Raymond Washburn, a blind man who was credited with helping rescue five people from the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, has died.
He was 75. Washburn died Jan. 16 at his home in Oklahoma City, and funeral services were held for him Friday in Bristow, Oklahoma, just outside of Tulsa.
Washburn owned and operated a snack bar on the building's fourth floor when a truck bomb ripped through it on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people. In an interview recorded for the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, Washburn described how he led his customers and employees out of the building and how his ability to get around without seeing had been an advantage, theAssociated Press reported.
Washburn lived in Oklahoma City for decades and is most known for his heroic acts on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. He spent several years as the owner and operator of the 4th-floor snack bar in the building through the state's Blind Vending Stand program.
Washburn was born blind, graduating from the Oklahoma School for the Blind in Muskogee.
He's credited with freeing himself and rescuing four customers and an employee from the bombing rubble and leading them out of the building using his sense of direction.
Washburn's full obituary can be found here.
This story was also posted by Ryan Love of KJRH in Tulsa, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
