Rebecca Cryer

Rebecca Alice Cryer ( Schoemann; October 9, 1946 – September 29, 2020) was a Native American attorney, tribal officer, and Oklahoma judge who survived the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995.

Early life and education Born Rebecca Alice Schoemann in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Cryer was a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She was raised in the small town of Wanette, Oklahoma, where she met David Cryer while in high school; they married when she was 18. and served as the Tribal Administrator for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation from 1977 to 1978. Due to Cryer's injuries, her husband had to close his caramel corn shop at the Sooner Fashion Mall; he later worked in the clerk's office of the Cleveland County District Court.

In October 2015, Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma appointed Cryer Special District Judge of the Choctaw Nation District Court, where Cryer remained until her death.

Death Cryer contracted COVID-19 in September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma. Despite this, she continued working on cases from her hospital bed. She died a week before turning 74, and was survived by her husband and their two sons and one daughter. Following her death, flags were flown at half-staff across the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.