May 16, 2006 - Thackerville, OK

Today I put some time into updating various pages, mostly cleaning up things that would be year-end sensitive.  So, the Budget page, the Maps page, and the Fuel pages are all current to the end of 2005.

Man, can this place build great thunderheads!  This particular one blew to the east of us, and we didn't get more than a few rain drops.  Sure raised havoc elsewhere though.

Then off to Oklahoma City to take a look at the Murrah Federal Building Memorial.  And greeting us was this pretty little bird.  Haven't identified it yet.

The reader board gives the layout of the memorial as well as what the place was like before the destruction.  This wall is the entrance from the bottom of the picture there on the reader board.  For a better view of the reader board with its layout of the memorial, run your cursor onto the picture, and click on it.  Or just click here.  Click your "back" button to get back here again.

We're looking through the "door" in the wall, at the wall at the other end.  The one we're in has "9:01" on it and the one down there has "9:03".  The 9:01 represents the peace and calm before the bomb; the 9:03 represents the total chaos after the bomb.  And then a corner of the Murrah Building with part of its wall left standing.

The plaque says it all.  The 7th & 8th floors housed employees of the Dept. of Housing & Urban Development.  Though Barb worked for HUD, the didn't know any of the deceased, but recognized one face in the room where their pictures were displayed.  HUD lost the most staff of any agency in the building (around 38).  We walked along the rear wall of the building, with the empty chairs to our right, and then turned to walk to the other side, and at the church across the street, we saw this statue and memorial of the bombing.  You'll see the other side of the statue later.

At first glance, there does not appear to be any names on the chairs.  However, at closer range, you can see the names etched on the glass.  If you look closely, you can see the name of Rebecca Neadham Anderson on her chair.  These glass bottoms are lit at night.

I was fascinated by the reflecting pond.  That boat-tailed grackle gives you an idea of its depth.  Not much, eh?  The water is flowing constantly, over the sides and down that "crack" between the pond and sidewalk.  The incoming water is from several small holes in the bottom.  Pretty interesting.  And the little chair belonging to one of the children that were killed.

Different views of the pond, the chairs, church, the little plaza, etc.

The plaza is raised above the rest of the memorial, has this group of pictures, and gives a different perspective of the place.  The museum and the Journal Record Building is across from where the Murrah Building was, and while all the windows which were blown out have been blocked with brick, the structural damage was minimal, but obvious as you can see, but left in tact, and stabilized for safety.

That bent fire escape was left alone during reconstruction so we could see the effect of the bomb.  The small chairs are for the children that were killed in this senseless disaster.  So sad.  The waterfall is in the plaza itself.

The U.S. Court House is on the raised plaza area.  Then the church across the street that had to be completely rebuilt, St. Joe's.  They maintained the original architecture which was nice.

This is the front of the statue we saw earlier.  So sad......

Must be something in the air.  My eyes are watering just looking at these again.  Particularly the two little brothers.  So sad.....

This wall of tiles is just outside the entrance to the museum. 

The tile wall speaks for itself.  Across the street from the museum is a parking garage that was built after the disaster, and the art work was interesting.

Since pictures of the inside of the museum are not allowed, I've included a blown up copy of that first picture here.  Or, you can click on the picture itself if you'd like.  Suffice it to say it was well worth the price of admission.  Our Golden Age pass wasn't accepted, but it was Mothers day, and Barb got in for free, so it cost us a total of $7.

As you saw from the "before" and "after" pictures (assuming you clicked for the enlarged version), this building was all the Journal Record Building.  Now about half of it is dedicated to the museum.  This mangled fire escape (no longer useful, of course) is actually on the side of the current Journal Record Building.

Those bricked up windows are a bit deceiving.  On the third floor the reconstruction crew took detailed notes and photos before cleaning up, and after repairing the building, they took a men's restroom that had been destroyed, and put it back to its damaged state; there is nothing in those windows now.

This last picture shows the survivor elm on the left, the Rescuer Orchard, then the pond, the 9:03 wall, with the church in the background.  In spite of all of man's inhumanity to man, there is still hope, perseverance, and dedication.

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