Girlfriend honors Tucson veteran, congressional aide who died tenting
Just about every weekend for the past two years, Emily Henkel and her boyfriend, Alexander Lofgren, would devote time collectively discovering national parks or the outdoor.
Lofgren would display Henkel parks she’d under no circumstances been to, and whenever they visited a new park, Lofgren’s eyes would fill with pleasure, Henkel reported. He was a combat veteran who made use of character as remedy just after serving in Afghanistan.
“He just experienced this absolute wonderment and total awe of all these parks and just would be so energized to exhibit me,” she stated.
The Tucson pair both cherished mother nature — they dreamed of opening their very own plant nursery a single day and experienced plans to go to lots of parks. But on Easter weekend this year, Lofgren, who labored as a caseworker assisting veterans, died in a hiking incident on a limited camping trip with Henkel in Death Valley Nationwide Park.
Now, in honor of Lofgren’s really like for parks and assisting veterans, Henkel reported his legacy will dwell on in a bill that would give veterans and Gold Star people free of charge entry to national parks for life. It passed in the U.S. Dwelling of Associates on Thursday.
The bill, which was launched by U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, in July, was named soon after Lofgren, 32, who worked as a congressional aide for Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Arizona, just before he died.
Henkel explained to The Arizona Republic she traveled to Washington, D.C. for Lofgren’s
