Oklahoma Chaplains Who Served at Ground Zero Are Now Part of the 9/11 Museum's Collection

Within an hour of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief had chaplains mobilizing toward New York. Among them were Sam Porter, then-director of Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief, and Bob Nigh, former managing editor of the Baptist Messenger. They served at Ground Zero, including ministry inside the temporary morgue in south Manhattan.

This July, Amy Weinstein, senior curator of oral history at the 9/11 Memorial&Museum, traveled to Oklahoma City to interview several of these responders. Their recorded reflections will be featured in a future exhibit on pastoral care at Ground Zero. Porter and Nigh also donated personal items from those days: a white hard hat, credentials, yellow SBC shirts, and NYPD and FDNY patches.

The exhibit opening date hasn’t been determined, but the project arrives as the 25th anniversary of the attacks approaches. For Oklahomans, it’s a reminder that the state’s connection to 9/11 isn’t just something we watched on television. It’s something our neighbors lived. Do you know anyone who served at Ground Zero or worked disaster relief during that time?