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The Official Record of the Oklahoma City Bombing
The Memorial
We Come Here to Remember
Story by Mike Brake
Two days before the April 19 dedication of the Oklahoma City National Memorial,
Brandon Denny and Trey Florence told the world that this year, things
would be different.
Brandon was in the Alfred P. Murrah building daycare center on April 19, 1995. He was
found after the blast, barely alive, a chunk of concrete embedded in his
brain. He still walks with a limp and has limited use of one hand, but
according to his mother, Claudia, he is "all boy."
Trey was a long-awaited blessing to David and Linda Florence. His mother worked for
the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Murrah building. On
the Friday before the bombing, Linda walked downstairs to snap photos at
the daycare Easter party. Five days later, she died. When her husband
processed the film, he insisted that the daycare families receive copies
of the last pictures taken in life of their children.
Brandon Denny and Trey Florence were toddlers in 1995. They have attended somber
anniversary ceremonies and heard countless tales of the small yet dramatic
roles they played in a city's history. They are beginning to understand
that one of the many funds established to help bombing victims will one
day send them to college. At a reception for the scholarship families two
days before the memorial dedication, they were playing, seated sided by
side at a table and giggling like the two happy small boys they are. Life,
they seemed to be saying, has been renewed.
Photo at left by J.D. Merryweather
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