Bennington Crusader For Afghan Children Dies

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(Host) A Bennington woman who devoted her life to Afghan children after her son was killed in the 911 attacks, died on Saturday of cancer.

Sally Goodrich was an educator with the public schools in North Adams, Massachusetts.

Her son, Peter Goodrich, was a passenger on the second jetliner to strike the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer a year after her son’s death.

Later Goodrich and her husband Don started the Peter M. Goodrich Memorial Foundation to honor their son’s spirit of tolerance and appreciation of other cultures.

The foundation built a coed school in Afghanistan and supports an orphanage in the Pashtun region.

The couple also took Afghan students into their home, and helped many more to go to college in the United States.

Goodrich talked about it on VPR in 2009.

(Goodrich) "I know that suffering is the universal language that prepares us for greater insight and understanding. We have seen the rugged beauty of a country never valued for itself, and met noble generous people who helped us understand the circumstances that laid the ground for 9-11." 

This past September Goodrich lamented that a Taliban resurgence made it unsafe to visit the Afghan village where her school was located.

(Goodrich) "I guess the hardest thing about this day is that you see it used to promote politicians and media personalities’ agendas, which is very distressing. And it certainly not helpful to addressing the underlying causes that led to the events of that day."

(Host) A service for Sally Goodrich is planned for Thursday at Old First Church in Bennington.

 

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