Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 31, 1991 TAG: 9103310147
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B/1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dorn, wearing battle dress fatigues, was the first person off the plane at Roanoke Regional Airport. She didn't stop running until she was in the arms of her husband, Paul. She then clasped each of her children to her. She smiled and cried at the same time.
In the middle of the reunion, Jesse, 11, picked mom up and both fell sprawling onto the floor, to be joined by David, 9; Tim, 7; and Katie, 5; for another hugfest.
Karen Dorn then helped Katie salvage the rose the child had brought to her. Onlookers had tears in their eyes from the private drama unfolding in such a public place.
"It feels good to be home," Dorn said. "I tried not to think about today."
Dorn, a doctoral student at Virginia Tech and a registered nurse, has been on duty in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, since Jan. 20 with the army's 382nd Field Hospital. The family last saw her Jan. 12.
"Without mom, it was tough," said David as the family waited for the plane to arrive. "I forgot what her face looked like at first . . . it's hard not to remember what your mom looks like."
Jesse said the worst times without mom came on Friday nights and Saturday mornings, when traditionally "we all curled up around the TV."
Paul Dorn said life at their home in the Fairlawn area of Pulaski County was generally smooth while his wife was gone. Neighbors and friends helped, by entertaining the children and sometimes cooking for the family. A housekeeper came in at noon each day and stayed through dinner.
"I don't think the kids understood the depth of the situation," said Paul Dorn. "They just missed their mom."
The greatest change was for Paul Dorn, who went late each day to his job as a biomedical equipment technician at Radford Community Hospital.
"I was worried about the possibility that she might not come back. I'm still on edge waiting for the plane to get in," he said shortly before she arrived.
Karen Dorn had flown from Riyadh to Milan, Italy, to New York, where her group was welcomed at a reception Monday night. She then went to Charleston, S.C., and Augusta, Ga., to complete the debriefing process.
Five minutes before her USAir flight to Roanoke was due, Paul Dorn got a call from the military saying his wife would arrive in mid-afternoon on ASA Delta.
"What a bummer," he said.
The Dorns drove with friends Winston and Ellen Berryman to the Berryman home in Christiansburg, where they passed the time watching the movie "Beverly Hills Cop."
Paul and Karen Dorn joined the Army 15 years ago while they were students at an Iowa college. He is in the inactive reserves; Karen is in the active reserves.
Paul Dorn said they have always had an equal relationship, but it still was difficult to send his wife off to war. He said he couldn't help but ask himself: "Why aren't you going? Why are you sending your wife?"
"That's a feeling I had. No one said that to me," he said.
Today, the Dorns planned to attend Easter services at their church, Christ Lutheran. Last Easter Sunday, the church displayed a cross covered with fresh flowers. Karen Dorn thought it was so beautiful that she took a photograph of it, her husband said. That picture went with her to Saudi Arabia.
by CNB