Christina Androy became the widow of Gilbert G. Androy on October 15th, 1997. Gilbert was a veteran law enforcement officer for many years of his life with different agencies within Iowa. At the time of Gilbert’s death Chrstina was 7 months pregnant with their first child together. Christina had 2 sons from a previous marriage and Gilbert had 2 daughters from a previous marriage. Christina and Gilbert were married July 27, 1996. Gilbert had worked for Mills County Sheriff’s Department for 11 years obtaining the rank of Chief Deputy. In October of 1997 he had always had a dream to return to his home county, Fremont County to work in law enforcement. October 13th was his 7th day of work in Fremont County. Responding to a domestic call, Gilbert ended up at the bottom of a basement staircase and never regained consciousness. Gilbert died on October 15th of massive head trauma. At the time of Gilbert’s death, Christina had no idea of where to even start. SW Iowa had never had a LOD. The population of Fremont County was about 13,000 at the time of his death. That’s the entire county population, so this was all new territory for many. In 1997 Iowa had only had 5 LOD’s from 1990-1997. Gilbert was the 6th Iowa LOD since 1990. December 24th, 1997 Christina gave birth to their first daughter together, Georgia Glyn-Rea Androy. With National Concerns of Police Survivors founded in 1984, Iowa did not show the interest for a Chapter. Christina attended her first NPW in May of 1998 not knowing what to expect. After attending NPW Christina knew that she had found “her tribe” of people that knew exactly what she was going thru. She connected with many survivors on different levels and created life long bonds. In 1999 Christina joined the National Concerns of Police Survivors board as the National Chapter Director. It was during this time that she attempted to start a state chapter for Iowa, but once again, with the low LOD numbers the interest and support just wasn’t there. During Christina’s time on the National Board, she attended many programs including, The Spouses Retreat, Kids Camp, National Board Trainings, National Board Meetings, NPW, Traumas of Law Enforcement Deaths, ILEA sessions, & Law Enforcement Conferences promoting National COPS. In 2002 Christina resigned her position on the National Board due to the illness of her mother and the rising activities of her 3 young children. With a full-time position and 3 children to care for in order to provide health insurance for them, Christina felt that her time spent on the National Board was taking away from her family. Christina would like to see changes within the Iowa Legislature for LOD benefits within the state, including health insurance and college tuition. Those benefits were not available at the time, but she has done it and is a survivor through it all! Now being the oldest or “Mema” of the Iowa COPS board, Christina hopes to bring those together to know there is “Hope”! All of our stories and positions as survivors are different but, we are all in this thing of Survivorship together! Now retied and a “Mema” of 7 grandsons, Christina is excited to be back to helping those who helped her through some of the toughest times in her life.