For Ronda Higdon, the week brought back a lot of memories of her son and late Army Staff Sgt. Kristopher Higdon.

An artist with the American Fallen Soldiers Project painted his portrait and presented it to Ronda on Saturday evening at the American Legion Hall in Odessa, who stood sniffling slightly but still smiling in front of about 50 family members and friends of her 25-year-old son, who was killed in action May 2007 while serving in Iraq.

She touched Kristopher's portrait in silence, looking into its hazel eyes. She saw Kristopher smirking back at her, she later said.

"He always had that smile on his face. He (the artist) captured that real well," Ronda Higdon said. "It's going to be like having him there, his spirit... seeing his smile every day, that's going to help get over the tough times."

Artist Phil Taylor said Higdon's portrait is an acrylic painting on canvas. To make it, he received several photos of Higdon and used one of them to make the painting. He said he only colors the eyes because "they're no longer flesh, they're spirit... It seems to leave a stronger spirit if the natural color is looking back at them."

Taylor and the American Fallen Soldiers Project started making these portraits when a close friend of his lost a brother in Iraq in 2006. He does these portraits free-of-charge for the families of fallen service members when they ask for one.

"The families already paid. They paid in full," he said.

 On Tuesday, Kristopher was also one of two fallen soldiers, along with fellow Panther alumni and Army Sgt. Bacilio Cuellar, to have a tree planted in his name near Permian's flag pole.

Between that and the portrait - and all 80 hours she said Taylor spent on it - she said she felt overwhelmed by the support.

"The honor that everybody gave him, along with the sadness ... we miss him so much," she said. "He was always my hero."

She and her husband have not decided where to mount the portrait. She was hoping to put it over a mantle at her home, where everyone in the house can easily see it.

The Permian JROTC color guard and the Patriot Guard Riders stood by for the tribute, as did people from Kersh Car Wash, where the presentation was originally scheduled to take place before it was relocated.

"That's why we're here... (to) stand solidly ready to guard and honor the respect of their loved ones," said Danny "Ductape" Morriss, the senior ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders.

Maj. Preston A. Parrott, the now-retired senior Army instructor for the Permian JROTC who taught Kristopher, came as a guest speaker for the presentation.

"I'm fairly confident he joined to serve his country and do what was right," he said earlier. "I take a lot of personal pride in his actions."

About Kristopher A. Higdon, 25

>> Higdon was born in Odessa in July 10, 1981. His mother Ronda said he got into soccer when he was 4 and remained a fan of the sport his entire life. He graduated in 1999 from Permian High School and signed up for the Army a few months earlier that year.

As a kid, Ronda said Kristopher was a fan of The History Channel, and particularly was interested in both world wars and the Civil War. He also liked playing with model planes and thought of being a pilot. In the Army, he eventually had the chance to train parachuting out of them, she said.

He was the oldest of four siblings.

He died May 22, 2007, in Taji, Iraq, when his vehicle convoy struck an improvised explosive device. At the time of his death, he had one daughter.