COMMENTS:
Voted : Ryan Clark
Here is the list of the Virginia Tech 32:
1. Ross Alameddine, 20, was a student from Saugus, Massachusetts. The sophomore English major was shot during French class, a family friend told The Associated Press. A Facebook page created in Alameddine's remembrance called him "an intelligent, funny, easygoing guy who will be greatly missed."
2. Christopher James Bishop, 35, taught German at Virginia Tech and helped oversee an exchange program with a German university. Bishop earned bachelor's and master's degrees in German and was a Fulbright scholar at Christian-Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany. According to his Web site, Bishop spent four years living in Germany, where he "spent most of his time learning the language, teaching English, drinking large quantities of wheat beer, and wooing a certain fraulein." The "fraulein" was Bishop's wife, Stephanie Hofer, who also teaches in Virginia Tech's German program.
3. Brian Bluhm, 25, was an avid fan of the Detroit Tigers, and the team announced his death before Tuesday's game against Kansas City. The master's student in water resources received his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at Virginia Tech and was getting ready to defend his thesis. He already had accepted a job in Baltimore, Maryland and Brian was a Christian, and first and foremost, that's what he would want to be remembered as."
4. Ryan Clark, 22, was known as "Stack" to his friends in the Marching Virginians college band. The Virginia Tech senior came from Martinez in Georgia and was a "true example of 'The Spirit Of Tech'," according to a message posted on the band's Web site. He majored in biology and English, and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, according to the coroner in Columbia County, Georgia. Clark was a resident assistant at West Ambler Johnston Hall, the dormitory where he and another person were shot dead at 7:15 a.m. Monday. He had been planning to pursue a PhD in psychology with a focus in cognitive neuroscience.
5. Austin Cloyd, an international studies major from Blacksburg, Virginia, was so inspired by an Appalachian service project that helped rehabilitate homes that she and her mother started a similar program in their Illinois town, her former pastor said. The Cloyds were active members of the First United Methodist Church in Champaign, Illinois, before moving to Blacksburg in 2005, the Rev. Terry Harter told the AP. The family moved when Cloyd's father, C. Bryan Cloyd, took a job in the accounting department at Virginia Tech, Harter said.
6. Jocelyne Couture-Nowak, a French instructor at Virginia Tech, was instrumental in the creation of the first French school in a town in Nova Scotia. She lived there in the 1990s with her husband, Jerzy Nowak, the head of the horticulture department at Virginia Tech.
7. Kevin Granata, age unknown, was one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy, the head of Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. He served in the military and conducted orthopedic research in hospitals before coming to Virginia Tech, according to AP. Granata's academic career included stints at the Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, University of Virginia and Wake Forest University. "With so many research projects and graduate students, he still found time to spend with his family, and he coached his children in many sports and extracurricular activities," engineering professor Demetri P. Telionis told AP.
8. Matthew Gwaltney, 24, was on the brink of finishing his graduate degree and was planning to return to his hometown for a new job and to be near his parents. He was a master's student in civil and environmental engineering and was attending Virginia Tech on a fellowship, his father, Greg Gwaltney, told the AP on Wednesday from his home in Chester, near Richmond Virginia.
9. Caitlin Hammaren, 19, of Westtown, New York, was a sophomore majoring in international studies and French, according to officials at her former school district. "She was just one of the most outstanding young individuals that I've had the privilege of working with in my 31 years as an educator," said John P. Latini, principal of Minisink Valley High School, where she graduated in 2005. "Caitlin was a leader among our students." Minisink Valley students and teachers shared their grief Tuesday at a counseling center set up in the school, Latini said.
10. Jeremy Herbstritt loved to chat so much, high school classmates voted him "Most Talkative." "Talkie, talkie, talkie, everybody likes to talk," read the description in the 1998 graduate's Bellefonte High School yearbook. Below was a picture of Herbstritt, with a sly grin, talking on a pay phone. Herbstritt, 27, had two undergraduate degrees from Penn State, one in biochemistry and molecular biology from 2003, and another in civil engineering from 2006. He grew up on a small farm just outside the central Pennsylvania borough of Bellefonte, where his father, Michael, raised steer and sheep. He wanted to be a civil engineer, and he talked of getting into environmental work after school. "He liked to work on machinery, take a lot of stuff apart and fix it," the victim's grandfather Thomas Herbstritt, 77, of St. Marys told the AP. "He was a studious kid."
11. Rachael Hill was a freshman studying biology at Virginia Tech after graduating from Grove Avenue Christian School in Henrico County.
Hill, 18 and an only child, was popular and funny, had a penchant for shoes and was competitive on the volleyball court. "Rachael was a very bright, articulate, intelligent, beautiful, confident, poised young woman. She had a tremendous future in front of her," Clay Fogler, administrator for the Grove Avenue school told the AP. "Obviously, the Lord had other plans for her."
12. Emily Jane Hilscher, 19, a freshman majoring in animal and poultry sciences, was known around her hometown as an animal lover. "She worked at a veterinarian's office and cared about them her whole life," said Rappahannock County Administrator John W. McCarthy, a family friend. Hilscher, of Woodville, was a freshman majoring in animal and poultry sciences.
13. Jarrett Lane, 22, was a senior civil engineering student who was valedictorian of his high school class in tiny Narrows, Virginia, just 30 miles from Virginia Tech.
14. Matthew La Porte, 20, of Dumont, New Jersey, was studying political science and French at Virginia Tech. He was also a member of the Corps of Cadets, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets band, the Highty-Tighties and the U.S. Air Force ROTC, according to his MySpace page.
15. Henry J. Lee, also known as Henh Ly, was the ninth of 10 siblings whose family fled to the United States from Vietnam, arriving in Roanoke in 1994. Friends described the diminutive Lee, a 20-year-old freshman computer engineering major, as a serious student who wasn't necessarily a serious person.
List Continues...
16. Liviu Librescu, 76, was a Holocaust survivor who, his son said, will be remembered as a hero. He "blocked the doorway with his body and asked the students to flee," Joe Librescu told the AP. "Students started opening windows and jumping out." The elder Librescu, a professor at Virginia Tech, was recognized internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, the head of the Engineering Science and Mechanics Department at Virginia Tech told the AP. He was born and received his advanced degrees in Romania.
17. G. V. Loganathan, 51, was a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Since coming to Virginia Tech in 1982, he earned the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education, according to his biography on the Virginia Tech Web site. Loganathan, of Tamil Nadu, India, lived with his wife and children on Virginia Tech's campus, according to the Times of India.
18. Parthai Lumbantoruan's family in Indonesia told the AP that they sold off property and cars to pay his tuition and that his goal was to become a teacher in the United States. His father says Lumbantoruan, a 34-year-old doctoral student, had been studying civil engineering at Virginia Tech for three years. His stepmother says he had called almost daily to talk to the family. In their last conversation, he had asked for the latest news on Indonesian politics. She wants to know how people can bring guns to campus and kill innocent people. Family members are planning a public burial in the Indonesian
Capital, Jakarta.
19. On her MySpace page, Lauren McCain listed "the love of my life" as Jesus Christ. Her family said the 20-year-old international studies major became a Christian some time ago.
Her uncle, Jeff Elliott, told The Oklahoman newspaper that she was an avid reader, was learning German and had almost mastered Latin.
She was home-schooled and had worked at a department store for about a year to save money for college.
20. Daniel O'Neil, 22, a graduate student in engineering from Lincoln, Rhode Island, played guitar and wrote songs, which he posted on a Web site, www.residenthippy.com. Friend Steve Craveiro described him to the AP as smart, responsible and a hard worker -- "pretty much destined to be extremely successful."
21. Juan Ramon Ortiz, 26, who was from Puerto Rico, was teaching a class as part of his graduate program in civil engineering at Virginia Tech. The family's neighbors in the San Juan suburb of Bayamon remembered Ortiz as a quiet, dedicated son who decorated his parents' one-story concrete house each Christmas and played in a salsa band with his father on weekends. "He was an extraordinary son, what any father would have wanted," Ortiz's father, also named Juan Ramon Ortiz, told the AP. Marilys Alvarez, 22, heard Ortiz's mother scream from the house next door when she learned of her son's death. Alvarez said she had wanted to study in the United States, but was now reconsidering. "Here the violence is bad, but you don't see that," she told the AP. "It's really sad. You can't go anywhere now."
22. Minal Panchal, a building science major from Mumbai, India, wanted to be an architect like her father who died four years ago, according to the AP. She was enthusiastic about coming to the United States to study and was thrilled when Virginia Tech admitted her last year, Chetna Parekh, a friend from Mumbai told the AP. Panchal was a bright, polite person who would help neighborhood children with their schoolwork, neighbor Jayshree Ajmane told the AP.
23. Daniel Perez Cueva, 21, of Peru, was killed while in a French class, his mother, Betty Cueva, told the AP. Perez Cueva was a student of international relations, an interest driven by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He spoke four languages, loved soccer and swimming, and was a member of the Honor Society, his friends said. "I'll miss his smile and his laughter," friend Donald Smith told CNN. "We're missing a friend, a very good friend."
24. Erin Peterson, 18, died while she was in her French class, said her dad, Grafton Peterson. The last time he spoke to her was during a visit at school on Sunday, he said. A fan of "old-school" TV shows like "Diff'rent Strokes" and "Sanford and Son," Peterson described herself on what appears to be her MySpace profile as a "jeans and a t-shirt girl." Friends left anguished messages on her profile as news of the shootings first spread. The messages now recall fond memories of graduation and prom night. "You have no idea how much my heart aches knowing I'll never see you again," one message read.
List Continues...
25. Michael Steven Pohle, Jr. 23, of Flemington, New Jersey, was expected to graduate in a few weeks with a degree in biological sciences, said Craig Blanton, Hunterdon Central's vice principal during the 2002 school year, when Pohle graduated.
26. Julia Kathleen Pryde, Julia Pryde, a graduate student from Middletown, New Jersey, was an "exceptional student academically and personally," said Saied Mostaghimi, chairman of the biological systems and engineering department where Pryde was seeking her master's degree. "She was the nicest person you ever met," Mostaghimi told The Star-Ledger of Her hometown has been touched by tragedy before, losing 37 current and former residents in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "The town pulls together in these situations. Everything that we can do for this family, we'll see what can be done," Middletown Mayor Gerard P. Scharfenberger said, according to the AP.
Newark.
27. Mary Karen Read, 19, was born in South Korea into an Air Force family and lived in Texas and California before settling in the northern Virginia suburb of Annandale. Read considered a handful of colleges, including nearby George Mason University, before choosing Virginia Tech. It was a popular destination among her Annandale High School classmates, according to her aunt Karen Kuppinger. She had yet to declare a major. "I think she wanted to try to spread her wings," Kuppinger told the AP. She said her niece had struggled in adjusting to Tech's sprawling 2,600-acre campus. But she had recently begun making friends and looking into a sorority. Kuppinger said the family started calling Read as news reports surfaced. "After three or four hours passed and she hadn't picked up her cell phone or answered her e-mail ... we did get concerned," Kuppinger said. "We honestly thought she would pop up."
28. Reema Joseph Samaha, 18, was a first-year student of Lebanese descent at Virginia Tech and went to the same high school in Centreville, Virginia, as the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui. Her father, Joseph, described her as a "shy girl till you got to know her." She was looking forward to majoring in urban planning with a minor in international relations because "she thought she could solve the problems of the world," her father said. Samaha, remembered as a beautiful and creative dancer, performed the weekend before the shootings, which marked the last time her parents saw her alive. "I keep her in my mind," her father said. "Her face is in my mental vision. It keeps me going."
29. Waleed Mohamed Shaalan, of Zagazig, Egypt, was married and the father of a 1-year-old son, according to the Muslim Students Association at Virginia Tech. "He was the simplest and nicest guy I ever knew. We would be studying for our exams and he would go buy a cake and make tea for us," Fahad Pasha, Shaalan's roommate, said on the association's Web site. Shaalan, 32, was a doctoral student in civil engineering, the university said. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that the Egyptian Embassy in Washington was taking steps to fly his body home.
30. Leslie Geraldine Sherman, a sophomore history and international studies student from Springfield, Virginia, had visited Boston, Massachusetts, and London with her mother, and she visited her grandparents in Kennewick, Washington, last month for spring break, Adams said. Sherman, who was named after her grandfather, Leslie, loved reading and socializing with her "gaggle" of more than 15 cousins spread out at colleges across the country, Adams said. She text-messaged one of them the evening before she died. "She was so happy. Life was going so well for her," said Adams, who described the family as "just beside themselves" with grief.
31. Maxine Shelly Turner, a senior chemical engineering student, had finished her required credits and was preparing for her May graduation, but took German as an elective, said her father, Paul Turner. The 22-year-old was shot in the German class. "She was very excited -- she was very excited about school in general," her father told the AP. Turner, from Vienna, Virginia, was accepted by a handful of high-profile schools, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. But she was determined to be a Virginia Tech Hokie, her father said. "We tried to convince her to go elsewhere. When you get accepted to Johns Hopkins, it's a very prestigious school," he told the AP. "But no, she wanted to go to Virginia Tech." Turner recently helped found a chapter of Alpha Omega Epsilon, a sorority for women in engineering. She had accepted a chemical engineering job with W.L. Gore & Associates in Elkton, Maryland. "It's a terrible loss," her father said Wednesday, weeping. "I cannot understand the legislators in this country, not putting in laws that protect people."
32. Nicole White graduated from Smithfield High School in 2004, according to The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. White, a 20-year-old international studies major, worked at a YMCA as a lifeguard and was an honor student in high school, the newspaper reported.
Please feel free also after selecting the one individual that stands out in your mind a few words of condolences to the families of the fallen 32...
Voted : Liviu Librescu
Liviu Librescu: a true hero. I doubt I'd have the courage to die for my students. I hope I never have to put that to the test.
Voted : Leslie Sherman
I'm just putting names down because i hope thye rest in peace, i don't know much about any of them.
All 32 should have lived.
Voted : Waleed Shaalan
another hero, apparently almost ignored by the USA media because he was muslim. There were a lot of heros.
Voted : Liviu Librescu
I respect and admire heroes.
by LCD on Thu Apr 26, 07 1:12pm
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