Memories On A Memorial Marathon

BY C.L. HARMON
PUBLISHER

It was a unique interview in the sense that I knew he and I would be discussing the same day, but for me that day all those years ago was one of the best days in my life and for him it was one of the worst. It would be a day that changed both our lives, but for very different reasons. The morning of April 19, 1995 would be one one of love joy and the celebration of new life for me with the birth of my daughter, while his would be of tragedy, death and destruction with the loss of his mother.
Her name was Jamie Fialkowski Genzer and she was the single mother of two children, 14 year old Kyle Genzer and 11 year old Krista, working at Federal Employees Credit Union
“I remember hugging her bye and kissing her that morning before she left for work. I told her I loved her and can even remember what she was wearing.”
He was at school that morning at Wellston where the family lived. His aunt and uncle taught there and his uncle came to his second hour class and told him that there had been some type of explosion at his mother’s work and they needed to get his sister and leave. With only that information given, a few minutes later he would see scenes from the office television of the Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.
Radio stations didn’t help with the “confusion” he felt as it blared out news reports of a possible gas explosion as he rode to his grandmother’s home in Midwest City. Upon arrival, there were questions about what his mother was wearing and how his description of the “red coat dress” might help them see her on the news.
“At 10 o’clock that night, they pulled out the last survivor and I remember being up all night watching the newscast hoping she would be pulled out alive. At some point you lose hope.” Genzer new that night his life would be different from that morning on. A bomb in the heartland had left his life in shell fragments, but it had not taken a future that any mother would be proud to know was her son’s.
Genzer is now the assistant principal at MHS and has used every advantage afforded to him as a result of the tragedy to show that one man’s desire to destroy something he hates does not destroy another man’s desire to achieve everything he loves. Through Catholic Charities and other organizations, Genzer was able to attend college, which was a concern for the teenager of a single mother. It one was that he and his mother had discussed. And one that she had said they would find a way.
“I remember how hard that first anniversary of the bombing was and how I struggled through it. But now the Memorial is such a peaceful place and I look forward to going every year. And I love going to the cemetery too,” Genzer said.
Every year now Genzer does the Memorial Marathon. Five years ago he was convinced by friends that he could run a marathon and that he should run this one. That first year he ran in 4:19. He new then he was supposed to be there and his mother was somehow with him. That was also the first year that he had lived longer without her than he had with her. It was the 15th anniversary. He has done three Memorial Marathons since.
Genzer is married with three young sons, has achieved his Masters Degree and has recently been accepted into a doctoral program. He also continues to live his life in a positive upbeat manner while helping others.” This is how my mother lived and how she would want me and my sister to live as well. She always said ‘Let Go and Let God and so I do,” he said.