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Wife of Arizona firefighter killed in June gives birth

Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Sean Misner with his wife, Amanda, on their wedding day. He died with 18 of his crewmen less than 10 months later in Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire.
  • Sean Jaxon Herbert Misner was born Thursday evening in Prescott Valley%2C Ariz.
  • His dad%2C who died in Arizona%27s Yarnell Hill Fire%2C and mom married in mid-September
  • Two other fallen firefighters%27 partners also are expecting in the next few months

PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. — He has his father's eyes, his chin and his name.

Sean Jaxon Herbert Misner, whose firefighter father, Sean Misner, died with 18 others June 30 in Arizona's Yarnell Hill Fire about 45 miles from here, was born at 8:13 p.m. MST Thursday here.

It's a long moniker for a little guy, so they'll call him Jaxon, Jax for short. Herbert is for his father's beloved grandfather, who also was a firefighter.

Sean and Amanda Misner were married Sept. 15 and found out they were going to have a baby in January. They learned the child was a boy April 8, Sean Misner's 26th birthday and the day before he started work with the hotshot fire crew.

Three of the Granite Mountain Hotshots had been expecting babies; Jaxon is the first to arrive.

Billy Warneke's wife, Roxanne, is expecting a girl in December. Anthony Rose's fiancee, Tiffany Hettrick, is expecting a girl in October.

Jaxon's mom, 26, was admitted Wednesday to Yavapai Regional Medical Center East Campus here. Both she and the baby were doing fine Thursday night, said Sean Misner's mother, Tammy Misner. Amanda's mother, Kathy Funston of Placerville, Calif., flew Wednesday night to Arizona.

Misner, who lives in the Santa Ynez Valley of Southern California where her son grew up, said she cried with joy when she found out how soon she would meet her first grandchild.

"My baby boy's baby boy!" she said.

"It is just such mixed emotions. We're very happy, joyous, and also sad that our Bud can't be there," Tammy Misner said. And then after a moment, she added: "He is there; he is there in spirit."

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