Our walk today was dedicated in honor of:
Air Force Airman Paige Renee Villers, Age 19, of Norton, OH.
Died Aug. 7, 2007
Paige’s mother called Paige her Yellow Rose.
Born in Dallas she was the perfect little girl growing up. Her mother says she was quiet, yet fiercely independent. Silly but mature. She had many jobs, but never missed a day of work. And that though cleaning her room wasn’t a priority, standing up for what she thought was right was. Michelle knew her daughter loved helping others, but didn’t know what color her hair would be the next week.
“Paige was so patriotic,” Michelle said. “She loved everything about being in the Air Force.”
After graduating from Norton High School, Paige had made her mind that she was going into the Air Force and went to the recruiter office in September of 2006.
Paige headed for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in March 2007.
Paige never got the chance to leave Lakeland to start what she hoped would be a 20-year Air Force career of helping others.
She started feeling sick during her fifth week of basic training, known as “Warrior Week.” The weeklong exercise readies Airmen for deployment and living in field conditions.
Villers fell ill in the spring of 2007 with adenovirus while attending basic training at Lackland AFB. Her condition was severe and she was hospitalized and placed in a coma to try and fight the infection. She actually regained consciousness after a month and graduated from BMT in a special ceremony just for her in July of 2007. This despite still being in a wheelchair and on a ventilator. Unfortunately her infection relapsed shortly after graduation and she died in August of 2007 at the age of 19.
She was truly an inspiration despite having such a short difficult career.
Paige was a true hero. She loved her country and was so proud to be able to serve in the Air Force. It was everything she wanted to do.
It was an honor to walk 11.12 Miles with Air Force Airman Paige Renee Villers. We started out walk around 7am. It was cold and misty rain. We headed west and turned in at The Gardens. We watched several ducks near the ponds. We then headed out on Northside Drive and made our way over to 127 and headed south. We worked our way over to Lantana Road before turning back north. We made a stop at the Veterans Memorial Park and read some names of our Fallen Brothers who lost their lives fighting for our Freedoms. Our next stop was the Frost Cemetery where we visited some of our Brothers before heading home. I want to thank everyone who honked, waved, and saluted in helping us honor this hero today. It was an amazing walk. We had 372 honks today. Thank you !
Air Force Airman Paige Renee Villers will not be forgotten !
