With tears in her eyes, a Utah woman spoke to the BBC on Wednesday about her husband — the “love of her life” — who was killed in a terror attack near the U.K.’s Parliament last month.
“Kurt was probably the best man I’ve ever met,” Melissa Cochran told the BBC’s Fiona Bruce. “He was sweet and kind and I’m extremely proud of him, and I’m very happy that the world now knows what a wonderful man he was.”
“He would probably hate all the publicity that’s going on,” Melissa continued. “He’s a very private kind of person, very generous, very sweet.”
Kurt and Melissa Cochran were in London celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary when a driver mowed them down — along with dozens of other pedestrians — on the Westminster Bridge on March 22.
Kurt was killed; Melissa suffered a broken leg, a broken rib and a facial cut.
Speaking to the BBC, she recalled the moment she learned her husband had been killed.
“I had come out of recovery and they had placed me in a hospital room,” Melissa said, “and my parents had come to visit and were there waiting for me when I came out. And I asked them to find out what had happened to my husband. No one previously to that — no one could tell me; they just, no one had any information.
“My parents walked out of the room and came back in and both grabbed my hand and said that he didn’t make it — which crushed me.”
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In her devastation, however, Melissa said she has relied on relatives, who have also been sharing online updates about her recovery.
According to Melissa’s brother, Clint Payne, she and Kurt were self-employed, “having built a recording studio business from the ground up over the last 10 years.”
Speaking to reporters only days after the attack, Payne said Melissa was “strengthened by the presence of her family.”
“She is so grateful for the outpouring of love and generosity,” he said. “So many people have been so kind, and we are deeply touched by their goodness and generosity.”
Melissa echoed that to the BBC, saying: “Fortunately I have a wonderful family, and I’m able to take their strength and recover.”
“It’s been difficult, obviously, but Kurt would have wanted me to keep going,” she said. “With such a beautiful family that I have, it’s been okay.”
She also said she has no “no ill will” toward the attacker, whom authorities identified as Khalid Masood and who was killed in the assault.
“I don’t know what he was feeling or thinking or anything that had been going on in his life, so I can’t relate,” Melissa said. “I just know that unfortunately, he didn’t have the qualities and the beautiful heart that my husband had. So I actually kind of feel a little sorry for him. no hate.”