Hundreds mourn Chicago native killed in Kabul bombing

Hundreds of people attended a memorial service for a Chicago woman who was killed during a Taliban attack at a popular restaurant in Afghanistan.

Mourners gathered at Weinstein Funeral Home in Wilmette Wednesday to remember 27-year-old Lexie Kamerman, who was one of 21 people who were killed last week during a suicide bombing and gun attack at a Kabul restaurant.

“Each of you has your own passion, but often we come up with excuses not to follow it or let it take us all the way,” said her mother, Ali Pohn. “Maybe the legacy of Lexie is to remind all of us that we have a choice. We can choose fear or we can choose to be afraid, and in the face of that fear, follow your passion. Lexie would have wanted it that way.”

The comments were reported by the Chicago Sun-Times.

Kamerman was working as a student development specialist at the American University of Afghanistan, helping women receive an education. She graduated from the Latin School of Chicago and Knox College in Galesburg.

Pohn said Kamerman was home for Christmas and New Year’s and had been back in Afghanistan for a week before the bombing. She also said she wanted mourners to celebrate Kamerman’s life.

“I just want to point out the irony in the fact that the most courageous person I know was killed by a bunch of raving cowards,” she said. “Let’s get that out of the way.”

A Michigan woman, Basra Hassan, 59, was also killed in the attack.=