Doris Tate(1924-1992)

The homemaker wife of an Army intelligence officer, Doris Tate was initially thrust into the public eye when her pregnant daughter, actress Sharon Tate was randomly and brutally murdered by Charles 'Tex' Watson and Susan Atkins at the instructions of Charles Manson on August 9, 1969. Family and friends said she never fully recovered from the loss.

You can't make sense out of the innocent slaughter of Sharon and the other victims. The most that I, or any person touched by violence, can hope for is acceptance of the pain. You never forget it, not even with the passage of time. But, if, in my work, I can help transform Sharon's legacy from murder victim to a symbol for victims' rights, I will have accomplished what I set out to do.