OKLAHOMA CITY: AFTER THE BOMB : Family, Federal Staff in Orange Keep Vigil

Peter Avillanoza considered calling in sick the day a deadly bomb exploded at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

But the former housing investigator in Orange, who less than a month ago began working as a director at the U.S. Housing and Urban Development offices in Oklahoma City, brushed aside his wife’s concerns about his health and went to work.

Now, Avillanoza, 56, is on the list of those missing in the rubble.

“I talked to him the night before the explosion, and he was kind of sick with the flu,” said Derek Avillanoza, his son. “My stepmom tried to talk him into staying home, but he didn’t listen.”

Now, Derek Avillanoza, 34, and other family members can only wait for word about the missing victims, hoping for a miracle.

“We’re not doing so good,” said Derek Avillanoza, who lives in Lompoc in Santa Barbara County and returned Monday from Oklahoma City, where he and other family members monitored search efforts. A brother, sister and his stepmother remained there Tuesday.

“Everybody’s just devastated and sad, but we’re not going to give up hope,” he said. “The hardest part is not knowing his fate.”

After working as a federal housing investigator for much of his career, Peter Avillanoza jumped at the chance to take a supervisorial position at HUD’s offices in Oklahoma City. He previously worked at HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office in Orange as a senior fair housing investigator involved in investigating discrimination cases.

“He was very excited to get promoted, but he was also sad to say goodby,” said Irving Himelblau, his former boss in Orange. “He had worked with the people from our office for many years. This was a big departure for him.”

Himelblau said Avillanoza’s former colleagues in Orange were devastated to learn that he was on the list of those missing after last week’s explosion.

“We first heard about it on the radio, and we were all taken aback because we knew Peter was there,” said Himelblau, a branch chief at the Office of Fair Housing’s compliance division. He has known Avillanoza for about 12 years.

“At first, we were hoping that the HUD offices were not located in that building, but then we learned that the HUD offices were in the front part of the building, the area that was most heavily damaged,” he said. “It’s a very somber mood over here. Every time we talk about it, we get very sad.”

Avillanoza, a father of six children, had been looking for a new home in Oklahoma City with his wife, Darlene. After a long career with the federal government, his job as a director of HUD’s program operations division offered him a welcome opportunity to supervise his own staff and create new programs.

“It was a big step for him because he had been an investigator for a long time,” Himelblau said. “It was a very good upgrade and considered a good promotion.”

Derek Avillanoza said his father had worked as a manager at federal prisons in Lompoc and Las Vegas before being hired by HUD in San Francisco many years ago. After working for HUD in Los Angeles and Orange, he transferred to the Hawaii office, where he was raised. He returned to Orange last fall, commuting each day from his Palmdale home.