REBECCA RECHT, 14, hugs Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul and Mary, during one of Yarrow’s visits to Portland to lead a benefit concert for Rebecca, who lived with cerebral palsy. Rebecca was found dead with her mother, Laurie Recht, Oct. 11 at their Vancouver home after a neighbor notified authorities.
Mother, daughter perish together
Tragedy stuns community
By Deborah Moon
Shock, disbelief and questions greeted the news of the apparent murder-suicide of a mother who had spent the past 14 years relentlessly working to ensure her daughter—described by many as happy, spiritual and a light to all who met her—had every opportunity to overcome her cerebral palsy and dyslexia.
Laurie Recht, 54, and her daughter Rebecca Alexis Hope Recht, 14, were discovered dead in their Vancouver Housing Authority-owned home of an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. Police discovered both bodies in the same bed Oct. 11 when they responded to a 7:30 p.m. 9-1-1 call from a neighbor concerned over not having seen the two for awhile, said Clark County Sheriff Commander Keith Kilian.
Pending autopsy results, police were investigating the deaths as a likely murder-suicide, Kilian said.
Between 100 and 200 people from diverse sections of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities attended the pair’s funeral Oct. 14 at Riverview Abby in Portland. A 5 p.m., Oct. 21 memorial service will be held for the Rechts at Chabad of Clark County, 9715 NE 126th Ave., Ste. 2320, Vancouver.
“Never in a million years would I have thought this would happen to Rebecca,” said Alex Shuval-Weiner, former education director of Congregation Beth Israel where Rebecca became a bat mitzvah last year. “Laurie had lots of demons she fought. But she was a lioness when it came to Rebecca.”
“A light has gone out in the world with that little girl being gone,” said Shuval-Weiner, who returned for the funeral from Los Angeles where she is in her final year of rabbinic school. “She was one of the most spiritual beings I’ve ever met. This child had one of the deepest connections to God. She never doubted God—which is amazing because Laurie was angry with God.”
Similar words about both Rechts were echoed by many who knew the two.
Clark County Chabad Rabbi Shmulik Greenberg, who conducted the service attended by rabbis from at least two Portland congregations, compared Laurie to Sarah as described in the week’s Torah portion. “We know that Sarah, a wonderful mother who showed great kindness, yet the only form of aggression we see mentioned about her is the way she protected her child. … I find this similarity in Laurie. She fought hardships, obstacles, red tape, so that Rebecca could have what she needed.”
“Rebecca can be likened to our foremother Rebecca, with such a spiritual soul,” he added at the service. “She was the one who insisted on having a bat mitzvah, and despite her many disabilities, she excelled. She encouraged her mother to bring her to the synagogue for services.”
“People who have the fortune of being touched by Rebecca know that light and that smile,” said Lisa Morasch speaking in the present tense. “She’s a smart girl, a happy girl.”
“I don’t know how much we will know,” added Morasch, who has been friends with the two since they moved to Vancouver from Salem about 10 years ago.
“It seems unclear what triggered this desperate move at the end,” concurred Rabbi Daniel Isaak of Congregation Neveh Shalom, which hosted a silent auction and two concerts by Peter Yarrow and Michael Allen Harrison to raise money for Rebecca to attend a special school for dyslexics.
“The first question we all ask is, ‘What might we have done?’” said Isaak. “But there was so much need. I’m not sure how we could have filled that need. …We need as a community to somehow recognize these are ongoing situations and we need some way of functioning together as a community to coordinate our efforts.”
“Her situation was so dire,” added Isaak, noting that Laurie was so independent that while she was grateful to Neveh Shalom for donating the concert space in 2005, she insisted on doing most of the publicity and gathering of auction items herself.
Yarrow maintained a strong connection with the two, returning to do other concerts including most recently an Oct. 7 concert at The Monkey and the Rat gallery in Portland, where Rebecca sang with him.
Yarrow signed a Sept. 26 email to Laurie with information about the upcoming concert: “Your friend who cares deeply about you and Rebecca. Peter.”
The concert information in the email noted: “Peter has been a supporter of, and mentor to, one particular student at Park Academy, Rebecca Recht, since four years ago when Rebecca’s mother appealed to Peter for help on Rebecca’s behalf. Peter did a benefit concert to help raise some funds to pay for Rebecca’s tuition at Park Academy and he plans to continue to help Rebecca in this fashion throughout her K-12 education.”
Contacted by email after the deaths, Yarrow said he needed time before he would be able to talk about the two.
Rebecca’s godparents Israel and Mary Greenwood of Salem also had a difficult time discussing the deaths.
“I haven’t been able to look at this from any angle where this isn’t one of the greatest tragedies I’ve come across,” said Israel Greenwood, who said he and his wife had known Laurie since shortly after she moved to Salem in 1989 or ’90. The Greenwoods agreed to be her child’s godparents when she decided to have a child through artificial insemination.
Greenwood did speculate on some things that might have driven Laurie over the edge. He noted that Rebecca had been ill lately and had gone in for an MRI. While Greenwood said he assumed Laurie had received the results but that she had never mentioned them, Rabbi Greenberg said the MRI did not show any new problems.
Greenwood said that Laurie’s health had been deteriorating over the past year. He said she had been on disability for a number of years. Though he said he was not sure of all her health issues, he mentioned arthritis and respiratory problems. Other reports have mentioned fibromyalgia.
He said between caring for Rebecca and her own health needs, she had been unable to work for many years.
“Laurie’s health has declined significantly in the past year,” he said. “She was obviously just running out. We’d ask her, ‘Isn’t there a better way that won’t drain you?’ I don’t think she could find that.”
Mary Greenwood noted that Laurie had been losing weight and doctors were uncertain why.
“She was in pain a lot of the time,” added Israel Greenwood.
“Laurie felt under extreme pressure to cope with Rebecca’s life—sometimes she handled it better than (at) others,” he said.
Regarding Rebecca, he said people were often surprised by how intelligent she was.
“As I recall, she taught herself to read because no one else thought she was capable,” Greenwood said. “I think if she’d had the opportunity, she would have surprised people with even further accomplishments.”
From all indications, Laurie had agreed with that belief in Rebecca.
In the program for Rebecca’s bat mitzvah May 13, 2006, Laurie wrote: “I was told pretty much not to expect too much and I am here to tell everyone today that Rebecca will graduate high school, go on to college and have a great, productive life.”
“Cerebral Palsy is just one of Rebecca’s labels,” wrote Laurie. “She is a kind, compassionate, caring, empathic, involved, honest, warm, sympathetic, funny, wise and bright child, and I expect her to be even more so as an adult.”
Laurie herself was no stranger to compassion. While her later years were filled with fighting for her child, she had won attention earlier for speaking out for the less fortunate. Morasch confirmed that Laurie spoke out in favor of a court-ordered desegregation plan in 1987.
A New York Times article on May 30, 1988, noted that the 34-year-old legal secretary who spoke out at the public hearing was awarded an honorary doctor of humane letters from the College of New Rochelle degree just two weeks after receiving her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from State University of New York.
As commencement speaker at New Rochelle, Laurie said, “We as individuals can show by example that no one has justice until everyone has justice, that no one is loved until everyone is loved and that no one shares in equality until everyone is equal.”
That sense continued to be part of her life as she fought for Rebecca’s rights.
“She never hesitated fighting for her daughter,” said Corrine Spiegel, inclusion specialist for the TASK program at Jewish Family and Child Service, noting that Rebecca had been attending TASK Kids social functions since she was about 4 years old.
Isaak agreed that Laurie was extremely devoted to Rebecca.
“Her mother was very committed to caring for her—perhaps to such an extent that she neglected her own welfare,” said Isaak.
In honor of Rebecca’s love of learning, Chabad of Clark County has created the Recht Judaic Library in memory of the Rechts, said Greenberg, noting Chabad is accepting donations for the library.
Some of Laurie’s Judaic embroidery is available at Chabad of Oregon’s Everything Jewish Store, 6684 SW Capitol Hwy., Portland. Proceeds from the sale of those items will go to the creation of the Recht Judaic Library.