Postal Workers Mourn Rampage Victims

EDMOND, Okla. —  Postal workers, many in uniform and some wearing black armbands, joined more than a thousand other mourners at funerals Friday for five of their 14 fellow workers who were shot to death in a rampage at the post office here.

The services, the first for victims of the Wednesday slaying by a part-time postal worker, are to be followed by more funerals over the weekend and a citywide memorial service Sunday.

Also Friday, officials confirmed that the pistols Patrick Henry Sherrill, a National Guard member, used to kill the workers and himself had been checked out from a Guard center. National Guard officials in Washington, D.C., ordered a review of security procedures.

New Realization

At the first funeral, held in Lawton for Patti Lou Welch, the Rev. Del Hamm told 350 mourners: “We are realizing now, as we never have before, how great a gift we have in life.”

In Oklahoma City, uniformed postal workers wearing black armbands escorted the coffin of Richard Charles Esser Jr., a postal supervisor, from the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.

In Edmond, an estimated 200 people were on hand for the funeral of Jonna Gragert Hamilton. About 500 people attended services in Wellston for Patricia Chambers, 41, and in Yukon for Bill Miller, 30.

Five of the six postal employees wounded in the massacre remained hospitalized Friday, all in stable condition.

Examiner Makes Report

An initial autopsy report released late Friday by Dr. Fred Jordan, the state medical examiner, indicated that there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in Sherrill’s system other than a trace of a chemical normally found in over-the-counter antihistamines.

Sherrill, 44, was a top marksman in the Oklahoma National Guard and had checked out the two Colt .45-caliber pistols used in the shooting from the Oklahoma City Guard center, officials said.

Maj. Gen. Robert Morgan, adjutant general for the Oklahoma National Guard, said Sherrill was a member of the Guard’s marksmanship team and was to compete later this month in a national contest in Little Rock, Ark.

Morgan said Sherrill competed Saturday in a National Rifle Assn. match near Edmond. He checked out 200 rounds of ammunition for that competition and was also issued 300 rounds on Sunday evening for practice in preparation for the national competition, Morgan said.

Eligible for Firearms

Pat Scully, Oklahoma National Guard spokesman, said it was only because Sherrill was a member of the marksmanship team that he was able to have the pistols issued to him. “We’re very, very security conscious when it comes to issuing weapons,” Scully said.

“There had been no reports, including medical, that would have precluded him from serving in the Guard or from being a member of the marksmanship program,” Morgan said.

“He was a quiet person, but he served the military well,” Morgan said.

Many Wear Uniforms

Authorities said Sherrill first killed two supervisors about 7 a.m. Wednesday, then shot a man who fled out the back door of the building, before returning to walk through the main offices, killing 11 others before shooting himself in the head.

In Lawton, family members and friends of Welch were joined at the First Baptist Church by scores of postal workers, many wearing their blue uniforms.

Welch, 27, was the daughter of Pat Ford, the director of customer service at the Lawton Post Office.

Hamm, pastor of the Hillcrest Christian Church in Oklahoma City, where Welch and her husband, Randy, were about to become members, told the mourners: “She is not dead. She lives forever in our memories and in her faith.”

Flowers Adorn Altar

The brightly lighted altar was adorned with more than three dozen blue, red, white, yellow and peach-colored flowers. Two framed pictures of Welch, including one of her in her wedding gown, were placed above her closed steel blue coffin.

Esser, 38, is believed to be one of the first killed in the slaughter. At his funeral Mass, the congregation sang of abiding in the shadows of God.

Hamilton, 28, was eulogized as a woman with a warm personality whose smile was the first thing people noticed when they met her.

‘United as Never Before’

“I predict that Edmond, Okla., is going to be stronger as a result of this nightmare, this catastrophe, and will be united as never before,” Dr. Alan Day of the First Baptist Church of Edmond told the congregation.

Edmond postal officials said most employees attended funerals Friday. The office was run by employees from Oklahoma City and the surrounding area.