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Students Meet Their Soldier Pen Pal

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 29, 2007

PORT RICHEY - Perhaps not even 137-degree heat in Iraq could have prepared Norman Fabian for the grilling he received from about 30 students at Bishop Larkin Catholic School on Friday morning.

But Lt. Col. Fabian, his Army uniform decorated with rows of medals, answered his pen pals' questions - from 'How many medals can you possibly get?' to 'When will the war in Iraq be over?' - with the unflappable patience of a man who understands real pressure.

Fabian, who drove from Warren, Mich., to speak with the students, had been corresponding with them since last school year. His grandparents, Marvin and Gladys Sherwood, live in the area.

Jennifer Aitken, whose son attends Bishop Larkin, said students at the school have been writing to soldiers for about six years.

It's apparently a two-way street, judging by some of Fabian's correspondence.

To fifth-grader John Wahl, he wrote: 'I felt so much better when I read that you were praying for me.'

Geoff Fox

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