“I was a music major and destined to be walking right in the path of the shooter. It was a beautiful day, and I had decided to take a day off and drive to San Antonio with my husband, Robert Bush, for a day of visiting the zoo, the Ney Museum, and having supper with my cousin.
We were blissfully unaware of the tragedy until we reached my cousin’s house around 4:30 pm. She broke down in tears that we were safely away from campus, and it took a few minutes for us to find out what had been happening in Austin.
We returned to Austin that evening, and I learned that two very good colleagues from the School of Music had been shot. It wasn’t until the next day that I learned that both had been wounded but, thankfully, were alive.
It was a challenge to walk across the main campus mall that first week after the shooting. I believe that we all felt quite vulnerable after the incident.
I also think the experience encouraged us to ‘live for the moment’ since every day of life is a gamble. Starting with the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, there were a string of assassinations and the tower shooting added another ‘notch in in the gun.’
Looking back, I think the 1960s marked the beginning of gun violence that has now become an epidemic in our country.”