Our walk was dedicated in honor of:
Air Force SrA Zachary Rayl, Age 23 of Kingston, MI.
Died Jul. 23, 2023
SrA Zachary Rayl, passed away on 7-23-2023 at the age of 23. He is the son of Marcia Clark (USA) Veteran, stepfather Karl Clark, and the late Phillip Rayl. Zachary was born on 8-19-1999 in Houston, Missouri. He enlisted in the Air Force on 12-10-2019. Zachary was an Airborne Radio Operator on the Awacs aircrafts at Tinker Air Force Base. Zachary graduated high school in Kingston, Michigan. He was a huge part of their robotics team. Zachary loved fishing, video games, bowling, miniature golf, hockey and the Detroit Red Wings. Zachary has 2 brothers Andrew (Bri)Brown and Matthew (Lexi) Olauson. Loving grandparents Tom & Cheryl Putnam and 4 step siblings, Aaron, Felishia, Dillon, and Lance.
My son Zachary took his own life. I had no idea he was suicidal until it was to late. I will never understand why and the death of his pain. He is missed and loved everyday. To my son Zachary, I pray you are at peace and can see how much your mother is hurting. I loved you first, now and always. Your life was a blessing and I will always treasure all of our memories. Let your soul and spirit fly free and visit me often. I love you Zachary Rayl.
In Loving memory of my son Zachary Rayl. His life mattered and so does yours.
We started our walk on May 10, 2024. We started out my meeting his mother Marcia and his step father Karl up at the War Memorial park. We visited for a while and we got to know Zachary a little better. We then walked up North Main and once we reached Taco Bell we said our goodbyes with Marcia and Karl. We then continued our walk. I won’t go into a lot of detail on what roads we took as we walked many different roads here in Cumberland County. You can see on the map and by the photo’s it was quite a walk. During our walk we got to visit with many different people and we got to share Zachary’s story. It was an experience that I will never forget. We walked 40.07 miles. I want to thank my friend Robert for walking with us. I want to thank everyone who honked, waved, and saluted in helping us honor this hero. We had a new record in honks on this walk. We had 896 honks. It was an amazing walk. This walk was to bring awareness to Veteran Suicide. I also want to mention that we were doing a fundraiser for “Mothers of Veteran Suicide” a non profit who helps these mothers. They are very close to my heart and I have all these mothers in my heart..
Air Force SrA Zachary Rayl will not be forgotten !
