Army Capt. returns home after 10 months to surprise son at Holden school
HOLDEN — A mix of excitement and surprise was part of the lesson plan at Dr. Leroy E. Mayo Elementary School on Friday afternoon.
Army National Guard Capt. Lee Pappas, stationed in Saudi Arabia for 10 months, shocked his son Maverick, a first-grader, with a surprise visit to the school.
Maverick, 7, was unaware his father would be home for Christmas.
"I was so happy and excited, and I thought I was sleeping (that I was in a dream)," Maverick said after reuniting with this dad.
At the end of the school day, while pupils gathered for a "Choose To Be Nice" assembly, Capt. Pappas appeared in the gymnasium as Maverick was participating in a presentation about teamwork.
Father and son embraced amid applause from school children.
"It was tough," Capt. Pappas said. "It was really hard (but I'm) just thankful for the modern technology and FaceTime — it's just the best thing. I can't imagine how the soldiers used to do it back in the days with very rudimentary technology and also before that was just writing letters home."
The surprise was originally Maverick’s idea, said Jennifer Pappas, Maverick’s mother. She recalled Maverick saying he really wanted his father to surprise him when he got back home.
“Maverick was the one who from the very beginning said he wanted Daddy to surprise (him) at school and then he would get to leave school early (so that) he wouldn’t have to stay in the pickup line,” Jennifer Pappas said. “So when we heard that, we knew we would have to make it happen, so we had reached out to the school, (and) the school was so wonderful so helpful. Our neighbors across the street Karen helped set everything up and here we are getting to surprise him.”
Before coming back home, Capt. Pappas stayed in Texas for two weeks wrapping up medical screening and paperwork in order to get back home smoothly.
When all the classes were dismissed afterwards, Maverick's class stayed for a while as Capt. Pappas was familiar to some of the students in the class, having spoken to Maverick's class via video link from Saudi Arabia.
He is a field artillery officer. Students were asking questions about life in the Army.
Maverick said he has so many things that he wants to do together with his father, but first thing first, he said he is going to snuggle in the bed with him.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Capt. Pappas returns home after 10 months and surprises son, 7, at Holden school
