Omar Khairallah as a child

In loving memory of

Omar Khairallah

1982  –  2004

A son of Stockton, a friend to many, and a young man who gave his life protecting someone he loved.

His story below

I Did Not Die

Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free!
I follow the plan God laid for me.
I saw His face, I heard His call,
I took His hand and left it all.

I could not stay another day,
To love, to laugh, to work or play;
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
And if my parting has left a void,
then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss.
Ah yes, these things I, too, shall miss.
My life's been full, I've savored much:
good times, good friends, a loved one's touch.

Be not burdened with tears of sorrow,
enjoy the sunshine of the morrow.
Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am the thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there. I did not die.

An old prayer, shared on Omar's memorial by his friend Tom Fallon

His life

Who Omar was

Omar Khairallah was born in Stockton, California on January 24, 1982. He grew up in Stockton and attended Mable Barron Elementary, the school that would later post his name on its marquee so that neighbors could drive by and remember him.

In October 2003 he traveled to Poland to study medicine at the Silesian Medical Academy in Katowice. He was becoming a doctor. He was twenty-two.

On the night of February 29, 2004, a friend of Omar's was being harassed, and Omar stepped in to protect him. He was fatally wounded doing it. He died the way he lived, looking out for the people he loved.

Born
January 24, 1982 · Stockton, CA
Studied
Medicine · Katowice, Poland
Remembered
February 29, 2004 · age 22

His life in pictures

Photographs

Baby pictures

The beginning of a life full of promise.

With family

The people who loved him first.

With friends

San Francisco, January 2003.

These are the photographs that survived from the family's original memorial. Of the 143 pictures once posted, these are the ones we could recover.

How he was mourned

Remembered on two continents

In the days after Omar died, two cities that had never met grieved the same young man.

Katowice, Poland

A march of silence

Around March 5, 2004, several hundred people, his friends and fellow students, the city's mayor, and the rector of his medical school, walked in silence through Katowice. The rector called it a tribute to Omar and a stand of solidarity with his family.

Stockton, California

March for Omar

At home, his community held its own March for Omar. His old school, Mable Barron Elementary, placed his name on its marquee so that everyone who passed would remember the boy who had grown up among them.