Each year, an FSU ROTC cadet can apply for the Captain Cody A. Khork scholarship, which will cover any costs not covered by a military stipend.
LAKELAND, Fla. — Inside a small chapel on the campus of Florida Southern College, a building that represents the legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright’s lasting impact on the school, Army Military Police Captain Cody A. Khork’s father and stepmother announced a new, endowed scholarship in his name, adding to an outpouring of love and admiration that’s making Khork quickly as synonymous as the famous architect.
“We’re deeply grateful to Florida Southern College for helping ensure Cody’s legacy will live through the next generation of leaders,” Stacey Khork said.
Capt. Khork, 35 and from Polk County, was one of six servicemembers killed when an Iranian drone hit an U.S Army building in Kuwait soon after the conflict in the Middle East began. His family says Khork found a second home at the idyllic campus of FSC and its R.O.T.C. program.
The school says the “Captain Cody A. Khork Scholarship” will go to a junior or senior cadet and pay for everything the military doesn’t, like room and board, said FSC president Dr. Jeremy Martin.
“As a father, there is no greater heartbreak than losing a son,” James Khork, Cody’s father, said. “With that said, there is also deep pride knowing who Cody was, how he lived, and what he stood for.”
Graduating in 2014, Khork was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army and served tours previously in Saudi Arabia, Cuba and Poland, where his parents say he met a fellow servicemember, fell in love and had plans to propose when he came back from tour.
“We were very thankful for him meeting the love of his life,” Mrs. Khork said, adding she was supposed to be with him at that Kuwaiti port where he was killed, but was reassigned to Jordan at the last minute. “Our family firmly believes that God allowed us to keep that piece of our son so that we could still have that with us.”
Abbas “A.J.” Jaffer says was one of Khork’s closest friends and said the connection was instant when he met him more than 15 years ago.
“We met through the fraternity and through R.O.T.C., and we just clicked from day one, and we’ve just been best friends ever since,” he said. “He doesn’t care what you look like, what you do, where you come from, he just kind of accepts you for just who you are.”
The two remained friends and roommates after school, even when Khork would leave on tour. Almost immediately after hearing about his best friend’s death, he started brainstorming with their friend group and FSC to honor his legacy of leadership and kindness.
“When we were thinking of things that we wanted to do to honor him, the first thing we could think of that could last forever, just like him giving to everyone, was a scholarship,” he said.
But while those who love Khork mention his devotion to them, he was also devoted to his country as a patriot.
“This was someone who wore a red, white, and blue flag bow tie to any event [and] dressed up as Uncle Sam for Halloween,” she said. “So it was always red, white, and blue.”
The scholarship fund has more than 150 donors so far and the public is welcome to contribute by visiting Florida Southern College’s website and choosing Khork’s scholarship from the drop-down menu.
President Martin says they are also planning a celebration of his life of service sometime in April.