TULSA -- The OSU community took time during this year’s homecoming parade to honor more than 40 people injured in the crash during last year's parade.
Survivors joined families of the victims, survivors and spectators who witnessed the crash in a special spot along the parade route.
As the band plays on and the sun peeks through the parade, you can catch a glimpse of the event's special guests.
Survivors like Alleyn Campbell- the now 13-year-old boy whose injuries included a broken leg.
"I don't remember it but the doctors say that I was hit with the front of the car my face hit either windshield or the mirror and I rolled over and landed," Campbell said.
Alleyn's mom wasn't there when it happened-- but she rushed to the scene right afterwards.
"I actually kind of I guess when into a safety mode, I didn't see, I would've walked right by the car and the motorcycle and all that and walk through that intersection I never saw anything all I saw was him," said Collett Cambpell
People breaking away from the parade Saturday to shake hands with survivors, spectators and the families of the victims.
Beth Pelton drove to Stillwater from Colorado to be in the VIP section. She lost her brother and sister-in-law that day, OSU employees Marvin and Bonnie Stone.
"Talking to some of the survivors and some of the stories, the things that they've gone through, it’s been very difficult, but healing-- it's a healing process," Pelton said.
Much of the credit for the V.I.P. treatment for survivors goes to Leo and Sharon Schmitz. They were pulled in a wagon by Clydesdales during the parade.
Back in Skiatook where the couple lives—they take care of miniature horses. They were both injured last year during the parade. Leo lost his leg, his wife had various other injuries. The couple continues to be the voices for the dozens of survivors still too shaken to speak publically.
"We can lean on each other...and I’m getting emotional again and the four people that's passed that is very tragic on them because I’m at least lucky enough to come back and survive," Leo said.
The healing process at the parade differs as much as the faces in the V.I.P section.
But as the empty chairs in that section show us, not everyone is ready to come back just yet.
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