Group's Leader Recalls Days of Terror

Kia Scherr struggles to keep her composure during a news conference in Faber, Va. Her husband and daughter died in the Indian terrorist attacks. (By Steve Helber -- Associated Press)

Kia Scherr said she had last spoken to Naomi on Sunday when she called the teenager, who has been home-schooled, to tell her she aced a test she needed to get into a New York boarding school.

"She was blown away," Kia Scherr said. "All she could say was, 'Oh my God.' "

Alan Scherr was asleep, but Kia Scherr said she talked to him the next day, and he described how they loved everything about India -- the people, sights, tastes.

"They were enjoying each day to the fullest," Kia Scherr said. "They were both having the times of their lives."

The Scherrs met when they were both Transcendental Meditation teachers and found a common interest in photography. Alan, a former University of Maryland professor, and Kia moved from Silver Spring to the Synchronicity Foundation when Naomi was 2.

Monks were among the child's friends and her playground was a forested area, where paths are lined with images of sacred women and the sounds of meditation music plays from outdoor structures.

Alan Scherr had flown to India many times, but this trip was Naomi's first time on a plane. It was Cannon's idea for the young woman who was raised in the community to go.

"We wanted her to have the best of life that we could give her," he said. "We thought, what an incredible gift to give her at this very young age."

Four other members of the group were wounded in the attack at the Oberoi. Two women from Nashville -- Rudrani Devi and Linda Ragsdale -- are expected to remain at the hospital for a week before returning home. Canadians Helen Connolly and Michael Rudder were also wounded but are expected to recover.

Details of a memorial service were not available, since the bodies remain in the custody of the State Department, Cannon said. Kia Scherr said a service held by Alan Scherr's family in Baltimore this weekend drew hundreds. As of last night, more than 850 people had also left online tributes for her husband and daughter.

Kia Scherr said that she could not say what was on her mind, only what she felt, "because the emotions are so deep and so strong and contain so much."

She remembered looking up at a blackened Florida sky with her family last weekend and seeing only two stars.

"Two bright lights," she said. "We all looked up and thought, 'Wow, that's amazing -- just two.' "

It was her sister who said they were Alan and Naomi.

"And I thought, yes, two bright lights," she said. "And their lights will shine forever, and that's how I choose to remember them."