One year ago, Lori Kaye decided to shield her rabbi’s father as a man started firing a gun inside the Chabad of Poway.
Lori Kaye died. Three other people were hurt.
The Chabad of Poway was empty on Monday. Someone anonymously left a bouquet outside the door.
“Today was the day that one of my closest and dearest friends was murdered,” said Michelle Silverman. “I don’t know if you ever come to grips with it.”
Silverman said Kaye was one of her lifelong friends.
“She had a huge heart, bigger than life,” said Silverman.
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“Nobody expects a tragedy like this to come through your door,” said Poway mayor Steve Vaus. “Poway still hurts. We’re always going to have a hole in our heart.”
“The only thing you can control is how you respond to it,” Vaus continued. “Poway steps up whatever the challenge is.”
“Lori’s light is helping others,” said Silverman.
She said Kaye taught her one lesson that could help any community.
“She always said giving anonymously was always the biggest [gift]; especially in Judaism, it was the biggest gift of all," Silverman said. "And she did that.”
Just like the flowers left anonymously one year after Kaye died: A symbolic gift that said someone is thinking about the community.
An on-line memorial service was held Sunday in Kaye's memory.
