On Feb. 3, Dean of Students Neil Arter hosted a panel for the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum featuring three individuals affected by the bombing from 30 years ago.
The museum is carrying out “a journey of hope to visit all 77 counties in Oklahoma, sharing stories of courage, resilience, and strength,” as they tour the state with similar panels.
One panelist, Ronnie Fields, was studying at the University of Oklahoma at the time of the attack. He only discovered what had happened when his mother’s work building made the news on television.
Fearing that families would be targeted, federal agents brought his family to a hotel for safe keeping. After the initial scare ended, Fields returned to his studies despite his mother being missing.
“I had gone back for a day or so when my dad called me to say, ‘Hey I need you to come home. I need some help.’ I knew what that meant. He didn’t want to tell me they’d found her, but I knew,” Fields said.
Fields recounted how the experience changed him.
“I grew up in church and had a church background. I never doubted God, but I was mad and it came out in other ways. I went to counseling and that helped a bit, but, overall, it was the process of forgiving. This whole thing happened because somebody couldn’t forgive. This is what unforgiveness can lead to. Now, I can look back and see how God brought good from that.”
George Young served as a full-time chaplain at St. Anthony’s Hospital when the disaster struck.
“I’ve never seen war before, but I can tell you this: that was pretty close to a good idea of what it looks like,” he said. “Those are the incidents that make us who we are and cause us to stay in some veins of service for reasons other than what we recognize outside. That was an event that was so striking that I didn’t fully recognize it when I was immersed in it.”
The experience overwhelmed him to the point that he did not even realize its effect until days later. When he stood up to pray in front of his congregation, he finally broke.
“It was at that point that I realized that I had not shed a tear to grieve or thought about it. I had been so locked in that my wife had to come out of the audience and put her arms around me and hold me because it was just that traumatic as all of it flooded in on me.”
The event, though horrendous, only strengthened his confidence in his calling.
“I look back at it as one of those things about ministry, one of the things I want to do in life. If I accomplish anything, it would be because that particular moment is part of it.”
Another panelist, Donna Keith, had recently begun work at Presbyterian Hospital when the bombing occured.
“I had been here for six months,” she said, “The resident chaplains spent one night a week at the hospital, so that night, I had spent the night in the hospital.”
The bombing incited a panic that caused much of the staff to flee the hospital, leaving Keith with her supervisor who eventually told her to evacuate. She soon returned to help in whatever way she could.
“I was so stunned. That someone would do that—it shook me,” said Keith, “When I came back into the building, there was this man who said he was looking for his wife, so I told him to come with me because I knew where we would be meeting. I do not know if he found his wife or not. I felt lost.”
When asked what could have been done to better prepare for the incident, Keith replied,
“No one can prepare for that, so what we need to be prepared for is to let people in our lives help us heal, but not to tell us what to do—to learn how to be present and witness. Witnessing is listening.”
Representatives from the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum wrapped up the presentation by thanking the panelists and inviting the audience to participate in their yearly memorial marathon, Run to Remember.
Those interested in running or volunteering for the race between April 25 and 27 can find sign up information here.
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