Victims of the 2002 Webbers Falls Bridge collapse remembered on Memorial Day

Robert Medley, Fort Smith Times Record
·3 min read

Just over 20 years ago, James Johnson, 30, of Lavaca was driving his family to the Tulsa Zoo for a Memorial Day weekend trip.

His daughter Shae and wife Misty were in the car as the neared the turnpike to head from Interstate 40 to Tulsa Sunday, May 26, 2002. They approached the Webbers Falls Bridge over the Arkansas River that morning.

Billie and Curtis Eppler and Andrea and baby Heidi visit the Webbers Falls Memorial Park monument Sunday, May 30 where they remembered the late James Johnson, brother of Billie Eppler, who died in the 2002 Webbers Falls Bridge collapse with Shae and Misty Johnson. The Johnsons were from Lavaca.
Billie and Curtis Eppler and Andrea and baby Heidi visit the Webbers Falls Memorial Park monument Sunday, May 30 where they remembered the late James Johnson, brother of Billie Eppler, who died in the 2002 Webbers Falls Bridge collapse with Shae and Misty Johnson. The Johnsons were from Lavaca.

A barge had struck an I-40 bridge column, and a section of the bridge collapsed into the river. The Johnsons vehicle and others went off the bridge into the water below.

Surviving family members of the 14 victims made the trek to the Webbers Falls for a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday two decades after the tragedy.

Billie Eppler of Alma is the sister of James Johnson who was at Webbers Falls Monday.

She said she lives with the memories of losing three family members among the 14 people who died. She talked about her late brother at Webbers Falls Monday.

"He (James) was amazing. Everybody loved him. He was very outdoorsy. He was just a great person in our area in our community. Everybody loved Jim," Eppler said.

Billie Eppler said she remembers, "disbelief," when she answered a telephone call from her mother 20 years ago about the tragedy at Webbers Falls.

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"It was a phone call from my mom asking me if I was okay. We were trying to catch them on their cellphones, (James and Misty Johnson) and just the unknown. We didn't find out for sure until Tuesday evening," Eppler recalls.

She said holidays are difficult, even two decades later.

"It's weird times that it hits you. It's holidays with my children, things like that. Watching my kids grow up and knowing that Shae was just a year and a half difference from my youngest daughter," Billie Eppler said.

Janette Barlow of Wimberley, Texas traveled to Webbers Falls Sunday to remember victim Gail Shanahan.

Janette Barlow of Wimberley, Texas, left, talked about Gail Shanahan who died in the Webbers Falls Bridge collapse in 20902. Former Mayor Jewell Hall, organizer of the memorial ceremony Monday, May 30, is on the right holding a program.
Janette Barlow of Wimberley, Texas, left, talked about Gail Shanahan who died in the Webbers Falls Bridge collapse in 20902. Former Mayor Jewell Hall, organizer of the memorial ceremony Monday, May 30, is on the right holding a program.

Shanahan, 49, of Stockdale, Texas, was a professional barrel racer and horse trainer who was returning home to Texas after a futurity competition in Fort Smith.

"She met the end of life at the bridge," Barlow said.

Webbers Falls Mayor John Pollard said the ceremony has been an important one this, especially since it was canceled the past two years due to COVID-19 and flooding in 2019.

Webbers Falls, Oklahoma Mayor John Pollard was a police officer when the Interstate 40 bridge collapsed May 26, 2002. Pollard spoke at the ceremony Monday, May 30, 2022 to remember the 14 victims who died.
Webbers Falls, Oklahoma Mayor John Pollard was a police officer when the Interstate 40 bridge collapsed May 26, 2002. Pollard spoke at the ceremony Monday, May 30, 2022 to remember the 14 victims who died.

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"I don't know if we will do this any more after this 20th anniversary," Pollard said. "We haven't decided for sure yet," Pollard said.

Pollard was on duty as a police officer in Webbers Falls when the bridge collapse. He saved lives by stopping traffic on the west side of the bridge on I-40.

"I was on duty that morning and I got a call right after it happened. I went out to one side of the bridge to try to keep more people from going off in it. I think if I had not went out there there would have been a lot more off in there," Pollard said.

Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol public information officer Chris West, who is the Canadian County, Oklahoma Sheriff today, remembered responding to the bridge disaster 20 years ago. West attended the Monday ceremony.

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Terri Angier, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Transportation when the bridge collapsed. She spoke at the ceremony Monday.

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Webbers Falls Bridge collapse victims remembered on Memorial Day