Soldier with local roots remembered fondly

Scott Rejack recalls hearing news of the death of a woman he had dated years ago. "You see people die all the time on the news but it doesn't hit home until it's someone you know," he says. "Waking up this morning today to hear that was pretty shocking."

Rejack says Amy Seyboth Tirador was an energetic, vibrant girl who played trumpet in the high school jazz ensemble. He played saxophone. Neither became musicians but he was surprised to find out what she did in Iraq.

"She told me that she was working as a medic over there and I thought that was interesting because that's what I do for a living. In college she used to make fun of me for it all the time and I thought it was amusing how she turned out and that's what she ended up doing in the military, too."

Karen MacWatters was the ensemble director and Tirador's trumpet teacher. She says Tirador was the essence of what a military commander would want. "Amy was not only talented and passionate but she was so much fun," Macwatters says. "She would walk into a room, a rehearsal, and absolutely light up the room with her spirit."

"She's in our hearts and she will be forever because of the way she did carry herself, with such an incredible maturity," said MacWatters. "In the last couple days we've all talked about that: How together she was and how she always carried herself, how positive she was - a very atypical young lady in that sense."

The military has not said how Tirador died Wednesday - only that the circumstances of her "non-combat injuries" are under investigation.