GAINESVILLE, Ga. — When Brenau University President Ed Schrader gave his welcoming remarks at the 2015 commencement, he gave a special acknowledgment to the active duty military personnel and veterans among the graduating class. Schrader singled out one veteran: Debra Cooper, of Winder, who was about to receive a diploma for a Master of Occupational Therapy degree.
Not only had Cooper served in the U.S. Army, Schrader said, but her daughter, Staff Sgt. Markita James, of Dublin, was currently serving in Afghanistan.
Schrader corrected himself.
“Actually Sgt. James is not in Afghanistan,” he said. “She is here so that she could be with her mother at graduation.”
James was in the audience, behind the graduating class. When Schrader said the words “not in Afghanistan,” her mother got the hint and began frantically looking around.
The two embraced and tears and hugs were shared.
"She's my she-ro," James said about her mother.