American tsunami victim had family from Greenfield, Mass

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON and
MACKENZIE ISSLER
Associated Press and Recorder Staff

GREENFIELD — A 24-yearold English teacher from Virginia, whose body was discovered in the wreckage of the Japan tsunami, had roots in Greenfield.

Taylor Anderson may be the first known American victim in the Japanese disaster, as authorities continue the daunting task of finding and identifying more than 13,000 people believed to be missing.

Her mother, Jean Anderson, whose maiden name is Behaylo, graduated from Greenfield High School in 1976 and her father, Andy Anderson, also attended the town’s high school, according to school officials.

Her maternal grandparents, Frederick and Alice Behaylo, who are now both deceased, were lifelong residents of Greenfield.

Her paternal grandparents were Leroy and Lora Anderson, who also lived in Greenfield before moving to Virginia after his place of employment, Millers Falls Tool Co., closed down in the early 1980s.

Anderson’s family said in a statement that the U.S. Embassy in Japan called them Monday to tell them she was found in Ishinomaki, a city about 240 miles north of Tokyo. “We would like to thank all those whose prayers and support have carried us through this crisis,” said Andy and Jean Anderson, who now live in Chesterfield County south of Richmond.

“Please continue to pray for all who remain missing and for the people of Japan. We ask that you respect our privacy during this hard time.”

Taylor Anderson has a brother, Jeffrey, and sister, Julia.

Jean Anderson said her daughter was last seen after the earthquake, riding her bike away from an Ishinomaki elementary school after making sure parents had picked up their children. A tsunami struck shortly after the earthquake, completely wiping out homes and other structures.

Friends and relatives used Facebook and other social networks to spread the word about the search for Taylor. Officials first told the family last Tuesday that their daughter had been located, but the Andersons learned that night that the information was incorrect.

Taylor Anderson had a lifelong love of Japan and began studying the language in middle school. She moved overseas after graduating from Randolph-Macon College in 2008 to teach in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme.

She taught in eight schools in Ishinomaki, in the Miyagi prefecture on Japan’s northeast coast. During her stay there she developed a love for her students and for the Japanese people, her mother said.

She was scheduled to return to the United States in August.

“What we can do to honor Taylor’s memory is by doing what she gave her life for, that is, reaching out to the Japanese people, in tangible ways,” said the Rev. Dorothy White, director of religious studies at St. Catherine’s School. Anderson graduated from its high school in 2004.

The school was planning a Japan-relief service project in her honor, White said.

Others said they missed her down-to-earth personality and smile. She liked the band Barenaked Ladies, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”

Anderson was a “low-key, easygoing, sometimes bubbly, always warm young woman with a lively mind and a generous heart,” said English teacher Derek Kannemeyer, who was her adviser when she was co-editor of the St. Catherine’s literary magazine.

Kannemeyer stayed in touch with Anderson after she graduated and said she possessed intellectual curiosity and a bright, lively mind. “That she took these strengths and went out into the broader world to live a life of engagement and caring about other people, and of exploration, of discovery — is just what teachers hope their students will do.”

Officials with U.S. Embassy in Japan and the State Department could not immediately confirm whether she was the first known U.S. victim in Japan. Another 25-year-old man is presumed dead after being swept into the ocean March 11 by a swell from the tsunami on the northern California coast.