Tanisha Thurmond, (c), with her sister (l) and mother during her college graduation. Photo courtesy of Tanisha Thurmond family

Christian Fellowship Church on the city’s Southside hosted the somber services, which were scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m.; however, by 10:15, the inner sanctuary and lobby resembled a can of sardines, with guests neatly packed amongst each other to pay their final respects to a human “Torchlight of Education” in the Roseland and West Pullman communities.

Having just turned 27 years of age, Ms. Thurmond’s inspiring life ended after she was strangled to death allegedly by her boyfriend who, according to news reports, confessed to the crime and is now in custody awaiting trial.

Unfortunately, the circumstances of her death are not at all uncommon. According to statistics, everyday in the United States, four women are murdered by boyfriends or husbands, and every nine seconds, a woman is assaulted and beaten. Nearly 37 percent of all women in the U.S. have experienced battery, and the number one cause of women’s injuries is abuse at home, which happens more often than car accidents, mugging and rape combined.

While the amount of money spent to shelter animals is currently three times the amount available to provide emergency shelter to women trying to find a safe haven from domestic abuse, this is not surprising to Lisa R. Muhammad, who is a member of the city’s 3rd police district’s Domestic Violence Subcommittee.

“Most women don’t recognize that they’re being abused, so we don’t generally like to discuss it, and therefore, we aren’t equipping ourselves or our daughters with the knowledge of the forms and cycles of abuse—how to prevent entering into an abusive relationship and how to effectively stop someone from attacking you.

“In an effort to counteract this ever-growing assault on women, each police district in Chicago has a domestic violence subcommittee whose purpose is to provide resources for survivors, as well as rehabilitative services for victimizers. The subcommittee meets on a monthly basis and is always in need of volunteers to help educate their community so that we will never again lose another Tanisha,” Ms. Muhammad said.

Ms. Thurmond was considered a torchlight for many reasons. In September of 2002, she met with Dr. William Harris of Percy L. Julian High School to explain why he needed her as part of his staff. The meeting was successful and she became the co-chairman of the Math Department. It was very important to her to show the students how to tie mathematics into everyday life. Her goal was to get the children as freshman, because by their junior or senior years it was too difficult to turn them around. Her favorite quotes being “Do your best”; “I require you best”; and “I must have your best,” Ms. Thurmond was determined to have every student succeed.

She not only demanded this of her students, but she also created the environment for them in order for success to be accomplished.

“My sister eliminated excuses,” explained older sister Kathy, who is also a domestic violence counselor. “Back-to-school shopping was bigger than Christmas; she bought enough for her class for the entire year, so lack of supplies would never be a student’s issue.”

For those students who considered dropping out due to problems at home, or pregnancy, which forced girls to work full-time, “Ms. T” would drop off and pick up their assignments from their homes or workplaces. She made sure that she knew what the best and most current math materials were, and that Dr. Harris ordered them.

In a school system where high school dropout rates are dramatically increasing, especially among inner city youth, her students participated in college tours, competed for scholarships and enjoyed math. At the funeral, two of her students commented on “Ms. T’s” energy level.

“She was full of energy. You couldn’t go to sleep in her class; you looked forward to math and she gave you the desire to try and stay awake for the rest of my classes,” one of the students stated. As this was spoken, heads nodded simultaneously throughout the throng of students standing against the walls and occupying the seats. Many in the overflow room talked of the love they felt knowing they could call “Ms. T” at any hour for counsel and support. She was a mentor and a friend.

Her co-workers described her as a “Star Teacher” full of love of life and dance. “Nikki” was the first one on and the last one off the dance floor during social functions, even having her father, whom most co-workers believed was her date, to chaperone her at a Christmas party. She worked as hard as she played often, being locked in the school when time got the best of her. During her own schooling, she had received the Golden Apple Scholarship. As a teacher, she sacrificed her free time to be an interviewer for the foundation which grew to love her so much that they have started a scholarship fund for her 2-year-old son Samuel.

Ms. Thurmond was commissioned to teach scholars at summer training workshops in hopes of producing more teachers like her. She was an alumnus of Loyola University and Illinois Institute of Technology and a Sigma Gamma Rho member. Although Ms. Thurmond was working towards her Ph. D, she never left Julian to go to the “good school districts,” and stayed within her neighborhood making a difference within her profession and her spiritual life.

Since the age of six, she served in every aspect of the church, from usher to Youth Ministry, and she helped wherever needed. She was also very involved with her Praise dancers “The Spiritual Troopers” of Christian Fellowship Church.

From piloting an airplane while in the summer aerospace program as a student at Morgan Park High School, to becoming a loving mother and the favorite Math Teacher of Julian’s class of 2007, Patricia Jones, her mother, said “I couldn’t ask any more of my daughter than what she gave during her lifetime.”

(For more information on Chicago’s Domestic Violence Subcommittee, please visit www.cityofchicago.org/police, or call the National Domestic Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. A fund has been set up for Ms. Thurmond’s son Samuel Thurmond-Taylor, and donations can be sent in care of Citibank, 1779 River Oaks Drive, Calumet City, IL 60479.)