And you might see a little bit earlier than normal, where she was just talking about life, different things that we wanted to do and Sanders expressed that she wanted to go AGR and I told her you don’t have anything stopping you, go do it,” Gurley said.
Gurley said it’s been tough for him since the day Kennedy Sanders was killed.
“It’s been bad,” Gurley said. “I have some days where, you know, I have a big support, where they do help, keeping me in a good place. But honestly, it’s, it’s still something that’s very surreal. Where it’s like, I know what’s going on, but I don’t, I’m trying to figure out, in my head, what I could’ve done differently, that maybe could have changed the outcome. So I’m getting help seeing therapists and stuff you know, trying to get myself to advance in life for myself emotionally.”
Despite their hurt, they shared funny memories they had with her and celebrated her life.
“She just had a bubbly personality,” Gurley said. “It was just love. She had that dose of spirit. She’ll try anything.”
A funny, loving, and encouraging person who will forever be missed.