She's in the army now

Famous military family adds a soldier Chester — The Stewart family has added another soldier to its ranks. In November, Jenna Class of Warwick completed basic and advanced training in Fort Leonard Wood, a U.S. Army training post in Missouri. There she earned the title of military police warrior. Class plans to continue her military career in the Army Reserves and pursue her bachelor’s degree. She is in her sophomore year at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, Fla., where she is majoring in criminal justice. Her parents are Victoria Stewart and Orlando Class. She has a younger brother, Chase. She graduated from Warwick Valley High School in 2004. Class comes from one of the nation’s most famous military families, which has devoted a combined total of 150 years to the Army. Her grandfather, Robert Stewart Sr. of Chester, a former paratrooper, was the first to join up. Six of Stewart’s sons followed him into the military. He also has three grandchildren in the Army, two of whom recently returned from Iraq. During the first Gulf war, President George H.W. Bush wrote a letter of commendation to Stewart and his wife, Helen: “Your extraordinary family is, indeed, among America’s finest. You have every right to be proud.” The family was also featured on the program “Current Affairs” and in Globe magazine. And they were the subject of “Three Generations,” a watercolor painting by Warwick artist Robert Fletcher, whose works were published in the 2002 book “Remembrance: A Tribute to America’s Veterans.” The painting was displayed that year in the Senate building in Washington, D.C., in an exhibit of Fletcher’s paintings.