The Oklahoma City Memorial

After the Oklahoma City bombing, a group of needleworkers and quilters from rec.crafts.textiles.needlework and r.c.t.quilting created stitched squares and quilt blocks for the Internet Memorial Quilt for Oklahoma City.  The squares and blocks were sashed by a few quilters.  A sheep from Wisconsin named cutie pie donated wool that was spun into yarn used to tie the quilt.  The tieing was done in West Virginia.  Richard and I were living in Ohio at that time.  We picked up the quilt in WV and took it to OKC.  We showed it off at a guild meeting, I can't remember if it was ASG or EGA or just a local guild.  There were a few of the participants who came to OKC as well.

The next day, we presented the quilt to the city council.  It was very well received, and some of the council members talked about their grandmothers quilting and how quilts are part of American history.  After the presentation, we exited the chambers with our internet friends.  Luckily, one of them was a lawyer and used to speaking in public, because she was mobbed by TV cameras.  There was a short piece on the news that night.

I was in OKC for an ISMI meeting a couple of years ago.  I checked the OKC memorial website, and the quilt had just been taken off display in the museum, but was available for viewing in the archives, with advanced notice.  I didn't have time (or a car) to visit the memorial that day.  We spent Saturday night in OKC and visited the site before driving home Sunday.  The museum was closed, but we walked the grounds.  Such a moving experience, the chairs memorial is quite a sight.

There are nine rows of chairs, one for each floor of the Murrah building.  The second floor housed the day care, and there are lots of little chairs on the second row.

The flag was at half-mast in mourning for the victims of the movie house shooting.

There are walls on either end of the reflecting pool, called the Gates of Time, with 9:01 and 9:03 etched on them.  The bombing happened at 9:02.

Part of the building was left.

When we were at the site, a chain link fence surrounded the torn building.  They have kept part of the fence up, and people are still attaching items, pictures of their lost loved ones, and letters to the fence.