Mary Ellen Newberry McFarlane

Student, Gonzales, TX

00:00 / 10:20
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Mary Ellen McFarlane was a student at UT during the mid 1960s but she was at home in Gonzales, Texas on Aug. 1, 1966. McFarlane’s steady boyfriend (now husband) Harold was on campus.

McFarlane remembers seeing news of the shooting on television.She worried about Harold because she knew his habits and she thought he might be directly in the path of the shooter. At one point, she says, the news starting reading a list of the names of victims.

“And I kept watching for his name,” McFarlane says. “And I’ve got to tell you. It was a miserable afternoon.”

Harold was OK but Mary Ellen was not consolable until she heard from him later that evening.