Newfoundland mourns ex-teacher killed in attack at Jordanian castle

BURGEO, N.L. — Linda Vatcher made the trip home to Newfoundland’s south coast every year, often offering up a hug and a smile to many people she ran into.

“She was just an infectious personality. She was always a happy person,” said Paul Hare, one of her former students and now vice-principal at Burgeo Academy.

Vatcher returned most summers to Burgeo to participate in a cancer relay fundraiser, years after her husband passed away from the disease. It was one of many charities she was involved with in both Burgeo and Corner Brook, where she moved with her husband and two sons more than a decade ago.

People in both communities were struggling Monday after the former elementary teacher was killed in an attack at a tourist attraction in Jordan on Sunday.

“[We’re in] shock. It’s hard to put into words, really,” Hare said. “Whenever she came back, she always stopped to talk, give a smile and a hug.”

Vatcher, 62, had recently travelled to the Middle East to spend Christmas with her son, Chris, who was reportedly working as a teacher in the region. A LinkedIn page for a Christopher Vatcher says he was teaching Grade 9 science and socials at the Abu Dhabi Grammar School.

The pair were visiting a Crusader castle popular with tourists in Karak when gunmen assaulted Jordanian police in a series of attacks, killing seven officers, two local civilians and Vatcher. Christopher Vatcher was said to have jaw injuries, and was being treated at a hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman.

Several armed men barricaded themselves inside the castle for hours, hemmed in by special forces soldiers. At least 34 people, including two foreign nationals, were wounded in the day’s violence, one of the bloodiest attacks in Jordan in recent memory.

Soon after, word began spreading through Burgeo and Corner Brook that Vatcher was the unnamed Canadian tourist that media outlets were reporting had gotten caught in the crossfire.