I was at work that morning doing payroll. I went to the copy machine and all of the sudden it felt like a truck hit the building. A few minutes later and I was outside looking at the smoke rising from downtown. Our building was located at 5th and Meridian. The day was sunny and clear so it was quite easy to see the terrible devastation happening.
I worked for a personnel company in the accounting office at the time. We had crews on site downtown setting up the Arts Festival, just blocks from the bombing. A man I worked with there had a wife that was in the building. Thank goodness she was alright, physically. My husband John, I had only met him a month prior, was at the Arts Festival set up. His sister Barbie worked at the courthouse. It seemed forever before anyone could get a hold of John. We had Nextel radios and everyone was frantically calling him. He was shaken up, but ok, thank goodness.
A few days later our company worked the parking at the fairgrounds for the memorial service and we passed out little blue pins for those entering. I had made several pins with white, yellow, purple and blue ribbon a day before to pass out as well. The amount of support that showed up for the memorial was overwhelming.
I hadn't seen the bombing site until a few weeks later. I went there on Mother's Day. I was shocked to see how bad it actually looked in person and will never forget what I saw. Years later I photographed the site after it became a memorial. I'm posting these photos in dedication to all those affected 16 years ago today.
I will never forget.
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