Kevin Rader/Eyewitness News
Indianapolis, Nov. 14 - "We four sat; grandpa and grandma, Curtis is behind us. We were right in front of them. I sat on the aisle. I sat next to you, then Paula, then J.D." The four Rogers children attended the Holiday on Ice at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum October 31, 1963 with their grandparents.
"Grandpa kept saying, 'Sit down,' recalls Jeff Rogers. "That was the last thing he said to me."
That's because the lower southeast section where they were sitting exploded.
In 1963 the fire chief described what happened. "The cause of it, all indications that it was a gas explosion. Underneath there is butane tanks in that concession room under (a) group of seats."
J.D. remembers, "after the first explosion picking myself up off the ground. Smoke, thinking I was in a dream."
Kandy considers herself "one of the fortunate ones. I was hit in the head. Turned and looked around and everyone was gone."
J.D. says, "My grandma asking me to help. Nothing I could do. Looking between her and my brother, went into shock."
His grandparents, Paul and Marietta Mason were killed.
The kids' mother, Shirley Rogers says her parents, "They will never be forgotten. The memory will always be there."
Shirley, who couldn't be there that Halloween night 39 years ago because of gallbladder surgery, was there Thursday unveiling a memorial plaque honoring all the victims.
Kandy recalls how things were supposed to be that night. "They were supposed to be (my parents') tickets. We figured God was watching and he knew if they were sitting there, there would have been four orphans."
So three of the four Rogers children came back Thursday.
Jeff was one to return. "This is only the second time I was back at the Coliseum. As I walked in early this morning I could somehow feel what happened. I could somehow, almost hear the screaming and the crying." Not even a plaque can make that go away.
The remembrance plaque will hang on a wall in the front lobby of the State Fairgrounds Coliseum.