CAPE CORAL, FL, USA
U.S. Army
CPL, CO D, 3D BN, 7TH INF, 3D INF DIV (TF BAGHDAD), FORT STEWART, GA
86TH CSH, BAGHDAD, IRAQ 04/12/2005
He was born August 9, 1984 in Mt. Holly, New Jersey, a son of Juan Manuel Lopez, Sr. and Tina Marie Murph Criss. He attended the public schools of Florence County. Corporal Lopez was a member of Faith Kingdom Builders Outreaching Ministries, Florence, SC. He was also a member of The Inner Court Apostolic Church, Florence, and Faith Mission Outreach, Texas.
Juan M. Lopez Jr. lived in a black and white world, a yes and no world, said his father.
He was very honest and would tell it like it is whether you liked it or not. The truth was the truth and that was it, Juan Manuel Lopez Sr. said during his son’s funeral. Lopez, 23, of San Antonio, was killed Aug. 13 by a roadside bomb in Qayyarah. He was a 2005 high school graduate and was assigned to Fort Bliss.
Lopez’s sister, Cassandra Lopez, said her brother always wanted to be a hero. He loved wrestling, she said. He always tried all his wrestling moves out on me first.
Lopez called home one time and asked what his father was doing. Lopez Sr. said he was cutting the grass with the push mower. His son said not to cut it too short because when he came home, he wanted to roll in the grass.
My son did not die in this war to be a hero, my son was a hero from the day he was born, said his father. He was full of energy.
His mother, Tina Criss, said she heard from her son just two days before his death. He told my daughter he would see us in December; he said he would be home for Christmas, she said.
Survivors are: his mother, Tina Marie (Pastor Timothy H.) Criss; father, Juan Manuel (Gloria) Lopez, Sr.; sister, Cassandra Monique Lopez; maternal grandmother, Bertha B. (Ricky) Gamble; maternal grandfather, Herbert L. Murph; paternal grandmother, Maria Lopez; grandmother, Martha James; great grandmothers, Providencia Trinidad and Anniedell Haynesworth; uncles, Bishop Otis L. Terrell, Jr. (also his pastor), Marc Stratton, Herbert L. Murph, Jr., Lavell D. Murph and Osvaldo Oyola; aunts, Shontell D. Murph and Lissette Lopez; great uncle, Angel Garcia; and a host of other relatives and friends.