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Complete disclosures available at public.com/slash disclosures. Um And we continue with our American stories and with our storytelling for National Police Week. which honors those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. and gave their lives in the line of duty. And today we honor Damon Gutzwiller, a sergeant.
with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. On June 6, 2020, Sergeant Gutzwell responded to reports of a vehicle that contained bomb-making materials and guns. and was shot and killed by the suspect. And now we go to his courageous widow, Favi, and her eulogy to her husband, that was delivered only eleven days after he was killed. And only weeks before she She would give birth.
to their second child. Have you ever tried describing something incredibly beautiful to someone who has never seen it?
Okay. Using just your words to describe something so remarkably special to someone who has never experienced it.
Some things are too big. Too beautiful to describe. And a picture. We'll never do it justice. That's how it is with Damon.
I wish you all had the pleasure of knowing him. Instead, I can try to show you a few pictures. pieces of him. And hope you'll understand that he was so much more than these few short stories. Yeah.
On our first date, He brought ice cream over to my house. and we watched the movie Three Hundred. You know the one about the 300 half-naked greased-up Spartan soldiers battling an invading army of 300,000? Very romantic. On that first night.
Damon was very respectful. Or maybe just scared. He sat on the opposite side of the couch, at least three feet away from me, the whole night. It's a little thing. but it stays with me.
As I quickly learned, It was part of who he was. He was always kind. loving and respectful. Never so much as raising his voice at me never. If you know anything about me, you know that was an extremely difficult task.
From the start. he was always thinking about me, putting me first and making sure that I was okay. He wasn't like anyone I'd ever met before.
Okay. Yeah. Just a few weeks into our relationship. I had a horrible night at work. I'm a neonatal ICU nurse.
A baby had passed. I had worked 16 hours. and was beyond emotionally and physically exhausted. when I got home. As I walked up to my door I saw a cooler.
Inside was a note from Damon. He told me that he knew I had a terrible night at work, that he was thinking about me, and he didn't want to bother. He also wanted to make sure I had food when I got home. And dinner for that night before I returned to work.
So he brought me. lunch and made me dinner. and left it at the door for me. We'd only known each other for weeks. I didn't know that someone could really be that kind.
He was an only child raised by his mom Vicki. Vicki did a great job of raising this man. He was who he was because of her. And just like she took care of him when he was little, he took care of her as she got older. As her health has declined, he was by her side at every doctor's appointment, driving her from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Yeah. Lately she needed more care and he invited her to come live with us, Damon taking on most of her needs and care. I knew from the beginning of our relationship he wanted to have children. When we met, We were both in our early thirties. And early on, I told him, I don't think I want to have kids.
I think I should tell you that because I don't want to waste your time. He said that he didn't know what the future would hold. And he'd like to get to know me better. as I grew to know and love him, I wanted to have children with him. I wanted to have children because he would be their father.
I would want that for any child. They wanted it for me and for the children. We would have it together. We had Carter a little over two years ago. Damon was ecstatic.
You hear complaints about husbands not doing their share. of taking care of the kids. That was not a problem with Damon. He was the one who would get up early with Carter, feed him breakfast, play with him until I woke up. Yeah.
I'm about to have our second child, and while I've been pregnant, Damon has been even more attentive, sending me off to take naps and get some rest every day while he takes care of Carter. I knew he would be a great father. And for a short time. I was able to see. He wasn't just a great father.
He was amazing. He was so good with Carter. They ran around, sang songs, danced. played with Legos, built puzzles, stuck in the dirt for hours, had tea parties. For his birthday last month, Carter got a little scooter.
Damon got himself one too and said, I just can't wait to have father's son scooter rides. They were only able to have one. There's a tradition in Wales that goes back hundreds of years of carving a love spoon from a single block of wood. a young man would carve a love spoon and give it to a girl to express what was in his heart. If she accepted it, it meant she felt the same way.
The spoon would have symbols carved into it, each with a different meaning. I didn't know any of this until Damon made me a love spoon for Valentine's Day. Damon wrote me a note explaining the meaning of the symbols he had carved. Here's some of what he wrote. An anchor.
Settled love, eternal devotion, and security. Heart. True love. The carver's heart belongs to his love. His loved one.
Keyhole. Security. I shall look after you and protect you. Spade. A promise to work.
and provide for you. This is the man that I am missing. who Carter is missing. And who are new baby? We'll never meet.
This is the man our whole community is missing. Or rather, these are just a few stories of who he was. I hope you can imagine. what the whole man was like. Yeah.
Okay. what life with him was like. I was there. I saw it. I lived it.
It was wonderful. When I look at our sun He reminds me of Damon in many different ways. from his long eyelashes to his nose to his silly personality and the goofy grins he makes, just like Damon used to. I can only hope that our children will grow up to be just like their father. Kind, loving.
compassionate. Honest. hardworking and all around. Wonderful people. I pray for the strength to raise the amazing children he would have raised.
I want to say thank you. From my heart to all of the people who have helped me. Our child and the child about to arrive. Thank you. Yeah, okay.
To my family, who loved Damon so much and made sure he knew he was a loved member of our family. Thank you to my friends who have been with me at so. many of the best times of my life and who are with me now. at the worst, as true friends are. Thank you to our community, the community that Damon loved so much.
And died defending. Your outpouring of support and love has been overwhelming. Think of the people across the country, people I may never meet, who have offered their support and love. And thank you to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. for everything they have done and are doing.
Receiving so much love. I do feel like Damon is here with me today. I think he's here now and I hope he always will be. I know that I will carry him with me. in my heart and through our children.
Forever. Thank you again. And a special thanks to Alex Cortez for bringing that story. And a profound thanks to Favi Gutzwiller. for sharing On such short notice, I mean, talk about some courage.
They get up there only weeks after Really, a murderer like this, it's a murder, right? When a suspect shoots a A police officer responding to a crime, that's what it is, folks. Killed in the line of duty. And as His bride so well put it, the community Damon loved so much and died defending. This is the man our whole community is missing.
his bride said. killed in the line of duty on june sixth, twenty twenty, responding to reports of a vehicle that contained bomb-making materials and guns. killed by the suspect. All week long we're honoring All of the men and women who died in uniform protecting and defending all of our communities. National Police Week The story of Sergeant Damon Gutz Willer His bride's story His children's story.
And in the end, Santa Cruz County's story. Here. on our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years.
And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q.
That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. I'm U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Um The sound of a seatbelt. It's one of the most important sounds in our car.
It means everyone is ready and everyone is safe. The more our kids see us put on our seatbelts, the more natural it is for them to put theirs on too. Make it a priority. Buckle up every time. Hear the sound?
Make it a habit. Paid for by Nitza. Hot take. You can disagree with someone and not hate them. I know, really groundbreaking stuff.
But lately, that line seems blurry because hate is rising across communities in all kinds of ways, and Jewish communities are getting a lot of it right now. You don't have to agree with people, you just have to not be awful. The Blue Square is a simple way to say, I'm with you, and I don't tolerate hate of any kind. Go to bluesquarealliance.org, get a pin, share it, and stand up. This is Martha Stewart from the Martha Stewart Podcast.
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