Oklahoma bridge collapse kills Dover Twp. native

By ANDREW BROMAN

Andrew Clements was en route to move his family to Virginia when he died in the collapse Sunday.

The last time Ronald Clements saw his son alive, neither had much time to talk because Andrew had a plane to catch in a few hours. He was bound for California and stayed at his father's house in Dover Township only a few minutes Friday morning before heading to a hotel to grab a few hours sleep.

He landed in California at 12:30 p.m. A few hours later, he picked up his German Shepherd, Ostar, at a kennel and aimed his Honda Odyssey east to cross the country again - this time to start a new life near Alexandria, Va.

By Sunday morning, he was on Interstate 40 near the eastern edge of Oklahoma when a barge slammed into the bridge he was driving on. The bridge collapsed, and he fell 62 feet into the Arkansas River and died. About a dozen vehicles fell in with people trapped inside. Thirteen deaths have been confirmed.

"What were the odds of something like that happening?" his father asked during an interview at his house Tuesday. Andrew Clements spent his first four years living in York Township. But he mostly lived with Ronald Clements' ex-wife, who was married to a military man and lived in a lot of places, including Germany and Puerto Rico.

Andrew's wife, Nicole, and their three kids didn't fly to California because the plan was for all five of them to meet in Virginia to close a deal on a new two-story house. The only reason they stopped by Ronald Clements' house Friday morning was to pick up a car her husband had shipped there and for her to use.

Every moving detail had been taken care of, Ronald Clements said. His son had even booked his hotel stops for Motel 6 because only it allowed pets. He called his wife Friday and Saturday to say everything was fine.

When Nicole didn't hear from him by Sunday evening, she called Ronald Clements. She heard about the bridge collapsing and knew her husband was taking that route.

Ronald Clements said he was watching a NASCAR race that day, was entertaining house guests and didn't think much about the bridge. If anything, he figured his son had been caught up trying to find a new route around the fallen bridge.

Good things had been happening to Andrew Clements, especially lately.

In Virginia, he would be buying military supplies at the U.S. Army Testing and Evaluating Command Center and taking on a more civilian-like lifestyle. It meant an end to moving spot to spot, from Oklahoma to Germany to California and now to Virginia.

A 1991 graduate of West Point, Andrew Clements has planned to be a career military man. In March, he received his master's degree in business, creating more avenues for himself. Next week, the captain would have been officially promoted to major, Ronald Clements said.

And the bigger house couldn't have come at a better time, because Nicole and Andrew Clements recently had a third child, 8-week-old Andrew. The others are Christina, 2, and Michael, 4.

"I would have wanted to see him more," Ronald Clements said of his son. "But we did the best that we could. We both understood that."

Ronald eventually married Doris, who saw Andrew Clements grow up. She said she's been thinking about his brief visit Friday morning.

"He said, 'I'll see you in two weeks,' " she said.

Then the two hugged, and he was gone.

Disbelief is what Ronald Clements is feeling, he said. An Oklahoma State Trooper called the family at 11:45 p.m. Sunday night, saying they had found Andrew Clements' briefcase, lap top and orders to report to Alexandria.

"They said they didn't have a body," he said. "But I think they had it. They just couldn't identify it." Dental records eventually confirmed his son's identity.

Nicole knew it was him because photos of his mashed Odyssey appeared on television. The car was hardly recognizable, Ronald Clements said, but a dog cage in the backseat gave it away.