Columbia Center for Oral History Portal > Oral history interview with Kim Gatbunton, 2018Biographical NoteKim Gatbunton was born in Georgia in 1966. She has lived the majority of her life in and around Lakewood, a city of less than 60,000 people south of Tacoma, Washington. Her parents divorced when she was in school, and she remains close to her mother, who is German. Her father eventually moved back to his home state, North Carolina. Gatbunton got married and had two sons, Joshua and Jordan. Joshua was killed in an attempted robbery in the early morning hours of September 3, 2008, at the Aladdin Camelot Apartments in Tacoma. He was a 2006 graduate of Mount Tahoma High School and a student-athlete at St. Martin's University in Lacey. In the 2020s, Gatbunton worked as a scheduling and marketing coordinator for a dental practice. She has served in organizations such as Everytown Survivor Network, Moms Demand Action Violent Crimes Victim Services, and Backpack for Homeless Teens
Scope and ContentsIn this life history interview, Kim Gatbunton discusses her family, the murder of her son, and her activism. She describes her family's background, including her mother's German origins. She discusses her family structure, including her closeness to her husband and sons. She discusses family faith traditions; she still identifies as Catholic, but has lost faith since her son's murder. She describes Joshua at length: his education, interests in sports, and youthful indecision about next steps in life. Gatbunton speaks about how limitations of her own aspirations influenced her desires for Joshua. She discusses the events of Joshua's murder while he was staying on a friend's couch in 2008. She discusses her family's experiences with the health and justice systems after the murder. She describes legal proceedings and sentencing of the seven males (including several minors) who were implicated in the murder. Gatbunton describes her political evolution and activism. She also discusses the culture around guns in the United States more generally
SubjectsAccess ConditionsCopyright by Kim Gatbunton. The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York hold a non-exclusive license to enable library activities
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