The Iowa House and Senate began their days with patriotic tributes. A children’s chorus sang a medley of patriotic songs; Iowans who went to help out at Ground Zero and the Pentagon were honored; and an Iowa woman whose husband died in New York City September 11th sat in the Senate balcony. Legislators invited Jean Cleare of Newton to come — and she came to say pay tribute to others. Clear says she wanted the opportunity to thank the people of Iowa who supported her.Cleare’s husband, Jim, was on a business trip when he died. Cleary wore four pins to the statehouse. One is an American flag, made of safety pins and colored wires. It was made by the 12-year-old daughter of a co-worker in support of Clear and her family.Cleare’s received all sorts of things in the mail, like poems. She says it shows that people from Iowa, the U-S and the world are feeling the loss.Cleare and her daughter are trying to arrange a flight to New York City on January 25th to visit Ground Zero. They’ll take a D-N-A kit and Cleare hopes it’ll help identify her husband as one of the ten bodies recovered near the Marriott where he’d been staying.
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