Cox gets surprise at game

Diana Cox wasn't even planning to attend the Scio Loggers playoff game at North Salem High School last Friday. She had bigger things on her mind. Her oldest son, Ethan was scheduled to fly into Portland International Airport on Sunday and she had planning to do for his arrival. Ethan was returning home after a four year stint in the US Marines. “Kim LeBard called and asked me to come and help run the gate, so I went.” What surprised her more was when her other son, Jesse showed up with his father, Diana's husband, Wil, in tow. “I didn't know why they were there.” She said they rarely attended home games.

With five minutes to go in the first half of the Scio victory, Greg Eide and Brian Starr approached her. They explained that since Veterans' Day was being celebrated that weekend, Greg wanted to interview Diana since Ethan was in the military. “I really didn't want to do it.” In the end, she decided she could, especially when Eide said they would be in the press box. “I decided Wil needed to be interviewed too.”

Instead of being interviewed in the box, Eide took the couple down in front of the fans. As they stood before a large contingency of Scio faithful, they had no way of knowing what was to come. “I had no clue what was going to be asked,” Diana said. Once her nerves subsided a bit, she was able to answer Eide's questions until he asked a question she never expected to hear.

“Do you want to see him now?” Eide said referring to Ethan, the son she had not seen for close to a year.

Diana was a bit taken aback, asking Eide to repeat the question. Instead, he told the couple to turn around. Unbeknownst to either of them, Ethan was standing on the football field. “I had no clue!” Diana said. “I was shocked!”

“I never thought they could pull it off,” she said three days later. She gives her other children, Jesse, Emily and Rollie credit for pulling everything together. Starr and Eide were also in on it, thanks to Emily's phone call to the school. “Emily talked with them and they all worked it out.” Even after the weekend at home with her oldest son, she was still in shock. “I've seen it on tv,” she said of the many surprise reunions. “I just never figured it would happen to me.”

She is very proud of Ethan, a 2007 graduate of Scio High School, the same high school Diana graduated from three decades earlier. “He's totally changed in a good way,” she said, adding that Ethan has a new respect for the veterans in the family- both of his grandfathers were in the military. “I never thought my kids would have done it.”

The family is planning a welcome home get together in the near future. Ethan plans to take a few months to settle into civilian life before beginning college in the summer in Bend. He intends to study architectural drafting, eventually transferring to the University of Oregon. Before all that happens, Diana intends to spend some quality time with the newest veteran in the family. “I'm just so proud of him.”