Oklahoma City has been a ‘bucket list’ item for me for many years. In particular, visiting the Oklahoma City National Memorial. April 19, 1995 is a day cemented in my memory, as it started out with an early morning telephone call from my sister Margie, saying she was in labor, and heading to the hospital. I had asked if I should come to the hospital, and she said no, she would call later and let me know. And then I went to work and waited and waited (remember, this was before text messaging, and the days of “instant” everything!). But then I received word that my sister had a beautiful baby girl, Hannah Catherine! A wonderful start to the day!
But the world as we knew it, greatly changed at 9:02 am, April 19, 1995, with the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. What started out, for me, as a joyous occasion, became a day of sorrow and confusion. Even though it has been 23 years, I do remember that day well. When I went to see my sister in the hospital, and met my niece for the first time, I recall my sister was emotionally drained by the days events. She had just given birth to her first child, only to turn on the television in the morning to see babies and children being carried out of the building. It was a horrifying scene. Of the 168 people killed in the bombing, 19 of them were children, as there was a daycare in the federal building that many employees used.
This is a picture that I took of a photo on display at the museum, showing the devastation from the blast.
And the site as it looks today, as viewed from a window in the museum.
It was an emotional day 23 years ago, and it was an emotional and difficult day for me when we visited the memorial. I had to choke back a lot of tears in the museum and at the memorial site. I just kept thinking about what my sister had gone through that day, but kept telling myself that out of something so horrible, life does keep going on. There are really two parts to the memorial: A museum which chronicles the events of that day, with many first hand survivor stories, and an outdoor memorial, honoring the victims, survivors, first responders, and children.
The museum is located in a building that was across the street from the federal building. (it is the building in the foreground from the photo above). It was an office building at the time, and was one of over 300 buildings in the downtown area that sustained damage from the blast. Although no one was killed in this building, many were injured from ceilings collapsing, and broken glass from the windows getting blown out.
The outdoor memorial consists of the gates of time, a reflecting pool, field of empty chairs, survivor wall, survivor tree, rescuer’s orchard, children’s area and the fence. Today’s blog will just cover the outside memorial.
When you approach the museum from the parking lot, 200 feet of the original chain-link fence that surrounded the bomb site is still in place. Over 60,000 items were put on the fence, and have been collected and archived in the museum. And even today, people continue to place items on the fence, especially shoes, in memory of the victims and survivors. Many of the bombings survivors talked about how they had their shoes literally blown off their feet during the blast, and first responders reported finding many shoes, but no bodies, during their initial search and rescue efforts.
After viewing the fence, you walk up through the gates of time. Two very large walls that frame the time of the events. 9:01 am, when it was just another day…
And then 9:03 am, when the time for healing began…
In between is the reflecting pool, symbolizing 9:02 am, when the bombing occurred, and the world was forever changed. The pool and gates of time is where N. W. Fifth Street, the street in front of the federal building, was located at.
After the Murrah building was imploded, a few walls remained standing, despite going through not one, but two blasts. These walls were left in place, and the names of the survivors are on one of the walls.
An American Elm tree was located between the Murrah building, and the office building that is now the site of the museum. Despite the blast, that tree survived, and has become known as the Survivor Tree. Arborists have carefully maintained this tree, and every year seeds from the tree have been given out to families of the victims as well as the survivors, for planting. It is a symbol, once again, of life continuing on from a tragic event.
The Survivor’s Tree overlooks the Rescuer’s Orchard, to honor all the first responders, medical personnel and volunteers that helped out. The inscription along the base of the survivor’s tree states “To the courageous and caring who responded from near and far, we offer our eternal gratitude, as a thank you to the thousands of rescuer and volunteers who helped.”
Rescuer’s Orchard
Right in front of the entrance to the museum is the Children’s Area. Thousands of tiles painted by children were sent to Oklahoma City after the bombing, and they have been placed on a wall.
The most somber area is the Field of Reflecting Chairs, located where the Murrah building was located. There are 168 chairs, each bearing the name of a victim of the bombing. Nineteen of the chairs are small, for each of the children. There are nine rows of chairs to represent each floor of the building, and five chairs are off to the right, representing the five victims killed outside of the building. The chairs have a light underneath them, but we did not go back to see the memorial at night.
Across the street, and not part of the official memorial, is a statue, Jesus Wept, on the grounds of St. Joseph Catholic Church, which was also damaged in the bombing. There are 19 black granite pillars surrounding the statue, for the children.
I found the outdoor memorial to be a well-designed tribute and remembrance to the victims, survivors, first responders and volunteers that came together after this tragic event. It was very emotional and humbling to see.
There was just too much to put in one post on this memorial. My next post will be on the museum itself. As I started this post about my sister Margie, and niece Hannah, I will end it with them as well. Happy Birthday Hannah!
Hannah and my sister, Margie
My Quote for the Day is from the quote on the back of the Gates of Time:
“We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this Memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.”
And the chamber for the 48 members of the Oklahoma Senate.
The museum is laid out in an easy to follow format, consisting of the four principles important to the Bush’s: Freedom, Responsibility, Opportunity and Compassion. There is full-size reproduction of the Oval Office, complete with the furniture, statues, and photographs that were on display in the real Oval Office. I opted to check out the desk, with my sister LuAnn as “Secretary of Education” standing by!
And of course I needed a conference with my “Cabinet” members.
The museum starts out with panels detailing the early years of Bush’s life and his family.
One of First Lady Laura Bush’s platforms was “Ready to Read, Ready to Learn,” to improve early childhood education. On display were the books from a reading list that she recommended for children of all ages. We recognized many of the titles, as books that we had read as children.
President Bush’s passion is baseball, and there is a display of many of the autographed balls and bats on display throughout the museum. He was the first former Little League player to be elected President of the United States, and started a new White House tradition to play tee ball games on the grounds of the White House in 2001. The bat in this display case was signed by 46 of the 62 living members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Priceless!
The television screens on the memorial walls shows the attacks at each of the locations.
Before 9/11, there were 22 federal government agencies handling homeland security issues. In 2002, President Bush, and Congress, created the Department of Homeland Security, and put all those agencies into one department.
Many other major events occurred during the Bush presidency, and the museum has many displays talking about the financial crisis in 2008, Hurricane Katrina, Immigration Reform, and the Environment.
Once you are out of the policy area of the museum, there is a fun display on life in the White House, with the official White House Easter eggs given out every year…
President Bush had two dogs during his White House days, Barney and Miss Beazley. They have their own display case complete with toys, photos, letters from children and their dog dishes used when they traveled on Air Force One!
A flying Pterodactyl with a small body, but large wing-span…
They have many large gems and minerals on display. What’s the difference between a gem and a mineral, you ask? A gem is a mineral, that has been polished or cut into facets that reflect the mineral’s crystal structure.
This is Rhodochrosite, Crystal system is Trigonal. It is from the Sweet Home Mine, Mount Bross, Alma District, Colorado.
And finally, this one is Cavansite and Stilbite. Crystal system Orthohombic, from the Wahgoli Quarry in Maharashtra, India. The display of minerals was very interesting.
I marked up another photo that I took from the seventh floor window. (if you double-click on the photo, you can make it larger). The two red circles mark the spots where Kennedy was shot. The city has painted “X” on each spot. The farther spot, in between the two cars, is where Kennedy was fatally wounded. The trees have grown since 1963, so the view back then would be much clearer to the street.
Here is a view of the same area, from the sidewalk just in front of the building. Again, the red lines are where he was struck, and the green “X” to the right is the infamous “grassy knoll area,” popular among the conspiracy theorists that believe a second gunman was there. The “X” is also the spot where Abraham Zapruder was standing when he shot the 8mm film of the assassination. His film was the only film of the shooting.
And of course, I took another view of the museum.
If you are going to Dallas, be sure to check out the City-Pass, as it gives you a discounted pass to four attractions.
I slept well that first night back in the RV!
And if that new dog wasn’t enough, they also had a guinea pig too. It stays at school in LuAnn’s classroom, but she brought it home for spring break, so it would ‘stay alive.’ Again, I was not allowed in this cage. I think I would have liked this cousin. It would be too small to reach my butt to sniff!
Well thanks for following along with me on my adventures. I’m sure my mom will be back soon posting, as they have kept themselves busy in Dallas. Take care!
Here are some of the other robots custom designed and made by the students.
My sister LuAnn is watching over one of the teams as they build their robot.
A Packer game was also on our agenda, and we did make it to Brett Hundley’s first start as the Packers quarterback. The annual Jack Link’s tailgate party was also that day. The Packers lost, but the tailgate was a lot of fun. This year they had on display a truck they restored with the Lorissa’s Kitchen brand on it. Lorissa is Jacks daughter-in-law, and she has her own line of grass-fed jerky products that are excellent.
Florida updates
The park we are currently staying at offers many activities, and we have been learning how to play Pickleball. Dan quickly picked up the game, which is a cross between tennis and ping-pong. It is played with a tennis ball sized whiffle ball, an oversized table tennis racquet, and it is a lot more challenging than I thought. 
I need to work on my hand/eye co-ordination!
I spent the summer doing a lot of playing with my football….maybe too much playing, which I will get to later. The weather was good all summer, until the end. My parents promised me when we ventured out on this crazy journey that we would always have warm weather. But once again, we ended up with quite a bit of snow. But I didn’t let it stop me. I made my mom put on her boots and winter coat (had to dust it off!) and get out and play with me. October in Wyoming!
I call it “a bigger jail.” But I am happy they put my dog bed in it, and set it in front of the electric fireplace. I’m on pain meds and anti-inflammatory pills, which are making me feel better. I have learned that they will let me out, “on good behavior,” for an hour or two at night, as long as I don’t run around. I heard the word “NO” for several days, before I complied with their rules, and just laid down on a blanket outside the crate.
Liv2RV 