WHEREAS, Vancouver and other Clark County communities, as well as our entire state and nation, lost a tremendous young gentleman and warrior for peace on January 7, 2014, when Air Force Capt. Christopher Stover was killed in a helicopter crash on the Norfolk coast of England; and
     WHEREAS, Capt. Stover was only twenty-eight years old when he and three other crew members were taken in the crash; and
     WHEREAS, Growing up in Vancouver, he was a highly respected Evergreen High School student-leader, and even after his 4.0 graduation he frequently visited local schools; and
     WHEREAS, It was only a few years ago when Capt. Stover called on Harmony Elementary School, his own grade school in years past, and talked with young people who recognized a recent Veterans Day by sending him heartfelt letters of respect and gratitude for his courageous military service; and
     WHEREAS, A 2008 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Capt. Stover had completed tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan prior to his deployment in England, and he was a Pave Hawk helicopter pilot on this tragic training mission; and
     WHEREAS, Capt. Stover's Pave Hawks are most-frequently involved in combat search-and-rescue missions, looking to save downed air-crew members and other missing military personnel who have been engaged in frightful battle; and
     WHEREAS, Maribel and Richard Stover, Capt. Christopher Stover's grieving parents -- who are also forever and very justly proud parents -- still make their home in Vancouver; and
     WHEREAS, Richard Stover issued a statement after his son's passing, saying: "On behalf of the Stover family, my wife, my daughter and my daughter-in-law, I want to express our deepest appreciation of the support and prayers we have received from our extended family, friends, co-workers and people that knew Chris. Chris was doing what he truly enjoyed, flying. Chris touched so many lives and left everyone better for it. We are proud of his service to our country. We all miss him so very much"; and
     WHEREAS, Capt. Christopher Stover and his wife, Sarah, who lives in England, were married on December 1, 2012, and certainly she and the rest of Capt. Stover's family exemplify the incredible and all-too-often tragic sacrifice of military spouses and military families; and
     WHEREAS, A decade ago, Capt. Stover was an energetic and dynamic competitor on Evergreen High School's "We The People" team, which, according to an article in the Columbian newspaper, "rigorously studied the U.S. Constitution for competitions at the state level"; and
     WHEREAS, Also in the Columbian newspaper, Patti McMaster, one of his Evergreen teachers, described Capt. Stover as "brilliant," and emphasized that he was "so outstanding, and to think where he might have led us and what he might have ended up doing . . . it's a true tragedy"; and
     WHEREAS, For Evergreen High School's "We The People" contingent, Patti McMaster required that her students do community service, and as she observed, "I think that is very clear that he did that the rest of his life"; and
     WHEREAS, Fittingly, a Joint Base Lewis-McChord military honor guard saluted Capt. Stover at the recent "We The People" state competition; and
     WHEREAS, Col. Kyle Robinson, commander of the 48th Fighter Wing, emphasized Capt. Stover's rescue-unit motto -- "That Others May Live" -- in his address at a recent memorial for Capt. Stover and the three other valiant Pave Hawk crew members who were lost in the helicopter crash;
     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives mourn the death and celebrate the life of Capt. Christopher Stover; and
     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the family of Capt. Christopher Stover, to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and to the Evergreen Public Schools system.