In death, as in life, Ghadir Taher's charisma was a magnet for human connection.
Mourners from across the globe gathered Saturday at a nondescript airport hotel in Atlanta to remember the life of Taher, a 27-year-old East Point woman who died in a bomb attack in Syria earlier this month.
“This is her right here,” said her brother, Ali, addressing the assembled crowd. “She was always amazing at bringing people together.”
Mingling near plates of dates and coffee urns was a U.S. Army colonel in formal military dress, who came to pay respects for the work Taher did as a translator. There were women in floor-length black dresses and hijab covering their hair. High school classmates from East Point in special memorial school jerseys. Clean-shaven men in suits representing Valiant, the military contractor that employed her; bearded men in suits speaking Arabic.
And Taher’s mother, in a sharp slim suit much like one Taher herself wore in photos of her life projected on a screen in the background.
As friends and family spoke a picture emerged of a woman with an extraordinary magnetism, who understood the power of her presence — but was not arrogant, and used it to connect, and to urge others on to greater accomplishments.
“She’d change the entire mood of the entire room,” just by walking in, said Eldevell Allen, a friend of her brother’s from high school. “If it was somber, she’d turn it bright.”
Even in high school her personality was remarkable, Allen said in an interview: articulate, intelligent, competitive, caring, charismatic. Allen is now an Atlanta school counselor and part-time Spelman College police officer.
Allen said he’s not surprised she went abroad. He recalls the moment as a high school senior when she told him, “I do want to travel the world and explore my roots.”
Like some other friends of the family, he learned of her death from news stories.
“I was on Facebook and it said ‘East Point woman,’” he recalled. “I said, wait a minute. I looked at it and that’s when I saw her picture. That’s when the tears came.”
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
Condolences have flowed in across every possible platform, said Ali, her brother.
“The United States was so blessed to have someone who wanted to leave comfort and go serve,” said her friend Mary Trachian-Bradley. “She had a contract she could have backed out of at any time. She was in Syria on purpose.”
“She has served her country well,” Trachian-Bradley said. “She served both countries well.”
Like many speakers at the memorial, Trachian-Bradley said the moment was an opportunity to use Taher’s example as one’s own. “Live on purpose,” she said.
Ali said her mother was afraid for her when she went to Syria, but Ghadir wasn’t. “She didn’t worry where it was,” he said. “She wasn’t scared. She never showed fear.”
A high school counselor, Ann Davis, recalled that Taher was always talking about Syria. She recalled Taher’s delight at going on a trip to Damascus back then with her mom, and returning with a gift of prayer beads.
“Ghadir reminds me that everything we hear about in the news is real,” Davis said. “It’s not a headline. It affects real people.”
Credit: HANDOUT
Credit: HANDOUT
The bombing also killed 18 others at a public restaurant, including three other Americans. The Islamic State, also known as ISIS, claimed responsibility.
Reports indicate hundreds of thousands of Syrians have died in the eight years of fighting there, which started in the Arab Spring uprising that swept countries from north Africa to the Middle East. But as the domestic rebellion against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad wore on, Syrian rebel groups took stands against each other and some became allied with outside groups such as ISIS. Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump said ISIS had been largely defeated in Syria. The bombing that killed Taher came weeks afterward.
Trachian-Bradley said Taher’s loyalty was not political: “Her loyalty was to everyone.”
Taher’s soft-spoken sister, Saley Talabani, 15, was one of the last to speak. Long, curly hair pulled back in a ponytail and her chin barely clearing the podium, she spoke of how Ghadir went to bat for her and inspired her. Then briefly at the end, she faltered.
“And — I just miss her.”
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