HARTFORD, Conn — Bethany Welch told her dad everything. Her goals, plans, and successes. And as she was just a few months away from graduating from her University of Connecticut nursing program, she realized everything was going to change.
Her dad was one of the 18 people who were shot and killed in the Lewiston mass shooting on Oct. 25.
"It's very haunting," Welch said. "You wake up every morning and I see the photo we took at prom, you wake up every morning and think about it. ... And you go through your day and say, 'I wish I could call my dad.'"
Welch was at UConn when she received the news. All she knew was that her dad, Joseph Walker, was shot at Schemengees Bar & Grille Restaurant.
"My mom was on the phone screaming and sobbing, dad's been hit, he's been shot," Welch said. "I just started screaming like, 'I want my dad, I want my dad.'"
Welch said the next month was a blur. She doesn't remember much.
But soon she remembered her dad's life advice—that you can't change what happened.
"The biggest thing my dad taught me [was] don't stress about the things you cannot control. ... And if I was going to control one thing, is that what can I do for my life, for my family, and for my community," Welch said.
She went back to school and focused. She was a nursing student at the time.
"I always knew I wanted to take care of people. ... I wanted to save lives," Welch said. "He was the reason I have so much motivation and determination in my life."
She told NEWS CENTER Maine about the strength she witnessed from the first responders during the shooting and the treatment of survivors afterward.
She then decided she wanted her focus in nursing to be as a trauma nurse.
"I am on week three now at Yale Hospital [in] the emergency department," Welch told NEWS CENTER Maine.
As she spoke, Welch showed her tattoo of her dad—an outline of Maine with the dates of her dad's birth and death. She won't forget her dad's legacy and wants to make sure we know it as well.
"I think since after all of this, there is this fire lit, I want to achieve all this stuff. ... It's an honor to my dad, I don't think I ever want to stop. ... Even in the afterlife, he is my angel now," Welch said.