Terri L. West, Oral History

 

Recorded: April 29, 2020

Interviewed by: Kathleen Siebert Medicus

Transcribed by the Kent State University Research & Evaluation Bureau

 

[Interviewer]: This is Kathleen Siebert Medicus speaking on Wednesday, April 29, 2020, at my home in Kent, Ohio. As part of the May 4 Kent State Shootings Oral History Project, we are recording an interview over the telephone today. Could you please state your name for the recording?

 

[Terri West]: Yes, my name is Terri, T-e-r-r-i, West.

 

[Interviewer]: Great, thank you so much. Do you mind if I call you Terri during the interview?

 

[Terri West]: Oh, not at all.

 

[Interviewer]: Great, okay. I should have asked that before we started. But if I could start, if we could begin with just some brief information about you, about your background so we can get to know you a little better. [00:00:46] Could you please tell us where you were born and where you grew up?

 

[Terri West]: Yes, I was born in Akron, Ohio. I grew up in Akron and I graduated from high school at Garfield High School in Akron. I went to The University of Akron for about a year and a half, maybe two years, and then I transferred to Kent State and graduated with an undergraduate and a graduate master’s degree at Kent State. Eventually, went on to get a doctorate in Communication Disorders and Speech Science, so that I can call myself a doctor. And then did a lot of work in Colorado and then moved to California and spent much of my time in California working at universities, hospitals, clinics, private practice and, most recently, nursing facilities as a speech pathologist and rehab director.

 

[Interviewer]: Thank you. Was that program in speech and hearing or speech pathology? Is that what drew you to transfer to Kent State?

 

[Terri West]: Well, as a matter of fact, my final exam in general communication, it was a general communication rhetoric and debate class and we held it in Akron at the professor’s home which, at the time, was kind of a novel thing to do, I thought. After the exam, which you drew from a hat and you had to speak extemporaneously on a subject that you had no idea what it would be for five minutes, which was a little bit trying for many of us, including myself. But anyway, afterward, we had like some snacks and I remember the professor saying to me, “Well, if you graduate with a degree in general communication, what are you going to do with it?” And I said, “I don’t know. What could I do?” And he said, “Well, you could be like a speechwriter for a politician.” And I thought, Oh, well that sounds interesting. But then he said, “Have you ever heard about speech pathology?” And I said, “Speech pathology? No, what is that?” And he said, “Well, you should go to Kent State and you should talk to a professor whose name is Arthur Kaltenborn [00:03:42] and just see if you like it.” So, I did and that led me to Kent State.

 

[Interviewer]: I wasn’t aware that we had University of Akron faculty recruiting for us! That was very nice of him.

 

[Terri West]: Yes, yeah that was fantastic and I met Professor Kaltenborn and he let me observe him working with a student who had a speech problem, but he asked me, Professor Kaltenborn, asked why I was even interested and I said, “Well, I’ve always been interested in communication and speech and I like to talk.” And he didn’t laugh. He was very serious, and I said, “I’m also interested in the brain and how the brain works.” And he said, “Oh, well then that’s perfect. This could be perfect for you.” And, as it turned out, it was and I stuck with it for many years.

 

[Interviewer]: So, it was a really good fit for you.

 

[Terri West]: It was a great fit, yes.

 

[Interviewer]: So, you arrived at Kent State. You think about maybe 1969?

 

[Terri West]: Yes, I think probably ’69. I want to say the—not the winter quarter. I believe Kent was on quarters then. I don’t know if they still are.

 

[Interviewer]: Yes, we were then, but not now.

 

[Terri West]: But yeah, sometime in ’69. It might’ve been late ’69. I had transferred, I had gotten a number of my undergraduate credits at University of Akron, so I was able to transfer them to Kent.

 

[Interviewer]: [00:05:32] I’m curious about what your first impressions were as a new student on campus at Kent State. Were there civil rights or Vietnam anti-war protests going on or is there anything you recall?

 

[Terri West]: At that time, I don’t recall any. I recall moving there, living in an upstairs apartment above a paint store downtown Kent with five other people. None of those people were interested in pursuing an education. They were interested in partying and so, I remember spending a lot of evenings at the library because I was interested in learning. I definitely partied also but I moved out of that apartment as soon as I could because it was just too crazy, too noisy, and actually found a place, I think, in Stow. So, that I remember as part of what happened near the time in May.

 

[Interviewer]: Is there anything you remember from maybe the spring of 1970? [00:07:11] Were there any—sort of just the general mood or attitude of students in your classes? Were you seeing things change at that point before May 1970?

 

[Terri West]: No, I really didn’t. I don’t know if it was because I was so focused on the classes and now that I finally found something that I was really interested in because I’d gone from being—my major initially was social work, then it was sociology, then it was psychology, then it was general speech and communication and then, finally, speech pathology. I don’t remember any real unrest.

 

My brother had, in ’68, joined the Navy. Fortunately, did not have to fight, per se. He was a photographer, so he was able to be up in helicopters and actually take pictures of some of the fighting over Vietnam. He was not injured and, actually, was also at Kent State that day, the 4th, yeah. He was in a photojournalism program at that time.

 

[Interviewer]: [00:08:40] Maybe at this point, do you want to start with whatever events or things you remember leading up to the shootings like the weekend before or even starting April 30th, May 1st?

 

[Terri West]: Sure, sure. Well, I know that there was unrest, obviously because of the war and I remember when the ROTC Building was burned and I thought at the time, That’s not a good thing to do. On the other hand, I felt that people were being lied to by the government and that the war was not—we weren’t winning the war. So, I could understand how the people who were protesting felt and they clearly didn’t want to go to war. I was not surprised that it happened, but I knew that it wasn’t the right thing to do, to burn someone’s property.  

 

I mentioned Stow, that I had found a place in Stow. It was this older lady who was a retired schoolteacher and she had a really nice apartment, very small, but a big backyard. And she said, “Okay, yes, you can rent this place.” I had my own entrance, which was nice, and I had a place to park my car and so, being a student, I had to have a job. I’d had several jobs before. I got a job at, it just opened, at the Stow-Kent K-Mart. I worked my way up to being the person behind the service desk. So, I was also a cashier, but I was the person who got to announce, “K-Mart shoppers, there’s a green light special in ladies’ wear.” And so, that’s where I was on May 3^rd, either May 2^nd or May 3^rd, working at the K-Mart and, at that time, I think the Guardsmen had already come on campus. It was either the 2^nd or 3^rd.

 

Prior to that, after I graduated from high school and I didn’t really know what I wanted to do because I had changed my majors all those times, my parents had gotten me a—had enrolled me in a rather expensive course through a company called Career Academy and what we did was we had a reel-to-reel tape recorder. They sent us a brand-new tape recorder with a lot of tapes, reel-to-reel, and things that we would read so that the idea was that you could become a broadcaster or a journalist or something. This would give you practice in reading commercials or short biographies of people, pretty much like voiceovers. So, I had done all those because a part of me always wanted to be a broadcaster. I wanted to be the first female sports broadcaster.

 

I finished all of the coursework and then there was a final exam. The final exam was to take the recorder, the big, bulky recorder, and record something live. I thought, Well, it’s in my car. I’m going to leave work in Stow and I’m going to drive on campus, and I’m just going to take my tape recorder and talk to the Guardsmen. I’ll explain that I’m a student and I’m also a student at this Career Academy and I just would like to know what they’re thinking. So, that’s what I did.

 

And I went on campus and I did see some people putting flowers in the gun barrels that everybody’s heard about. I talked to a number of the Guardsmen. They were really nice, they were my age, some younger. And I asked if I could record them and they said, “Sure.” But the majority of them said, “We don’t want to be here either.” And then, as I was doing that, the next thing I knew, an officer came, the Guardsmen and I were just sitting on the ground and this officer walks up and I explain who I am, and he says, “Well, you have to leave.” Meanwhile, the tape is still on and as I try to gather my things, he kicks the tape recorder. I mean, really kicks it. So, I see the reels of the tape just reeling down the street. Or down the grass. And I’m like, Really? And so I said, “Can I try and get them?” And he goes, “You need to leave right now!” So, I left. I had the tape recorder, but I didn’t have the tape.

 

[Interviewer]: So, this officer, was he a higher-up in the National Guard?

 

[Terri West]: Yeah. Yeah, like a, I don’t know, sergeant or someone. Yeah, someone who is the authority, so to speak.

 

So, that would have been interesting to have had that. I never got to really finish the—I never got to graduate from the Career Academy. Oh, well.

 

[Interviewer]: Oh, you’re kidding.

 

[Terri West]: That’s because, at that point, I was already focused on something else.

 

[Interviewer]: But that would’ve been such an incredible thing to turn in as your final project.

 

[Terri West]: Yeah.

 

[Interviewer]: That’s a shame. I’m so sorry.

 

[Terri West]: So, then, the next day, because I believe that was Sunday night. It was either Saturday or Sunday, but regardless, on that Monday, I went to class. I don’t remember if I had a class earlier than the eleven o’clock class, but my class at eleven was a linguistics class with Dr. John Panagos [00:15:53]. He basically taught the class and then as the class was ending, he suggested, or asked, if people were going to go to the rally. Everybody had heard about the rally. I had thought about going, but I wasn’t, I was kind of, again, still really focused on what I was studying and not really a quote, “rebel” so to speak. But I went because some of the other students and I just said, “Yeah, let’s just go.” As I said before, I was upset at the governor for kind of abandoning the university, so when I heard that the president of the university was going to speak at this rally, I thought, Well, at least I can find out what’s going on. I don’t remember that the president ever spoke at that rally because as we stood there, or as I stood there, I saw some people throwing rocks. I heard some people yelling, “Get out of Vietnam. Hell, no, we won’t go.” But then, the next thing I heard was what I thought were firecrackers.  

 

And I thought, Who in the heck is shooting off firecrackers? And then, the next thing I remember is the tear gas and my eyes burning and my nose burning and just running. The only place I knew to run to was the Speech and Hearing Clinic because I had a client that I needed to see at one o’clock. So, I ran back there.

 

[Interviewer]: About where were you standing, do you remember, when you heard the shots, what sounded like fireworks?

 

[Terri West]: Well, at the periphery, not up on the hill, but just like below it.

 

[Interviewer]: Yeah, okay.

 

[Terri West]: With a lot of people. And then, we just started running and I ran back to the clinic and I don’t remember who was there at the time, but some of the faculty, probably, and they said, “You just need to go. Get in your car and leave. Leave the campus.”

 

[Interviewer]: What about your client?

 

[Terri West]: Well, yeah. I think that at the time, they felt like—and no one knew what had happened at that time.

 

I remember turning the radio on and hearing that Guardsmen were shot and shot and killed, three Guardsmen, and rock-throwing and students had guns, and just all this nonsense, basically. And as I was pulling out of campus, I look over and my brother is in his car and he is leaving also and he said, “Where are you going?” And I said, “Home.” And he was married at the time and lived in a different part of Akron, but we both went back to our parents’ home in Akron.

 

[Interviewer]: Was it difficult getting out of Kent? Were there checkpoints or a lot of traffic?

 

[Terri West]: A lot of traffic. I remember a lot of traffic. I don’t remember checkpoints. But there was a lot of traffic and it took a while to get home. It seemed—my parents had the news on. I don’t know if they cut into the regular programming because I just remember, at some point, after being there for a while and trying to calm down and trying to process what had happened even though we didn’t know the worst of what had happened. Then, that’s when we saw the names of the students who were killed. That’s when I found out Sandy Scheuer had been killed—coming back from a psychology class on her way to the clinic, on her way to see a client. She had a client also that day.

 

[Interviewer]: So, she was headed to the same place that you were, basically.

 

[Terri West]: I’m sorry? Say again?

 

[Interviewer]: She was headed to the same building that you were.

 

[Terri West]: Yes, yes, right.

 

[Interviewer]: Would you like to pause for a minute?

 

[Terri West]: No, I think I’m okay. I just took a sip of water, so I’m good.

 

[Interviewer]: Okay. And maybe if you could tell us what you knew of Sandy? She was in the same program? She was in the same honors society that you were in?

 

[Terri West]: Right. I didn’t know Sandy really well, but I was president of an honorary called Sigma Alpha Eta [00:21:41] which is a speech and hearing honorary society and you had to have really good grades and do things in the community and be a good person to even apply to be a member. And we had just had a ceremony where she was inducted. Probably in, I want to say, maybe February or March of that year, as a member. Then we had started to get a little closer because, as it turned out, our schedules were similar in terms of what classes we had and then, I remember since we both had clients and they were both kids, we were talking about what we were going to try and figure out, what we would do with these kids who have speech problems. We were like, “I don’t know, what do we do with them?”

 

[Interviewer]: So comparing notes.

 

[Terri West]: That’s the role of the supervisor.

 

[Interviewer]: But you were helping each other with it too, yeah.

 

[Terri West]: Right, right.

 

[Interviewer]: When you got home, had your parents already heard that something had happened in Kent? Were they worried?

 

[Terri West]: Yes, they had heard that something had happened, but they didn’t know what and they heard that there were gunshots, so they were both—my dad must have home from work early that day because I remember him being there and they were happy that both their kids, my brother and I, were safe and that we were home.

 

[Interviewer]: I’ll bet, yeah. Okay. [00:23:344] What do you remember happening next for you and your brother?

 

[Terri West]: Well, interestingly enough, my mother’s birthday was May 5^th, so I remember that we decided that we were going to just take her out to dinner and I remember my brother and sister-in-law and one of my mom’s best friends—I don’t think my dad joined us—but, we all went to a restaurant and they had music after and I remember just dancing and just trying to forget what we’d experienced.

 

Now, my brother wasn’t even aware, he did not go to the rallies, so he was not aware of the—he knew that there were shootings because as he was leaving whatever class he was in, he was told to leave the campus. But I don’t even know at that point, I mean, I didn’t know, at that point, that the Guardsmen had live ammunition. So, I said we thought it was firecrackers.

 

[Interviewer]: So, what was the next week or so like? You weren’t able to go back to campus, your classes.

 

[Terri West]: No, we weren’t, yeah, we weren’t able to go back to campus I remember several of us did get together and we drove to Sandy’s parents’ home.

 

[Interviewer]: Oh, wow. Okay.

 

[Terri West]: In Youngstown and we just wanted to be there and say [00:25:54] how sorry we were that this had happened and I remember that her parents were so happy that some of us had come.

 

[Interviewer]: Oh, my goodness.

 

[Terri West]: Because they had already started to hear from people, I don’t know who, saying, “Well, she should have—this should have happened because all young students, they’re all into drugs.” And this and that, and there was a lot of drugs going on in the Seventies, obviously. But Sandy was not into that.

 

[Interviewer]: Right, right. So, that was reaffirming for them to meet all of you and realize those stories did not pertain to their daughter, yeah.

 

[Terri West]: Right, right. Which I think they probably knew, but it was good to hear from some people who knew her and were in classes with her and so on. So, that was special.

 

[Interviewer]: That was a really kind thing to do.

 

[Terri West]: And then we, eventually, they started classes back. Of course, not on campus, but back in either the basements or the living rooms or dining rooms of the professors who were just amazing with their understanding and support.

 

[Interviewer]: Since you lived locally, you could drive back and meet in other places. Do you remember any specific professors that you met with during that time?

 

[Terri West]: Well, actually, all of them.

 

[Interviewer]: All your professors? Okay.

 

[Terri West]: One of my favorite professors, and he became a mentor to me and I remember my first job after I got my master’s degree was in upstate New York and I remember calling him on the phone and saying, “Okay, Dr. Weidner, what do I do with this patient?” So, that was Dr. William Weidner [00:28:03] and he taught aphasia and he taught a lot of the neuro classes, neuroanatomy, and his major interest was aphasia and that became my major interest. Someone has a stroke and they lose their ability to speak, or it’s difficult for them to speak.

 

So, he really fostered my interest in that disorder and working with older people. I remember having classes with him and I remember his wife, Jean. She was always so special and even long after this, we maintained a friendship and he liked wine and my father made wine. So, my father and I, Christmas time, for many years, would go to see Dr. Weidner and his wife and he would bring some wine for him. So, that was special.

 

Bill Weidner, also Joseph Millin with an audiology professor. And he and his wife, Jenny, Jennybel, were very kind and warm. And then, Martin Adams was the professor for stuttering and I remember being in his basement taking like a final exam or something. But they always, they just were, as I said, very understanding and special.

 

[Interviewer]: You’re the first person I’ve talked to who had that experience of actually going to professors’ homes and continuing that face-to-face instruction, et cetera, so that’s really wonderful.

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, I remember it wasn’t the entire class, so I’m not quite sure how the other people finished, but I relished the opportunity. I mean, I thought, Oh, yeah, sure. I’ll just—and, fortunately, working at that K-Mart, the reason I took the job was because the hours were flexible. If the faculty said, “Okay, well we can meet and do the class at seven o’clock tonight, from seven to nine.” Then I would just say to K-Mart, “Okay, well I can work from noon to six. Or whatever time, but I need to be off so that I can get to my class.”

 

[Interviewer]: Yeah, that was good.

 

[Terri West]: That was very helpful. So, yeah, the professors were just amazing in their support. It was different, I’ll tell you, being face-to-face with them and a much smaller group.

 

[Interviewer]: Because not everyone could come.

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, sometimes they’d ask a question and nobody would answer, so then they’d pick on you. They’d say, “Okay, well, Terri, what do you think?” “Oh, I don’t know.”

 

[Interviewer]: So, there may have been some disadvantages, but in the long run, that was best for you?

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, exactly. You were put on the spot. Actually, I didn’t know that that would be preparation for me later in my career when I was put on the spot many times. But that’s what you have to do when you become a speech pathologist. You have to figure out things pretty quickly. Because there’s somebody sitting there, expecting you to know what to do to help them.

 

[Interviewer]: So, you were able to finish your courses that quarter that way. [00:32:05] Were there any events or memories from the summer, that 1970 summer you’d like to share?

 

[Terri West]: Well, I’m not sure of the dates, but I was still working at K-Mart and it probably was that summer or early fall and as I mentioned, I was at the service desk. I remember one night I was there and these two gentlemen came in and they both wore suits which was a little odd for K-Mart and they came to the service desk and they said, “We’re looking for Terri West.” And I said, “Okay, that’s me.” And they flashed their FBI badges and they said, “Well, we need you to,” not come with us, they weren’t going to arrest me then. They weren’t going to arrest me, but they said, “We’ve identified you.” Well, first, they showed me a picture with a big circle around it and they said, Is this you? And I said, “Yes.” And they said, “Well, this was taken at the rally on May 4th and we have some questions for you, so we need you to come to whatever office in Akron and talk with us.” So, I did that.

 

And then, there was this Portage County, what I call, the Portage County “kangaroo court” which was this supposed hearing where they ask me to be at the hearing and then they ask questions like, “Do you think it’s right for people to destroy other people’s property? Do you think it’s right for people to burn buildings? Do you think it’s right for people to throw rocks and bottles at people?” Which, I mean really, who’s going to say, Yes, I think it’s right for people to hurt other people? It was so absurd and it just, I just—

 

[Interviewer]: Those were the questions they asked you at the grand jury hearing?

 

[Terri West]: Those were the questions they asked. Say again?

 

[Interviewer]: Those were the questions they asked you at the hearing of the grand jury?

 

[Terri West]: At the hearing, yes. [00:35:18] Nothing about anything else that I can recall.

 

[Interviewer]: Not about what you saw or heard that day?

 

[Terri West]: Oh, I think they might have said, “What did I see and what did I hear?” And I said, “I saw a few people throwing rocks, not at Guardsmen, just kind of throwing them.” Because we were pretty far from the Guardsmen, I could not see the Guardsmen from where I was. We started to move up. When we moved up, that’s when we heard the firecrackers, gunshots, and that’s when we ran back.

 

[Interviewer]: Oh, I see, wow. What kinds of questions did the FBI ask you when they had you meet with them at the office at Akron?

 

[Terri West]: Basically, the same, “What did you see and what did you hear? Could you identify any of the protestors? Were these protestors students?” How would I know? “Were they people who were brought in from other protests?” The questions were really questions that I don’t think anybody could answer.

 

[Interviewer]: Right, right. If you didn’t know them—

 

[Terri West]: But because somebody identified me in that picture, which was surprising, they must have thought that I had something to do with it I guess. But, after questioning me, they realized that I was an innocent bystander, as we all were.

 

[Interviewer]: Right, okay. Thank you. [00:36:28] So, you were back in classes then in the fall, back at Kent State?

 

[Terri West]: Yes.

 

[Interviewer]: Okay. Is there any memory or anything from that time that you’d like to share? What it was like being back?

 

[Terri West]: You mean when we were actually back on campus?

 

[Interviewer]: Yeah, that fall, 1970, what it was like to come back?

 

[Terri West]: It was different. It seemed a little, you know, I mean it was a little relaxed. A little more relaxed, but there was still a lot of turmoil in the country and with the war still being on but, at that point, I think, as I said before, I was really focused on something that I thought, Okay, well at least through everything, I found something that I’m really interested in. And because I found a mentor in Dr. Weidner, I thought, I think this is what I want to do. I’m going to be the best that I can be. It took me a long time to figure that out, but I eventually did.

 

[Interviewer]: You mean to figure out how to be the best?

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, or what to be the best at. In fact, there’s a running joke in my family that my oldest niece, who’s going to be forty-eight on May 1, she used to say to my brother, “Aunt Terri seems like she’s always in school. Does she just like school or is she really slow?” And my brother said, “Well, a little of both.”

 

[Interviewer]: That was a setup, I think.

 

[Terri West]: Oh, yeah, yeah.

 

[Interviewer]: That’s funny.

 

[Terri West]: But I did. I loved school so it was great that I was able to teach. I did some student teaching at Kent. I was like a, what do they call them,  not an instructor, but a teaching assistant in the graduate program. And then, when I went to upstate New York, I worked at a hospital there and I was the Chief Speech Pathologist at the hospital and then I also taught at Elmira College in Elmira, New York. So, I was able to do that and then, I stayed there just for a couple of years and moved to Colorado and thought of opening a pet store with a friend of mine who had graduated from Kent and didn’t really want to pursue an audiology career. So, she wanted to open a pet store because she was really into cats and our parents were like, “No, you both have master’s degrees, you’re not going to open a pet store.”

 

I wound up being in the right place at the right time and got a job at the University of Colorado, Boulder, as an instructor and clinical supervisor taking over the caseload of someone who had gotten a grant from the government and the Bureau for the Educationally Handicapped. I was able to teach there for about three and a half years on that grant money and then decided to stay there and get my PhD, which I did. 

 

[Interviewer]: Pursue your doctorate, yeah. So, you kind of felt in your Kent State days and all the tragedies that had been happening, you mentioned before we started the recording, JFK’s assassination, Martin Luther King, Kent State Shootings, it sounds like that sort of galvanized you to pursue something and to be good at it. Is that accurate and is there anything else you’d like to share?

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, I think so. I think I was so unsure early on about what I wanted to do, and then, when I finally found something that I was interested in and, again, found the support of the faculty at Kent, that really, really helped. Galvanized is a good word, I like that.

 

[Interviewer]: [00:41:25] Is there anything else you’d like to share about how these experiences impacted your life over the years?

 

[Terri West]: Well, that’s a—

 

[Interviewer]: That’s a big question.

 

[Terri West]: That’s a good question. Yeah, it is a big question.

 

[Interviewer]: We can pause if you’d like to think about it for a second?

 

[Terri West]: Yeah, yeah.

 

[Interviewer]: This is Kathleen Siebert Medicus and we are back after a brief pause and I guess we’re ready for me just to ask at this point if there’s anything else you wanted to mention that we haven’t covered. Otherwise, we’ll conclude our interview.

 

[Terri West]: No, I think I pretty much have said what I wanted to say, but I do want to emphasize the importance of the education and the support and all that I received from the faculty and staff and other students at Kent State. It was a great, great experience.

 

[Interviewer]: Thank you. That’s really nice to hear. I’m sure many people will be grateful to hear that. And I want to thank you for taking the time and being so generous and sharing your story, your memories, your experiences with us so that we can preserve it in the May 4 Oral History Project. Thank you so much.

 

[Terri West]: Thank you.

 

[End of interview] ×