Last Friday, I took Dr. Forbes over to Longview to represent WSU and the Speech and Hearing Sciences department at the funeral of one of her students since fall semester, Tim Juneman. She thought very highly of Tim, as did everyone who knew him. He was buried with full military honors.
The Daily Evergreen has a very nice write-up about Tim in today's issue.
Thank you, Tim, for your service to our country. Rest in peace.
Classmates remember honored veteran
WSU meant a lot to speech and hearing sciences major who died on March 5
Timothy Dean Juneman’s life goal was to help people. It was a goal he had already begun to achieve when Juneman died in his Pullman apartment March 5. He was 25. Juneman was known for being a lover of the outdoors, spending countless hours backpacking, hiking and camping. He was involved in Boy Scouts of America and earned the rank of Eagle Scout rank at 16. After he attended Lower Columbia College for a year, Juneman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2002. He was stationed in South Korea for one year, and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 after training with the Stryker Brigade Combat Team. Juneman operated the MK48 light machine gun in support of his combat team for nearly a year in Iraq. While there, Juneman was injured and diagnosed with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After returning from the war, Juneman suffered from insomnia and extreme clinical depression, his mother, Jacqueline Hergert-Juneman, wrote in an e-mail to The Daily Evergreen.
Juneman finished his four-year enlistment at Fort Lewis. Among his many awards, Juneman earned an Army Commendation Medal, a National Defense Service Medal, an Iraq Campaign Medal and a Combat Infantryman Badge. Juneman later chose to join the National Guard and was granted a 2-year deferment from overseas deployment. He studied at Spokane Falls Community College, and worked until he was accepted into the speech pathology and audiology program at WSU in August 2007. “WSU has been a big part of Tim’s family for four generations,” Hergert-Juneman said. Juneman’s great-grandparents, father, aunt, uncle and several great aunts and uncles have graduated from WSU. Being accepted into the SHS Program at WSU meant a lot to Juneman, Hergert-Juneman said. He liked to work with people, and spoke a lot about the children he met in Iraq. “He loved to see the smiles on their faces when he gave them chocolate or trinkets,” she wrote. “He was so excited to be in the speech and hearing sciences program at WSU. He wanted to work in a career that would help people.” Juneman was well-known in the speech and hearing sciences department. His SHS adviser, Lauri Sue Torkelson, said he was not an intrusive presence, but he was always there and was very much involved in the department. As a transfer student, he was seeking a career in audiology and took many upper-level classes with juniors and seniors. “It’s so hard to describe him,” Torkelson said. “He was so very quiet, and polite, and very pleasant.” On the morning of his death, Professor Jeanne Johnson, who teaches SHS 478, a class Juneman was enrolled in, announced the news to her class. “Everyone was just stunned,” she said. “They needed time to process it. We canceled class that day and just sat and talked. Pretty soon everyone started talking about the personal memories they had with Tim. Of course there were tears.” That morning, even students who had just recently met Juneman described him as being sweet and good with people, Johnson said. “What really stood out to me was that he was so respectful,” she said. “He appreciated everything everybody had to say. He was quiet, but you could tell he had a good sense of humor.” When the department learned that Juneman had served overseas, they thanked him for his service. “We thanked him not just because of that, but because of who he was,” Torkelson said. “I hope everyone can realize how lucky we were to have him as a WSU student for that brief amount of time. He epitomized a WSU student.” Torkelson said she misses his face every day. At the students’ suggestion, the SHS department will plant a tree in Juneman’s honor outside Daggy Hall with a memorial plaque.
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