Gone but not forgotten: Former mayor to host memorial in honor of Webbers Falls bridge tragedy

The sky was clear, and the sun was shining on May 26, 20 years ago. It was a normal Sunday morning.

Then, at about 7:45 a.m., a barge barreled into the Interstate 40 bridge close to Webbers Falls. The bridge collapse killed 14 people, including the Johnsons, a Lavaca family of three.

Twenty years later, the community will come together at 10 a.m. on May 30 in Webbers Falls to remember those who died.

Jewell Hall, who was the Webbers Falls mayor at the time of the tragedy, has organized 18 memorials to commemorate the collapse. The town has not had a memorial in three years because of the 2019 flooding and the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The program will include speakers and music as well as a reception. Family members and witnesses will have an opportunity to speak.

“Oh, honey it was completely chaos nearly," Hall said about the day of the catastrophe.

Webbers Falls was having a fishing tournament, and the fishermen helped rescue the five people who were pulled from the river.

Hall received a call about the collapse and sent a young police officer out to check on it.

He called her back and said, “The cars are going off in the river. What do I do?"

Hall called in the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the sheriff's office and other police departments.

Johnny Tollard, who is the mayor of Webbers Falls today, was a police officer 20 years ago, and he remembers being called to the scene.

“The cars that done went off in there by the time I got out there," Tollard said. "I just stopped some more from going over."

Tollard said today there are few people who still live in Webbers Falls who were there when the bridge collapsed.

“Well most of the people that was there when it happened is gone," Tollard said.

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Hall said the memorial means a lot to the family members of the people who died.

“Through their loss, we have made friends for a lifetime," Hall said, describing the survivors as family.

Alex Gladden is a University of Arkansas graduate. She previously reported for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and The Jonesboro Sun before joining the Times Record. She can be contacted at agladden@swtimes.com.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Webbers Falls to gather for 20th anniversary of I-40 bridge tragedy