The three Americans who are thought to have been killed in

the Bali bombing represented the diverse reasons that send

people to the far corners of the earth.

Stephen Webster, 41, a husband and a father of two from

Huntington Beach, Calif., was on a surfing trip with two

friends, Steve Cabler and John Parodi, to celebrate his

41st birthday.

Deborah Lea Snodgrass, 33, lived in Europe and the Pacific

Rim for most of the last decade, said her aunt, Pat Beaty.

She lived for the past four years in Bali, teaching English

and consulting in the design and fashion industry.

Jake Young, 34, a lawyer and former football all-American

at the University of Nebraska, was in Bali to play in a

weekend rugby tournament. He was playing for the final time

with a team from Hong Kong, where he had worked for the

past two years. He was scheduled to move this week to

Kansas City to start a new job at the Dickinson Financial

Corporation.

Mr. Webster's friend, Mr. Cabler, was with him when the

bomb struck. "I tried to get him out, but the roof fell

down on him," Mr. Cabler told the Orange County Register.

Mr. Cabler flew to Los Angeles on Monday evening, deaf in

one ear, his shoulder broken and his hand burned. Mr.

Parodi, apparently not injured, stayed in Bali to help Mr.

Webster's family.

Trent Walker, Mr. Webster's best friend of 22 years, did

not make the trip but had surfed with him in Tahiti,

Hawaii, Mexico and Costa Rica. He was Mr. Webster's best

man. "He had a huge circle of friends," Mr. Walker said.

"In fact, his nickname was `instabro,' because he became

everyone's `bro.' "

Mr. Webster worked as an environmental consultant and

shared an office with Mr. Walker across the street from the

beach. "In between work," said another friend, Jim Hogan,

"you could always stop in, grab a board and go out for a

surf."

Mr. Hogan, a former professional surfer, was a longtime

friend of Mr. Webster. "He loved to live," Mr. Hogan said.

"He worked really hard, was dedicated to his family and was

always looking for a surfing adventure."

Though details are sketchy, Ms. Snodgrass was apparently

killed by a flying object as she crossed a street in front

of the crowded Sari nightclub. Ms. Snodgrass had a gift for

languages and spoke at least four well. She was born in

Springfield, Mo., and graduated from the University of

Arizona in 1992 with a political science degree.

"She was just pursuing her life," said Ms. Beaty. "She was

a very inclusive person and she liked finding out about

different cultures and different religions and different

places on the globe.

"These young people are dying a political death," Ms. Beaty

said, "but they didn't live a political life. Debbie just

wanted to see the whole world, and I think she was hoping

that her passport would fill up with every country's

stamp."

Friends and family of Mr. Young said yesterday that they

continued to hope that he was alive. Mr. Young's wife,

Laura, and their 2-year-old son, Wilson, had flown to

Kansas City ahead of him.

Friends remembered Mr. Young as a loving bear of a man. A

native of Midland, Tex., Mr. Young became the first

freshman to play offensive lineman for the University of

Nebraska. There, he was a consensus all-American in 1988

and 1989 and also was named an academic all-American.

"He was an extremely humble man," said a close friend, Paul

Holewinski. "He did not lead every conversation with, `I

was an all-American at Nebraska.' "

In 2000, when a job opened in the Hong Kong office of the

law firm Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells, Mr. Holewinski

said, Mr. Young saw an opportunity to take an adventurous

leap in his career.

"Everybody here who knew Jake liked Jake," Mr. Holewinski

said. "If you were out with him for an evening, you had to

plan 44 minutes or an hour to leave. That's how long it

would take Jake to get to the door. He knew everybody and

had something to say to everyone."

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/16/international/asia/16LIST.html

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company