OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Out of unbelievable tragedy came a friendship between two very unlikely families.
At the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, there are 168 chairs representing each victim who lost their life in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995.
One of those victims was 23-year-old Julie Welch, a Spanish interpreter for the Social Security Administration.
Ultimately, her father, Bud Welch, formed a friendship with Bill McVeigh, the father of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Their friendship is now being told by Jeanne Bishop in her new book, ‘Grace From The Rubble.’
“The Bill McVeigh I met is a man who has grown up his entire life in this little town outside of Buffalo, New York, and he’s just this working man who was taking care of his family, taking his kids to church. There was no inkling in Tim’s life that, what he would go on to do. Bill is so sorry for what his son did. He apologized to the victims, he cooperated fully with the FBI. He’s just heartbroken over what happened,” Bishop told KFOR.
Bishop says that Bud Welch forgave Timothy McVeigh, but wasn’t allowed to reach out to him. Instead, he contacted Bill McVeigh. They met in 1998 and became friends.
25 years after the bombing, the two are still friends.
