Family members and friends are preparing to honor a fallen Utah Marine killed in Afghanistan.
A memorial service Saturday evening in Midvale will pay tribute to Staff Sgt. Taylor Hoover, 31, who died in a suicide bombing August 26, in the final days of the war in Afghanistan.
Several of Hoover’s family members traveled to Utah for that service and spoke to 2News about this opportunity to remember him and pay tribute to his sacrifice.
“Anyone that knew Taylor and was close to him, they know he would want everyone to be sarcastic and joking around and sharing those funny memories,” said Hoover’s fiancée, Nicole Weiss. “We want this to be a happy celebration.”
"He would make light of every situation," added Tori Manning, Hoover's younger sister. "He was so hilarious, and he didn’t even like really mean to be. He was just a funny guy."
The memorial service is being planned by Midvale city, Sandy city, and Canyons School District. It begins Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the football field at Hillcrest High School. Hoover played football there and graduated in 2008.
“We’re just encouraging people to come out to help remember and celebrate his life and to honor the sacrifice that not only Staff Sgt. Hoover made, but his family,” said Alison Stroud, a Sandy city councilwoman and Canyons School District teacher who's helping organize the service. “Behind every Marine, behind every soldier, behind every airman or sailor, there is a family that is supporting that person to help defend our country.”
Organizers of the memorial service will be setting up flags around the football field Saturday at 10 a.m. The public is invited to help with that.
Amid preparations for the memorial service, it’s a tender time for Hoover’s family.
“I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet,” said Weiss of her fiancé’s death. Hoover died along with 12 other U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans in an attack outside the airport in Kabul. “It’s starting to sink in that he’s not coming home, and our future has been so dramatically cut short, and I think that’s the hardest pill for me to swallow right now.”
Manning remembers her brother as her “best friend” and someone she went to for everything. She and her other sister called him "Bubba." A bracelet on her wrist bears that name, reminding her of her brother.
“He was just a very honest and true person,” Manning said. “Very protective of us.”
Weiss, who dated Hoover for two years and was planning to marry him after he returned from his deployment, said her fiancé made an impact on everyone he met – especially her.
“Our relationship, I think, was so rare and so pure and truly that one-of-a-kind love that we weren’t just partners, we were best friends,” Weiss said. “It’s a soulmate thing, and there are no words to describe how losing that – and that void – how that feels.”
Next week, Hoover’s family will travel to Arlington National Cemetery to lay the fallen Marine to rest. Weiss and Manning said they will lean on each other as they say their goodbyes and move forward.
“We all know that he would want us to be attached right now,” Weiss said.
Weiss said Friday's ceremony will "make it real" and "begin my healing process." She said she just wants to see him again.
"It’s about seeing him, it’s about telling him I love him and there will never be another like him," Weiss said, adding, "I will always remember the beautiful, beautiful life that we have and the life that I know he would want me to live."