Terri Roberts was the mother of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the man responsible for the Nickel Mines Amish school shootings in 2006. Terri passed away this weekend following a 13-year battle with cancer.

I met Terri briefly on one occasion, at the Forgiveness conference at Elizabethtown College in 2011. She seemed full of life and a lot more energy than you’d expect despite the disease she had been living with for years. Not to mention the cross she had to bear in the aftermath of her son’s actions.

In a 2016 interview with Lancaster Online, she reflected on her journey to forgiveness: “If they’re forgiving my son, do I forgive my son? I was so angry with what he had done, and yet the realization that if I chose not to forgive him, I would have the same hole in my heart that he had.”

Terri wrote a book called Forgiven: The Amish School Shooting, a Mother’s Love, and a Story of Remarkable Grace. I did not know her, but she had to have been a big-hearted person.

Here is a video of Terri talking about forgiveness and getting to know Amish families in the community.

Rest in peace.

You might also like:


Get the Amish in your inbox


    Question on the Amish? Get answers to 300+ questions in 41 categories at the Amish FAQ.