Jaime S. Jaenke

Friday, June 09 2006 @ 02:59 AM EDT

www. desmoinesregister.com -- An Iowa Falls sailor is the first female Iowan to die in the war in Iraq.

Seabee Reservist Jaime Jaenke, 29, was killed in a roadside bomb attack Monday. She is the forty-second Iowan to die in Iraq and Afghanistan since March 2003.

Jaenke, 29, a Petty Officer 2nd Class, and an Illinois sailor were killed when the bomb exploded near their Humvee in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. J.G. Carlos Kirby said.

Also killed was Petty Officer 1st Class Gary Rovinski.

They were assigned to the Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 25 at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin.

The Navy identified Jaenke as being from Bay City, Wis., but an Iowa Falls funeral director said he is handling the funeral arrangements for her.

Jaenke had ties to Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, according to Minneapolis television station KARE.

Before joining the Naval Reserves, Jaenke worked as an emergency medical technician in Ellsworth, Wis., where her former colleagues say she was a great service to the community and will be sorely missed, the station reported.

Jaenke was activated in January and had been overseas for a few months before the attack.

Jaenke was a Seabee reservist who provided infrastructure support for combat officers, such as building airstrips and housing. Kirby said he didn’t know what the sailors were doing at the time of the attack.

School officials in Iowa Falls said Jaenke’s 9-year-old daughter Kayla has been enrolled at Rock Run Elementary School since spring 2004. They said Jaenke lived in Iowa Falls during her early childhood but graduated from a high school in Wisconsin.

She had only recently returned to Iowa after living for years in Minnesota and was excited about starting an equestrian business in Iowa Falls when she returned from Iraq.

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