The Community College of Rhode Island is mourning the loss of a former student who was killed in Ukraine.
Former Marine Pete Reed, who was from New Jersey, died last Thursday while evacuating civilians in the eastern part of the country.
His ambulance was hit by a missile and his wife says Reed, who did two tours of duty as a rifleman in Afghanistan, instinctively covered another rescue worker's body with his own.
He was just 33.
Reed founded the group Global Response Medicine, but stepped away from the organization so he could also work with Global Outreach Doctors to lend help in Ukraine.
Alex Potter, Reed’s wife and vice President of GRM said in part in tribute to her husband:
“Everything he did was always for the benefit of others. He was always charming, often loud, and sometimes brash, but he got (things) done for those he loved, and he loved everyone in his incredibly wide circle. That big personality overlaid the fact that he was also incredibly sensitive, loving, and brave in all aspects of the word, someone who carried me and others through incredibly hard times, placing others' needs above his own. He was passionate about his family, Marine Corps family, Camp Beckett family, and so many others I can't name. I can't imagine our lives without him. I loved him so much, and he loved me so well.”
Meantime, CCRI released a statement calling Reed a hero, and that the college will find a way to honor him.
(Photo Provided by Alex Potter, Mrs. Pete Reed)
Photo: Alex Potter