Currently at the Memorial & Museum
Preserving History...
Quilts Given as Symbols of Comfort Following the Bombing
August 23, 2010
After the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, individuals from all over the world sewed messages of compassion and support onto quilts. The majority of these quilts initially arrived at Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating’s office and Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick’s office in the weeks and months after the bombing. In addition, dozens of quilts were sent directly to family members. Still other quilts were given to Oklahoma business and community leaders to be delivered to Oklahoma City. Since the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum is the designated repository for everything related to the Murrah Building bombing, numerous quilts were among the artifacts and documents transferred to the Memorial for preservation and safekeeping.
Betty Roberts of Tulsa, Oklahoma, created The Healing Quilt. With help from her son Jim, Roberts collected uniform patches from agencies that were directly involved in the rescue and recovery operation. The quilt includes approximately 200 patches from agencies in the United States and Canada. Other symbols include 19 teddy bears, one for each child killed; hands; and the colors blue, purple and yellow. The blue represents the State of Oklahoma, while purple is for the children and yellow stands for the missing. The 60" x 80" quilt was delivered to First Lady Cathy Keating on March 5, 1996, by Barbara Roberts and her daughter, BJ Roberts.
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