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Show Wrtlericfij. 1prl THE DAILY H LIU ID, Preve, 17, 19 : I Paft AS ''' y f - 1- tuk FcmiilcG, friends Gtruoob to copo By ROCHLLE H53ES Associated Press Writer it 1 J UII It was a UKLA11UMA that started like so many others and then a bomb shattered the ordinariness, taking the lives of 168 mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. One year later, here are the stories of some of the people changed by the blase 4J For better or for worse, Edye Smith has grieved in the eyes of the public. , When reporters seek comment from a victim's family member, they often turn to Smith, who lost both her young sons in the April 19, 1995, bombing. "I've received a lot of criticism from other bombing victims for doing a lot of interviews and sharing my feelings, she says. But as uncomfortable as some people may be with it, she says, the talking has ensured one thing: "Most people know the Smith boys and how they were killed." It is important to her that people know her sons were ''rambunctious and full of life. that Cotton opened doors for women and that his little brother Chase was just learning to talk. And as terrible as things have been, some good has come into her life. She and her ex husband have reconciled, and after a doctor in Texas reversed her tubal ligation at no charge, they began trying for another child in September. Cotton and Chase Smith were buried together. "Most of all, I'm glad they died together," Smith says. "I believe they're in heaven." -- AP Edye Smith tfepbws ttts Preeident Clinton after the improving her relationship with her family. Now, she works on improving her mobility with her new artificial limb, and she looks to a future filled with college courses, a new husband high school sweetheart Gabe and a child. She plans to attend the ceremony on the bombing's anniversary if the new baby doesn't interfere. It is due April 20. Almost nothing about Jonmichael Rigney's life is the same. Jannie Coverdale remembers leaving her office to get something to wash down a vitamin. And then the bomb went off. Then came the evacuation and the realization that the thick Mack smoke she saw was billowcenter, ing from the day-car- e where she'd left grandsons Aaron and Elijah just moments before. And then the waiting at First Christian Church, praying for the divine intervention that never came. "It's like a movie, and it plays Jonmichael was orphaned w hen his mother and "best buddy" Trudy Rigney died in the Oklahoma Water Resources Building across the street from the federal building. From the borne where Trudy raised him alone, he has moved 100 miles away. He lives in Broken Arrow with his grandmother, he has a new school and he is making new friends. "He's just adjusted to things real well," says his uncle, Rick over and over and over," she says from her apartment in the Regency Tower, which was heavily damaged in the blast. Next to her is a display case filled with every kind of angel imaginable, many sent by people who just wanted her to know they care. Coverdale still believes in God, and therein lies the root of her anger. "When I found out that they were dead." she says of her grandsons, "I got very angry at God because it was like he wasn't around anywhere and he didn't hear me." But she seems to reserve the greatest amount of anger for herself, for not staying home that day. She had tossed and turned the night before the bombing, and struggled that morning with whether to call in sick. "One night, I got their picture out and I kept telling them how sorry I was for taking them up there and how much I missed them," she says. "I'm not the type of person to just take off to be taking off. But if I had to do all over again, to hell with that job." ' Daina Bradley Bruce was one of the last people taken out of the building alive. Left behind were the bodies of her two children and her mother and her right leg, she could be pulled so amputated from the unstable structure. ; Bruce was so deep inside the building, where she had gone to t inspt-tatio- n. "I was 16 years old and I wanted to run and be free, and I had a child," she say. "Now I regret a lot of that running, because my little girl. I didn't get to do much with her." About a year ago, Bruce bad eclded the "just didn't wtat to lht anymore" tad worktJ on Rigney. Jonmichael attends a private Christian school, which has offered him support in dealing with his mother's death. Rigney says. from around the nation continue to send him mail. One man keeps in contact by sending items related to aviation, one of Jonmichael's big interests. But still, of course, nothing can make up for Jonmichael's irreplaceable loss. "We'll be out doing something and he'll say. 'My mom used to do this or my mom used to do that, " Rigney says. "He has a lot of fond memories of his mother, which helps him." Well-wishe- rs As Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Charles Hanger sees it. stopping the 1977 Mercury Marwas just quis headed north on part of his daily routine. It was about 10:30 a.m. on April 19 when Hanger noticed the yellow vehicle was missing a license plate. And as the driver reached for. his wallet, the eteran trooper detected a bulge under the left side of his jacket. Seconds later. Hanger had his gun pointed at the head of Timothy McVeigh, who was arrested on traffic and weapons charges. Two days later, just as he was about to be released, federal agents realized McVeigh might be the man who planted the bomb in the Ryder rental truck. Since then. Hanger has likened his notoriety to an emotional "roller coaster." "I just had more attention brought to me that I eer would have imagined," he says. That attention has included awards, accolades and labels like "hero." Hanger recently received the Trooper of the Year Aw ard for Heroism by the Oklahoma Highway Users Federation, and he also got an award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. But he doesn't see himself as a hero just "the same guy I was when this all started." Oaina Bradley Bruce, the second to last person pulled from the Alfred; P. Murrah building after last year's bombing, recounts her memories, during a recent interview at her apartment in Oklahoma City. Bruce, had to have her right leg amputated so rescuers could pull her from, the rubble. glass display case waiting for a customer to appear in the photography shop she operates less than two blocks from w here the federal building once stood. "Some da s, you do a couple of passports." Hale sas. "Some days, you see no one but the mailman. Sometimes, he doesn't even stop." One year after the bombing. Hale's business is struggling to survive. And she is not alone. Orders at Bentley's Carpets, two blocks from the building, dropped off dramatically. Business at Lane's Office Furniture is 70 percent of what it was before the bombing. At Hale Photo, it is just 30 percent. "We've lost a couple of thou sand people a day in this neieavborhood," says Kenny Walker, fc Walker Stamp & Seal Co. Fedw al tfices relocated and three neaihv office buildings damaged the YMCA. The? in the blast Journal Record building and? remaitt Southwestern Bell vacant. Mayor Ron Norick and othenr are hoping to reuv e the area w ith a combination of and private devek improvements but not coqw may help opmenf. soon enough for some businesses on. just barelv hanein;: .... v son "My keeps asking m'e: 'How long are you going to sta'vj down here.'"' Hale says. "I don i have any idea. 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