NORTH GREENBUSH – A love story between Kaylee Dedrick and fellow Occupy Wall Street protester Robert Grodt ended in tragedy when Grodt was killed July 6 by a land mine in Syria where he volunteered as a medic for a Kurdish militia.

The couple met during the rallies in New York City's Zuccotti Park when he cared for her after she was hit in the face with pepper sprayed Sept. 24, 2011 by a New York Police Department commander.

From that moment, their relationship blossomed. The couple came to the Capital Region where Dedrick's Wynantskill family is well known in political and education circles.

Dedrick and Grodt's daughter Tegan Kathleen Grodt was born in 2012 at Albany Medical Center Hospital. Tegan was quickly nicknamed the "Occubaby" in the media.

"What a story his life has been. Amazing," Martha Dedrick said Thursday about the 28-year-old Grodt.

"He was so intelligent. It's an immeasurable lost," Dedrick said.

Dedrick paused as she spoke to deal with the emotion of losing Grodt. She described how her daughter and the Dedrick and Grodt families are grappling with Grodt's death working with a Kurdish militia group, the People's Protection Units, also known as the YPG.

Grodt and Dedrick had been living in the Capital Region raising their daughter. In February, Grodt decided to head to the Middle East to aid the Kurds, Martha Dedrick said.

Videos of Grodt were posted by the YPG. In them, he explained why he had volunteered. This week, the YPG reported his death near Raqqa, Syria where fighting had been taking place against the Islamic State group.

Grodt's survivors are reconciling his loss with his staunch beliefs.

Kaylee Dedrick is the daughter of Charles S. Dedrick, head of the New York State Council of School Superintendents and former superintendent of Capital Region BOCES, as well as a former North Greenbush Democratic councilman. She's also the niece of William Dedrick, a former Democratic Rensselaer County legislator.