Gold Star spouse McClintock keynotes remembrance ceremony

May 23, 2022

Alexandra McClintock, '22, will speak at UW Tacoma's 2022 Memorial Day Remembrance ceremony. Her husband, SFC Matthew McClintock, was killed in 2016 while serving in Afghanistan.

Mourners gathered around casket at graveside service at Arlington National Cemetery for SFC Matthew McClintock.

U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Xavier Brunson, deputy commander of U.S. Army Special Forces Command, presents an American flag to Declan, son of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Q. McClintock, during the graveside service for McClintock in Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, March 7, 2016, in Arlington, Va. McClintock was killed in action Jan. 5, 2016, in Afghanistan. (U.S. Army photo by Rachel Larue/Arlington National Cemetery/released. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.)

Alumna Alexandra McClintock, ’22, is the keynote speaker for this year’s Memorial Day Remembrance ceremony at UW Tacoma. McClintock is a Gold Star Spouse. Her husband, Sergeant First Class Matthew McClintock, was killed in 2016 while serving in Afghanistan. The couple celebrated the birth of their son just a few months before Matthew McClintock was killed. Since her husband’s death Alexandra McClintock has been active in the veteran and military community.

She was the subject of a profile in The News Tribune when a national Gold Star Family advocacy organization, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, paid off her mortgage on her Tacoma home.

The remembrance ceremony is one of several events put together by UW Tacoma’s Veteran & Military Resource Center (VMRC), the Veterans Incubator for Better Entrepreneurship and the Student Veteran Organization. Members of the UW Tacoma community participated in a flag-laying along the Prairie Line Trail on Monday, May 23.

Besides the flag-laying and the remembrance ceremony, there are other events at UW Tacoma, UW Bothell and UW in Seattle this week to mark Memorial Day which falls this year on Monday, May 30. The Memorial Day Mile is Wednesday May 25 at the University Y followed by a mental health workshop the next day.

The veteran and military-affiliated community at UW Tacoma is large and diverse. More than 17% of the campus’s student body has a military affiliation whether that is active duty, veteran status, or close family connection. And quite a number of campus faculty and staff carry a military affiliation.

Because of the strength of the campus community, and because of its proximity to Joint Base Lewis-McChord, UW Tacoma serves as UW’s official liaison to JBLM. The VMRC helps connect students who are veterans with benefits related to the G.I. Bill and acts as sponsor of the Student Veteran Organization, which has been named a finalist for Chapter of the Year (in competition against 1,500 other chapters) for three years running by Student Veterans of America.

Written by Eric Wilson-Edge
Veteran & Military Affairs

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