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Mom of Marine killed in Iraq to receive special Mother’s Day gift

Local woman tracks down memory book’s  rightful owner.

AP Cpl. Christopher Tyler Warndorf of Burlington, KY. (AP Photo/File)

Blue Star Mother Penny Moody of Kettering holds a binder filled with
artwork and letters that schoolchildren made in honor of fallen Marine Cpl. Tyler Warndorf, 21, of Kentucky. Moody was able to find his mother, Tina Warndorf, so she could finally have the book the children made in 2006 after
her son's death. Moody will present it to her on Mother's Day. Staff photo by Jim Noelker.

Noelker, Jim Blue Star Mother Penny Moody of Kettering holds a binder filled with artwork and letters that schoolchildren made in honor of fallen Marine Cpl. Tyler Warndorf, 21, of Kentucky. Moody was able to find his mother, Tina Warndorf, so she could finally have the book the children made in 2006 after her son's death. Moody will present it to her on Mother's Day. Staff photo by Jim Noelker.

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 12:21 AM Friday, May 8, 2009

It showed up one day on an elderly man’s front porch in Kentucky.

Tucked inside a black bag to protect it from the rain, the black binder was filled with heartfelt sympathies and patriotic drawings from schoolchildren honoring Marine Cpl. Tyler Warndorf, 21, who was killed in Iraq on Aug. 29, 2006.

The man knew the family of the fallen Marine would treasure what he held in his hands, but he wasn’t able to find them. He passed the binder on to another neighbor, Dennis Green.

“Hey, can you help me out?” Green, who works in Xenia, recalled the man telling him. “The family deserves the book.”

Moved by the book’s contents, Green gave it to his friend, Penny Moody of Kettering, a Blue Star Mother whose 21-year-old son, Joshua, is an Army specialist serving in Iraq.

Moody tracked down Warndorf’s mother, who had moved from the Burlington, Ky., neighborhood where the book had been left on the porch.

“I feel like an angel put it in my lap for a reason,” said Moody, who will deliver the book to Tina Warndorf on Mother’s Day, nearly three years after the children at Latonia Elementary School in Covington, Ky., made it.

Warndorf is thankful Moody took the time to find her. “I’m anxious to see it and acknowledge those who put it together,” she said. “I’m sure they’re wondering why I never said thank you.”

Warndorf believes three things may have factored into the book’s unusual journey: The family’s move three miles away, a subsequent house fire, and the fact she had an unlisted phone number until earlier this year.

She believes it was meant to be that the book ended up with Moody.

“I just think it’s divine intervention, to be honest with you,” Warndorf said.

Moody will make the 66-mile trip from her Kettering home to Burlington to present the gift on Sunday.

“It may not mean much to some people,” Moody explained, “but these are treasured memories for his mother forever.”

That is what Latonia Elementary’s principal at the time, John Rosenhoffer, had intended when he put a typewritten note dated Sept. 21, 2006, in the binder.

“Even though these are simple drawings and letters, they are meant as a way of recognizing Tyler and his belief in the integrity of this country,” Rosenhoffer wrote. “As you work your way through the grieving process, we hope these expressions of love and caring bring you some measure of comfort and joy. They are truly from the heart of the children.”

Flip through the book and you see dozens of colorful drawings, some featuring rainbows, hearts and flowers like one picture that says, “I’m so sorry that your son died.”

There are numerous letters from older students written on note paper under the heading “We remember,” including one to Warndorf’s little sister, Katelyn, now 17. “I’m sorry for the loss of your brother. I had a cousin die in the Marines and it was hard for my family.”

Though Tina Warndorf, whose husband is deceased, hasn’t seen the book yet, she said she plans to visit Latonia Elementary to “hopefully connect with those children and say ‘thank you.’ For these teachers to take the time, for the students to think of someone else, that makes me very proud to live in the area we do.”

She said she will keep the special book in the “hero room” of her new home that her family created because “we still feel the need to have Tyler’s presence.”

That is where she often goes to find comfort by reading letters from comrades of her son, a squad leader with the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., who had spoken to his mother just 45 minutes before he was killed.

He was due to come home seven days later.

The special room contains a shadowbox that proudly displays Tyler’s medals, photographs of him and more than 30 pictures of others serving in uniform. Soon there will be a new addition to the wall — a photograph of Moody with her son, Joshua, that she has asked Moody to bring with her on Sunday.

Contact this reporter at (937)225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDaily News.com.

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