For the first time since her husband was killed in action, a local Marine's widow opened up on camera.
Jennifer met Mario Carazo when she was only 18.
"We met at a dive bar," she explained. "He came over and asked me to dance, and that was it!"
She wanted to hold onto him forever, so she found ways to make him feel a little closer when he would deploy.
"The last day the t-shirt he would wear I would always keep," she said.
She fell even harder because of the way he cared for their kids.
"Just seeing him with our kids was special," she added.
He would take their daughter to dance, and he coached their son's soccer team. Before he left on his seventh deployment, he left notes about their schedules and he handed Jennifer his shirt.
"He was like I got this really good and smelly for you this time," Jennifer said with a big laugh.
Then, she said he hugged the kids goodbye.
He said, 'Daddy is just going on one of his quick trips, and I'll be back in a couple months'.
In 2010, enemy forces shot his cobra down in Afghanistan
"It was my worst fear come true," she added.
Angels of America's Fallen, which pays for activities for kids of the fallen, stepped in. They made sure his son would still have a coach, and his daughter could still dance. It is such a popular program, there is a wait list. Jennifer started the Sugar Bear Foundation to help raise money for them and other military non-profits. She does it in her late husband's honor.
"It's like he's still here with us," she explained.
She stands behind his service and his sacrifice, so much so, she said it was worth it.
"If he had to do it again, I would tell him to go," she added.
You can join her. Sugar Bear's Barbeque & Beers is this Sunday at Kansas City BBQ from noon until 4:00 p.m. It costs $25 and will benefit Angels of America's Fallen.
