PHOENIX — The family of Navy Medic Pamela Middlebook worried her funeral service wouldn't properly honor her with only a handful of family. After a simple social media post, Arizona stepped up for a grieving family.
Just the site of parked cars outside an awning made daughter Brittany Rumery emotional.
"I think started crying, before I got out the car," she said.
At the start of the last weekend in May, Rumery was slated to lay her 69-year-old mother Pamela Middlebrook to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.
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Middlebrook served during the tail end of the Vietnam war as a Medic, much of which was at Luke Air Foce Base. Ulitmately, she gave 16 years of her life to our country.
Rumery said she had been quietly battling bladder cancer.
Family said Middlebrook cherished her time serving, but left a greater impression on her kids and grandkids.
"She loved these kids more than life itself, I see a lot of her in my oldest,” said Rumery.
With roughly 48 hours until the service, Brittany said she started to worry there wouldn't be enough people present to properly honor someone who gave so much to her and her family, and the country.
So she posted on social media and others started to share that post.
By the time the ceremony came with just six people expected be to be there, about two dozen helped honor Navy veteran Pamela Middlebrook.
Including Bill Wooster of the Patriot Guard Riders - who never knew Pamela, but made sure to honor her with a service member’s poem, words of condolences and multiple members holding American flags surrounding the awning on a blistering, hot day.
"Whether they had one day of active duty, or 20 years of active duty, they're all equally important to show their honor and respect to them and gratitude as a nation," said Wooster.
"It made me happy, kind of restored my faith in humanity, that people can come together for people they don't even know just to honor their memory and their service," said Rumery.
On a somber day, the spirit of Arizona left Rumery with a subtle smile as it all finished up.
And her oldest son shared plans to live in his grandmother's footsteps.
"I would imagine she would kill me for joining the Navy rather than the Marines,” said Ethan with his mother smiling.
He can enlist as early as next year.
“She would be happy," they both added.
