Oklahomans Remember the Bombing, 18 Years Later

Hundreds of people packed the First United Methodist Church for the 18th anniversary Remembrance Ceremony, vowing to never forget the lives lost in the Murrah building bombing.
 
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the building. The explosion killed 168 people.

At 9:02 a.m. Friday, the minute the bomb exploded in 1995, ceremony go-ers observed 168 seconds of silence.  The ceremony concluded with a reading of each of the fallen’s names.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 18 years since the Oklahoma City bombing,” Gov. Mary Fallin said. “How our lives in our state, and frankly in our nation, was changed forever by what happened.”

Gov. Fallin was joined by Congressman James Lankford and Oklahoma City Vice Mayor Pat Ryan at the ceremony.

“This tragedy, it could have crippled our city but it didn’t. Tragedy was terrible but it actually showed us what we had deep down inside, that we knew that we had, and that is the inner strength of Oklahomans,” Gov. Fallin said.

After the ceremony, people walked across the street to the National Memorial to leave flowers and trinkets on the memorial’s empty chairs, symbolizing each of the lost.

Dawn Dearmon laid flowers on her mother’s chair. Kathy Leinen worked at the Federal Employees Credit Union on the third floor of the Murrah building.

“It’s important for us to be here today,” Dearmon said. “This year with everything that happened in Boston, it brings back so much. It opens up wounds and I know what those families are going through and it’s important for them to know that they’ve got the support that they gave us back then too.”

Survivor Sheila Kidder attended Friday’s ceremony.  She said it’s a great way to remember the day, but she said she doesn’t label herself as a survivor. 

“I decided if I don’t live my life to the fullest, that there’s just another victim and I don’t believe that anybody that died that day, or was affected in any way would want us to stop living our life,” she said.

Posted: Friday, April 19 2013, 11:36 AM CDT

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