Blind hero used “disability” to lead people to safety

Raymond Washburn, a blind man who was credited with helping rescue five people from the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, has died.

He was 75.

Washburn died Jan. 16 at his home in Oklahoma City.

Washburn owned and operated a snack bar on the building’s fourth floor when a truck bomb ripped through it on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people.

In an interview recorded for the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum, Washburn described how he led his customers and employee out of the building and how his ability to get around without seeing had been an advantage.