A woman who had taught ESL in Kansas since the mid 1980s was killed instantly when a young driver hit her husband and her during an early morning walk in their residential Wichita neighborhood, on Monday, August 21st. Krishna Chawla was 67 years old, and had emigrated to the United States from India, with her husband and family, to provide opportunities to their two sons, who both practice medicine today. The husband, Mohinder "Paul" Chawla, is recovering from severe injuries suffered in the accident.

Krishna Chawla was a long-time member of both the Kansas Adult Education Association (KAEA), and the Kansas Association of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (KATESOL/BE). From 1995 to 1997, Krishna Chawla served on the KATESOL Executive Board.

On the Kansas Adult Basic Education (Kansas ABE) listserv during the days following this teacher's death, there were a number of statements by colleagues from Wichita and from adult education and ESL programs across the state of Kansas, honoring the memory of Krishna Chawla.

Krishna Chawla "was an ESL teacher in the Wichita Area Technical College ABE program," wrote her WATC colleague, Lorry Shoniber. "Previously she taught and directed an ESL program with Catholic Charities in Wichita." Shoniber added that "the staff at WATC is still in shock at the sudden loss of Krishna, a leader in our program."

Services for Krishna Chawla were scheduled for Thursday, August 24th, at Downing & Lahey Mortuary's East Chapel, and on Saturday, at the Hindu Temple of Greater Wichita.

The outpouring of emotional remembrances from friends, relatives, students, and fellow teachers, on a Legacy.com page linked to Kansas.com (The Wichita Eagle and Beacon Online), continued steadily throughout the week following Krishna Chawla's untimely death. Here are some of the words and phrases used to describe her life and the effects of her teaching.