Adam Kemp

The Oklahoman

OKLAHOMA CITY – Barricades barred the path inside the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum while signs hung out front apologizing for limiting access during the 25th anniversary of Oklahoma’s most tragic day.

And still, the people came to pay their respects.

Dozens visited the closed memorial on Sunday morning, standing at the entrance of the Gates of Time with cloth masks on, leaving items of remembrance at the memorial fence and standing in silence as the bells tolled from a nearby church, marking the moment of the attack in 1995.

Twenty five years later at the exact same place, a whole new world and new obstacles met the citizens of Oklahoma.

Aren Almon, the mother of baby Baylee Almon who was killed in the daycare center, was joined by her family to place flowers and stuffed animals at the fence outside the memorial.

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The day before the bombing in 1995, the family had celebrated Baylee's first birthday. The next day, the image of Oklahoma City firefighter Chris Fields holding Baylee’s lifeless body became the enduring image of the tragedy.

On Sunday the family posed for photos together as the younger children in the group blew bubbles as they commemorated the day.

"It's still important for us to be able to be there and have the kids there and have them all be able to put something that is important to them on the fence for Baylee this year," Aren Almon said. "That's the way we're going to celebrate the 25th anniversary."

With a bouquet of pink and red roses in one hand and a hymnal in the other, Will King, 39, arrived at the memorial at 8:45 a.m., weaving the stems of the flowers through the chain link fence outside.

King said he came to honor Rebecca Anderson, a nurse who was killed in the aftermath of the bombing while volunteering in the search and rescue efforts and was struck by a falling piece of debris.

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King said he and Anderson are alums of the same college, Graceland University in Iowa, and attended the same church. Even though they were more than two decades apart in age, King said he was always moved by Anderson’s selfless sacrifice and wanted to pay tribute to her even though the memorial was closed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s very much like 25 years ago,” King said. “People gathered here on the streets at the fence. I recognize both the irony and beauty in people meeting each other here again during another crisis.”

Even with the cancellation of the live remembrance ceremony on the grounds of the memorial due to COVID-19, the Oklahoma City Memorial Foundation produced an hour-long video tribute with speeches from several Oklahoma dignitaries and faith leaders, as well as the reading of the names of all 168 victims and a moment of silence.

Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt spoke about his reflections the past few weeks as COVID-19 has forced many Oklahoma businesses to close and citizens to quarantine.

“The anniversary we mark today and what April 19, 1995, meant to our city and our nation transcends the challenges of April 19, 2020,” Holt said. “If we carry the lessons of April 19 forward, this sacred place will be relevant 50 years hence, 100 years hence, and forever.”

Mike Hoskins, a retired police officer and detective from the Oklahoma City Police Department, visited the memorial on Sunday for only the second time since it opened.

Hoskins was at police headquarters, just a few blocks away, when the explosion in 1995 rattled the building and sent everyone scrambling.

He and his fellow officers immediately sprang into action, running to the site to help pull people from the wreckage.

“It was just unbelievable to see it,” Hoskins said. “Black smoke spewing so high into the air. It was something you wanted to run away from but we knew we had to go help.”

Hoskins said he visited the memorial for the first time last year and was overcome by the experience. But on Sunday, Hoskins said he felt called to visit again.

“I think it’s amazing to see people here even though it’s closed,” he said. “It almost makes it more memorable. All these people knew they wouldn’t be allowed in, but they just wanted to come and pay their respects anyway.”

Just before 9:01 on Sunday, King held his own personal vigil sitting in front of the “And Jesus Wept” statue just across the street from the memorial.

He opened his hymnal and turned to “There's an old old path,” and began to sing.

“In the old, old path

Are my friends most dear,

And I walk with them,

With the angels near.”