Wife, mother of Nelson County victims forgives terrorists

By Erin McGrath

Published: December 1, 2008

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Synchronicity Foundation holds news conference

 

FABER –– A Nelson County woman whose husband and 13-year-old daughter were killed last week in terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, said she sends the terrorists her “love, forgiveness and compassion.”

Kia Scherr, wife of Alan Scherr, 58, and mother to Naomi Scherr, spoke to two dozen reporters and crewmembers Tuesday on the grounds of the spiritual meditation center of the nonprofit Synchronicity Foundation. The Scherrs lived at the rural retreat in northern Nelson County, where hundreds of people visit yearly. Few others besides the Scherrs live on the grounds, and some live nearby.

For 45 minutes in the atrium of the foundation’s environmental hall, she and the foundation’s leader, Master Charles Cannon, spoke quietly and deliberately from the heart.

Seated in chairs in front of a hand-painted spiritual deity, their voices sometimes catching, Mrs. Scherr successfully fought off tears, as she and Cannon remembered the two lost lives –– Alan Scherr’s key role in the foundation as an editor and teacher, and Naomi’s life there from the time she was two months old.

“While I was staying in Florida with my family for Thanksgiving, we went outside one evening and the sky was black except for two stars that happened to be there. Two bright lights,” Scherr said. “My sister said, ‘it’s Alan and Naomi.’ I thought, ‘yes, two bright lights.’ And their lights will shine forever and that’s how I choose to remember them.”

Earlier in the day, from the same spot, they had spoken with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” as news of the attacks continue to reverberate.

Some 174 people died when 10 gunmen besieged landmarks in Mumbai, including the Oberoi Hotel, where Cannon and 25 others associated with Synchronicity, who were from all over the world, were staying.

It was Naomi’s first trip to India and the first time she had traveled on a plane.

Cannon knew her well and had always been involved in her life, which focused on things her father loved, such as his fondness for music and cooking. She was at a stage in her life where she loved playing with the way she looked and had recently dyed her hair such colors as teal and purple.

She had even gotten her nose pierced in India, which for her was a pilgrimage but also the trip of her life.

“She was thrilled,” Cannon said. “I’m deeply saddened over her loss. She was like a child to me.”

Cannon identified the bodies of Alan and Naomi Scherr in the café of the Oberoi Hotel. He said he had to step over bodies to reach them and that they were found together under a table they had shared with four other group members a week ago Wednesday night.

“It was one of the most challenging things I’d ever had to do,” Cannon said. “You could not imagine the devastation.”

On the night of the attacks, Cannon was in his hotel room with his personal assistant and a friend when they heard the first shots.

“These were no pistols. These were big weapons,” Cannon said. “We had no idea what was happening.”

For the next 45 hours, the three barricaded themselves in the hotel room. When a fire broke out in the restaurant below their room, Cannon said a local firefighter relayed a message to them through hand signals to break out their window.

“Which was no easy feat because the glass was really, really thick,” he said. “We broke it and then the three of us huddled there sucking air for survival and holding onto each other.”

Cannon and the others in his party kept in touch throughout the attacks by cell phone and hotel phones, he said.

During the attacks, while they still had electricity, they turned on their televisions to watch the attack on their own hotel, Cannon said.

“We could relay messages back and forth and keep each other informed in the group and that way we could learn who was missing and who was there,” Cannon said.

It was within 24 hours of the start of the attacks, Cannon said, that they learned Alan and Naomi were missing.

When the attacks stopped, Cannon said the group was moved to another hotel that the Indians and other officials “surrounded like Fort Knox.”

By the end of the attack, the electricity was off, they had no water, no food, no air conditioning and were covered in soot and dirt.

The four members that were with Alan and Naomi that night in the hotel’s café were wounded and have all been treated. Three remain hospitalized.

Cannon returned to the United States on Monday. Alan and Naomi’s bodies are en route and plans for a memorial service are pending.

Cannon said he has been traveling to India since 1972 and that this trip will not be his last.

“We planned this trip very carefully for many months,” he said. “People were very excited to go and we were having just an absolutely wonderful time.”

Since surviving the attacks, Cannon said people worldwide have reached out to the group with outpourings of sympathy and support.

“In a situation like this, a tsunami of love comes back to you,” Cannon said. “People we don’t even know in Nelson County have been reaching out to us.”

A tribute Web site, http://www.alanandnaomi.com, was set up Friday. As of Tuesday evening, more than 840 messages had been posted.

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