TAMPA, Fla. — A Gold Star family is a family that has lost a loved one in the line of duty, whether it was a son, daughter, mother or father. These families share a unique bond of grief that connects them in profound ways.
During part of the ceremony at Tampa's Veterans Memorial Park, Jeanette Nazario was seen embracing another Gold Star mother, offering comfort through their shared experience of loss.
"At that moment, I was feeling the same loss as her and what I would want someone to do for me, so I just gave her a big hug," Nazario said.
Nazario is a mother of three. One of her sons, Army Specialist Zachary Moore, died in 2017 at just 23 years old.
"He was a funny guy. He was a loyal guy. He was a family guy, so I mean, he was only 23, but he had such an old soul," Nazario said.
She still misses him every day, but now uses her strength and Zachary's memory to help others move forward.
"When you lose a child, you feel like you can't go on, and so when you see another mother who has a loss of their child, and you see them doing things for others, and you're like, well, let me try that," Nazario said.
The support among Gold Star families, particularly Gold Star mothers, was evident throughout the ceremony.
Lorrie Fleming, another Gold Star mother, spoke about her son, Sergeant Terry Michael Lisk, who was 26 when he was killed in the line of duty.
"He was older than most boys in his unit. He was kind of the dad of the group. He was a good kid, and he was a tanker, and he did exactly what he wanted to do," Fleming said.
Annette Kirk, a Gold Star mother and the national president of the American Gold Star Mothers, lost her oldest son, Paul Cuzzupe, a 2005 Armwood High School graduate who served as a combat medic in Afghanistan.
While it can be difficult to find the right words when talking with Gold Star families, Nazario encourages people to simply ask about their loved ones.
She says talking with Gold Star families about the people they've lost makes all the difference in keeping their memories alive.
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