A Father's Forgiveness

Bud Welch. Photo courtesy Nebraskans
for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. 

Currently Nebraska has no means to carry out an execution because state officials have not replaced their supply of one of three drugs needed for lethal injection.

Bud Welch, whose daughter was killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, would say that’s good news.

The 74-year-old travels around the country to speak out about against the death penalty. He was in Nebraska last fall giving presentations about forgiveness and abolishing the death penalty, and he spoke with me over the phone a few days before his Omaha presentation.

“That year was just awful,” Bud said, referring to the year his 23-year-old daughter Julie was killed in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

In the months after Julie’s death, Bud said he went from supporting the death penalty for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who were found guilty of the terrorist attack, to taking a public stand against it.

“I was full of retribution at first to the point that I didn’t even want to have a trial. I just wanted them fried.”

Eventually he forgave the two men, and even met and developed a friendship with the family of McVeigh, who was executed in 2001 for his part in the bombing.

Test of faith

The day of the attack, Bud and his youngest son were at home about eight miles away from the federal building when they heard and felt the explosion. About 15 minutes later they learned it was the building in which Julie worked – and eventually were told Julie was dead.

Julie had been working at the federal building as a Spanish translator for the social security administration in Oklahoma City for eight months when the bombing happened. Strong in her faith and a graduate of Catholic school, she often went to week-day Mass and invited her dad to go with her.

“Julie was very devout and at that time I didn’t go to Mass all that often. She didn’t hammer me on that, she’d call me and invite me to Mass and usually I would go with her,” said Bud, who is divorced from Julie’s mother.

After her death, Bud said he started drinking and smoking heavily and was trying to self-medicate. 

“Most of that first month is a blur,” Bud said.

While he practiced his faith, Bud, a member of St. Therese of the Little Flower Parish in Oklahoma City, said he still struggled with feeling of anger after Julie was killed.

“I spent a period of time after her death angry at God because, in my opinion, he let this happen,” Bud said. “And then I was angry at myself because I always encouraged Julie to pursue foreign languages.”

His healing process took almost five years, he said. By then, he reached a point where he could forgive McVeigh and Nichols.

“When you forgive, it’s not an event, it’s a process,” he said. “Forgiveness is not doing a thing for the people who killed your child. You’re only doing something for yourself. When you’re finally able to forgive, it’s you that gets released; not the other people.”

Bud said so many years later, he enjoys talking to others about his experience because it brings comfort to others who have been through similar situations. He now speaks out publicly against the death penalty and has helped many other victims of violence find forgiveness and reconciliation.

Stacy Anderson, executive director of Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said it was a privilege to have Bud speak at the organization’s annual reception and silent auction last September.

“We were privileged to hear Bud recount his journey from tragedy and anger to forgiveness and healing,” she said. “His personal story caused many to reconsider whether the death penalty was the best we could do for victims’ families in the wake of violence and loss.”

Blogged by Lisa Maxson, senior writer/reporter.