Remembering the names of those who died in 2002 bridge disaster in Webbers Falls
Memorial Park honors victims i
On the monument for the victims of the Webbers Falls Interstate 40 disaster is a clock that shows the approximate time of day a barge hit the Arkansas River bridge 20 years ago.
At 7:45 a.m. Sunday, May 26, 2002, a towboat operator on the Arkansas River suffered a medical episode and the barge struck the Interstate 40 bridge about 40 miles west of Fort Smith and claimed 14 lives, including a young family from Lavaca.
The Johnsons, mother Misty, father James and their 3-year-old daughter Shae, were on their way to the Tulsa Zoo when their vehicle went off the bridge and plunged into the Arkansas River below.
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Photos of the Johnsons can be seen at the Webbers Falls park where the view of the Interstate 40 bridge is in the distance around a slight bend to the southeast. The U.S. 64 bridge is closer to the memorial to the northwest.
Also killed were Jerry and Patricia Gillion of Spiro, Oklahoma on their way to visit their son and his wife in Broken Arrow.
Killed were Andrew Clements of Woodbridge, Virginia; Jeanine Cawley of Lebanon, Oregon; Margaret Green of San Antonio, Texas; Gail Shanahan of Stockdale, Texas; Wayne and Susan Martin of Norman, Oklahoma; Paul Tailele Jr. of Utah; and David Mueggenborg, 52, and Jean Mueggenborg, 51, of Okarche, Oklahoma.