Do You Believe In Miracles?
In 1984 I was assigned to a small country church in Cokeville, WY. It was one of three mission churches I oversaw in the western part of the state. As one of my duties, I established a chaplaincy program for the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The idea being that when a serious problem arose in the field, the chaplain could respond and provide spiritual comfort to victims and families. Having worked as a deputy sheriff in CA, this new responsibility was a good fit. To my surprise, it didn't take long before my services were called into action.
On a beautiful spring afternoon, I received a call from the Sheriff's Dispatch to respond to Cokeville, which was 45 miles away. I was called to assist in a hostage situation. The day was May 16th, which will forever be etched in my mind. Also, I was instructed to pick up Fr. Sullivan, the Roman Catholic priest, who also had a small congregation in that small community. Apparently, someone was holding the entire elementary school hostage!
On our drive to Cokeville, we drove in silence. All the time, I was thinking that this must be a mistake. No one takes a whole school hostage, not in a small community in Wyoming! Surely, this would all be over by the time we got there and learned that it was a big hoax. Nothing could be further from the truth. Just in case, in our silence, I was offering up my prayers.
When we arrived, I parked just off one of the main streets where we could observe the school. Quickly, I surveilled the scene and witnessed the chaos. This was no hoax. One- to two-hundred parents were yelling and screaming on the road that led to the school. They were headed to the school. Looking at the school, I could see smoking coming from one of the classrooms and a rush of children and adults pouring out of the building. Knowing that in Wyoming everyone who drove a pickup truck had a rifle hanging in the back window. My immediate concern was that they would take things into their own hands. I also knew the Sheriff's office was busy trying to control what was taking place inside the building. I told Fr. Sullivan that we had to keep this angry and emotional crowd back. We were both wearing our clerics, and thus, we were signs of authority, which helped. Then, the situation grew in greater intensity. From the classroom, two deputies were dragging a woman's body from the classroom window. The way they were dragging her, I knew she was dead. If she were a teacher or suspect, I didn't know. But, all of my experience was telling me the situation was now critical.
As kids and faculty continued to pour out of the building, many of them ran to me for safety. I directed them to where my truck was parked and where they would be out of harm's way. There were 136 kids in that school at the time. In addition, there were 9 teachers and 6 staff, plus a UPS driver and a young teacher applicant fresh out of college. Of this group, 16 kids and 6-7 of the teachers attended my small mission. Six of my kids had to be rushed to the hospital with burns. I had quickly learned that John, the music teacher and one of the members of my congregation had been shot, and he was also sent to the hospital in Montpelier just across the border in Idaho.
The woman whose body was pulled out of the classroom was Doris
Young. The other suspect in the bombing was her husband David Young. Both individuals were former residents of Cokeville. In fact, David was a former town marshal but was dismissed after his probation. He shared the same fate as his wife. What was their motive? They were seeking to extort 2-million dollars from the Mormon Church and were using the children and staff as their bait! So, when the threat was over, I learned the details.
Early in the afternoon, the Youngs entered the school well-armed and rolled in a crude, homemade bomb made of gasoline, gun powder and shrapnel. The bomb had a crude, triggering device which was attached by a string. The device was transported on a grocery cart. Once inside the school, they took over classroom four. They also seized the administration office and had the staff announce that they were coming to an assembly. The entire school population was then crammed into classroom 4, which was the homeroom of one of my parishioners.
Once everyone was under control in the classroom, David Young had to go to the bathroom. He gave his wife the detonation string which made everyone nervous. When she would talk, she waved her hands around until she accidently set off the bomb! Pandemonium followed which allowed students and staff to escape from the building. David Young returned to the classroom and found his wife critically injured, so he shot her. He then retreated to the bathroom where he took his own life. Although a handful of the children were burned by the blast, none of them was critically injured. All of the adults made it out safely except John M., the music teacher who was confronted by David Young in the hallway. John had been shot in the back but made it out of the building.
Aftermath
After the bombing, the injured had to be sent to hospitals, children reunited with parents, and a roll call of students and staff was made to make sure everyone was accounted for. So, they tried to gather everyone at a staging area. By this time, my immediate concern was for John M who was on his way to Montpelier Hospital which was about 30-miles away. I didn't know the extent of his injuries, but I needed to be there for him and his wife.
At the hospital, we found John M resting comfortably. We learned that he had been shot in the back with a .22 caliber handgun. The wound was serious; the bullet had almost entered his spine.
That Sunday I held services at St. Bartholomew's in Cokeville, and the small log cabin church was full! Knowing how the tragedy was averted, there were many prayers of thanksgiving! We came very close to losing everyone who was packed into that 32- by 30-foot classroom. The incident has been called the Miracle at Cokeville. The story made the national news, and Hollywood even took the lead in making a movie about the incident. For those who lived through it, it took many months to heal the memories. But what helped was that those teachers, staff and students knew that they were all in God's hands.
In my next post, I will explain more of how that miracle took place.
At the hospital, we found John M resting comfortably. We learned that he had been shot in the back with a .22 caliber handgun. The wound was serious; the bullet had almost entered his spine.
That Sunday I held services at St. Bartholomew's in Cokeville, and the small log cabin church was full! Knowing how the tragedy was averted, there were many prayers of thanksgiving! We came very close to losing everyone who was packed into that 32- by 30-foot classroom. The incident has been called the Miracle at Cokeville. The story made the national news, and Hollywood even took the lead in making a movie about the incident. For those who lived through it, it took many months to heal the memories. But what helped was that those teachers, staff and students knew that they were all in God's hands.In my next post, I will explain more of how that miracle took place.
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