Thousands of people honored former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle and his wife, Taya, on Saturday night.
On February 11, Taya Kyle moved everyone who watched her husband’s memorial service at Cowboys Stadium. Saturday night she said she was overwhelmed by the cheers for her and her husband at the American Airlines Center.
“We would like to thank and welcome Taya Kyle,” the public address announcer said Saturday.
A thunderous ovation from the Dallas Stars and their fans welcomed and honored Taya and Chris Kyle.
“I know he’d be humbled,” Taya Kyle said. “It’s an honor of course as his wife. I’m thrilled. I love to see it, what better way to honor someone you love than to see an outpouring of love for them?”
Taya Kyle was on hand to drop the ceremonial puck with Miss Texas USA Ali Nugent.
“She’s a great person,” Nugent said. “This was already planned for me to do and I figured why not invite her. Her husband is a true hero and he deserves to be honored.”
For Taya Kyle though it was also a chance to get away from the last three weeks of grief, if even for just a few hours. Kyle's husband and his friend Chad Littlefield were gunned down at a shooting range in Erath County February 2. Eddie Ray Routh, a Marine reservist, has been charged in their deaths.
“It definitely doesn’t seem real sometimes,” Kyle said. “I think we’re actually coping as well as we can. I feel like living with Chris, being with Chris, being married to Chris, we all got a lot of strength that we can draw from him and our experiences in the past and do it as well as we possibly can.”
And having the kind of support she saw on Saturday night helps too.
“It’s overwhelming,” Kyle said. “I mean, think about the worst things that you can go through and the overwhelming support, love and patriotism, it’s fantastic. I love the patriotism, I love my husband, I wish he was here. I’m proud to be here in his place, it’s cool.”
Taya Kyle says she’s busy being a mom and raising her two children. She did say she hopes to keep many of the projects her husband is involved with alive for him.
Nugent is in the running for Miss USA. She’s started an organization called “Crown’s for Heroes” which builds homes for service members seriously injured overseas and have special needs.
She’s already raised money to help build several homes already and hopes to build more by the time Miss USA comes around. For more information click here.
