Rachel Clark still walks past her husband's warrior citizen flag, a photo of him on deployment and a wall of memories on her refrigerator every day.
"Mike is everywhere,” Clark told Scripps News.
Clark is the widow of Sgt. 1st Class Michael Clark, a 41-year-old Army reservist and combat medic who performed emergency surgery and other urgent treatment on wounded soldiers in combat.
“They would go farther and closer to where all of the action was and they’d have the O.R. pretty much on their back,” Clark said of her husband’s unit. “They were that much closer so they could save that many more lives.”
Michael Clark enlisted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
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"He really wanted to stand up for his country. So he did," Rachel Clark said.
The Clarks were married for 15 years and had two children together before tragedy struck.
In 2022, while at an annual training exercise in Georgia, Michael died after being struck by lightning.
"My life changed within minutes. We went from a family of four to being a single mom, not having a husband, being a widow, my children not having a father. It was the hardest thing that we ever had to encounter. But we had a lot of support," Clark said.
That support came from family, friends who reached out to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, a national organization that helps fallen service members, first responders, military service members, veterans and their families keep their homes.
“Tunnels to Tower reached out immediately and just said we're here,” Clark said. "They paid off our mortgage, which is obviously huge.”
Tunnel to Towers Foundation board member Brad Blakeman told Scripps News the organization's mission is rooted in the belief that stability begins at home.
"Because it all starts with a home and that's the stability of a family," Blakeman said.
"The biggest expense in the American household is your home," Blakeman said, adding that paying off a mortgage isn’t “a substitution of the loved one that was lost, but it'll certainly go a long way to healing a family and getting on with their lives with a memory of those who serve them.”
"We have the ability to stay in our home, the home that we created as a family with all of our memories," Clark said. “This is the only home that my children know and their father is throughout this entire house. And because of Tunnel to Towers, they can stay in this house and never have to worry about losing this house.”
Some days are still difficult, Clark said.
“It still feels like he's on a deployment,” she added. “We're still waiting for him to walk through that door sometimes.”
But when anyone walks through the front door, Clark said she wants them to feel love rather than loss.
"I don't want them to feel it's like a home that is hurting. Yes, we're grieving, but we're also healing. And we're healing by honoring Mike," Clark said.
