May 4 Stories

Dean Kahler was one of nine students shot and wounded on May 4 – paralyzed for life by a spinal injury. As a 19-year-old freshman, he adapted to a wheelchair, returned to Kent State to finish his degree and pursued a career of public service. He secured access for disabled people to public facilities across Ohio.

“With a little bit of work, you, too, can do something about the political environment,” says Mr. Kahler. He remains a community volunteer in his hometown of East Canton, Ohio. 

Laura Davis was a Kent State freshman in May 1970. In later life, she became a catalyst for remembrance and renewal. Ms. Davis was a professor of English at Kent State and became the founding director of the May 4 Visitors Center. With Kent State community members Carol Barbato, Mark Seaman and Jerry Lewis, Ms. Davis worked tirelessly to ensure that the shooting site was designated a National Historic Landmark, which occurred in 2016. 

Alan Canfora was shot in the wrist May 4. He recovered to become a lifelong “student organizer and political activist.” He is impressed by today’s young people who advocate change: “They urge people to vote! My generation, we didn’t do that.” Mr. Canfora is also heartened by Kent State’s determination to remember, reflect and seek renewal: “The university Is embracing its duty at long last.”

As a Kent State student, Tom Grace felt a personal stake in the May 1970 antiwar protests: his girlfriend’s brother had been killed in Vietnam just a week earlier. When the Guard opened fire, Mr. Grace’s foot was shattered. Today, he says, his anger has subsided, “but it fueled a lot of political involvement over the years.” He became a historian. “You cannot be a person involved in social change and not be optimistic.”