Remembering Park Ranger Kris Eggle
On this Memorial Day, we remember all the
soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in military service and
honor the brave soldiers currently protecting our freedom in
Iraq,
Afghanistan
and elsewhere in the world.
I also want to honor Park Ranger Kris Eggle who lost his life
serving our country as a law enforcement park ranger.
Here is his story, as told by his family on
www.kriseggle.org:
Kris was a young man of amazing accomplishments.
Raised in the small town of Cadillac,
Michigan, Kris became an Eagle Scout, a National Honor
Society Student, and graduated from
Cadillac High School as Valedictorian in 1991.
Kris was a member of the cross-country and track teams at Cadillac
High School where he won numerous awards at the local and state
level, then went on to run for the University of Michigan
cross-country team.
Kris was aiming for a future with the National Park Service, and
in 1995, he accepted a Student Conservation Association position at Great Smoky Mountains National Park tracking wild boar and
bears. He served as a US Park Ranger at Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Lakeshore and Canyon-lands
National Park before arriving at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
in 2000. He was elected president of his class at the Federal Law
Enforcement
Training
Center where he graduated
in June of 2002 at the top of his class and was awarded the National
Park Service Director’s Award for outstanding achievement. He always
took great pride in his daily work providing for visitors’ needs and
protecting our Nation’s heritage.
