An eyewitness account to an event that changed history

Nerdy innocent Patty is desperate to escape the confines of a conservative upbringing, but when she enrolls at Kent State University can she survive the upheaval of the Seventies Vietnam War era?

When she narrowly escapes the bullets fired at students on May 4, 1970, she resolves to dedicate her life to her new husband and her unborn child.

Is it too late when she realizes she’s put herself in even greater danger?

In a stunning parallel to our own times, Surviving: A Kent State Memoir, explores the coming of age of a young adult.

In an era as divisive as today’s, Patty witnesses one of the events that became a turning point in public sentiment toward the War in Vietnam. On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen fired on students at Kent State, protesting the invasion of Cambodia and the Vietnam War. They left four dead and nine injured. Standing thirty yards in front of the Guard when fired, Patty’s story is one of survival.

She heals in the weeks following May 4, as she awaits the birth of her baby. Her due date nears but problems arise as her husband becomes increasingly violent. Rejected by her family and without societal protections against marital abuse in place today, she is on her own. In an unexpected turn of events, she is freed from danger, only to have to learn to survive on her own.

This journey of resilience follows her from her years as a naïve Catholic schoolgirl through her time at Kent State to her development as a journalist and mother. Her quest for peace and understanding in the face of such a massacre leads her to become a psychologist.