CHARACTER HISTORY

 

   Willow Summers was born February 14, 1967. She grew up and went to school in Dallas, Texas. Her mother died in childbirth. A straight A student she was also active in extracuriculer activities to include cheerleading and track. She was a frequent participnant in local beauty pagents and was the Homecoming Queen her Senior Year in high school. An avid computer interest was well hidden from her friends and classmates. She also raised and bred German Sheppard Puppies for future training as Seeing Eye Guide Dogs for the Blind.

   She had one brother Henry who was three years older. He enlisted in the Army in 1981 at the age of 17. He volunteered for the Airborne Ranger Option. He took Basic Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama; next came the Basic Medical Specialist at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, followed by Jump School at Fort Benning, Georgia. After several months of Ranger Orientation at Fort Lewis, Washington with 2nd Battalion / 75th Infantry Regiment Ranger {Airborne} he was sent to Ranger School. After sixty-one grueling days he earned his coveted Black Beret and returned to Fort Lewis. Sergeant Summers was killed in action in October 1983 during  Operation Urgent Fury the invasion of Grenada during the Point Salines Airport combat drop. He was treating a wounded soldier under fire when a Cuban Mortar Round hit nearby killing them both.

   Willow’s father was a veteran Dallas Police Officer who had been on duty as part of the motorcycle escort on that fateful day in November 1963 when president Kennedy was assasinated. He went on to become first a detective and later a S.W.A.T. Officer. The death of his wife while bearing their second child devastated him. Some said that’s why he took the risks he did. Almost a year to the day after his wife died, while off duty, he walked into the local bank branch interupting a hold up. The citation for his Medal of Valor read in part...Lieutenant Summers at grave risk to his own personal safety did engage three armed felons single handedly when in his judgement waiting for responding units to arrive would have led to civillian death or injury. The award was made posthumonously as Officer Summers killed two of the felons and disabled the third; but died from wounds received.

   Young Willow and her older brother Henry were taken in and raised by their grandmother. Her grandmother died of a heart attack her junior year the same year her brother was killed in Grenada. Losing both her parents at an early age, her grandmother who raised her during the turbolent teen years of high school, and then having her brother die in combat has made her very reluctant to get close to anyone.

   She enrolled in the University of Texas Zoology program due to her interest and affection for animals in general. She worked as fashion model during holiday breaks and the summer to help pay her way through school. During her senior year several friends talked her into attending tryouts withn them for the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. To her surprise, but almost no one else’s she alone survived the numerous eliminations and cuts to become a member of the most famous cheerleading squad in the world. That year provided many travel opportunities as the squad made appearances worldwide. All good things come to an end she didn’t reapply for the team the following year to the disappointment of many fans and fellow squad members.  She graduated in 1988 with B.S. Degree in Zoology and applied to the Dallas Police Department.

   She had both a hard and easy time getting through the screening process and the academy. Her father as a distinguished veteran who had given his life in the line of duty opened many doors for her. At the same it was hard to get senior officers and recruiters to take her seriously when they often had Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader posters or pictures on the office door or desk. Many often did a double take when they noticed the resemblance between the straight laced prim and proper recruit in  a cadet uniform; to the girl in the skimpy body hugging cheerleader costume on the wall. She was often embarassed when some even asked her to autogragh their posters. The borderline sexual harrassment nearly stressed her out but she graduated third in her class. Friends of her father helped pull a few strings to get the new rookie a slot  with K-9 unit after only 3 months as a patrol officer. She quickly earned the respect of her fellow officers in the K-9 Unit, with the explosive sniffing dogs, attached to the bomb squad. Connections may have opened some doors but her natural talent as a dog handler was second to none. After two years with the K-9 unit and a promotion to sergeant. She applied for S.W.A.T. and faced a long hard battle for acceptance. The macho cowboy officers just couldn’t handle the idea of a former cheerleader among them. She completed the training but was kept out of the action. Her acceptance had been to cover the the department on equal opportunity and sexual discrimination, but in fact she was S.W.A.T. in name only. Her riot gear and special weapons collecting dust in the trunk of her patrol car. Then in 1990 with a large number of officers recalled to military service due to the Gulf War she got her chance. Many of the  S.W.A.T. officers were Reservist Military or Air Police and the teams were depleted of experienced personel. Then in January 1991 as the Desert Shield turned to Desert Storm. Dallas S.W.A.T. was called in to handle a terrorist incident at major downtown bank. The Lieutenant in charge of the team was killed minutes after arriving, two of  the remaining five officers were wounded and the remainder pinned down by heavy automatic weapons fire. Sergeant Summers delegated to working crowd control  heard the near panic over the radio as the hysterical call for back up went out and for a second S.W.A.T. unit to respond. Knowing they couldn’t arrive for at least twenty minutes and with the only other supervisor present a desk sergeant with no street experience. She turned over crowd control to a nearby patrol unit, suited up in her kevlar, grabbed her Uzi and the rest as they say is history. The next mornings paper proclaimed how a new officer barely two years out of the academy had rallied the veteran S.W.A.T. Team and took out twice their number in terrorists. What few realized was how badly the incident had effected her, personally killing two terrorists and seeing a fellow officer killed only a few feet away while carrying out her orders had shaken her confidence. The fact that her father had died in bank hold up added a certain sense of irony to the situation. To the department and city she was a hero like her father; only she knew how much she dreaded having to go through such an experience again.

   She requested and received an education leave of absence to attend the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia. Almost three years later in December 1994 later she received her D.V.M. degree and was on a plane from Atlanta back to Dallas when the plane was hijacked by two men who wanted to divert the plane to Cuba. The moment of truth had arrived. She sat in chair for amost half an hour in cold sweat and had a bad case of the shakes when suddenly something seemed to snap. Sergeant Summers alone and unarmed took out the two terrorist. The terrorists made a serious mistake in underestimating the attractive blond in the sexy short dress and high heals.  Walking to the bathroom she caught one terrorist by surprise as he was to busy eyeballing her and let his guard down. She quickly disarmed him with a savage karate kick to the groin, the high heal adding insult to injury. Grabbing his weapon she snapped off two quick shots to the head to shoot and kill the second terrorist. As the plane made an emergency landing in New Orleans she put the gun down, got the shakes, and heaved her guts out.

Arriving in Dallas several days later she turned in her resignation. A month later she opened a small animal clinic which she quite happily ran until several men came to see her in March 1995 from Morrow Industries about  a research project they though she might be interested in considering.