Photos by JEANNA DUERSCHERL The Roanoke Times

Nikki Gibson addresses visitors to a prayer bench dedicated Saturday to her husband, Sgt. Kenneth Gibson.

Friends and family gather Saturday at Roselawn Memorial Gardens to visit the prayer bench (above) dedicated to Kenneth Gibson, who was killed last year in Iraq at age 25.

Friends and family gather Saturday at Roselawn Memorial Gardens to visit the prayer bench (above) dedicated to Kenneth Gibson, who was killed last year in Iraq at age 25.

CHRISTIANSBURG -- Now, Sgt. Kenneth Gibson's friends and family members -- even those who come from far away -- will know where to find him, to remember him and to say a prayer.

At a brief memorial service under the noon sunshine Saturday, Gibson's wife, Nikki, dedicated a black granite prayer bench to her husband, who died in Iraq last year.

Kenneth Gibson, 25, was fatally injured Aug. 10, 2008, by an improvised explosive device that detonated near him during operations in Tarmiyah, according to the Department of Defense.

Gibson's only sibling, Jessica Sage of Christiansburg, cried when she saw the bench at Roselawn Memorial Gardens for the first time Saturday morning.

"He would have loved it," she said. "It means a lot to not just his family, but to the community in its entirety."

Gibson graduated from Christiansburg High School in 2001 and joined the Army in March 2002. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Nikki Gibson still lives there.

After her husband's death, she said, people began making donations. She didn't need them to cover funeral expenses, though, because the Army paid for those.

People started giving her ideas for what to do with the money. She thought about creating a scholarship in his name, but that didn't seem to fit. A fun-loving guy, she said, "Kenny never was really into school much."

Out of all the ideas she got, the idea of dedicating a prayer bench to him stood out to her the most. It would serve not only as a memorial to him, she said, but also as a marker to lead visitors to his grave.

The bench sits halfway up a small hill leading to Roselawn's Garden of Devotions, facing Gibson's grave and in the same row. It bears his name and the image of two soaring bald eagles, which symbolize not only freedom, but also the resurrection of Christ, Nikki Gibson said.

It also holds a poem that Gibson said she felt could have been written for her husband. It begins, "Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free, I'm following the path God laid for me."

"It just kind of speaks with a sense of optimism and duty and just kind of characterized Kenny," she said.

Nearly 50 people gathered to see the bench and visit Kenneth Gibson's grave Saturday. Most were family and friends, but a few had never met him.

Will Yager of Blacksburg didn't know Gibson, but stood by his grave holding an American flag that stretched 5 feet wide.

"I wanted to do this as a personal honor to him," he said. "I wanted to show my honor to a fallen hero."