Mom Who Lost Sons In Murrah Building Bombing Talks Importance Of Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon

A McClain County woman who lost two young sons during the Murrah Building Bombing said she appreciates the upcoming Run to Remember for raising money to fund the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

The Run to Remember, also known as the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, is the largest fundraiser for the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which receives no funding from local, state or federal government. Race weekend kicks off on Friday with various fitness events, followed by shorter races on Saturday, and the main and half marathons on Sunday.

The Oklahoma City National Memorial honors the 168 people who lost their lives during the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. The bomb exploded at 9:02 a.m. Two of the victims were the young sons of Edye Raines: 3-year-old Chase and 2-year-old Colton.

"I see the number 902 everywhere I go and I think it's just them kind of saying, 'Hey mom, we're here,'" Raines said.

Raines said on April 19, 1995, she originally planned to take the day off to move into her new home that she had just bought. But her office, the Internal Revenue Service in downtown Oklahoma City, was holding a birthday party for her, so she decided to come to work. 

"I was walking across my office floor to cut the birthday cake in the conference room and we just heard this loud explosion," Raines recalled. "Our whole building shook."

Raines said at first, she didn't know the explosion was at the Murrah Building, which had a daycare center that her sons were staying at. But she soon realized where the chaos was coming from.

"We could see sheets of glass falling from the buildings and I just took off running toward the Murrah Building," Raines recalled.

Raines said when saw the devastation at the front of the building, she was fairly certain her sons had died.

Raines said she heard survivors were being taken to the children's hospital, so she and her family gathered there. Meanwhile, Raines' brother, Danny Coss, was a Yukon police officer who was off duty at the time. But when he saw the bombing on the news, he rushed to the scene.

Because Coss was an officer, he was able to go beyond the yellow tape at the bombing site, said Raines. Coss told her he will go find her sons. Raines said Coss was eventually able to locate them: Colton had passed away after being rescued from the building by an EMT while Chase's body was in the back of a truck with other deceased victims.

"That was, like, gut-wrenching for everyone," Raines said.

Raines said the experience was so difficult for her brother that he did not return to downtown Oklahoma City after the bombing. But on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 - 28 years since the bombing - Coss went to the Oklahoma City National Memorial for the first time. Raines, who goes to the memorial every year, said it meant so much that her brother could come with her.

"I feel like I'm going to a funeral every year when I go. But I think it's necessary and it's important to honor my kids as well as everyone else who died that day," said Raines.

Raines snapped a photo of her brother at the Field of Empty Chairs, a portion of the memorial site that has 168 chairs to represent the number of victims killed in the attack. In the photo, Raines' brother was touching one of the small chairs with Chase's name on it, while a circle of light appeared around him.

"He was like, 'Look at that orb.' And I was like, 'What?' And I looked back at the photo and I was like, 'Wow that was really remarkable.' I believe it was Chase and Colton trying to say, 'Hey, uncle Danny, we're thinking about you. We love you,'" Raines said.

In addition to going to the Oklahoma City National Memorial every year, Raines said she enjoys watching the marathon that supports it. In fact, her younger brother, Bart, ran it a few times in the past.

"I think it's incredible how the Memorial Marathon has grown so much in the past many years," said Raines. "I have so many people that message me every year, 'I'm running in honor of your boys.' Like hundreds of them. I'm like, this is so awesome!"

News 9 will have team coverage of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, including the events on Friday, Saturday, and the main races on Sunday. Click here for a full schedule of events.