Josh Bloom is still trying to cope with reality after his mother, Jane Bloom, was identified as one of two women killed after a driver plowed into a D.C. restaurant’s outdoor seating area on Friday. She was 76.
“We’re still in shock. This is a senseless tragedy. It’s something that no one ever expects,” Josh Bloom said.
Jane Bloom and 73-year-old Terese Dudnick Taffer were killed in the crash. Six other people who were also dining outside at the Parthenon Restaurant and Chevy Chase Lounge in the 5500 block of Connecticut Avenue NW were hurt, officials said.
Jane Bloom was out on a beautiful day, doing what she loved the most, her son said.
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“She was a lover of people and new experiences,” her son said. “What happened yesterday was she was spending time with her new friends that she had met over Zoom during the pandemic as my mom started exploring new artistic avenues for herself.”
Jane Bloom was an artist and a fighter for human rights who never stopped reinventing herself to help others, he said.
“She worked for many years in the refugee world. She started a foundation called Refugee Works and then wound up connecting that up to the U.S. resettlement agencies,” Josh Bloom said.
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One thought has brought her son peace as he copes with the sudden tragedy.
“We’re taking a lot of solace in the fact that she died among new people, but among people that really showed the kind of person that she was deep down inside,” he said.
