"Beverly soldier is killed, wanted to change world" by John R. Ellement, Globe Staff | October 17, 2008
BEVERLY - Among the flood of memories that rushed through Elizabeth "Betty" Crawford's mind yesterday was the time in July she stood at Logan Airport watching her son, Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato, as he prepared to leave her and New England.
Suddenly, the supportive but anxious mom who had easily handled every other separation since her son enlisted in the Army in 2005 was replaced by the mother who wanted to reach out, grab hold of her son, and never let him go.
"I knew I was sending him back to a war zone, [and] I didn't want [the Army] to have my son," she recalled yesterday. "But the other part of me said this is what he wanted to do. He was a soldier. This was his job. It was the hardest thing I ever did in my life."
Crawford recalled that Logan moment yesterday as she also recalled her son, who was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was blown by up an improvised explosive device. At least two other soldiers were killed, Army officials told Fortunato's family.
"My son Stephen was very affectionate and a loving kid," Crawford said of her 25-year-old son. "He was the jokester, all the time. But he was also a dedicated soldier. He went into the Army like anyone else, a kid. He came home as a man."
According to his family, Fortunato's decision to enlist into a war-time Army was driven by a powerful feeling of patriotism; a desire to experience war personally, not only through a video game; and the opportunity to use the GI Bill to pay for college.
Fortunato was from a prominent Beverly family, which includes a former mayor and school superintendent. He grew up in Danvers and Beverly and graduated from Beverly High School in 2002, his family said. Sherri Favaloro, whom Stephen Fortunato married in 2006, said yesterday the couple's marriage had been stressed to near the breaking point by his service.
They had begun divorce proceedings. But, she said, they were in constant contact over the phone and Internet and were trying to patch things up, especially during his leave in September.
"He had brown hair, green eyes, and the biggest smile in the world," she said. "He was a loving person. He loved his family. He loved his mother. He stayed strong for them. He was a hero."
According to his family, Fortunato's original enlistment would have ended in mid-December. But because he was assigned to a unit that deployed to Afghanistan in July, his tour of duty was extended into 2009.
"I wish he was here and I miss him a lot. I wish this card wasn't dealt to him, but it was," his father, Richard, said. "I lost my oldest son. I miss him. --more--"
