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Bombs come in wartime, and they kill. Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Robert Chipman, like others in the military, knew this. He never left home without his affairs in order, without his family knowing where to find the will. Without them knowing where to bury him. Chipman, a 31-year veteran of the military , had a few "just in case" discussions with his family - when he headed for the Vietnam War, the Panama "Just Cause" invasion of 1989, Desert Storm in 1991.
These somber talks became moot issues, as Chipman, 51, returned from war with health and optimism intact and found a peaceful, suburban retirement in Edmond. He thought about becoming a high school principal, of dressing in a suit and tie at work. He was at a suit-and-tie job when all those old, serious talks became relevant. Chipman was one of two employees at the Oklahoma Water Resources Board killed by the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing on April 19. His wife and widow, Gloria, said the FBI told her Chipman was struck in the head as the drive shaft from the exploded rental truck hurled itself through his office window. After hitting him, the drive shaft flew through two walls before stopping. Chipman died two days later at University Hospital. "It's just so ironic he could have lived through all those wars," Chipman's supervisor, Brenda Maxey, wrote to Gloria last week, "and have this happen at his desk." In all the chaos and horror that followed, Gloria Chipman had one question answered. "If anything happens to me," he told her once, "I want to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery."
There in Virginia, among the orderly headstones and precision-cut grounds, Chipman joined an elite group: decorated and retired military veterans, two U.S. presidents, congressmen and senators. Former first lady Jackie Kennedy is buried there, next to her husband, President Kennedy. His brother, former U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy rests there, as does former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. The cemetery has "numerous generals," said Steven Grant, a cemetery representative. Touched by every U.S.-involved war, the cemetery now holds at least one Oklahoma bombing victim - a victim, some say, of a war within our own borders. Chipman's cremains were laid to rest May 9 with full military honors. The American Red Cross paid for 13 of Chipman's family members to attend the funeral. "It was like a parade style. Like President Kennedy," Grant said. He assisted with Chipman's funeral. "All officers qualify to get that kind of service."
In life, Chipman looked forward to settling down after a career that took him all over the world. He was stationed in Oklahoma many years ago and picked the state as his retirement spot - as a place where he could have good neighbors and big trees and watch his three children finish school and start careers. "People are genuine here," his wife recalled him telling her. "They tell you `Have a good day,' and they mean it." Chipman took his second duty slot in Oklahoma seven years ago, then retired in 1992. He obtained a graduate degree from the University of Central Oklahoma and planned to get his teaching certificate and become a high school principal. About six months ago, he accepted a job as a financial analyst with the Water Resources Board. His widow said, in spite of the outcome, it was a good thing. He loved that job. "He enjoyed buying clothes and ties and socks," Gloria Chipman said. "That morning, he came out and he said, `Gloria, how does this tie look with this suit?' And I said, `Bob, it looks great.' He always looked great in a suit." Before heading for work April 19, the couple drank coffee and watched the news. Robert Chipman arrived at work that day with a stack of family photos he said would back up his bragging. Not long after, Gloria Chipman said she heard what sounded like a tree crashing into her house. She turned on the television and learned of the explosion. "For the life of me, I couldn't remember where the federal building was," Gloria Chipman said. When she saw two of her husband's co-workers on television, bandaged and dazed in the street, she tried to call his office. No answer. She found herself rushing to St. Anthony Hospital, checking victims lists. She found him by late afternoon, in surgery. "He never regained consciousness," she said.
It has been six weeks since her husband was killed. He left behind a military family, bound tightly by years of uprooting and travel. He also left behind a wife who still cannot talk about him without shedding tears. His son, Carl, attends Oklahoma State University, His daughter Cathy, 25, who is stationed with the Air Force in Japan, came home for his funeral. His other daughter, Julie Szabolcsi, 21, came home recently to find his van parked in the garage. She ran in to tell him about the new gardening center she saw at Tinker Air Force Base. "I said, without thinking, `Dad's home!' " Julie said. That is the hardest part, the family says: not having Bob Chipman around to share daily life with. "We were a family who talked," said Gloria Chipman, who was married to Bob for 15 years. "We talked about everything." Everything people have done for the Chipmans means a lot, they say. From the neighbor who picked up postage stamps for them to Gov. Frank Keating, who planted a tree near the State Capitol in honor of Chipman and Trudy Rigney, a Water Resources Board draftswoman also killed in the blast. Gloria Chipman and her daughter, Julie, spent Memorial Day next to that tree. It was fitting, his wife said, because wherever the family lived, Bob Chipman always planted a tree. Chipman remembered the sales job her husband gave her on Oklahoma . She says the goodness her husband saw in this state was always apparent - but never more so than now. "I said, `Bob, I will live in a tent with you. I would follow you anywhere.' " She studied a photograph of her walking behind the carriage that held her husband's cremains. Her eyes welled up again. "And then I followed him to his grave."
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