POCA, W.Va. — A teacher who knew Nick Jividen well says the former Poca High School student loved being a soldier.
“He talked about it a lot his senior year. He knew what he wanted to do,” said Sonia Richardson, assistant principal at Poca High School. “When he was on leave last year he stopped in my office and you could tell he absolutely loved it. He found his niche.”
Richardson taught Jivden’s English class during his senior year at Poca. He graduated in the class of 2015.
Jividen, 21, died last week in a training exercise at Fort Irwin in California. He was based in Crestview, Fla. and was a signal analyst to the HQ Support Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne).
“It literally took my breath away when I found out,” said Richardson. “This was a kid who made all the right decisions and had so much going for him. You hate to hear that about anyone, but I especially hated to hear it about Nick.”
Jividen’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday and interment with full military honors will follow at the Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery in Institute.
Gov. Jim Justice has ordered all state flags at state facilities to fly at half-staff from dawn until dusk Monday in honor of Jividen.