Summarized by Vickie Speek

LDS Woman Is Example of Good Neighbor

FAYETTE, GEORGIA -- Nancy Beaman, 41, a Mormon mother, is helping a Hindu man cope with the murder of his wife. Kesturkoppal Muralidhara's wife, Vadewattee Muralidhara, 44, was one of eight people gunned by day trader Mark Barton one year ago.

Distraught by his wife's death, Muralidhara and his college aged son moved to Peachtree City where they met Beaman, their neighbor across the street.The married mother of four helped him to unpack, and has helped him learn to do the mundane tasks his wife used to do, such as paying the bills.

"You know, I was living in the other neighborhood and I didn't have any friends, so I left and came here. I expected here would be the same. It is the same. Except for this woman,'' Muralidhara, 50, a physician at Peachtree Pediatrics said.

Beaman's amused that she is singled out with affection by the man most people call "Murli." "I just listen. We just talk,'' she says.

She doesn't think she's done anything special. "When I was growing up, neighbors helped neighbors,'' she says.

Source:
'Except for this woman'
Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3Aug00 P2
By Sonja Lewis: Staff