EDMOND, Okla. –
Yellow ribbons are appearing across Edmond once again, marking 40 years since 14 people were killed and six others were wounded inside the city’s downtown post office.
The massacre on Aug. 20, 1986, lasted less than 15 minutes, but its impact has endured for four decades.
About 100 employees were inside the building that morning when postal worker Patrick Sherrill began shooting his coworkers. Sherrill later died by suicide.
The attack remains one of the deadliest workplace shootings in American history.
Memories that remain
For the people who survived, Aug. 20, 1986, is more than a date in Edmond’s history.
“I knew I had been shot,” survivor Gene Bray recalled in a News 9 interview recorded for the 20th anniversary of the massacre.
Archive video captured the fear and grief outside the post office as emergency crews responded and workers tried to understand what had happened.
Stephanie Carel, now the executive director of Downtown Edmond, was 16 years old at the time. She remembers not only the tragedy, but also the community’s response.
“The way our community came together was way before ‘Oklahoma Standard’ was even given a title,” Carel said.
Video from the days that followed shows postal workers standing with their arms around one another.
“There was a lot of hugs, a lot of just being there for one another,” Carel said.
Yellow ribbons tied a community together
After the massacre, people tied yellow ribbons to trees, mailboxes and lampposts across Edmond as a visible show of support for the victims, their families and postal workers.
Those ribbons are returning for the 40th anniversary, connecting people who remember the attack with many others who were not yet living in Edmond when it happened.
The city has grown considerably since 1986, but Carel hopes the ribbons will prompt younger residents to learn what happened and understand how their community responded.
Edmond’s response lives on in bronze
Edmond residents donated money to create the Yellow Ribbon Memorial outside the downtown post office near Broadway and Edwards.
The bronze sculpture by artist Rich Muno depicts a couple holding a yellow ribbon like those displayed throughout the city after the massacre.
Fourteen waterspouts surround the sculpture, one for each person killed. The victims’ names are displayed along the fountain.
Carel said the memorial is meant to bring attention back to the people whose lives were taken.
“They were just like everyone else,” Carel said. “It was a mom, a dad and an uncle. Or a grandparent.”
She hopes people passing through downtown will pause at the memorial and remember them.
“Next time you’re in downtown Edmond, go over there and just kind of look at it, and take a moment just to think about those people,” Carel said.
Ceremony planned for 40th anniversary
A public memorial ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 20, at the Edmond History Museum, 431 S. Boulevard.
The Edmond Chapter No. 947 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association is hosting the ceremony to honor the victims and mark 40 years since the massacre.
The Yellow Ribbon Memorial remains outside the downtown Edmond post office at 200 N. Broadway.
