PORTLAND, Ore. ― The evening before he became a national hero, Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche hung out with his girlfriend, Ellie Lawrence.
It was Thursday, and she went over to his new house, which 23-year-old Namkai-Meche had saved up to buy the month before. They did some light garden work, and she remembers he was looking especially handsome.
Advertisement
They had big plans for the garden. He just wanted it to look beautiful. She was going to have her own little corner, where maybe she’d grow some herbs. They both wanted to plant a bleeding heart bush, where pink, heart-shaped flowers would bloom one day.
They went inside and cooked dinner, something they were trying to do more often, and their friend George came over. Namkai-Meche and George went off to play futsal for their team, the Tardigrades. They lost that night, but Namkai-Meche just loved to play.
When he returned home, Lawrence was there watching TV. They liked real estate shows the best, like “House Hunters,” and nature shows, too.
In the morning, she’d never have guessed it would be the last time she’d see him.
“He kissed me goodbye and said thank you,” Lawrence remembers.
“And I said, ‘For what?’ and he said, ‘Thank you for coming over,’ and I said, ‘Well, thank you for having me,’” she recalled, her voice trailing off. “And yeah, that’s it.”
Advertisement
Lawrence, 22, talked exclusively to HuffPost this week at a rooftop bar in Portland, just down the road from Reed College, where Namkai-Meche had studied economics and where she’d studied French, and where an American flag now hangs at half-staff.
They had so many plans. She had just graduated from college. He had the new house and a job he loved. The world felt wide open.
They were looking forward to the coming Saturday, when they had tickets for a matchup between the professional women’s soccer teams the Portland Thorns and the Boston Breakers. He was from Oregon and she’s from Massachusetts, and it was fun to cheer against each other.
That Sunday, he’d planned his first BBQ at the new house, a place she said was his pride and joy, where he’d done the construction work himself to turn it into a five-bedroom so a bunch of his friends could live there together. It was a place where he wanted to build something special. A community.
Advertisement
And later this summer, they were supposed to go hiking at Punch Bowl Falls, where Eagle Creek spills down lush green cliffs into a deep pool on its way to the Columbia River.
But hours after he and Lawrence said goodbye, Namkai-Meche was riding the MAX train home when he and two other men stepped up to defend a black teenager and her Muslim friend from a white supremacist’s bigoted, anti-Muslim threats.
The man slashed the three men in the throats with a knife. Namkai-Meche and Ricky Best, 53, died. Micah Fletcher, 21, survived.
Lawrence said there were always little glimpses of Namkai-Meche’s capacity for heroics and selflessness.
“One night, we were walking in the park, and this man said he needed shelter, and Taliesin let this guy stay at his house,” she said.
Advertisement
“He was trusting and he was kind and he was going to step in if he saw something wrong.”
He was given to romantic gestures, too. Once he drove through a snowstorm to retrieve lipstick she’d left at a restaurant. He didn’t tell her he was going and she hadn’t asked him to go. He just went because it was an outrageously nice thing to do.
Another time, on Valentine’s Day, she returned to her dorm room to find a bouquet of flowers waiting outside her door.
“This might be borderline too cheesy,” Lawrence told HuffPost, “but one time he asked me why I loved him, and I said I loved him because he was kind and generous and ambitious and he had good morals and he was directed and excited about life.”
“And his response was that those were all the things he was trying to be in his life.”
On the train last Friday, a woman came to Namkei-Meche’s aid as he was dying. She later recalled the young man’s last goodbye.
“Tell everyone on this train I love them,” he had said.
America doesnotdo a goodjob of tracking incidents of hate and bias. We need your help to create a database of such incidents across the country, so we all know what’s going on. Tell us your story.
Advertisement
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
It's Another Trump-Biden Showdown — And We Need Your Help
The Future Of Democracy Is At Stake
Our 2024 Coverage Needs You
Your Loyalty Means The World To Us
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
The 2024 election is heating up, and women's rights, health care, voting rights, and the very future of democracy are all at stake. Donald Trump will face Joe Biden in the most consequential vote of our time. And HuffPost will be there, covering every twist and turn. America's future hangs in the balance. Would you consider contributing to support our journalism and keep it free for all during this critical season?
HuffPost believes news should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. We rely on readers like you to help fund our work. Any contribution you can make — even as little as $2 — goes directly toward supporting the impactful journalism that we will continue to produce this year. Thank you for being part of our story.
It's official: Donald Trump will face Joe Biden this fall in the presidential election. As we face the most consequential presidential election of our time, HuffPost is committed to bringing you up-to-date, accurate news about the 2024 race. While other outlets have retreated behind paywalls, you can trust our news will stay free.
But we can't do it without your help. Reader funding is one of the key ways we support our newsroom. Would you consider making a donation to help fund our news during this critical time? Your contributions are vital to supporting a free press.
As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.
Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?
Dear HuffPost Reader
Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.
The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. If circumstances have changed since you last contributed, we hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.