The Survivor Tree salutes our love and compassion in one of the worst moments in our history
Today, April 19, 2024, marks the 29th anniversary of the Murrah Building bombing, where an American elm tree survived the terrorist’s blast that brought down a city block and brought forth the Oklahoma Standard.
Forestry Coordinator Mark Bays has made saving the Survivor Tree his passion and full-time job. This article is based on a speech he recently gave to the Academy of Senior Professionals at Southern Nazarene University.
An American elm tree growing in the backyard of a small fenced-in downtown house on NW 5 was most likely planted in 1920. It is the only tree to have survived the removal of all other trees for a parking lot in a downtown commercial development. When the Murrah Building was built, the elm tree was the only tree left standing in a big, paved parking lot. Cars parked under its spreading shade.
After the bombing destroyed everything in its wake, people noticed the battered elm tree wounded in the rubble. Its leaves were blown off. Its branches were broken. Its limbs were gone. Its trunk survived, but its bark was full of shrapnel. When the dust settled, the hood of a car was seen caught in what was left in its upper branches. When words of anguish were inadequate to say what people felt looking in despair at the tree, standing alone amid death and destruction, they began stuffing coins in the mangled tree’s bark. Mark Bays knew the coins would damage what was left of the tree. A sign was put up telling people they loved the tree too much and not to put coins in its bark. So, the people began flooding the base of the tree with gifts and mementos.
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Someone, looking at the wounded tree in the middle of the carnage, called it a survivor. The word “survivor” stirred people’s deepest longing to make sense of horror, and hope out of despair, and the name “Survivor Tree” was born. A visiting journalist from out of state witnessed Oklahoma responders and the people’s overwhelming response of care for victims and the volunteered resources for cleaning up the damage, and called what he saw the Oklahoma standard and the iconic phrases “Oklahoma Standard” and “Oklahoma Strong” were born.
Every April 19, people gather at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum to remember the 168 lives lost and read aloud their names in a reverent ceremony broadcast over Oklahoma television stations. These names are engraved on bronze and glass chairs on the grassy lawn where the Murrah Building once stood. At the close of the ceremony, sprigs of the Survivor Tree are available for visitors to take home and plant throughout Oklahoma, keeping alive the memory of lives lost and Oklahoma’s caring for one another.
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Clones of the Survivor Tree are growing and carefully being pruned in an undisclosed and secure location. Rows and rows of descendants of the Survivor Tree are growing so that when the original Survivor Tree dies, as it eventually will, a new Survivor Tree, pruned and most closely looking like the original tree, will be moved to the Survivor Tree’s honored place at the memorial.
Among the many emotional moments visitors experience at the Oklahoma City bombing memorial, standing under the Survivor Tree offers serenity and peace all its own. Its branches silently watch over the hallowed ground. Its waving leaves salute the best in us: compassion, helpfulness, generosity and love.
C. Dale German is a freelance writer living in Bethany, Oklahoma.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC bombing anniversary: Survivor Tree watches over hallowed ground
