Girlfriend honors Tucson veteran, congressional aide who died camping

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For the past two years, Emily Henkel and her boyfriend Alexander Lofgren have spent time together every weekend to explore national parks or nature.

Lofgren showed Henkel parks she had never been to, and every time they visited a new park, Lofgren’s eyes filled with excitement, Henkel said. He was a combat veteran who used nature as therapy after serving in Afghanistan.

“He just had this utter astonishment and awe of all these parks and would be so happy to show me,” she said.

The Tucson couple both loved the outdoors – they dreamed of opening their own nursery one day and planned to visit many parks. But on Easter weekend that year, Lofgren, who worked as a clerk helping veterans, died in a hiking accident while on a short camping trip with Henkel in Death Valley National Park.

Now, in honor of Lofgren’s love for parks and helping veterans, Henkel said his legacy would live on in law that would give veterans and Gold Star families free entry to national parks for life. It was passed in the US House of Representatives on Thursday.

The bill, presented in July by US MP Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, was named after Lofgren, 32, who worked as a congressional assistant for MP Raúl Grijalva, Arizona, before his death.

Henkel told the Arizona Republic it traveled to Washington, DC, last week to celebrate Lofgren’s final celebration of life and memorial, around the same time the House of Representatives voted to pass the Veterans Bill.

“It was a very emotional weekend knowing the last time I was in DC was when I was with him, and this time I was seen alone at a restaurant live from my phone,” she said. “Every time another congressman or congressman voted yes, it was just a whole new set of emotions – very bittersweet emotions.”

Henkel remembers Lofgren’s love for parks and helps veterans

Grijalva and others expressed condolences after Lofgren’s death, saying he was passionate about helping veterans and the outdoors – something he found therapeutic for himself and that other veterans wanted to experience. That’s why Grijalva wanted to name the veterans law after Lofgren, he said.

“Alex, who worked with us here, saw that the outdoors, our open spaces, our state and federal parks and wilderness areas and public spaces were therapeutic, that they were important for the reintegration of veterans into our civilian lives after doing their service for the nation had completed and he was a big proponent of it, “Grijalva told The Republic.

Henkel lived with Lofgren in Tucson and had been with him for more than two years, she told The Republic. “We had an amazing relationship … we were both beyond happy lives living together to the full,” she said.

Henkel said she and Lofgren explored countless parks in several states during their time together. The parks, said Henkel, meant “an awful lot” to the couple – she said they were visiting Saguaro National Park and wanted to get married in Utah’s Valley of the Gods.

“The entire foundation of our relationship rests on our shared love for nature and for national parks and national areas that we explore together,” she said.

In July, shortly after the bill was passed, Grijalva worked with Miller-Meeks to rename the bill in honor of Lofgren. Henkel said it was “an overwhelmingly amazing feeling” to see Lofgren commemorating “in an absolutely perfect way”.

Lofgren was hired under the Wounded Warrior Fellowship program for Grijalvas district officials and worked as a clerk helping veterans in Tucson after serving four years in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer and serving in Afghanistan in 2011.

“It created a whole new set of emotions just to remember … all of our memories in the parks and how much he would have wanted that,” said Henkel.

As the liaison officer in Grijavla’s office, Henkel said Lofgren had demonstrated his ability to do “absolutely amazing things” and wanted to make the greatest possible impact on the veterans he helped.

“The amount of love and devotion that has gone into each and every ‘case’ and voter spoke volumes about who he was as a person,” she said. “He couldn’t go to bed at night if he knew anyone was suffering in some way.”

Lofgren would spend his own money buying groceries on a Friday night for a veteran who didn’t have enough food for the week, Henkel added.

“He was the kind of person who would call a voter and investigate long after the case was ‘resolved’ to make sure they were still okay. He’s exactly the kind of person you would have liked in your corner. ”Said.

Henkel said she hoped the bill affects veterans, Gold Star families, and service members as much as Parks affects her and Lofgren.

“I hope you can use this as an opportunity to see what’s out there and experience the absolute, greatest joy that nature brings to people,” she said.

What happened in Death Valley?

Henkel and Lofgren went camping in Death Valley National Park on April 3 and wanted to be home for Easter dinner the next day.

After the couple did not return on the end date of their trip, the Inyo County Sheriff’s office conducted a day-long search for the two of them and eventually found their missing white Subaru and a note that read “Two flat tires, on the way to Mormon Point” . , Have water for three days. ”

In June, Henkel, 27, spoke publicly about the experience for the first time in the podcast “Person of Interest with Natalie Jones”.

After the couple hiked through a slot canyon on a designated trail, the couple searched for a path down a 70-foot cliff and waterfall. During the search, Henkel said that Lofgren had lost his footing, fell off the cliff and died shortly afterwards on April 4th.

Trying to get to Lofgren, Henkel said she had climbed a little way down the waterfall, but eventually fell and broke her ankle. For days, she said she worked in the remote area to survive until officers could rescue her and Lofgren from the park.

On April 9, Lofgren was found dead on a remote, steep ledge with Henkel, who was hospitalized.

A GoFundMe account set up for the von Lofgren and Henkel family had raised nearly $ 50,000 by July 31.

For more information on current free annual passes for active service members and free entry for Veterans and Gold Star families, please visit the National Park Service website.

For more information on hiking safety tips, visit the US Forest Service website.

You can reach the reporter at Audrey.Jensen@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter at @ Audreyj101.

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