‘Tribute to four wonderful people’
Memorial dedicated to those impacted by homecoming tragedy
STILLWATER — Members of the Cowboy family and the Stillwater community paused Friday amid the 2018 Oklahoma State University homecoming festivities to dedicate a memorial to those touched by a tragedy three years ago.
Four attendees at the OSU Sea of Orange parade were killed and 50 were injured Oct. 24, 2015, when a vehicle plowed into the crowd gathered along the route.
Killed in the crash were Marvin Stone, 65, a retired OSU professor; his wife, Bonnie Stone, 65, an OSU employee; Nikita Nakal, 23, a University of Central Oklahoma graduate student; and Nash Lucas, 2, the son of an OSU student.
The Stillwater Strong Memorial dedicated Friday at the corner of Hall of Fame and Hoke Street honors the four lives lost and the many lives forever changed.
“This unique memorial is a perfect tribute to four wonderful people,” OSU President Burns Hargis said.
“It is a hallowed spot that also honors the many
injured on that day three years ago, and it pays tribute to the many first responders and other heroes who kept an unthinkable tragedy from being even worse,” Hargis said.
The memorial features a 6-foot alloy ribbon in orange and blue on a concrete base with four granite tiles describing the lives lost. OSU graduate Gary Sparks, a Tulsabased architect, was the lead designer. It will be illuminated at night and open to visitors any time.
Len Stone, brother of Marvin, said the family appreciated being asked to give input on the photos and wording used to describe Marvin and Bonnie. And they are glad the two are next to each other on the monument.
“They were very close,” Stone said. “You have to count your blessings. If one of them would have survived, the other would be crushed.”
Marv was the oldest of six siblings, Len Stone said in a telephone interview earlier this week. He, another brother, both sisters and their mother, Laura Stone, all were coming from Colorado for the dedication, he said.
“It brings it all up again, but I want to see it,” Stone said. “It’s a real tribute to them and to the university. They were two of their finest.”
Losing both Marv and Bonnie was doubly hard, Stone said.
“She was a sister to us,” he said. “Bonnie always greeted us at the door with a smile on her face.”
One of the worst things was to go to Stillwater after their deaths and take care of everything, “to go to the house and neither one of them was there,” Stone said.
Stillwater and OSU have been supportive through it all, Stone said.
“I’ve met a lot of people since then (in Colorado) that graduated from OSU,” he said. “One guy knew Marv.”
The memorial was funded through a donation drive led by the Stillwater Strong Memorial Committee and members of the Leadership Stillwater Class XXVI.