Johanna Balzer (JB) and Willis Cressman (WC)
WC: When the school blew up, the ink bottles on the desk flew clear near the ceiling. So I jumped out of the window and ran down the roof and jumped off. Well, that’s when I saw my sister. Her leg was pinned in from a rafter. And, I could see not too far from her there’s an arm stuck up out of the rubble.
JB: Mom told me how she remembered laying among bodies and body parts. My mother was twelve, and half the children in her class were killed. When I was a child, there were lots of people around town that were maimed from the accident. So, you know, as a curious child you might ask ’What happened to that person? Why do they have that bad scar? And it was always that they had gotten it in the Bath school disaster, so you just didn’t ask questions.
WC: Well, it wasn’t a very nice thing to talk about. You wouldn’t think a church member could do such a thing, would you? He was a caretaker at the school. In fact, I saw him that morning. He was working on a door. And he smiled at us as we walked in.
JB: My mother told me that you didn’t use Kehoe’s name. To use his name was like speaking an obscenity. Years later, we still look at ourselves as survivors. So, you look after one another differently, because you know that the absolute unthinkable can happen, even going to school.
WC: Oh, yes.
JB: Uncle Willis, how did this affect your outlook on life?
WC: I don’t know. I guess not to trust anybody too far. Just part of the world, I guess. Things do happen. You have to put up with whatever goes on.