More than 100 colleagues, friends and family members of Ohio University administrators Kathy Gebard and Bridget Wagner gathered yesterday for a memorial service in Irvine Hall.
On Oct. 19, Gebard and Wagner were en route to a conference on humanism in medicine when the commuter plane they were in crashed south of Kirksville, Mo., killing them and 11 others and leaving only two survivors. Yesterday in Irvine Hall 194, two tables draped in black bore portraits of each woman, surrounded by flowers and candles in their memory.
Dean of the OU College of Osteopathic Medicine Jack Brose opened the service, calling it a time to ... remember and celebrate these remarkable people. In his personal reminiscences, Brose said both Gebard and Wagner were kind, caring and dedicated to serving as many people as possible.
OU President Roderick McDavis attended the service, giving his condolences to friends and family.
Ohio University likes to think of itself as a family
he said. On October 19 we also lost family.
Before his conclusion, McDavis challenged attendees to remember the good lives both women lived.
Gebard, 49, was a mother of one and served as a Center for Osteopathic Research and Education administrator for the Southwest Ohio program. Stationed at Grandview Hospital in Dayton, she assisted students in their clinical rotations.
Peter Bell, a colleague of Gebard's at Grandview Hospital, said Gebard's optimism went beyond her career; she showed hope even on days like Sept. 11, 2001.
She saw possibilities in terms of things getting better for our nation he said.
Wagner, 41, was a mother of three and joined the university in 2001. She served as assistant dean of OU's Northeast Ohio CORE program. She also was a liaison for CORE's affiliated hospitals mand colleges.
Brose said he considered Wagner as kind and caring a physician as he had ever known.
Before their deaths, both women were involved in Habitat for Humanity. Wagner particularly was dedicated to adding an overseas clinical rotation to the CORE program.
In Missouri, the official cause of the crash that killed Gebard and Wagner has not yet been released to the public. At OU, Brose said students and faculty are still coping with the loss of the two administrators.
We've all been deeply affected by the loss of our colleagues
but people have pulled together and are covering things that have to be covered knowing that we can't possibly replace the quality of the two people that we lost
he said.
17
Archives
Matt Burns
