A local mother is preparing for a bittersweet Memorial Day as she dedicates her time to tell his story.
Lisa Kotchenreuther will honor her fallen son, Sgt. Christopher Lockett, who passed away on Jan. 7, 2019 while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps, by awarding the first recipient of the Sgt. Christopher Lockett Memorial Scholarship.
“I want to celebrate Christopher’s life and everything he was able to accomplish for himself, his family and friends,” Kotchenreuther said. “The reality is that 22 veterans take their own lives per day, it’s overwhelming to think about. Even though Christopher was in the military as long as he was, I never knew the statistics.”
Lockett, 26, of Murphy, was known for his tough-guy exterior with a heart of gold within.
Kotchenreuther said the family moved to Murphy when Christopher was 3. He attended Murphy schools, where he met his best friend throughout childhood, Garrin Hogsed of Murphy.
Lockett and Hogsed played football, basketball and baseball together, but football was Christopher’s favorite sport. He also participated in wrestling and track.
He moved up in football. When he was a freshman at Murphy High School, head coach David Gentry moved him to the varsity team as offensive and defensive line playing as No. 68.
“Football was everything to him. If he had a chance to go to any of the camps, that was where we were,” Kotchenreuther said. “He wanted to play professionally and got a scholarship to play football at Mars Hill University.”
Military career starts
She said Lockett had a difficult decision to make after graduating with the Class of 2010. He wanted to play football at Mars Hill University but he also had dreams of joining the Marines.
“He went one semester to Mars Hill and realized that college wasn’t his thing, so he decided to join the Marines,” Kotchenreuther said. “I took him to boot camp on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. I said how ironic it was and he said, ‘I can’t think of a better day to go.’ ”
Lockett was dedicated to his military career and specialized in aviation. He spent 10 months in Afghanistan, where he studied martial arts and became a Marines martial arts program instructor with a first-degree black belt.
He also toured in Spain and Italy, returning stateside between tours. The last place he was stationed was the Marine Corps Air Station in Beufort, S.C., near Parris Island, where he completed boot camp.
During his military career, he earned several medals and recognitions, including the Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, National Defense Service Medal and NATO Medal-ISAF Afghanistan.
“He truly loved what he did. I still have some of the guys that were under him tell me that they have so much respect and love for him, he helped them make their decisions and contributes to them making it so far in the Marine Corps,” Kotchenreuther said.
“Not long after he passed, one of the men under him got promoted and had a big photo of Christopher at his promotion ceremony.”
‘Mama’s boy with a big heart’
Kotchenreuther gushes that her son would openly admit to being a mama’s boy with a big heart, even though he had a tough exterior. He is also remembered as a prankster who loved to pull off elaborate jokes to make others laugh.
“He came back from Spain early, and I worked at the casino at the time,” she said with a laugh. “He had fixed it up to surprise me at work, and planned it out with my bosses, who told me I had forgotten to bring someone’s drink and I needed to apologize, when they pointed out who it was, Christopher came down the escalator.”
Hogsed remembers being a large part of most of the pranks that the duo came up with.
“In middle school, his parents moved next door to us and we loved to play pranks on people in our neighborhood,” Hogsed said. “I was the instigator and he would come up with these elaborate pranks. As we got older, we got into more mischievous stuff. We were always thinking of new ways to be wild and crazy kids.”
Hogsed recalled the elaborate senior prank the duo pulled where they disassembled a trampoline and carried it to Murphy High in duffle bags. They reassembled it in the common area of the school the night before their final day of classes.
While he laughed, Hogsed said the duo also always loved going to rodeos together and would always plan to attend, dreaming of being cowboys.
“We were 16 years old and decided if we were ever rich, we would be ranchers and cowboys the rest of our lives,” Hogsed said. “We went to rodeos at least once a year. We liked the excitement of it.”
Hogsed said Lockett was one of the first people he called after the birth of his son, Ralston.
“I called Chris and sent him a photo. He went and bought a flag, and got into an Osprey and flew the flag over an active war zone,” Hogsed said. “He had a certificate made, and framed the flag and certificate for his first birthday present.”
The family has added a coin that traveled with Lockett given by the Color Guard and a bullet casing from the 21-gun salute to the display and it is one of their most treasured possessions.
Kotchenreuther remembers his love of Nicholas Sparks movies, giggling while she said he enjoyed a good love story. She said he also loved horses, bringing one to his senior photo shoot.
Memorial Run
Since Lockett’s death, Kotchenreuther along with family and friends like Hogsed, created an event to honor his memory called the Sgt. Christopher Lockett Memorial Run. The event raised funds for a scholarship in Lockett’s name and the first recipient will be named at this year’s event.
Along with the memorial run, Kotchenreuther also took part in the 2020 22 Hump event coordinated by Warriors Veteran Outreach to bring awareness to veteran suicide rates. She said after the event, she became involved by attending some of the post-traumatic stress disorder trainings that the organization offers.
“It is like a family, they welcomed me in,” she said. “They do so much more than I realized for veterans, widows and people like me, Gold Star moms.”
A Gold Star family is the immediate family member(s) of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict, according to the website hopeforthewarriors.org.
Kotchenreuther said Lockett’s death was ruled as a suicide by the U.S. military four months ago. Though it has been difficult, she will continue to tell his story in hopes that bringing awareness will help others who may be going through something similar.
“On my birthday, he sent me a crazy picture of him dressed up in a robe and face mask like a spa day and on Christmas eve he sent me Snapchats of him going through the Christmas lights,” she said. “There was nothing to make me think something was wrong, as time goes by, I can nitpick little things, but there just wasn’t any signs.”
Hogsed said the same, as the two spoke regularly.
“We talked to each other in some way almost constantly,” Hogsed said. “I spoke to him about six hours before he passed away. He was the same from kindergarten up until the night before he passed. He didn’t care who he was around, he was always going to be himself.”
Coming home
Lockett was brought home on Jan. 15, 2019, escorted by the Combat Veterans Motorcycle group and other law enforcement and emergency crews. Hundreds of veterans and citizens stopped on the highway and lined the roads between Atlanta and Murphy to honor Lockett.
“That night when I pulled up in town and saw everyone out there, it was overwhelming,” Kotchenreuther said. “It was just an outpouring of love, I can never thank everyone enough for coming out to welcome my baby home, there really are no words for it.”
The third annual Sgt. Christopher Lockett 3K Memorial Run will be held at 8 a.m. Monday, May 31, on the Murphy High School Track. Registration is $10, and participants can sign up at the event or online at runsignup.com.
All proceeds go toward the Sgt. Christopher Lockett Memorial Scholarship offered to high school and college students in the tri-state area. Participants are asked to arrive 20 minutes prior to start.