The city’s community of writers and journalists is struggling with the recent death of one of its own, Amber Bowerman. The vivacious 30-year-old freelance journalist wrote for several local magazines and newspapers, including Alberta Views, Avenue, the Calgary Sun, Swerve and Fast Forward. Along the way, she touched numerous lives with her positive outlook, cheerful good humour and intelligent insight.

“She was such a bright light. She lit up the room wherever she went,” says Käthe Lemon, editor of Avenue magazine and a close friend of Bowerman. “She had a really bright career ahead of her. She was really talented.”

Bowerman rose to prominence back in 2001 when she joined Alberta Views. The young writer started out as an office assistant, but soon moved up to become assistant publisher.

The facts of Bowerman’s death have been well publicized: she was one of five people slain in a murder-suicide that occurred in a suburban Dalhousie home on May 27. Police say 34-year-old architectural designer Joshua Lall killed Bowerman, who was renting a basement suite in the Lall family home. He then killed his wife, Alison, 35, and daughters Kristen, 5, and Rochelle, 3, before committing suicide. Mystery shrouds the motives of Joshua Lall, who was known as a hard-working family man; in the days before the killings, he was reportedly hearing voices in his head and suffering from stress at work. It appears that Bowerman was the victim of senseless misfortune.

Family, friends and colleagues of Bowerman, however, prefer to remember the life of a special individual who charmed those around her with enthusiasm and kindness.

“She was really humble, so I think she would be really surprised and glad to know how much of an impact she had on so many lives,” says Lemon, “Everybody who ever met her is thinking about her and missing her.”