Mallory Yauch had all her bags packed.
She was excited about the prospect of meeting up with her husband in a few weeks so they could start on the next chapter of their lives.
Last week, those plans changed after she learned her husband, 23-year-old Spc. Chris Yauch, was killed while on active duty in Iraq.
Those bags are still packed and her future is now uncertain.
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Mallory Rhodes was spray painting her name on the Baja when she met the man she was going to marry.
Like most seniors who graduate from Batesville High School, Mallory was doing the traditional spray painting of her name on the stretch of highway near the high school, when a young man in a red Mitsubishi pulled up and asked if it was still wet so he could drive over it.
From there, she later learned, he went to a friend’s house and asked if he knew the “really cute girl” he had just met.
So back he went.
She recalls being there with her best friend when he drove up and the two got acquainted.
The couple started dating in June of 2006 and Mallory says they “clicked from the beginning.”
Less than two years later they were surrounded by family and friends when they said “I do” at the North Heights Church of Christ where Chris was a member.
This Sunday, Mallory will again walk down the aisle of that same church where once again she’ll be surrounded by family and friends.
This time, it will be to say goodbye.
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Chris Yauch was that kid who liked to know how things worked.
As a child, his father Kurt Yauch said he was into remote control cars, planes and boats.
By the time he was into cars, he had his heart set on a red Mitsubishi Eclipse, his father said.
“It was his dream car. He took a lot of pride in that car.”
Perfectionist didn’t really describe him, his father said, because “perfection was not good enough for him.”
It was his attention to detail that won him numerous trophies in car shows.
“He didn’t buy parts to modify, he did it himself,” his father said, noting people were always commenting about how he was always doing something with that car.
“It was an ordinary car, but it was his attention to detail that made it stand out,” his father said. “He was always wanting to make things better than what they were.”
Born in Harrison, Chris was 16 when the family moved to Batesville.
After graduating in 2005, Kurt Yauch said his son was trying to find direction on what he wanted to do with his life. Chris, he said, had always shown some interest in the military, but more so after he graduated from high school.
“He debated in his mind about what he really wanted to do. He was torn about furthering his education and felt like he wasn’t going anywhere.” That’s when, his father said, “he decided to make the Army his career.”
Part of that, Kurt Yauch said, could be attributed to his friend Ben Prince, who had joined the Army and had stayed in contact with Chris.
Ben, he said, would call Chris from Iraq.
That closeness continued until Prince was killed in an accident in South Carolina in 2006.
At that time, Yauch told the Guard he had met Prince when he moved to Batesville and he had made him feel right at home. Chris said everyone was worried when Ben went to Iraq but that “Ben was still Ben.”
Yauch said Prince talked with him weekly on the phone. Those calls consisted of stories and jokes about what was going on in Iraq and Prince would relay to Yauch about how much he enjoyed the military.
So when the news came that Prince had been killed in a motorcycle accident, Yauch was devastated.
But that didn’t deter him from joining when the time came.
When it came to the Army, his father said “Chris loved what he was doing and he (Chris) was proud.”
“There were two big changes in Chris’ life. When he met Mallory and when he joined the army. That made him complete.”
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When Chris first told Mallory he was considering joining the Army she told him, “Well, you’re going to marry me.”
“I told him, ‘If you’re leaving then I’m going with you. Put a ring on my finger.’”
Mallory said she was excited about the chance to travel and have an adventure.
“I’d always wanted to leave Batesville and see the big city ... see what’s out there. He gave me the opportunity to do that,” she said.
Mallory said while she was scared and nervous about her husband being deployed to Iraq, they were able to communicate several times a week through Skype, a software application that allows users to make voice calls over the Internet.
When he wasn’t on a mission, she said they would get to talk about three times a week, even though the calls would frequently get dropped.
Their last conversation was on June 10 and they had spent about an hour talking about picking out furniture for their new apartment, which they were shopping for online.
“He picked out the couch so I was getting to pick out the rest,” Mallory said, explaining Chris had bought a motorcycle while he was in Iraq. He told her, in all fairness “you can get everything for the house.”
In addition for the love of his car and bike, Mallory said he loved to play paint ball with his Army buddies.
“Whenever he got into something, he would research it,” she said.
“He loved people. He loved seeing people every day.”
Mallory said they were counting down the days until he could come home and he was excited about getting to ride his motorcycle. When he had come home on a two-week break last February during their two-year anniversary, Mallory said he had put on two pair of long underwear, two sets of clothes, plus some more clothing and had headed out on the bike.
“Once he got back we were going to start a family,” she said.
Because of that, she said her husband was considering going back to school or joining the police academy in order to be at home.
“There were tons of things he was thinking about,” she said, “because he didn’t want to be deployed while they (children) were young.”
And those decisions, she said, were looming on the horizon with her husband scheduled home in just a few weeks.
Mallory said she was packed and leaving in three weeks for Washington state where the couple were stationed in order to be there when he arrived.
Those bags are still packed, but plans changed after the Casualty Notification Officers arrived June 11 to tell her she was now a widow.
Chris, she learned, had been killed along with another soldier by a suicide attacker in an explosives-rigged car when the bomber struck a convoy of Humvees and Stryker vehicles in the town of Jalula, about 80 miles northeast of Baghdad.
It’s now been a week since that news came.
Today, her husband will arrive home. The family said the support has been overwhelming.
“We’ve had lots of support,” Mallory said, “lots of messages, cards and food.”
For now, she pours through containers once packed to sift through photos she will have on display during the memorial service.
When the body arrives at the Batesville Regional Airport, her husband will be met by those who want to honor the sacrifice he made.
Members of the Patriot Guard, Freedom Riders and local members of the American Legion Post 114 will escort his body to Roller-Crouch Funeral Home where the family will receive friends and family Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m.
The funeral, scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at North Heights Church of Christ, will be with full military honors. Burial will follow in Roselawn Cemetery.
