Ole Miss Chi O story
 

"We Thought the Sun Would Always Shine on Our Lives" is a story by Paige Williams in the May, 2012, issue of "O" (the Oprah magazine) about the 1987 disaster that befell the Chi Omega chapter at Ole Miss. The chapter members were participating in a walk-a-thon. A truck towing a hay baler crashed into the women's escort car. Five sisters were killed and others were seriously injured.

It's interesting to read Williams' description of sorority life [for a magazine audience mostly non-Greek] and her reflections what membership has meant to her in the years since, and at the time of a chapter reunion in January, 2012.

"Every spring five mothers receive cards and flowers from women who are now mothers themselves. And a boy who once loved a girl writes a check in her name, to charity. Every autumn....[a] father drives out to Highway 6 to repaint the five white crosses....Unbeknownst to the parents of one girl who died, the mother of another leaves flowers at her grave, otu of gratitude that her own daughter lived....A marker bears all their names...'So faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.....
Losing them taught us that we were more resilient than we knew, in large part because we had each other. And after all these years of remembering those five girls frozen in youth....it's a gift to see them now forever in the company of friends."

I searched the O Magazine website but couldn't find the article. You can get it at your public library for free (or you can buy it on the newsstand).

Thanks for the heads-up! I am definitely interested in reading the article.

I wish the author had been a bit more sensitive to the families of the deceased.

I googled it to see if anyone had posted the entire thing yet and found this blog entry about it:

http://www.atlawblog.com/2012/04/ole...edy-revisited/

I was at Target tonight and picked up O magazine....this will be my lunchtime reading tomorrow.

I see what you mean. Good Lord. If there's anyone out there who doesn't know what a hay baler does, they can look it up. No reason to spell it out in such grotesque detail.

Thank you.

I read this at the library and it is a very sad article. It was well written (although I second NutBrnHair's comment about sensitivity) and the author has won awards for her writing. I knew an alumn from this chapter who graduated a few years before this and wondered how it affected her. I think that it is very difficult to convey how something like this affects all those involved.

A friend of mine posted the Oprah article on facebook.


You can access the link here.

Now I wish I hadn't read it.:(

Read it last night on my Nook. Interesting how they handled it individually and collectively.

http://www.oprah.com/relationships/W...ige-Williams/1

Here's the direct link to the story online. Very sad :(

"No matter the letter, we're all Greek together."

Now, is that better?

I remember reading about this accident afterward (though not in as much detail) but didn't realize that it's been 25 years already. I'd always think about it when I'd see people do fundraising activities, usually canning, alongside the road--it always seems to me to be fraught with danger.

Me too. After this happened, Chi Omega HQ did not ban chapters from participating in such things, but it certainly was strongly discouraged.

I can guarantee that any greek or non-greek at Ole Miss is VERY aware of this story and when it started they thought less of that sentence and thought, "Oh my, this story. Has it really been 25 years?" I doubt anyone would begrudge her that statement.

Since this story has been published many of my friends have asked me about it since everyone knows where I went to school. I grew up an hour away from Oxford and remember when this all happened. I was in elementary school, but it was a pretty big deal. I don't think I REALLY understood what was happening, but all the tragedy was quite clear.

In the years since and with my time there I can say that she is telling the story pretty accurately and without too much embellishment. I've known people who were directly affected by this tragedy and this is almost EXACTLY how I've always heard it. It's still one of those stories that at least ONCE in your time at Ole Miss someone will recount. If you didn't know it before you got there, you definitely leave knowing it. I always think of those ladies when I would return from seeing my parents. The memorial is small and unassuming, sitting on the north side of Highway 6. You almost have to pass it.

I did really like how she told the story of what happened to the guy that hit them. It's interesting to note that I've NEVER heard anyone blame him. Everyone always said it like, "There was nothing he could do."

I think she did the telling of this tragedy justice.

Ooh, DZTurtle11! I think you meant "recount," as in tell a story, and not "recant," as in withdraw a previous statement. You might want to edit that.

I thought of this, too, when reading the article. The THON canners are always heavy in my area and they are usually at some majorly busy intersections.

Thank you, MaryPoppins!!! That was a HORRIBLE typo:o

WOW!!! I just read the story here at work while on my lunch break and now I am crying and blowing my nose. How very sad for all of those affected by this tragedy. I think the author did a great job writing this piece. I felt like her portrayl about the Chi Omega's was more of one too lead the reader to think that these were THE CHOSEN ONE's that nothing bad would ever happen to them only to read later in the article that it didn't matter what the letter...at the end we are all human.

Yes, that was how I interpreted it as well.