As the funeral procession of Sergeant Mark Allen Stone left Calvary Hill Full Gospel Church on Wednesday morning, the entire staff of the Kingsland Library and many business owners came to the roadside to stand, hands over their hearts. Passengers in the stopped automobiles stepped out to stand with respect or salute the cortège.

The service for the fallen soldier from Buchanan Dam had begun at Calvary Hill Full Gospel Church under gray clouds and a light mist. But as the procession continued up to Lakeland Hills Cemetery for interment, the park road rose for a view of the encircling lakes of the Colorado River and sunlight began to play on rain-freshened grass and the bright splashes of Indian blankets, primrose and yarrow.

Stone died at the age of 22, the first Llano County resident to fall in Iraq. He had been assigned to the U.S. Army 94th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Polk, La.

He died April 28, in Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked a forward operating base he occupied with two comrades who also were killed, Private First Class Adam L. Marion, 26, of Mount Airy, N.C., 171st Engineer Company, North Carolina Army National Guard, Saint Pauls, N.C., and Sergeant Marcus C. Mathes, 26, of Zephyrhills, Fla. and assigned also to Stone’s unit.

His father, Donald Stone, of Buchanan Dam, and his older brother, Jason Stone, of Washington were joined for a funeral by a congregation that filled the Calvary Hill Church. His mother Bonnie Stone had preceded the young soldier in death, but there were other mothers of the community and the church he loved to rejoice in his life and mourn his passing.

A praise and worship team of members of Calvary Hill Church provided a stirring musical service.

Stone’s friend, Savannah Gumbert, sang. She said his passing had inspired the words to music she had composed some time ago: “You were the light in a dark-filled room,”

Other singers were Cari Rivers and Meredith Lewis, Rachel Griffith and Sabrina Villarreal.

Songs of praise rose joyously at times in traditional selections such as “I’ll Fly Away,” “How Great Thou Art” and “He Set Me Free” and they set somber notes with “I Come to the Garden Alone” and two renditions of “Amazing Grace.”

Pastor Joannie Jackson led the congregation in the English hymn “Lilly of the Valley,” also known as “Lily of the Valley” and “I Have Found a Friend in Jesus.”

Instrumentalists included Zane Lewis and his wife, Meredith, Joanie Lynn Street, Lin Street, Ruthie Blaise and Regina Guiterrez.

“Mark Stone was a great young man,” said the pastor. “We are not here without hope.”

The Rev. Calven McCrary had come from Grand Prairie to speak. He was formerly principal of the church’s Kingsland Christian Academy from which Stone had graduated.

“We have come to honor Mark because he was a hero,” he said. “He died for his country. That is the ultimate act of heroism.”

He said that when the Stone boys had come to the school it was “one of those times in my life when the Lord spoke to me. . . . I immediately fell in love with family.”

He recalled the quiet, good nature and the work ethic of the boy, Mark Stone and his adult decision to join the Army “because he felt he needed to do it.”

His former teacher, Faith McKay, had come from Seattle, Wash. to share in the service.

“The last time I saw Mark he had grown from a wonderful boy to an extraordinary young man,” she said, going on to quote 1 Corinthians 13:11. “There are a lot of young people now who never want to put away those ‘childish things.’ Mark was not one of those people; not one of those perpetual children.”

The pastor delivered a message of comfort and drew from the book of Mark for a message about Bartimaeus standing from the dust beside the road near Jericho to call out to Jesus to be healed of blindness.

She had shared her home and her faith with the young man until he joined the U.S. Army in September of 2004 and he was a constant face in the congregation when he returned home on leave.

Sergeants Stone and Mathes, 26 were Motor Transport Operators assigned to F-Company of their battalion supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Both previously had been deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Stone had completed Basic Training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Mo. and Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Bliss, Texas before being assigned to Ft. Polk in October 2007.

His awards and decorations include the Purple Heart, the Army Commendation Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the NATO Medal and the Combat Action Badge.

Congressman Mike Conaway sat quietly at the back of the room. Stone was the 19th resident of his 19th District to fall in the Middle East and an aide said he had been able to attend 11 of the services.

Former Justice of the Peace Rudy Cunningham and Kingsland Fire Chief Danny Stone also were in attendance. Charlotte Dillworth closed Kingsland Fitness Center to attend and to allow for more room for parking at her adjacent business.

Danny and Gail Widener, owners of Danny’s Country Diner at Buchanan Dam, and all of Stone’s former co-workers had closed to attend.

“He grew up with us,” Gail said sadly. “He started working for us a few days before he was 15 and he was with us until he left for Iraq. We had just prayed we would welcome him home with a parade.”

Sergeant Scott Downes, who had accompanied his body from its return to Dover, Del, represented Stone’s battalion at the Kingsland services. He was attended by a Fort Hood Honor Guard from Charlie Company, 1-8 Cav., 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry.

A contingent of The Patriot Guard stood by during the service and their motorcycles led the funeral procession, flying the dozens of American flags that, then, lined the pathway to the gravesite. The Hill Country Honor Guard awaited the arrival of Stone’s flag-draped casket at Lakeland