Commentary: Disabled vet honors ‘gold star’ teacher, families

CEDAR FALLS — Kelly Sullivan is a ‘gold star” teacher in many ways, but she and other families who lost loved ones in war received a ‘‘gold star” tribute from one of her star pupils this week ahead of Veterans Day. Disabled veteran Taylor Morris, who lost parts of all four limbs in a May 2012 bomb blast in Afghanistan, and a cadre of volunteers dedicated a Gold Star Families Memorial at Veterans Memorial Park in Cedar Falls. Kelly Sullivan was Taylor Morris’s third grade teacher. She is the granddaughter and grandniece of Waterloo’s five Sullivan brothers, who were killed in World War II. Sullivan not only attended Monday’s dedication, she and staff brought third graders from Lincoln Elementary School in Cedar Falls to the ceremony. “I am so proud of my former third grader Taylor,” she said. Not only is Sullivan a member of a Gold Star family which lost loved ones in combat, in 2022 she was among a group of local educators nominated for a Gold Star Teachers award by the R.J.

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