Yona Fricker

Yona Fricker, z"l, was murdered in Kibuutz Be'eri, her body identified only a month later. Friends say the 69-year-old Yona was physically trying to block the house door because she was unable to lock it. And the last thing she said on the phone was how the terrorists are trying to blow up her house.

Her friend said: "I think in my heart my dear friend just the night before we met and we talked just the night before you and your Mordechai sitting with the coffee and the thin cigarette you were holding in your hands smoking and smiling at me. And everything doesn't seem real to me, I said it's not happening to us. We live together, breathe together, celebrate together, we had a child together, we raised the girls together, we grieved together and most of all we laughed together, I prayed for a miracle I thought it would come and then.. my heart broke and this. It never ends, may your memory be blessed, dear Yona, fly above the cloud to your Mordechai. Missing you for a long time, waiting for you to smile at me again."

Per another obituary: "Yona is the aunt who will always greet you with a smile and arms spread wide just waiting to be hugged. She will always have a cigarette to give you when you need a moment. And the cigarette usually also comes with a kind word and such a healthy laugh. Yona's eyes are always smiling. After a month of uncertainty, it's hard for me to accept the fact that we won't see your smiling eyes again."