Concordia University professor Tobin Beck was the speaker at the quarterly meeting of the Seward County Historical Society at their museum in Goehner Oct. 18. He was introduced by Sue Imig, the program chair.
Beck’s topic was remembering the 25th Anniversary of 9-11. He said as we remember those whose lives were taken in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, we also should consider those who are risking their lives now to try to promote peace and understanding among people of the world.
Beck, who is assistant professor of journalism and political science at Concordia, spoke following the annual business meeting led by Dick Rhodes, president of the Seward County Historical Society.
Beck grew up in Seward and was a professional journalist for over three decades, including 27 years with the global news service United Press International, before returning to Seward with his wife, Ellen, and son, Jonathan, in 2008 to teach at Concordia.
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Beck was executive editor of UPI, in charge of day-to-day operations of the news service as deputy to the editor in chief. The UPI news bureau was one block northeast of the White House. Beck presented a detailed PowerPoint timeline of 9-11 events and told how the UPI news team and other journalists scrambled to respond to events that began with two planes hitting the World Trade Center twin towers 18 minutes apart.
Beck said that he worked with a very competent, dedicated and responsible UPI news crew of reporters and editors as they scrambled to keep up with events, fact-check rumors, and file accurate and timely reports. He also said he experienced the sensation of “time slowing down” as he worked to coordinate and edit stories, the feeling that things were moving in slow motion, with tasks becoming crystal clear because of the intense focus required to keep up with the four hijackings and crashes that occurred at the World Trade Center in New York, at the Pentagon just outside Washington, and in a field in Pennsylvania.
Ten days after the 9-11 attacks, Beck went to New York and reported from Ground Zero. He shared with members some of the photos that he took there and talked about the sense of grief but also the sense of people reaching out to each other. There was a strong sense of wanting justice for those who had carried out the attacks, but also a strong sense of people wanting to help each other.
Many of the people that Beck interviewed talked about anger and loss, but also about how they were reflecting on ways that they could do something good to help others, as a way of fighting back against the tragedy.
Beck asked those present to remember the legacy of those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks, and also to think about the journalists around the globe who work under sometimes very dangerous circumstances to inform us about what’s happening in the world.
Following the presentation, Beck was presented the October USA-250 Seward County History Hero award by Bonnie Kruse, president of the GFWC Seward Woman’s Club in Seward. He was thanked for his dedication to the preservation and promotion of history in Seward County.
