Bombing Victims Remembered

About 150 relatives of those killed in the federal building bombing gathered Saturday at the site to decorate a Christmas tree, sing carols and pray in memory of the victims.

Many hugged and lit candles in a chilly rain as the strains of “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” wafted across the site now sodded over and surrounded by buildings that still bear the scars of the April 19 explosion.

“I can’t think of a better way to wish my children a Merry Christmas than by coming down here,” said Edye Smith, whose two children were among the 169 people who died in the truck bombing. More than 500 others were injured.

“This is weird,” Smith said. “This will be a much different Christmas. It’s much more spiritual than before and I will be looking at the true meaning of Christmas.”

The relatives first met at a nearby chapel and were escorted by guards to the fenced-in site of the Alfred P. Murrah Building. They gathered in a tight circle around the tree while children hung round red and blue ornaments on its limbs.

Christmas decorations of all kinds already ring the site, attached to the security fence by youngsters, visitors from other states, and friends and relatives of the victims.

Twenty red-and-white Christmas stockings also decorate the fence, just feet away from where the building once stood. Most of the stockings bear the name of a person killed in the explosion.