Edmond Life and Leisure - April 17, 2025

Where were you on April 19, 1995?

The size of an event is often measured by knowing exactly where you were and what you were doing on the day and the exact time that the event happened. It can be one of joy or one of tragedy. It can be an event that affects a few people or one that affects millions of people. April 19, 1995, is a day that falls into the category of tragedy and one that affected millions.

The number of tragic events that have happened since that day do not lessen its effect on so many of us, especially those that were here when it happened. It also affected more than the folks from Oklahoma City and the state. It affected people all over the world. I can remember being on the French island of Corsica in 2002 with a group of travelers from Oklahoma. When the guide found out where we were from his eyes were full of tears and he hugged each one of us. He said, “We were with you that day, April 19th, and prayed for you.

The job I had at the time took me traveling all over the country. For over a year no matter where I traveled folks that found out I was from Oklahoma City wanted to know all about that day and what I was doing. They also wanted to know about Oklahoma. Our reputation for our reaction had become known as the Oklahoma Standard and they wanted to know all about how we “did that.”

I was always perplexed by that question. I had to find ways to explain that we were just doing the right thing without sounding superior. It just did not occur to us in Oklahoma that our actions were unusual. There was no special class in school for us in Oklahoma. I guess most places in this country would have had a problem with looters or taking care of our own, but we did not think it was necessary to give it a name. It is just how we were raised.

In 1995 we did not have folks migrating into Oklahoma City. In fact, we had a problem with folks leaving for better opportunities so the folks that were here reacting to this tragic event were mostly Oklahomans and it surprised us that our actions would be hailed as anything special.

There will always be respect and love for the communities from other parts of the world that came to help in the days that followed. This is especially true of the New York City Fire Department and their rescue teams. They worked side by side with the local rescue teams. They came to help but also morn with us. These giant, strong teams were weeping with this community and when it came time after 911 to payback these brave New Yorkers, Oklahoma firefighters and rescue teams were anxious to return the favor.

April 19th was a beautiful day in 1995. I was working at my dream job at the Oklahoma Press Association, and it was a stretch of time that I had no traveling so I got to do my favorite thing and that is talk to and help newspapers in Oklahoma. Most of the newspapers were family owned, and I knew them all well. Newspaper folks were truly a second family.

You might remember the C.R. Anthony company. They were all over several states and sold quality but affordable clothing for us working folks. Great family and store. Our Oklahoma Press Service was a placement service for the company, booking ads in newspapers all over the country wherever Anthony’s had stores. Most were in small towns.

Part of my job was to be at their headquarters in downtown Oklahoma City each weekday to pick up the ads to be placed. It was a longer process back then. I picked up layouts and art. Our team at the OPS had to build the ad, get it proofed, approved, insert orders printed and the paper version of the ad shipped to the papers. Back then, nothing moved electronically. Sometimes the deadlines were so tight we had to overnight them to the newspapers to make their deadline. Anthony’s corporate office opened at 9:00 a.m. so that is why I tried to be there as soon as they opened so that I could rush the advertising materials back to the team.

It was less than 10 minutes from our office and so at 10 minutes before 9 I started to get up from my chair when my speaker came on that said Jack from The Edmond Sun is on the line for you. I thought about declining the call, weighing my duty to the staff to get that ad in the process and my duty to the member newspapers. I chose to take the call knowing it was Jack probably with one of his long but funny stories.

I was correct. Jack started in on one of his long-winded stories. We laughed and talked until about nine when we both heard a giant boom. The walls in my office were glass and they literally bowed. I still cannot believe they snapped back into shape. Jack was up in Edmond and said, “What the hell was that.” He had felt and heard the blast as well. I told him I did not know but we had better get off the phone and find out. My boss, Ben Blackstock, came running downstairs white as a sheet wanted to know what had happened. I did not get scared until I saw the look in Ben’s eyes. He was a WWII combat veteran who served in the Pacific theater so if he was shaken, I knew it was time to panic.

As the morning unfolded with all the speculation and then the reality of the federal building blowing up it occurred to me that I had missed death or severe injury by a phone call. I would have been parked on the street across from the federal building or walking to the front door of the C.R. Anthony building just as the bomb went off. Many of the staff there were injured from flying glass. I cannot imagine how serious it would have been if I were outside and not protected inside when the blast hit. My friend Jack literally saved me.

Others have similar stories and there were so many killed and insured it makes my story seem minor, but it is still a day I will never forget as we recognize the 30th year since the worst home-grown terrorist attack in this country. Something like that could never happen in Oklahoma, could it? Until that day I would have said no and believed that we were safe and secure here in Oklahoma. Who would want to bomb us? Our world had changed in an instant.

For weeks after the bombing, we were in a daze. People were driving around in silence. You would be at a stoplight and look over that the person next to you.

They would have the same blank stare you had. I can remember thinking for weeks that we would never recover from this in our town and that life would never be the same.

We not only recovered but prospered with a determination that I had not seen in Oklahoma before. We were no longer satisfied with being “OK.” We were going to be great thanks to so many fantastic leaders. The gates of hell opened that day for a fleeting period but Oklahoma, with blessings from God, beat the devil back and showed him what we were made of.

Our activities remembering April 19th are not for celebrating our victory from that day forward. It is for the ones we lost, were injured and their families. Their lives changed forever, and I hope you will join us that were here that day to remember those folks and offer prayer for those truly impacted by April 19, 1995.

(Ray Hibbard, publisher of Edmond Life & Leisure, may be reached at ray@edmondpaper.com)