American Woman Volunteer Killed

[sriracha john]

The victim, Wanda Freeman

Lincoln Journal Star

Woman killed while volunteering in Thailand

She went to Louisiana and helped run a shelter for Katrina victims.

She applied for the Peace Corps and Doctors without Borders.

Wanda Freeman waited until her youngest child grew up and left home to follow her dream of seeing the world and helping people.

In May, the 47-year-old mental health therapist left Lincoln to help teach English at an orphanage in a remote village in Thailand.

At 2 a.m. Tuesday her husband, Dan Sloan, got a phone call.

“She was killed by a colleague,” said Sloan.

The co-worker at the StarFire Flower Foundation was under police guard at a Thai hospital after attempting to take his own life, Sloan said.

He declined to say how his wife was killed, only that the co-worker had been fired two weeks earlier.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel’s office confirmed Freeman’s death but declined to elaborate.

“The (foundation) director said this gentleman had been giving her a lot of trouble,” Sloan said.

On Friday, he was waiting for police in Bangkok to release her body so he could make arrangements to bring his college sweetheart, and wife of 25 years, home.

“She’d made a one-year commitment and her plan was to come back to Lincoln, kind of regroup, spend time with us and then find the next great thing.”

Wanda Freeman always had a mission. She wanted to go places. Do things. Help people.

She was patient. She saved the long-term travel until after they raised Jeremy, 24, and Miranda, 21.

But she’d go round and round with teachers at her daughter’s school, because she wanted to take her out of class for a week.

We’re going to walk the Mayan ruins together, she’d say. Is she going to learn anything more important than that in class?

Her friend was “unflappable and brave,” said Mary Lou Meier, a fellow therapist.

She rode a motorcycle. She wore her long hair in a braid down her back.

She read like crazy. She gardened. She trained therapy dogs.

When she took her dogs out, she didn’t jog with them. She ran, full out.

“She enjoyed the world and the people in the world,” said Mike Renner, director of Noah’s Assistance Dogs.

Freeman volunteered with the group. When she took her golden retriever to assist the Red Cross, firefighters would talk about the woman with the long braid whose dog soothed a distraught person.

It wasn’t just the dog. Something about Freeman soothed people, Renner said.

As word spreads of her death, people are taking some comfort in knowing she was doing what she felt drawn to do, Renner said.

“She really had a passion to go out of the country. ... This was a woman who made a decision to do something and did it.”

The village where she worked was isolated. Running water was a hose through a window. Some nights she’d come home to find a neighbor’s dog sleeping on her bed.

She explored caves and hiked in jungles.

She made a difference in the lives of indigenous people, Sloan said.

“The staff thought she was doing a great job.”

Husband and daughter were making plans to visit this winter.

“She was the best kind of person there was, the best mom,” said Miranda Freeman-Sloan. “I could talk to her about anything and everything.”

When she was little, she’d hold onto her mother’s braid in a crowd so she wouldn’t lose her.

Even after she grew up, that hair was like a security blanket.

“The last time I saw her, a few months ago, I would still hold onto that braid.

“Just reach up and touch her hair.”

- Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska, USA)

[sriracha john]

Lincoln woman volunteering in Thailand killed

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The family of a Lincoln woman volunteering at an orphanage in a remote part of Thailand says she has been killed by a former colleague.

Forty-seven-old Wanda Freeman volunteered in May for a 1-year teaching stint with the StarFire Flower Foundation, giving up her job as a mental health therapist. Her husband, Dan Sloan, says he was told Tuesday that she had been killed by a man who had been fired from the organization two weeks earlier.

Sloan provided few details of his wife's death, but U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel confirmed that Freeman was killed.

In addition to her husband, Freeman is survived by two adult children.

- Associated Press

[sriracha john]

the term "jai dee" comes to mind....

2005-2006 American Red Cross Regional Chapter Awards

Quiet Hero Award:

Presented annually, the Quiet Hero Award credits an individual or group whose quiet activities have saved or sustained a human life; or provided aid and comfort during emergencies.

Recipients: Dan Sloan and Wanda Freeman

[lazeeboy]

the term "jai dee" comes to mind....

2005-2006 American Red Cross Regional Chapter Awards

Quiet Hero Award:

Presented annually, the Quiet Hero Award credits an individual or group whose quiet activities have saved or sustained a human life; or provided aid and comfort during emergencies.

Recipients: Dan Sloan and Wanda Freeman

good people always end up shit on by someone ,doing good things for humanity seem to always backfire rip.........

[farang prince]

Very sad. Rest in peace gentle soul.

[Nienke]

Shocking! My heart goes out to her family.

Rest in Peace, Wanda Freeman!

[Aussietraveller]

RIP

[Mai Krap]

Who is the SOB that killed her and why all the "Former College" talk, lets see a nationality and preferably a picture with a name attached.

Good people do end up the looser here often, this is damm shame but a predictable one since so many come here and never see danger because of the good and wonderful people of Thailand who make so many of us fall in love with the country and people. They never see the foreign losers that reside here nor the local scum who blend into the background so well until they strike out. Now all thats left is for some sort of justice to be handed out, removing one millimeter of manhood a week til death sounds fair to me.

One thing thats not even been mentioned is the poor children having their surrogate mother murdered and the emotional trauma this will leave them with, orphans in Thailand never have a chance to start with, now these are just damaged even more.

Rest In Peace good woman, you were to damm good for this world.

[Briggsy]

Very sad.

Nothing in the local press suggests the police have not yet released a statement. I wonder why.

[Westerner]

What a distressing story for this to have happened to a lovely, caring woman. My heart goes out to her family. RIP

[Prakanong]

the term "jai dee" comes to mind....

2005-2006 American Red Cross Regional Chapter Awards

Quiet Hero Award:

Presented annually, the Quiet Hero Award credits an individual or group whose quiet activities have saved or sustained a human life; or provided aid and comfort during emergencies.

Recipients: Dan Sloan and Wanda Freeman

good people always end up shit on by someone ,doing good things for humanity seem to always backfire rip.........

Not always - I still have hope

RIP

[donna]

we all have to have hope lazeeboy. without hope we have nothing.

may she rest in peace and haunt her murderer every day for the rest of their lousy life. (but she seems to kind to even do this)

[Scott]

Condolences to the friends and family. Special thoughts for the people she was trying to help.

[Weho]

Disturbing... does anyone know if the alledged killer is Thai or foreign...

[jackspratt]

Disturbing... does anyone know if the alledged killer is Thai or foreign...

And the relevance?

[Briggsy]

Disturbing... does anyone know if the alledged killer is Thai or foreign...

And the relevance?

Weho may be hinting at the fact that it is common practice for criminal suspects who are well-off or have strong government connections to buy themselves out of trouble. The son of Chalerm Yubamrung is a very famous example. A Thai suspect would be far more aware of this practice and far more likely to know how to access it than a foreign suspect. In addition the silence of the local press on this story may have led Weho to be suspicious.

Let us hope justice is fully served in this case.

[Heng]

The relevance is so that folks around here can get into the familiar groove of taking sides and venting repressed feelings towards various nationalities.

[Johpa]

A Google search seems to indicate that the school in question is located along the Ping River about 8km north of Mae Tang, which is about 30km due north of Chiang Mai. I was not familiar with the foundation nor the school, but it appears to be a very legitimate non-denominational (non-evangelical) NGO founded by a bio-tech pioneer and philanthropist from Eugene, OR. The web site is here.

A very sad story emanating from what appears to be a very admirable organization.

[Suszzy]

may you rest in peace!!

[jonniebkk]

Moral of the story: Don't volunteer...truer words were never spoken

[catnip]

So very sad, bless you kind soul.

Don't cry for me

I've earned my wings

I've gone ahead

To where angels sing

condolences to the immediate family and the world family of many lives who were touched by this amazing soul. catnip

[toptuan]

Moral of the story: Don't volunteer...truer words were never spoken

Inappropriate attempt at humor in face of this terrible tragedy.

[Jimjim]

The relevance of nationality is that when something horrible like this happens, people like to know as many details as possible, myself included.

[Briggsy]

The press silence in this case reminds me of the Christopher of Hohenlohe case in which the press did not report anything for several days in a fit of self-censorship. Has anybody seen anything in the local press?

[Jimjim]

I think the air crash is probably occupying most reporters' minds.

[jackspratt]

The relevance of nationality is that when something horrible like this happens, people like to know as many details as possible, myself included.

Morbid curiosity?

Self defence?

Taking sides and venting repressed feelings towards various nationalities?

[Briggsy]

I think the air crash is probably occupying most reporters' minds.

With the greatest of respect to you, Jimjim, the killing occurred at least one day before the air crash so it could have been put in Sunday's papers. In addition, in today's Bangkok Post there were at least 20 stories so the omission of the killing of a volunteer foreigner is, I think you'll admit, unusual. Furthermore deliberate suppression of news similar to this has happened recently in Thailand. That's why I feel there might possibly be something more here.

[Briggsy]

Sorry just re-read the article from the local Nebraska paper, the killing happened at least 5 days before the air crash.

[englishoak]

Dos'nt matter who's responsible but that it happened

Rest in peace

Moral of the story: Don't volunteer

Well it won't encourage others thats for sure.

Whoever was responsible needs to be publicly condemned and dealt with to the full extent of the law. Volunteers should be protected as much as possible and a clear message should be sent by the Thai authorities that it will not be tolerated.

[fmmb]

the person who killed her was an american