Support group helps Duran

The support group for military families that Maria del Rosario Duran started nearly one year ago, is now helping her cope with her own tragedy - the death of her oldest son Alex Jimenez.
The night Duran learned that the military had identified the remains of her son, who was missing in Iraq for more than a year, two Queens mothers whose sons died while serving overseas last year rushed to be by Duran’s side.
“As soon as she knows the news, she called me right away because as soon as I got the news about my son, she was the first person I called,” said Martha Clarke, whose son, Specialist Jonathan Rivadeneira, was killed in Baghdad, Iraq on September 14, 2007.
When Roselle Calero found out that her son, Major Jeffrey Calero had died on October 29, 2007 after an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated in Afghanistan, one of the many phone calls of support she received that night was from Duran.
Calero had never met or spoken to Duran prior to that phone call, but during the next nine months, the two became friends sharing phone conversation and visits so when Calero heard the news about Jimenez on Thursday, July 10, she wanted to be with Duran.
“It was traumatic for us when we heard the news,” Calero said. “We all went over there, and we cried together.”
During the night, Duran answered nearly every phone call she received and spent time talking to each of the dozens of visitors who came to offer their condolences.
“She is going through all of this hurt and pain, and she is thinking of other people,” Calero said.
With the help of City Councilmember Hiram Monserrate and local community organizers, Duran formed the Council of Families and Friends of Active, Deceased and Missing Soldiers of American Wars in August of 2007 and since then, the group has helped people including Clarke.
“I met her [Duran] two months before my son died,” Clarke said. “We had meetings here in her house, and we prayed for all soldiers. I never imagined that two months later my son would die. She always was with me.”
Although Clarke and Calero said that the next few weeks and months will be difficult for Duran, they believe having closure and a place to remember her son will be comforting.
“Little by little as the time passes, the pain is still there, but God will give her more strength,” Clarke said.