Welsh school teacher killed in motorcycle accident
someone on the board may well know this person. If so, sorry for the loss.
Quote:
Tributes to Welsh teacher killed in motorbike crash in Thai capital May 24 2007
by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail
A YOUNG school teacher who left her native Wales to teach children in Thailand has been killed in a motorbike accident.
Lowri Williams, 28, from Llantrisant, was travelling with her fiance Arkhom Jamjaksu, in a district of northern Bangkok, when they were struck by an articulated lorry.
Ms Williams, a former Welsh Gymnastics Squad member, who moved to Thailand five years ago to teach English to nursery school children, was killed instantly. Her 35-year-old fiance suffered cuts and bruises to his left leg.
Her father Tony Williams, of Llantrisant, said yesterday, “Some Bangkok roads are very dangerous. It was 9.30pm, dark but still busy, and they were in the outside lane of a two-lane road when they were hit by the lorry.”
The driver, apparently unaware of what had happened, was stopped by police seven miles away. An investigation into the crash on May 8 is continuing.
Ms Williams had become engaged to Mr Jamjaksu – her boyfriend of two-and-a-half years – just five weeks before the crash.
Mr Jamjaksu, an art teacher, proposed to Ms Williams after asking her family for their permission to allow him to marry her.
He broke the news of her death to the Williams family in South Wales.
Mr Williams said, “It was incredibly brave of Arkhom, who was terribly distraught, to call me so soon after the accident.
“He was very loving, caring and protective towards my daughter. Lowri beamed when she was with him. They were wonderful together.”
Mr Williams and his wife Elizabeth immediately drove to Heathrow Airport after receiving the phone call and took the next available flight to Thailand.
Ms Williams travelled to Thailand in July 2002 after graduating in modern history and politics from Aberystwyth University.
She gained her Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Tefl) qualification in Thailand and intended to teach in the country for around two years before moving on to other countries in South East Asia. But she was so happy in Bangkok, she decided to stay.
Mr Williams, a maths teacher at Coedylan Comprehensive School, in Cilfynydd, Pontypridd, said, “We have been to Thailand every year since Lowri went there and we found the people absolutely wonderful.
“Lowri made friends easily and was settled and very happy in Bangkok and probably had more Thai than Western friends.”
Ms Williams initially taught at Learning Home, a small international school in the centre of Bangkok, but recently moved to the 850-pupil Thunyawit Primary School in the north of the capital.
After her death, the school’s owner told Mr Williams he knew his daughter was a good teacher because “she looked into the children’s eyes while teaching”.
To show their respect, the school organised a Buddhist ceremony which was attended by more than 100 of her friends and colleagues.
Mr Williams believes his daughter carved a career in education to follow in the footsteps of her mother Yvonne, who was also a primary school teacher, but died 12 years ago.
He said, “Yvonne was a very caring person who loved children and Lowri obviously inherited these traits.
“Lowri had a social conscience and that was one of the reasons she wanted to teach in a country like Thailand.
“She really loved her vocation because she enjoyed seeing children learn in a happy and friendly environment.”
The family are now raising money for the school that was such a large part of Lowri’s life.
Ms Williams’ funeral will be held today at Capel Tabernacl, in Efail Isaf.
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