With his daddy big on nicknames, Jennifer McCollum wonders what her late husband would have thought up for their newborn son, Daniel Gardner McCollum Jr.

"He came up with so many nicknames for me, I began to wonder if he remembered my real name," she said with a smile. The San Diego, Calif., resident was in Cape Girar-deau for the weekend visiting her parents, Bill and Jenny Harkey.

Capt. Daniel McCollum Sr. was one of seven Marines killed in a plane crash in Pakistan in January as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, America's response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

The McCollums were married in May 2001 and were expecting their first child when Dan McCollum, the son of Betty and Charlie Lorick of Columbia, S.C., was deployed in December.

Network of support

Family, friends, her community and the nation rallied around McCollum following the crash.

"I have an amazing support network that extends from one coast to the next and overseas," she said. "A good friend of mine is living in Germany right now while her husband is stationed there. She calls about once a week just to say hello."

McCollum's church, Shadow Mountain Community Church in California, has embraced the new mother and held a large patriotic celebration July 4, at which several national heroes were honored, including McCollum and Daniel. McCollum's mother, a certified Lamaze instructor and maternal newborn nurse, thought she would have three weeks to get things organized for the birth when she flew out of Missouri for California on June 7. But McCollum's water broke around 3 a.m. June 11, and Daniel was born 2 1/2 hours later. Daniel now weighs about 17 pounds and has just started sleeping seven hours through the night.

"He has his cranky times. His best time is in the morning," McCollum said. "That's when he's talking. And he loves to go outside."

With life insurance and some money from the Department of Veterans Affairs, McCollum said she and Daniel should be OK. Her husband used to manage the finances, so that is one of the roles she is taking on.

"Dan had an amazing philosophy on life. His heart was so big and yet he was so smart at the same time. To find that combination is rare, I think," McCollum said. "We were two pieces of the same puzzle that fit so well together. As I have told others, 'If God needed Dan more than me, then he really needed him.'"

No one can say Dan McCollum didn't live life to the fullest, McCollum said. They packed a lot of great memories into a short time.

"Dan would have been a wonderful daddy. He was so playful, so playful," she said. "We were always doing something -- going to the zoo, taking little road trips, canoeing. Dan completely enjoyed his life."

jgosche@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133