SCRANTON — In the days following the Oklahoma City bombing, expressions of shock and support for those affected were shared across the country, including in Lackawanna County.
The terrorist bombing that occurred April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 individuals, moved people to raise money and donate supplies.
The events that day, particularly the deaths of 19 young children in the building, moved two school communities in Scranton to plant trees in memory of the victims.
Thirty years later, the flowering trees remain. In interviews this week, former school leaders recalled their response to the bombing.
‘We just wanted people to remember what had happened’
A tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing stands outside the Scranton School District administration building in downtown Scranton Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
A closup tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing stands outside the Scranton School District administration building in downtown Scranton Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
A tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing stands outside the Scranton School District administration building in downtown Scranton Thursday, April 17, 2025. The bombing moved the school board to plant the tree, with Pennsylvania Power and Light Company sponsoring it, in 1995. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
The plaque in front of a tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing next to the Scranton School District administration building pictured Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
When members of the Scranton School Board, many of whom had worked in education, heard about the scale of the bombing — which destroyed one third of the federal building — they were inspired to put up something for people to remember those that died that day.
“It was just a horrific type of a thing, especially what had happened with the children,” recalled former Director Robert Osborne, who was board president in 1995. “We just couldn’t believe what had happened … and I said, ‘what can we do to remember these people.’”
The board approved a proclamation to put in a tree in front of the Scranton School District administration building in downtown Scranton, he said. Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., now known as PPL, agreed to sponsor the tree, Osborne added.
District officials dedicated it in June 1995. The tree stands next to the building with the plaque in front of it reading, “Dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing by Pennsylvania Power and Light Co. and Scranton City School District, June 13, 1995.”
He said the plaque and tree, like monuments and memorials for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the attack on Pearl Harbor, ensure that people don’t forget about the bombing.
“We just wanted people to remember what had happened that particular day in this country,” Osborne said.
Reflecting on the tree and the bombing 30 years later, he said public buildings, particularly schools, have gotten safer but incidents involving people and property continue.
“I know the school district is working hard to try to be in the forefront of safety for the children and our educators,” he said. “But it’s a constant battle.”
“I just think we as citizens, as politicians, have to just tone the atmosphere down and try to live in harmony with each other.”
A tree planted to last forever
A tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in front of the former St. Ann’s School, now Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center, in West Scranton pictured Thursday, April 17, 2025. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
A tree dedicated to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in front of the former St. Ann’s School, now Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center, in West Scranton pictured Thursday, April 17, 2025. The bombing moved the school community to plant and dedicate the tree in memory of the victims in 1995. (Christine Lee/Staff Photo)
For Karen Spear, planting a tree in front of what was then St. Ann’s School was a way to make sure people didn’t forget the horrors of that day.
The idea of planting a tree at the school in West Scranton came after she spoke with parents at the school, which closed in 2004.The building is now home to Learn and Grow Early Childhood Center.
“Everyone was in agreement that it was a good idea,” she recalled. “It’s something that would be around for a long time.”
The tree was dedicated that year in a ceremony with the student body, as well as the school’s superintendent and assistant superintendent. It was later replaced with the one that still stands next to the entrance to the school. Small painted rocks are around its base.
Spear said 30 years later, while there is still violence perpetrated against children and adults, the tree is a reminder of what happened and the children that died that day. The fact that the tree was replanted shows there are good people in the world, she added.
“That’s exactly what we wanted the tree to do, to remind us that something terrible happened that day, that innocent children lost their lives,” Spear said.