Muriel Lucille (McKinney) Berka (1920=1973)

MCKINNEY, BERKA, STOELZEL, COOK, LIPP

Posted By: Dorian Myhre (email)
Date: 5/17/2021 at 16:53:11

From Nevada Evening Journal December 30, 1973 (page 1)

Services for area deaths

MURIEL BERKA

Muriel McKinney Berka was born March 29, 1930 and was killed in a terrorist attack in the Rome Airport in Rome, Italy on Dec. 17.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Fredrick W. Berka in 1970. Survivors include her daughter, Rosemary Stoelzel of Dahrahn, Saudi Arabia; two sons, James of Baker, Ore. and Scott of Colo; seven grandchildren; her mother, Mrs. Rozetta McKinney of Nevada; a brother, Wayne of West Des Moines, two sisters, Mrs. Harry Cook of Nevada and Mrs. Frank Lipp of Hengham, Montana.

Funeral services are tentatively set for Monday, Dec. 24 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Colo at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Colo. Brouhard Funeral of Zearing is in charge of arrangements.

From Nevada Evening Journal December 18, 1973 (page 1)

Colo woman killed in Arab terrorist attack

By Linda Bonebrake
Journal Society Editor

ROME, Italy -- Mrs. Muriel Berka, who works for the Farm Bureau Insurance company in Story County, was killed here Monday in an armed terrorist attack on a Pan Americian jetliner.

Mrs. Berka, 53, and Mr. and Mrs. C.F. Hildebrand of Marshalltown were listed by the airline as being three of 34 persons killed by Arab terrorists who fire bombed the jetliner.

Also aboard the plane were two Colo residents, Barbara McKinney, 22, and Bonnie Geisler, 24. McKinney had jumped out a window of the plane after it was bombed and was uninjured, while Geisler received minor injuries and was released from a hospital Tuesday.

Both were en route home to Iowa today, as were several other American survivors.

For the Bill Geislers, Scott Berkas and Victor McKinneys, the ordeal began when a news report was aired over television Monday morning that a Pan Am jet from New York had been attacked by Palestinian terrorists.

"We knew they were in Rome at the time and that they were on a Pan Am jet but other than that we didn't know if it was their flight or another one" said Mrs. Victor McKinney, mother of one of the three Colo residents involved in the tragedy.

"From that time on we were glued to the television set. Some of the reports were so confusing; we heard one story and then another," continued Mrs. McKinney. "Then about 1 p.m. we got a call from Barb. She was hysterical. She didn't make much sense. She said she was o.k. but she couldn't find Muriel (Berka) of Bonnie (Geisler)" Mrs. McKinney quoted Barb as saying "I was running for my life!"

"I guess her guardian angel was watching over her. It is a miracle!" responded Mrs. McKinney after learning that her daughter was safe. She was one of the few passengers that escaped unharmed. "Barb said that all that happened was she broke a strap on her shoe when she jumped from the wing of the jet," added Mrs. McKinney.

For Mrs. Harry (Naomi) Cook of Nevada, sister of Muriel Berka, the ordel too began when she heard of the incident on the news. Her first reaction was to call the Nevada Journal, a member of the Associated Press, to secure any additional information may give some clue as to the identity of the airliner.

Sorting through yards of AP tape, the news story was confirmed but flight numbers and passenger identity were unknown. Assured that her sister's plane was a 747 instead of a 707 listed in AP, Mrs. Cook rested somewhat easier.

Two hours later she again contacted the Journal for an up-to-date report but with the Iowa office of the AP not knowing that five passengers on the plane were from Iowa, treated the story as a national catastrophe instead of a state-affected disaster.

Again through the news media, they learned that the flight number was 110-- the one listed on Muriel Berka's flight itinerary, a copy of which was given to Scott Berka by his mother before her departure.

In Baker, Oregon, James W. Berka, son of Muriel Berka, learned of his mother's plight and contacted a former Air Force buddy who is a pilot with Pan Am. He in turn made a direct link with Pan Am in Rome and secured a list of survivors--which did not include the name of Berka's mother.

It was through contact James Berka that the Cooks first learned that the three were involved in the bombing and that Bonnie and Barbara were listed as survivors and Muriel was not. Still, there was no official confirmation of her death.

Meanwhile, the Journal contacted Associated Press told them of the three known Iowa passengers which initiated a large scale investigation by the Iowa AP office.

Calling directly to Rome, the Des Moines Register contacted Bonnie Geisler and printed a copyrighted story Tuesday morning quoting Bonnie as saying, "We'd just gotten on board the plane when the pilot said, 'There's some shooting in the terminal, please get down on the floor and away from the window!"

Then the first bomb went off; thrown into the rear of the tourist section by one of the terrorists.

The Register continues to quote Bonne, "We (Bonnie, Miss McKinney and Mrs. Berka) were supposed to be in the back of the plane but it wasn't full so we moved up. If we'd been back there we'd be dead."

"Muriel was down of the floor when the first bomb went off. She was burned and I picked her up and started to drag her toward the first class when the second bomb went off in the front of the plane. Then two men crashed into us and I lost her," said Bonnie. "I never saw her get off the plane..."

With the three Colo residents was a Marshalltown couple, Mr. and Mrs C. F. Hildebrand. The five were participating in a holiday tour to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, sponsored by ARAMCO, an Arabia-American oil company. Mrs. Berka's daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Stoelzel and two children, live in Dhahran where they have taught school for the oil company for the past five years.

Each year the oil company sponsors Christmas family tour to Dhahran for American families of the employee to visit the foreign country Since the Stoezels felt this would be their last year in Saudi Arabia and that Mrs. Berka had expressed a desire to see that country in which they spent their last five years, they suggested she come this Christmas.

Arrangements were started in May of this year for the anticipated trips and the Stoezels planned several side trips for their mother's stay They were not alarmed by the present political situation in the country and in fact had not really felt much impact at all due to the conflict. Their only news source is a late-night broadcast from the British news media other than the Arab broadcasting companies. Mrs. Cooks stated that the Stoelzels were very pro-Arab and can't understand America's stand n the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Both Bonnie Geisler and Barb McKinney boarded planes this morning (Iowa time) for the return trip to New York after which time Barb will return to the home of her parents and Bonnie will spend a few days resting at the home of friends before the return trip to Iowa.

Bonnie, a neighbor of Mrs. Berka and a high school friend of Miss McKinney, has resided for the last 2 1/2 years in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. when Mrs. Berka first suggested she accompany her to Saudi Arabaia, Bonnie was excited but somewhat reluctant, explained Mrs. Geisler. "She applied for her passport right away but then seemed to lose interest and didn't really make up her mind to go until just a few weeks ago. She sent for her visa in November and it didn't arrive until Dec. 7," added Mrs. Geisler.

"I can't believe this has all happened!" Mrs. Geisler told the Journal Tuesday morning, "You just can't imagine what it feels like until you go through it. We didn't know if our daughter was dead or alive."