When she was nine years old, Wesley Bauguess

was taught how to play the game of golf by her grandfather.

And the lessons she learned on the golf course

gave her the strength and motivation

to overcome the biggest challenge of her life.

Army veteran Wesley Bauguess had

been married to her husband Larry, an Army Ranger officer,

for nearly 14 years when he was shot and killed

during an ambush in Pakistan.

One of the things they had love to do together was play golf.

Now a widow and a single mom to two young daughters,

Wesley had no idea how to move past her grief,

so she held on to what she knew best.

In her memoir, God, Country, Golf, Wesley

shares how she relied on her faith, military training,

and the game of golf to press on after her husband's death.

Please welcome to The 700 Club Wesley Bauguess.

It's great to have you here.

Thank you, Terry.

I'm delighted to be here.

Thank you.

Talk a little bit about your granddad and some of the life

lessons that you felt like he taught you

while teaching you golf.

Right, my grandpa Burton, Albion Robert Burton was his name,

and he took me on the golf course

first when I was nine years old and actually taught me

how to play by sending me into the rough

to hit pine cones and mushrooms.

Wow

And I just whacked at those things until I found my swing.

And he-- and when I found my swing, he came over to me,

and he said, that's the swing Wesley Ann.

That's the swing.

And he taught me the fundamentals

of golf, the swing, stance, and grip,

but he taught me so much more.

He taught me the etiquette, the rules, the history,

the customs, and the courtesies of golf.

And so he instilled in me the values of integrity and respect

through the game of golf.

Golf is an amazing game.

If you don't play it, you don't really

understand all of the dynamics of it or the history,

and it's rich in both areas.

Absolutely.

Yes ma'am.

And golf is a game where you call penalties on yourself.

So it really instills integrity.

Self-government.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yes.

Talk a little bit about how you and Larry, your husband,

first met, because the things that happened later

in your life will go back to some of these life

lessons you learned.

But how did you and Larry meet?

Right.

We both were attending school at Appalachian State University

in Boone, North Carolina.

I went to golf--

to Appalachian on a golf scholarship

and expected to pursue a career in the golf industry.

And Larry went to baseball to play--

I'm sorry, went to Appalachian to play baseball.

And then we both discovered the ROTC program,

and we both fell in love with the army, just

the physical challenges, the service beyond self,

and all of the Army values.

And the Army values spell out an acronym, LEADERSHIP loyalty,

duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity,

and personal courage.

And a lot of those values I learned on the golf course

with my grandfather, but they were just deeply

instilled by the Army service and Larry

and I just shared a passion of service,

and we fell in love with the army,

fell in love with each other, and married straight

out of college [INAUDIBLE].

How did his faith influence you,

or how did Larry as a person influence your faith?

Right, so growing up I had wonderful grandparents,

a loving mother, but we just didn't go to church.

We-- going to church on Sunday morning

was just something we didn't do.

So when I met Larry, and through our courtship

and our engagement, I met his family,

and they're just sweet Southern Baptist people

and started going to church with them.

And at 21, I accepted Jesus, and I was baptized and just began

and continued my walk with Larry and with Jesus from that day

forward.

At some point in your relationship

you left your military service to start a family.

Larry got deployed to Pakistan.

What actually happened to him?

Right, Larry was serving with the 82nd Airborne Division,

was deployed to Afghanistan with them.

On May 14th, he and his commander and leadership

from the US and Afghanistan went into Pakistan

for a peace meeting, and by all accounts,

I think the meeting was historic.

They reached an agreement.

They shook hands and exchanged coins and posed for pictures,

but at the very end when they were getting

ready to travel back to the helicopters,

they were boarding the back of a pickup truck.

And once Larry's men were situated back in the truck,

he began climbing over the tailgate

and a uniformed Pakistani frontier guardsman who

had the mission of providing security

instead raised his rifle and opened fire.

And Larry was standing between the shooter and his men,

and he gave his life on his feet protecting his men.

So many times we hear these stories of men and women

who've given their lives in really unexpected circumstances

like that where it would never occur to you that you're not

going to get the email that night

or the phone call when it usually came.

How did you deal with the aftermath of grief

from something like that?

You had two young daughters.

Tell me what that was like.

Right, Ryan was 6.

Ellie was 4.

And in those early days, I could only

focus for five minutes at a time.

I just couldn't wrap my brain around a future without Larry.

But it didn't take me long to realize that Jesus was with me.

I felt him, and I knew that God was there.

Even in those deepest valleys, I knew

that God had a plan for me.

And I knew in my heart that he would get us through.

And so I just remembered everything

that Larry taught me, everything my grandfather taught me

that everything about perseverance and respect

and integrity and--

It's is a process, isn't it?

It's not something that just falls upon you, and suddenly,

you you've conquered. it.

I mean grief is a process to come out from under.

Yes ma'am.

Yes ma'am.

It took-- it took a long time, and it's

10-- we're 10 years down the road.

And we realized just how long forever is,

so we're still processing it.

But--

But your life has a happy ending at this point.

I call the ending, a happy new beginning maybe.

Yes ma'am.

Yes ma'am.

So I am remarried.

I have a wonderful husband named Morgan

and three amazing stepsons, and we're just--

life continues.

And we respect Larry.

We remember him.

We continue to tell stories about him.

He's Ryan and Ellie's daddy still.

That's his legacy.

Absolutely.

Absolutely, and that's the purpose of the book

is to share those stories.

And Larry's life mattered, and he deserves to be remembered.

And even as we move on to the next chapter of our life.

Well, we thank you for your service

as a family to our country, and we

do honor Larry and the sacrifice that he made.

Wesley has written all about her life and her new book.

It's called God, Country, Golf: Reflections of an army widow.

It's a touching story filled with encouragement.

There's so much in here for all of us

no matter what we're facing in life.

It's available where books are sold.

You can also hear more from Wesley on our Facebook page

where we have a web exclusive interview with her.

So if you'd like to watch that, facebook.com/700club Thank you

so much for sharing with us.

Thank you so much.

God bless you.

Thank you.