Florence Rogers: Honoring The Life Of A Great Oklahoman

Oklahomans mourn the loss of bombing survivor, Florence Rogers, who died at the age of 88.

Rogers was the president of the Federal Employee Credit Union and was holding a meeting in her office when the blast happened. “I just hope and pray nobody ever has to experience what we did in Oklahoma City,” Rogers told The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum in a recorded oral history.

The pain of loss is never easy, whether it’s the loss of those nearly 29 years ago or those who lived to tell the story.

Rogers experienced the loss of 18 employees on April 19, 1995. She survived by about 18 inches.

Her desk sat ready to topple into the hole the bomb made.

The life spared was not taken for granted. “Florence was a force. She just was,” says Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum President and CEO, Kari Watkins.

As Watkins recalls, Rogers was a straight shooter who was known to speak her mind. “She would feel free to put her 2 cents in and give me a few more cents on the way out the door and I loved that,” says Watkins.

Those cents were integral in the creation of the memorial and museum. Her testimony still plays there alongside the dress she wore on the day of the bombing.

Watkins says both help visitors understand the impact of this story and the impact of violence.

The story will continue to impact those who hear it just as Rogers' life impacted those who encountered it. “One of the strongest advocates, mentors, just a great lady to those that worked with her and those around her,” says Watkins. “She was everything personified of a true Oklahoman.”

While there is still pain in loss, there’s also power in a story that lives on. “That’s why the museum is here,” says Watkins. “To teach this story beyond all of our lives.”