The National Notary Association reports today that Heather D. Heyer, who was killed August 12 in the Charlottsville, Virginia tragedy, was a Notary Public. Described as a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised, Heyer was a paralegal at the Miller Law Group, where she worked in the firm’s bankruptcy division.
“We are deeply saddened to learn that a member of the Notary community was killed while standing up for what she believed in,” said National Notary Association President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Heymann. “As a Notary, she was committed to impartially serving the public in a professional and civil way.”
Alfred A. Wilson, a manager of the Miller Law Group in Charlottesville, told The New York Times that Heather stood up against “any type of discrimination.” Others who lived in Charlottesville said that Heather always spoke strongly against inequality and urged co-workers to be active in their community.
“She died fighting for her beliefs and campaigning against hate,” her coworker Marissa Blair told CNN. “She was very strong in what she felt, and she spoke with conviction. She would never back down from what she believed in.”
Heather was the latest Notary to lose her life in a historic event. In recent incidents, 28 NNA members were inside the World Trade center during the 9-11 attacks, although two were confirmed to have survived; several others died in the Jonestown massacre in Guyana; and dozens of service men and women Notaries in active engagements perished in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the Middle East.
Whether in their professional occupations or their personal lives, Notaries have served our country with integrity and goodness, said Heymann. “Heather Heyer was an example of that.”