Southwest Airlines Employee Sings 'You Raise Me Up' to Mother of Fallen State Trooper
The staff of The Western Journal is working a reduced schedule over Easter weekend to allow our employees the opportunity for rest and worship with their families if they so choose. We are re-publishing this article as a service to our readers, who reacted strongly to it when it first ran.
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant honored the life of fallen Arizona DPS Trooper Tyler Edenhofer by singing a song directed to Edenhofer’s mother, who was on board the flight.
Tyler Edenhofer was just 24 years old when he was killed in the line of duty in July 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tyler’s mother, Debbie Edenhofer, was flying from Phoenix to Louisville to attend a ceremony honoring her son in his hometown of Jeffersontown, Kentucky, according to KTHV-TV.
Sean Warren, a passenger on the plane, shared a video of the moment a Southwest employee picked up the mic and began to sing, “You Raise Me Up.”
Warren wrote that while he was busy wearing his headphones and trying to avoid any general contact with strangers, his ears perked up when he heard the employee address the passengers.
“He stated that we had a mother on the flight who’s son had been killed in the line of duty as a state trooper,” Warren wrote on Facebook. “He then proceeded to sing her a beautiful song.”
“I just want you to know I think we should have more interruptions like this. In fact, it is no interruption at all,” Warren wrote.
“It actually makes things quite clear. And it shares, in a public way, a private burden this family carries.”
“To the flight attendant….thank you for leading us and for honoring them,” Warren wrote.
“To the mother…..”Thank you” seems so utterly inadequate.”
“May you be blessed daily in your thoughts of your son’s service and sacrifice. May heaven give you in abundance what you missed here on earth.”
The employee was Scott Wirt who works as a ground operations agent for Southwest.
On March 24, officials in Jeffersontown unveiled a park bench dedicated to Tyler Edenhofer and his life of service, WHAS-TV reported.
Debbie Edenhofer did see Warren’s heartfelt post and thanked him for sharing the special moment.
As a mother, not a day will go by that she does not think of her son, and it can be comforting to know that others still remember him, too.
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