Mom of murdered Ft. Sill soldier opens center helping men

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) - The mother of a former Fort Sill soldier is hoping to impact men in honor of her son, Christopher Pugh.

He died in a shootout in Lawton back in 2019, and the murder remains unsolved.

Machelle Pugh lost her son Christopher Pugh back in 2019 when he was killed while stationed on Fort Sill outside a club.

Now in memory of her son, Michelle wants to have something positive come out of her loss.

She’s doing this by opening up a center that focuses on helping men of all ages improve their lives through services like counseling, job placement, clothes, and a GED program.

“I hope that this facility will renew and restore lives and families and provide long term support to those men,” said Machelle.

The Christopher A. Pugh Center for Men is located in Memphis, Tennessee where the family is from.

Their goal is to target is men who are homeless, incarcerated, or veterans at no cost to the men.

“Typically men suffer in silence so we just want to make sure that we can deal with those generational curses and holistically make sure men are whole again so they can be the great fathers, the great uncles, the great cousins that they are called to be,” she said.

Several other organizations are in collaboration with the center. They also have trained specialist and volunteers on staff.

Yesterday the center held it’s grand opening, Michelle says it was an amazing day and is sure Christopher would be proud.

“I wouldn’t have done it any other way because it speaks volumes to who my son is, it speaks volumes to who we are,” said Machelle.

Machelle finds many ways to keep her son’s memory alive, like framing the letters he wrote to her when he was away for basic training.

“It reminds me of how much he loved me and how he loved family so this is a way too that every time I get upset or I get sad I just come over here and read a letter,” she said.

The center is accepting donations through cash app under the name, ChrisPughCenter.

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