Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner

Ashley Butler marked the first anniversary of her husband’'s death the way she thinks he would have wanted her to: by celebrating his life. Clutching her 1-year-old son, Austin, and supported by her mother, Christy Rosinski, Butler let loose 23 orange balloons into somber skies over the Open Space and watched as they quickly disappeared from view. Orange was her husband’s favorite color, said Butler, 20, and 23 was the number of his high school football jersey and the family’s lucky number.

Army Cpl. Tyler Butler, 21, was killed on Feb. 1, 2007 when the Humvee he was riding in overturned in a ravine in Baghdad, just three days before he was due to come home on leave to meet his new son.

Ashley Butler