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ENLARGE
Jill Thomey and her daughters Sheyla, 11, Jazzlyn, 5, and son Kellen, 5, hold a picture of their father and husband Farrell “Gene” Thomey in Roseburg on Wednesday. Gene is serving with Roseburg's Charlie Company in Iraq and won't be home for Thanksgiving.
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ENLARGE
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Sue Shaffer, chairman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, displays jerky-filled stockings to be shipped to each active duty soldier from Oregon who is away from home during the holidays. The tribe provides shipping, but is still looking for people to sponsor single stockings for less than $20 each.
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Matt Boyd, owner of Goin' Postal in Myrtle Creek, stands with Myrtle Creek's Sharon Osborne, whose son is stationed in Iraq. The two are working to send packages to members of the Roseburg-based Oregon National Guard Charlie Company. Osborne said sending out a little piece of home helps her cope with her son's absence.
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For Staff Sgt. Farrell “ Gene” Thomey of Roseburg, Thanksgiving will come 11 hours earlier than it will for his wife, Jill, and their three young children.
The family is separated not only by numerous time zones but by an entire planet, it seems. The soldier's holiday feast will be Army-issued and spent with the 46 men and women he is personally charged with bringing back from a war zone.
Thomey and the other members of the Roseburg-based Oregon National Guard Charlie Company may spend the holiday in Iraq, but their Douglas County homes will still register their presence. Many families will work to send bits of home to their absent members.
“Maybe I'll stick the computer at the dinner table,” Jill Thomey laughed. “(I am) absolutely going to talk to him on Thanksgiving.”
The Thomey family is able to keep in contact through Facebook, Skype, or Yahoo! Messenger almost daily, something that Jill Thomey said helps ease the stress of having the family patriarch miss so many moments.
“The status quo is one thing,” Jill Thomey said. “But the holidays make it a little more difficult.”
Jill Thomey said she had been doing really well up until the final days before officially entering the holiday season. This will be the couple's first major holiday apart, and coping with that reality got harder as the day drew closer.
“This has been hard on him,” Jill Thomey said. “Our family is very much about spending time together on the holidays. This is our favorite time of year as a couple.”
Jill Thomey said what really takes a toll on her husband is spending time away from the Thomey children, ages 11, 5 and 4. She sees his sadness through her computer screen. Realizing he wouldn't be around to help pick out Christmas gifts was a low point, she said.
Sharon Osborne of Myrtle Creek also has seen her share of bad days through her son's deployment. Luckily, she, too, is able to keep in touch with her son, Sgt. Randy Modglin, through the Internet. She says signing on to her computer and getting a message from her son is like Christmas coming early.
Still, she knew not every soldier in Charlie Company had someone waiting back home. She wanted to make sure they all knew they were appreciated, she said, especially during the holidays. After speaking with Matt Boyd, an Air Force veteran and the owner of Goin' Postal in Myrtle Creek, the two came up with a drive to send small comforts from home to the company.
They have collected donated cash and goods and are shipping out boxes. So far, the two have sent more than 30 boxes filled with snacks, hygiene items and computer games. They plan on keeping the drive going until Charlie Company comes home.
“When you are a mom and your kid is in Iraq... it doesn't matter that he is a grown man with kids of his own. You always want to protect your kids... and there is nothing I can do for him,” Osborne said. “So having something like this kind of gives me as a mom a way to help my kid and his friends (and) lets me be a part of what he is going through.”
Osborne said her son has already spent a special day, his birthday, overseas and she is not looking forward to him missing out on more. They hope Modglin will be able to come home on leave sometime in the next few months.
“Christmas is going to come whenever he gets here,” she said. “I don't care if it is in the middle of January.”
Sue Shaffer, chairman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, said she knows what it is like to spend holidays without loved ones and wondering about their well-being. Her husband spent four years serving in World War II as she eagerly awaited the bundles of letters the Army would send.
Although communications methods have advanced beyond delayed letters, Shaffer said it is important to remind soldiers that the community as a whole is thinking of them during the holidays. For the fifth consecutive year, the tribe is working to send a stocking full of jerky to every active duty Oregon soldier. The tribe sells Umpqua Indian Foods' jerky below cost, at $19.95 a stocking, and provides the shipping charge to get them to soldiers. Stockings can be purchased online at www.brewpubjerky.com.
“(The soldiers) like to think ‘Other people care about us too...' it is important to appreciate and recognize the job they are doing for us,” Shaffer said.
For now, the Thomey family clings to the knowledge that this will be the only holiday season Farrell Thomey will miss. Jill Thomey said she doesn't allow herself to think that her husband may never return from this tour.
“He knows what he is doing. He is a smart guy and is very aware of his surroundings,” she said. “He believes wholeheartedly in what he is doing... so it is worth it.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
The family is separated not only by numerous time zones but by an entire planet, it seems. The soldier's holiday feast will be Army-issued and spent with the 46 men and women he is personally charged with bringing back from a war zone.
Thomey and the other members of the Roseburg-based Oregon National Guard Charlie Company may spend the holiday in Iraq, but their Douglas County homes will still register their presence. Many families will work to send bits of home to their absent members.
“Maybe I'll stick the computer at the dinner table,” Jill Thomey laughed. “(I am) absolutely going to talk to him on Thanksgiving.”
The Thomey family is able to keep in contact through Facebook, Skype, or Yahoo! Messenger almost daily, something that Jill Thomey said helps ease the stress of having the family patriarch miss so many moments.
“The status quo is one thing,” Jill Thomey said. “But the holidays make it a little more difficult.”
Jill Thomey said she had been doing really well up until the final days before officially entering the holiday season. This will be the couple's first major holiday apart, and coping with that reality got harder as the day drew closer.
“This has been hard on him,” Jill Thomey said. “Our family is very much about spending time together on the holidays. This is our favorite time of year as a couple.”
Jill Thomey said what really takes a toll on her husband is spending time away from the Thomey children, ages 11, 5 and 4. She sees his sadness through her computer screen. Realizing he wouldn't be around to help pick out Christmas gifts was a low point, she said.
Sharon Osborne of Myrtle Creek also has seen her share of bad days through her son's deployment. Luckily, she, too, is able to keep in touch with her son, Sgt. Randy Modglin, through the Internet. She says signing on to her computer and getting a message from her son is like Christmas coming early.
Still, she knew not every soldier in Charlie Company had someone waiting back home. She wanted to make sure they all knew they were appreciated, she said, especially during the holidays. After speaking with Matt Boyd, an Air Force veteran and the owner of Goin' Postal in Myrtle Creek, the two came up with a drive to send small comforts from home to the company.
They have collected donated cash and goods and are shipping out boxes. So far, the two have sent more than 30 boxes filled with snacks, hygiene items and computer games. They plan on keeping the drive going until Charlie Company comes home.
“When you are a mom and your kid is in Iraq... it doesn't matter that he is a grown man with kids of his own. You always want to protect your kids... and there is nothing I can do for him,” Osborne said. “So having something like this kind of gives me as a mom a way to help my kid and his friends (and) lets me be a part of what he is going through.”
Osborne said her son has already spent a special day, his birthday, overseas and she is not looking forward to him missing out on more. They hope Modglin will be able to come home on leave sometime in the next few months.
“Christmas is going to come whenever he gets here,” she said. “I don't care if it is in the middle of January.”
Sue Shaffer, chairman of the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians, said she knows what it is like to spend holidays without loved ones and wondering about their well-being. Her husband spent four years serving in World War II as she eagerly awaited the bundles of letters the Army would send.
Although communications methods have advanced beyond delayed letters, Shaffer said it is important to remind soldiers that the community as a whole is thinking of them during the holidays. For the fifth consecutive year, the tribe is working to send a stocking full of jerky to every active duty Oregon soldier. The tribe sells Umpqua Indian Foods' jerky below cost, at $19.95 a stocking, and provides the shipping charge to get them to soldiers. Stockings can be purchased online at www.brewpubjerky.com.
“(The soldiers) like to think ‘Other people care about us too...' it is important to appreciate and recognize the job they are doing for us,” Shaffer said.
For now, the Thomey family clings to the knowledge that this will be the only holiday season Farrell Thomey will miss. Jill Thomey said she doesn't allow herself to think that her husband may never return from this tour.
“He knows what he is doing. He is a smart guy and is very aware of his surroundings,” she said. “He believes wholeheartedly in what he is doing... so it is worth it.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
