Missouri briefs 5/9/06

Graduation honors teen whose organs gave life

PLEASANT HILL, Mo. -- Cody Prewitt never got to see his classmates graduate from Pleasant Hill High School. But more than 1 1/2 years after his death in a car crash, the Kansas City-area teen was there in more than spirit. At Sunday's commencement exercises, a woman who received Cody's donated lungs joined his parents to accept his high school diploma. The audience and the graduating class stood and applauded as Teri and Dustin Whiting and 26-year-old Lana Hall walked across the stage. "A part of Cody received his diploma today because a part of him is in Lana," she said, her voice breaking. Cody, who played football and wrestled for Pleasant Hill, was 16 and had just started his junior year when he died on Sept. 6, 2004. Hall was one of seven people who received organs from Cody, whose parents also donated his heart, liver, pancreas, kidneys and corneas.

Missouri National Guard soldier killed in Iraq

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Pfc. Alva L. Gaylord, a member of the Missouri National Guard, died after an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle south of Baghdad, officials said Monday. Gaylord, 25, of Carrollton, was a member of Company C, 110th Engineer Battalion, from Lexington. Gaylord, a combat engineer, had been a member of the Missouri National Guard for about three years.

-- From wire reports