Slain soldier Stacy Pinto remembered for bighearted ways. Pintor’s father, Alberto, was born in the Philippines; his mother, Ellen, served there as a Peace Corps volunteer.
Slain soldier remembered for bighearted ways
Mourners tell tales of devoted husband, good son, humble man
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Holly Zachariah
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Advertisement Advertisement
Capt. Dennis Pintor was killed Oct. 12 by a bomb in Iraq.
LIMA, Ohio — Just as Stacy Pintor approached the podium to eulogize her husband, high-pitched wails of "Mommmmy! Mommmmy!" pierced the air.
Four-year-old Rhea Pintor didn’t want her mother to leave her side, not even for a minute.
She had been afforded no such say about her daddy. A roadside bomb in Iraq stole him away earlier this month.
But, Mrs. Pintor said during last night’s memorial service, her daughter will know all about Army Capt. Dennis Pintor.
"Rhea just has to look in the mirror, into her own eyes, into the depths of her soul, and she will find him," she said.
Capt. Pintor, 30, died Oct. 12 in Baghdad when a bomb detonated near his patrol vehicle. He was buried Monday at the U.S. Military Academy, from which he graduated in 1998.
Last night, many came to honor him one last time. They came, the very young and the very old, some in jeans and some in suits, some from nearby and some from the Philippines.
Pintor’s father, Alberto, was born in that country; his mother, Ellen, served there as a Peace Corps volunteer.
The reason that more than 250 people packed St. Gerard Catholic Church was simple, said Pintor’s uncle, David Garrison Jr.
"He was loved so strongly by so many because he loved so selflessly," Garrison said.
Pintor’s three siblings, his widow and Garrison told tales of a good son, a devoted husband, a humble person and a steadfast soldier.
Pintor chose to follow in the footsteps of his parents and his grandparents, all educators, Garrison said. Pintor’s goal was to someday return to the military academy at West Point as a professor.
Just days before he died, he asked his family and friends to send school supplies to his military unit so the soldiers could give them to Iraqi children.
Since Pintor’s death, both the Lima and Elida city schools in Allen County, as well as St. Gerard’s school there, have held drives for supplies.
As people entered the church last night, many dropped pens, pencils, crayons and paper into a box.
As a husband, Garrison said, Pintor always put his wife first.
"He was the kind of husband who held the baby at a restaurant and let his wife eat before the meal got cold."
Stacy Pintor, who lives with their daughter in Texas where Pintor’s company was based, called her husband "a glimpse of heaven."
"It was a love that stuck to our souls," she said. "Individually we were strong, but together we were powerful."
Others told stories of a soccer standout, a sports fan, a scholar and a patriot.
A soldier since he graduated from Elida High School in 1992, Pintor excelled at whatever he tried, his friends and family said.
He enlisted in the Army to pay for his college education, saying he wanted his family’s resources to be spent on his siblings.
He finished Army Ranger school, served as a peacekeeper in Kosovo and had been in Iraq since March.
The Rev. Henry Sattler, who married the Pintors in 2000, said the soldier’s life should be celebrated, not mourned.
"He knew in the career he’d chosen that he may be asked to lay down his life for his friends," Sattler said. "And he said yes."
hzachariah@dispatch.com
