Marine Sgt. Duane Rios gave his wife enough love to last a lifetime.
He was a gentle giant, a 6-foot-3-inch hulk of a man who handled Erica Rios as though she would break. The way he looked at her made her believe she was his world.
"He made me happier than anything," she said yesterday.
Duane Rios, her high school sweetheart, was killed in combat Friday in central Iraq. He was serving as a squad leader for 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division.
Details of the firefight that claimed Rios' life are sketchy, but Erica Rios said although Iraqi casualties were reported to be high, she believed her husband was the only U.S. fatality in that battle.
He and his younger brother, John Robert, were raised in Griffith, Ind., by their grandmother. During his senior year, he and Erica fell in love after he offered to lend her his jacket at a bonfire. As the night got colder, he asked to share it with her.
They graduated from Griffith High School in 1996 and married a few years later. Duane decided to join the Marines; the couple agreed the Marine life would enable them to grow as a couple and see new places.
They had been stationed at Camp Pendleton for three years and were living in Marine housing in San Clemente that offered a panoramic view of the ocean. Every chance they got, they would lie in bed together and watch the sunset.
They took walks with their Rottweiler, Moose, and enjoyed driving to Indiana to visit relatives. They cherished their time alone with "no telephones, no TV, no computer," Erica Rios said.
Duane Rios took pride in his health and spent his free time in the gym, where he had gotten a part-time job. He was a lighthearted person, and friends were drawn to him.
"He made the people around him happy," his wife said.
His laugh was infectious.
"He laughed so hard that tears ran down his face," Erica Rios said. "He laughed with everything he had."
He was also a giving person and put others before himself. He gave his wife the strength she needs to survive his death.
"There's no way he'd leave me behind knowing I couldn't take it," she said.
Kristen Green: (619) 542-4576; kristen.green@uniontrib.com>
