"Mora"


Oil Painting on Canvas
Lisa Reinke
Completed May, 2007
16" x 20"
GIFT


This is a portrait of Partahi Mamora Halomoan Lumbantoruan, known as Mora to his friends and family. Mora was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre. Artist Ruby Pearl , put out a call to portrait artists for commemorative portraits. I volunteered for the project. Every participating artist was assigned to paint a portrait of one of the victims. The paintings will go first to Virginia Tech, then to relatives.

There isn't a lot of public information on Mora, but here's what I gleaned from the news articles. (Who knows how true any of this is, he is not here to ask. Those who knew him best are half a world away.)

Partahi Lumbantoruan was a 34 year old man from Indonesia. He was a doctoral student, pursuing a degree in civil engineering, specializing in hydrotechnology. He wrote his master's thesis on soil liquefaction during earthquakes. Mora was two semesters away from graduating and he planned to return to Indonesia to teach at the university level. His home city was Medan in North Sumatera. His parents made many sacrifices to help with his education. Mora was very studious and spent a lot of time in the library. He wore polo shirts and khaki pants. He liked to cook, and collected war films. He was Catholic. He was interested in his home country's history, politics and culture. His father was career military, and some of that structure must have rubbed off on Mora. He kept a neat sock drawer. Mora valued order and discipline.

The press didn't have access to many recent photos. I think a friend provided this one, and it wasn't a very high resolution. I found another snapshot posted by fellow foreign students from Indonesia, that allowed me to confirm this is what he looked like around the age he died.

Mora died on April 16, 2007, when 23 year old Seung-Hui Cho went on a rampage and killed 32 students before killing himself.

On Monday morning, April 16, the advanced hydrology class was interrupted by someone who opened the door, took up a "shooters" stance and began firing a semi-automatic 9mm pistol at the students. When Mora was shot, he dived onto another student, Gil Colman, and in his death, saved Gil. Gil didn't move, even after the shooter went away. Moments later the shooter returned and fired more rounds into the classroom and into Mora, before leaving and taking his own life. Gil was injured, but survived. Read Gil's story.

Mora was one of nine students who died in advanced hydrology in classroom 206.

Mora has a brother, Bindu. A father, Tohom, and a stepmother, Sugiyarti. His mother died when Mora was in elementary school. This painting will go to them. I hope it brings them solace.

Posted: Thu - May 31, 2007 at 08:03 AM          

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