UA Student Remembrance Ceremony To Honor Brookwood Native, Combat Vet

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The University of Alabama on Monday will honor the lives of three students who recently passed away, including a Brookwood native and Marine combat veteran who took his own life.

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Hosted by the Dean of Students Division of Student Life, the UA Student Remembrance Ceremony will be held Monday at 4 p.m. at Denny Chimes and honor Hunter Whitley, 23, of Brookwood; Jill Rosenberry, 19, of Delaware, Ohio; and Thomas Walter Matthew Armes, 19, of Columbia, South Carolina.

Whitley was a 2018 graduate of Brookwood High School and went on to join the United States Marines Corps. A family member told Patch he served in the infantry and saw combat in Operation Allies Refuge in Afghanistan in August 2021 during the evacuation of the Kabul airport.

He then returned to his hometown and enrolled at the University of Alabama, where he majored in computer science.

Whitley took his own life on Nov. 13, 2022, and was honored later that month as part of UA's Operation Iron Ruck — a veterans initiative that coincides with the Iron Bowl to raise awareness of veteran suicide.

Each year, UA’s student organization Crimson Legion and Auburn’s Student Veteran‘s Association hike from one of the college towns to the other, depending on where the game is hosted that year.

"Hunter was handsome, intelligent, and exciting. An avid music lover, he enjoyed music, art, and doing almost anything with his friends," his obituary says. "Hunter's diverse nature along with his love and concern for everyone was evident in his actions. Hunter was known for his unforgettable blue eyes, smile, contagious laugh as well as his motivation and charisma."

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