We were taking the back roads on the way to Florida. We drove through Athens, the home of Ohio University. My oldest sister went to school at Ohio U and was there for the riots after the Kent State Shootings. I asked her if she would tell her story. She was willing, thank you Molly.
Molly’s Story
I was a freshman at Ohio University in 1970. Some of my memories are as clear as if they happened yesterday while others not so much.
I remember getting the word about Kent State and being very concerned about my grandmother who lived in downtown Kent above the movie theatre. I called my parents and found out that my grandmother was safe and out of downtown, my dad had a horrific time getting into Kent to get her but she was safe.
I heard about the students being killed by notices posted on the store fronts in Athens and being very upset about it. I protested by wearing a black arm band. All other state universities in Ohio closed immediately after the shootings while OU stayed open, protestors started arriving in Athens. I remember several times walking and getting whiffs of tear gas from bushes along the road. School went on for the next 10 days while protests turned more and more violent. I do remember that downtown Athens was basically destroyed, worse than downtown Kent. My memories of those days are not as clear as the last night and day at OU.
The night (May 14) before we were not allowed in our dorm rooms and had to sleep in the common area as there were reports of shootings. It was an unsettling night.
We were told to gather on the bottom floor of the dorm for a message and that is when we were told the school was closing and we had till 5 PM to leave. We had less than 12 hours to leave. I spent hours trying to get hold of my parents by using the phone in the room that we were not allowed to call long distance on. We had to contact an operator to place a collect call and I tried for hours. One of my roommates was able to get hold of her mother who contacted mom and dad. She lived in a different area code, and we were more easily able to contact her. They both came to pick me up. Mom and Dad had a long day as the drive was 4 hours from Atwater to Athens.
When we were finally allowed to go to our rooms to pack. I looked out the window and saw that my dorm was surrounded by National Guard with rifles and bayonets. All the dorms in the quad had a ring of guardsmen surrounding the dorms. I remember being in total shock.
Mom and Dad arrived (I was so glad to see them, words cannot even express) and we started loading up the car, it took awhile as my room was on the fourth floor with no elevator.
I was basically a mess and got sick as we drove home. We stopped to eat but I stayed in the car and slept.
Some memories are very vivid while others are either nonexistent or fuzzy. I was surprised that OU stayed open for 11 days after May 4 as my memory thought it was only a couple of days.