Monterey Herald
Posted on Tue, May. 28, 2002
Local army captain dies in Oklahoma bridge collapse
By M. CRISTINA MEDINA
cmedina@montereyherald.com
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One of the 13 people killed in Sunday's Oklahoma bridge collapse was an Army captain and father of four who had recently graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Andrew Clements, 34, had finished packing up his Seaside home and was on his way to join his family and start a new job assignment in Virginia.
Clements was caught on an Interstate 40 bridge in Webbers Falls on Sunday when an out-of-control barge hit a bridge piling, causing a 500-foot span to collapse into the murky Arkansas River.
Nearly a dozen cars plunged into the river. Among the dead motorists were Clements, who was to have been promoted to major next week, and the family's German shepherd "Ostar." The family's new silver Honda Odyssey van was crushed and rendered nearly unrecognizable by the crash. The dog's travel carrier was perched atop remnants of the van, giving Clements' wife, Nicole, the first clue that her husband had been involved, family members told a hometown newspaper.
"I know he was looking forward to being in Virginia. They had just bought a new house. I know they were excited about their new life," said Jennifer Hall, an Ord Military Community neighbor whose son was a playmate of Clements' 4-year-old son, Michael. She had the family over for a goodbye dinner a week before the accident.
"This is shocking. It makes you realize that it could happen to anyone at anytime," said Hall, whose eyes welled with tears upon hearing of Clements' death.
Clements and his wife also have a 2-month-old son, Andrew, and two daughters, Christina, 2, and Alexandra Galbraith, 9.
The Clements family cleared out their spacious, one-story home with hardwood floors in the quiet military neighborhood last week. Clements pulled his step-daughter Alexandra out of school May 13 in preparation for the move back East.
Alexandra had said goodbye to her third-grade classmates at Marshall Elementary School in Seaside, where 85 percent of the student body are military dependents.
Word of the family's tragedy broke slowly at the school. The first tentative word came this morning when one of the office workers heard a partial listing of the bridge-collapse victims.
"She said, 'Andrew Clements, that sounds familiar. Isn't that Alexandra's dad?'" Marshall Principal Steve Rosson recounted later in the day, choking up. When it was confirmed, the news hit the school hard, Rosson said.
"He was the one in the family who came to all the parent conferences. He was a very nice man and Alexandra is a great little girl."
Clements, a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, had completed a two-year course, earning a master's degree in management at the Naval Postgraduate School, school officials confirmed today. Clements had orders to begin work next month at the U.S. Army Testing and Evaluations Command Center in Alexandria, Va., said Army spokeswoman Martha Rudd.
His father, Ronald Clements, told the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record that he was a buyer of military supplies. Clements lived with his father in York for nearly four years while growing up and spent most of his years with his mother and step-father - who was also in the military - in Germany and Puerto Rico.
"What were the odds of something like that happening?" Ronald Clements said of the accident in an interview today with the newspaper.
The week before his unexpected death was a busy one for Clements. He was overseeing the movers, making his family's travel arrangements and had just bought a two-story, custom-built home one hour south of Alexandria.
Clements flew his family to Pennsylvania, where the family's other car, a silver BMW, was waiting at his father's Dover Township home. He flew back to California the same day - on Friday - to pick up the van and the dog. He immediately set out on a cross-country trip to join his family and called his wife on Friday and Saturday. She never heard from him on Sunday.
The first indication the family had of Clement's death was a Sunday night call from Oklahoma state troopers to his father, saying that his son's briefcase, a laptop computer and his new military orders had been found in the water.
Clements' neighbors here found out the sad news today.
The last time his neighbor Tony Thompson saw him was a day or two before Clements left town with his family. Clements came over to borrow a broom and to say goodbye, Thompson said.
"Andrew was, in simple laymen's terms, a good guy, a family man, who was the type of person to help you even if he didn't know you," said Thompson, who lived next door and who would often see Clements jogging with the family dog. "He stayed close to home, he was just a good family man. It's very sad, it makes you think of all the things you take for granted, especially life itself," he said. "You never know when it's your time."
York Daily Record reporter Andrew Broman and Herald metro editor Royal Calkins contributed to this report.
M. Cristina Medina can be reached at 646-4436.
Posted on Tue, May. 28, 2002
Local army captain dies in Oklahoma bridge collapse
By M. CRISTINA MEDINA
cmedina@montereyherald.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of the 13 people killed in Sunday's Oklahoma bridge collapse was an Army captain and father of four who had recently graduated from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. Andrew Clements, 34, had finished packing up his Seaside home and was on his way to join his family and start a new job assignment in Virginia. Clements was caught on an Interstate 40 bridge in Webbers Falls on Sunday when an out-of-control barge hit a bridge piling, causing a 500-foot span to collapse into the murky Arkansas River.
Nearly a dozen cars plunged into the river. Among the dead motorists were Clements, who was to have been promoted to major next week, and the family's German shepherd "Ostar." The family's new silver Honda Odyssey van was crushed and rendered nearly unrecognizable by the crash. The dog's travel carrier was perched atop remnants of the van, giving Clements' wife, Nicole, the first clue that her husband had been involved, family members told a hometown newspaper.
"I know he was looking forward to being in Virginia. They had just bought a new house. I know they were excited about their new life," said Jennifer Hall, an Ord Military Community neighbor whose son was a playmate of Clements' 4-year-old son, Michael. She had the family over for a goodbye dinner a week before the accident.
"This is shocking. It makes you realize that it could happen to anyone at anytime," said Hall, whose eyes welled with tears upon hearing of Clements' death.
Clements and his wife also have a 2-month-old son, Andrew, and two daughters, Christina, 2, and Alexandra Galbraith, 9.
The Clements family cleared out their spacious, one-story home with hardwood floors in the quiet military neighborhood last week. Clements pulled his step-daughter Alexandra out of school May 13 in preparation for the move back East.
Alexandra had said goodbye to her third-grade classmates at Marshall Elementary School in Seaside, where 85 percent of the student body are military dependents.
Word of the family's tragedy broke slowly at the school. The first tentative word came this morning when one of the office workers heard a partial listing of the bridge-collapse victims.
"She said, 'Andrew Clements, that sounds familiar. Isn't that Alexandra's dad?'" Marshall Principal Steve Rosson recounted later in the day, choking up. When it was confirmed, the news hit the school hard, Rosson said.
"He was the one in the family who came to all the parent conferences. He was a very nice man and Alexandra is a great little girl."
Clements, a 1991 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, had completed a two-year course, earning a master's degree in management at the Naval Postgraduate School, school officials confirmed today. Clements had orders to begin work next month at the U.S. Army Testing and Evaluations Command Center in Alexandria, Va., said Army spokeswoman Martha Rudd.
His father, Ronald Clements, told the York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record that he was a buyer of military supplies. Clements lived with his father in York for nearly four years while growing up and spent most of his years with his mother and step-father - who was also in the military - in Germany and Puerto Rico.
"What were the odds of something like that happening?" Ronald Clements said of the accident in an interview today with the newspaper.
The week before his unexpected death was a busy one for Clements. He was overseeing the movers, making his family's travel arrangements and had just bought a two-story, custom-built home one hour south of Alexandria.
Clements flew his family to Pennsylvania, where the family's other car, a silver BMW, was waiting at his father's Dover Township home. He flew back to California the same day - on Friday - to pick up the van and the dog. He immediately set out on a cross-country trip to join his family and called his wife on Friday and Saturday. She never heard from him on Sunday.
The first indication the family had of Clement's death was a Sunday night call from Oklahoma state troopers to his father, saying that his son's briefcase, a laptop computer and his new military orders had been found in the water.
Clements' neighbors here found out the sad news today.
The last time his neighbor Tony Thompson saw him was a day or two before Clements left town with his family. Clements came over to borrow a broom and to say goodbye, Thompson said.
"Andrew was, in simple laymen's terms, a good guy, a family man, who was the type of person to help you even if he didn't know you," said Thompson, who lived next door and who would often see Clements jogging with the family dog. "He stayed close to home, he was just a good family man. It's very sad, it makes you think of all the things you take for granted, especially life itself," he said. "You never know when it's your time."
York Daily Record reporter Andrew Broman and Herald metro editor Royal Calkins contributed to this report.
M. Cristina Medina can be reached at 646-4436.