Lawrence D. Wright, 32

A friend mourns the loss of a fellow Scottish Rite Brother in the Oklahoma City bombing.


As we pass the second anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, I am again preoccupied with the loss of not only a friend but also a Masonic Brother, Robert N. Walker Jr., 32.

I met Bob for the first time at a Oklahoma City restaurant. After speaking to him for well over an hour, I agreed to have a Blue Lodge Petition sent to me with him as the top-line signer. As time went on, he became a friend, a teacher of the categorical lectures, and a confidant who helped me to heal a troubled relationship with my father.

The second anniversary of the bombing and now the news stories about the trial remind me of him more and more. Yet, as I struggle with this grief, I ask myself if there was anything within my power that would have allowed me to save him? The answer is no. And always will be no. But I also realize that Brother Bob’s death, untimely as it was, has not removed him entirely. He was such a friend and Brother that he is still part of my life and of me---and always will be.