"Army Reserve Spc. Carla Jane Stewart, 37, Glendale; killed in convoy vehicle rollover"
By Sandy Banks, Times Staff Writer|February 25, 2007
She was a wisp of a woman -- 5 feet tall, with a cascading crown of dark curls -- so unfailingly pleasant and polite that her fellow soldiers called her "Stuart Little" after the thoughtful little mouse in the classic children's story.
It had taken her 17 years to follow through on her adolescent dream of military service. But when Carla Jane Stewart finally joined the Army in July 2004, she dedicated herself to one goal: to serve in war-torn Iraq.
A member of the Army Reserve's 250th Transportation Company, based in El Monte, Stewart, 37, was killed Jan. 28 when her convoy vehicle overturned in Tallil, southeast of Baghdad. The accident is under investigation by Army officials.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Stewart grew up with the trappings of privilege in La Canada Flintridge. She attended private schools, spent seven years studying ballet, took riding lessons and spent vacations water skiing and ice skating at her family's second home in Lake Arrowhead.
Stewart, whose parents divorced when she was a teenager, always had an affinity for the less fortunate, her mother said.
"Carla had an innately noble nature," said Emmy Aprahamian, dressed in black and perched on a sofa in her small Glendale apartment, where the walls are crowded with photos of her daughter and tables piled high with sympathy cards. "Carla loved animals, children, nature
While in high school, she invited a friend to move in because the girl had no place to live. Together, they decided to join the military. But the girls got cold feet at the recruiter's office, Aprahamian said.
Instead, after her 1987 graduation from Glendale's Hoover High School, Carla enrolled at Glendale Community College, studied mechanical drafting and went to work for the structural engineering firm owned by her father, Edmond Babayan.
At 25, she married Brandon Stewart, a high school friend who had been a buddy of her younger brother, Richard. But 10 years later, estranged from her husband, her old dream of military service resurfaced.
At 35, nearing the cutoff age for enlistment, she joined the Army Reserve, whose soldiers receive combat training and attend weekend drills but can live at home and maintain their civilian careers.
(complete article may be found @ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/25/local/me-stewart25)
By Sandy Banks, Times Staff Writer|February 25, 2007
She was a wisp of a woman -- 5 feet tall, with a cascading crown of dark curls -- so unfailingly pleasant and polite that her fellow soldiers called her "Stuart Little" after the thoughtful little mouse in the classic children's story.
It had taken her 17 years to follow through on her adolescent dream of military service. But when Carla Jane Stewart finally joined the Army in July 2004, she dedicated herself to one goal: to serve in war-torn Iraq.
A member of the Army Reserve's 250th Transportation Company, based in El Monte, Stewart, 37, was killed Jan. 28 when her convoy vehicle overturned in Tallil, southeast of Baghdad. The accident is under investigation by Army officials.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Stewart grew up with the trappings of privilege in La Canada Flintridge. She attended private schools, spent seven years studying ballet, took riding lessons and spent vacations water skiing and ice skating at her family's second home in Lake Arrowhead.
Stewart, whose parents divorced when she was a teenager, always had an affinity for the less fortunate, her mother said.
"Carla had an innately noble nature," said Emmy Aprahamian, dressed in black and perched on a sofa in her small Glendale apartment, where the walls are crowded with photos of her daughter and tables piled high with sympathy cards. "Carla loved animals, children, nature
While in high school, she invited a friend to move in because the girl had no place to live. Together, they decided to join the military. But the girls got cold feet at the recruiter's office, Aprahamian said.
Instead, after her 1987 graduation from Glendale's Hoover High School, Carla enrolled at Glendale Community College, studied mechanical drafting and went to work for the structural engineering firm owned by her father, Edmond Babayan.
At 25, she married Brandon Stewart, a high school friend who had been a buddy of her younger brother, Richard. But 10 years later, estranged from her husband, her old dream of military service resurfaced.
At 35, nearing the cutoff age for enlistment, she joined the Army Reserve, whose soldiers receive combat training and attend weekend drills but can live at home and maintain their civilian careers.
(complete article may be found @ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/25/local/me-stewart25)
"Army Reserve Spc. Carla Jane Stewart, 37, Glendale; killed in convoy vehicle rollover"
By Sandy Banks, Times Staff Writer|February 25, 2007
She was a wisp of a woman -- 5 feet tall, with a cascading crown of dark curls -- so unfailingly pleasant and polite that her fellow soldiers called her "Stuart Little" after the thoughtful little mouse in the classic children's story.
It had taken her 17 years to follow through on her adolescent dream of military service. But when Carla Jane Stewart finally joined the Army in July 2004, she dedicated herself to one goal: to serve in war-torn Iraq.
A member of the Army Reserve's 250th Transportation Company, based in El Monte, Stewart, 37, was killed Jan. 28 when her convoy vehicle overturned in Tallil, southeast of Baghdad. The accident is under investigation by Army officials.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Stewart grew up with the trappings of privilege in La Canada Flintridge. She attended private schools, spent seven years studying ballet, took riding lessons and spent vacations water skiing and ice skating at her family's second home in Lake Arrowhead.
Stewart, whose parents divorced when she was a teenager, always had an affinity for the less fortunate, her mother said.
"Carla had an innately noble nature," said Emmy Aprahamian, dressed in black and perched on a sofa in her small Glendale apartment, where the walls are crowded with photos of her daughter and tables piled high with sympathy cards. "Carla loved animals, children, nature
While in high school, she invited a friend to move in because the girl had no place to live. Together, they decided to join the military. But the girls got cold feet at the recruiter's office, Aprahamian said.
Instead, after her 1987 graduation from Glendale's Hoover High School, Carla enrolled at Glendale Community College, studied mechanical drafting and went to work for the structural engineering firm owned by her father, Edmond Babayan.
At 25, she married Brandon Stewart, a high school friend who had been a buddy of her younger brother, Richard. But 10 years later, estranged from her husband, her old dream of military service resurfaced.
At 35, nearing the cutoff age for enlistment, she joined the Army Reserve, whose soldiers receive combat training and attend weekend drills but can live at home and maintain their civilian careers.
(complete article may be found @ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/25/local/me-stewart25)
By Sandy Banks, Times Staff Writer|February 25, 2007
She was a wisp of a woman -- 5 feet tall, with a cascading crown of dark curls -- so unfailingly pleasant and polite that her fellow soldiers called her "Stuart Little" after the thoughtful little mouse in the classic children's story.
It had taken her 17 years to follow through on her adolescent dream of military service. But when Carla Jane Stewart finally joined the Army in July 2004, she dedicated herself to one goal: to serve in war-torn Iraq.
A member of the Army Reserve's 250th Transportation Company, based in El Monte, Stewart, 37, was killed Jan. 28 when her convoy vehicle overturned in Tallil, southeast of Baghdad. The accident is under investigation by Army officials.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, Stewart grew up with the trappings of privilege in La Canada Flintridge. She attended private schools, spent seven years studying ballet, took riding lessons and spent vacations water skiing and ice skating at her family's second home in Lake Arrowhead.
Stewart, whose parents divorced when she was a teenager, always had an affinity for the less fortunate, her mother said.
"Carla had an innately noble nature," said Emmy Aprahamian, dressed in black and perched on a sofa in her small Glendale apartment, where the walls are crowded with photos of her daughter and tables piled high with sympathy cards. "Carla loved animals, children, nature
While in high school, she invited a friend to move in because the girl had no place to live. Together, they decided to join the military. But the girls got cold feet at the recruiter's office, Aprahamian said.
Instead, after her 1987 graduation from Glendale's Hoover High School, Carla enrolled at Glendale Community College, studied mechanical drafting and went to work for the structural engineering firm owned by her father, Edmond Babayan.
At 25, she married Brandon Stewart, a high school friend who had been a buddy of her younger brother, Richard. But 10 years later, estranged from her husband, her old dream of military service resurfaced.
At 35, nearing the cutoff age for enlistment, she joined the Army Reserve, whose soldiers receive combat training and attend weekend drills but can live at home and maintain their civilian careers.
(complete article may be found @ http://articles.latimes.com/2007/feb/25/local/me-stewart25)
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