Introduction to Bobbie

On September 13, 2008, Bobbie Bosworth said good-bye to her husband Tom at their townhome in Alexandria, Virginia and went to Springfield Mall to buy a new pair of jeans. She had been losing some weight recently, thanks to the daily walks that she and Tom had been taking with their newly-adopted dog Beau. They had made plans to rendezvous back at their house around 3 pm. Bobbie needed to put some gas in her car and Tom always filled it for her; they would do that and then go out to dinner and maybe see a movie.

Tom never saw his wife again. Bobbie died that afternoon after being abducted from the mall.

Despite the horror of the circumstances that day, the true story of Bobbie is how she chose to live her life: she embodied love. She wanted to live in a community, not a neighborhood of strangers, and she set out to create such a place. Her neighbors became friends and then family, sharing good times (holidays and vacations) and bad (9/11/2001). Bobbie didn't limit her compassion to people; she loved nature and created a backyard oasis for birds and squirrels. Her untimely death struck grieving friends and family as the antithesis of the way that she chose to be in the world. If everyone cared for people the way Bobbie did, the senseless tragedy that happened to her would have never happened.