News release prepared by: Katie Mayes, 785-532-6415, kmayes@k-state.edu

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010

K-STATE'S WILDCAT BATTALION HONORING CADET WHO DIED OVER HOLIDAY BREAK

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's ROTC Wildcat Battalion is holding a memorial service Jan. 20 for a cadet killed in a car accident over the holiday break.

The services for Lora Elizabeth Marietta, senior in psychology and pre-occupational therapy, Oberlin, will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 20, at K-State's All Faiths Chapel. Erich Schwartz, K-State's director of religious affairs in the office of student life, will preside over the service, which will feature a number of reflections on Marietta's impact on the battalion, K-State and the lives of her fellow cadets. In addition to family and friends, several high-ranking military officials are expected to attend the campus memorial service.

Marietta was a cadet battalion commander of K-State's Wildcat Battalion. In the Dec. 10 Task Force Dodge Regional Ranger Challenge at Camp Dodge, Iowa, Marietta earned the top female individual Army physical fitness test score of the competition. Marietta's score of 342 was well over the maximum physical fitness score of 300. In high school and on into college, Marietta also competed in power lifting competitions. In 2007, as a sophomore at K-State, she placed third at the U.S.A. Power Lifting Collegiate National Championships in Killeen, Texas.

Marietta is the daughter of Alan and Judith Marietta, of Oberlin. A funeral service was held Dec. 26 in Oberlin.