Victims’ families describe lives 20 years later

Some have forgiven the perpetrators of the assault, others haven’t.

oklahoma city» The Oklahoma City bombing thrust Diane Koch into the life of a crime victim’s advocate for 13 years, until she realized she had to leave the state to start a new chapter of life.

Bud Welch said his ability to eventually forgive enabled him to survive emotionally after the death of his daughter. For Jannie Coverdale, though, there’s “no such thing” as moving on, even after two decades.

All three lost loved ones 20 years ago Sunday, when Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City federal building with a rental truck laden with explosives. Koch sought justice for her husband and the 167 other people killed in the attack, becoming an advocate for victims of crimes in a role at the Oklahoma attorney general’s office.

“I just had a heart for those who have been hurt by crime — and still do,” she said.

But the intensity she threw at her job prevented her from letting go of the trauma of April 19, 1995.

“The first few years, I couldn’t see beauty anywhere,” she said. “You can’t even see sunshine. You’re blinded to anything positive, it seems like.”

McVeigh and Terry Nichols were convicted of conspiring to detonate a truck filled with more than 2 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil outside the Oklahoma City federal building and of the deaths of eight federal law enforcement officers, including Koch’s husband, Secret Service agent Don Leonard.

McVeigh was executed, and Nichols will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Welch’s slain daughter, Julie Marie Welch, was a 23year-old Spanish-language translator for the Social Security Administration. He said his journey has allowed him to become a resource for the families of other victims of terrorism. Initially filled with rage over the murder of his daughter, Welch said he forgave McVeigh and Nichols in 2000.

“When you’re able to finally forgive, it releases you. It has nothing to do with the perpetrator of the crime. It has to do with you,” said Welch, who has become an outspoken critic of the death penalty.

Jannie Coverdale, whose 5-year-old grandson Aaron and 2-year-old grandson Elijah were killed, said time hasn’t healed her pain.

“I miss my boys,” said Coverdale, 77. “There’s no such thing as going on with your life, not the life I had before the bombing.”