Army Pfc. Seferino J. Reyna

Died August 7, 2005 Serving During Operation Iraqi Freedom

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20, of Phoenix; assigned to the 70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; killed Aug. 7 when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle in Taji, Iraq.

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Phoenix soldier remembered as hardworking family man

Associated Press

Seferino J. Reyna was remembered as a quiet, hardworking family man who loved his kids and always tried to lift up his fellow soldiers.

“He would do anything for anybody,” said Jennifer Reyna, his wife.

Reyna, 20, of Phoenix, died Aug. 7 in Taji when an explosive detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to Fort Riley. Reyna enlisted in the Army in August 2002. That fall, he and his wife enrolled in Pass Alternative High School in Kingman.

“They both worked very hard,” said school director Sandy McCoy. Both were top students, she said.

“They were motivated to be together and make a good life for themselves.”

Reyna graduated within a couple of months and cared for their daughter, 4-year-old Savannah, while his wife earned her diploma.

“He was a very kind and loving person,” McCoy said.

Reyna was a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation, which occupies 2.8 million acres south and west of Tucson with an enrollment of nearly 26,000 members.

“He really liked the military and was thinking about a career in drug enforcement,” said his father-in-law, Randy Fort.

He also is survived by his 1-year-old son Aquilino.