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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Georgia Smith
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Bunny Baker
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-01_Bunny_Baker.xml
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5.4 September 11, 2020 OHP-2020-01 Bunny Baker OHP-2020-01 0:00-92:19 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Bunny Baker Georgia Smith MP3 1:|56(4)|93(3)|114(7)|146(8)|177(18)|204(4)|223(15)|249(2)|264(6)|289(8)|307(13)|320(15)|349(5)|372(15)|400(4)|416(4)|434(2)|449(6)|480(5)|502(4)|521(12)|537(15)|561(2)|586(1)|604(15)|631(6)|653(12)|681(3)|694(11)|721(4)|757(4)|771(11)|791(11)|832(4)|845(12)|876(2)|899(14)|926(13)|951(4)|971(4)|993(8)|1024(8)|1048(11)|1058(6)|1072(8)|1089(5)|1102(16)|1127(13)|1143(5)|1170(11)|1195(8)|1216(5)|1247(7)|1270(4)|1290(16)|1318(18)|1340(4)|1361(19)|1380(1)|1405(10)|1425(6)|1446(2)|1463(9)|1475(12)|1497(12)|1511(7)|1523(18)|1535(12)|1553(6)|1569(13)|1598(12)|1618(3)|1642(13)|1656(1)|1674(7)|1695(9)|1709(2)|1726(13)|1745(15)|1771(3)|1794(4)|1807(3)|1823(6)|1850(11)|1881(13)|1917(4)|1932(7)|1950(4)|1973(3)|2005(2)|2033(2)|2058(4) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-2020-01 Bunny Baker.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family GS: Testing. There we go. Okay, Bunny, I’m going to sit this right here so it’ll pick you up good. Let me check the volume on it. Oh yeah, it’s up there. Okay. So. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project. The date is September 11, 2020 and I am sitting here with Bunny Baker at her house, who is going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name. BB: The real name? GS: The real name, Bunny. BB: Herpal (ph) A. Baker. GS: Okay. And where were you born? BB: Six miles south and a half mile west of Bristow Bobby Donald Dowdy ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bunny Baker ; Cathy Rae ; Cotton ; Donna Rae ; Dorothy Jean Dowdy ; Georgia Smith ; Herpal A. Baker ; Hester Mae Foster ; John Joseph Dowdy ; Junior Frank Dowdy ; Merle Baker ; Nonna Mae Dowdy ; Peanuts ; World War I https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26505461/hester-mae-dowdy Hester Mae Foster Dowdy https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131963626/william-frank-dowdy William Frank Dowdy https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102851520/dorothy-jean-sparkman Dorothy Jean Dowdy https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/131560745/john-j-dowdy John J Dowdy https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25859691/merle-tommy-baker Merle Tommy Baker 275 Early Childhood GS: Okay, now were’ gonna get into what it was like when you were a kid at home. Tell me about what life was like when you were a kid, as a young child living at your house BB: Well it was a riot GS: (Laughter) Of course it was BB: My mother was a disciplinary, disciplinary— GS: Disciplinarian BB: Yes, I can’t think of words. But she was a lady, but she would’ve been a wonderful children’s teacher GS: Uh-huh Missy Shepard ; Norma Mae ; riding the saw ; sorghum ; wood stove 796 Normal Means GS: Yeah you don’t want somebody riding the saw when you’re working. What are your—what are some of the normal means that you had? BB: Oh, we raised everything we ate, and mom was a wonderful cook and had on the small cabinets, she had—I don’t know. But we had cornbread and beans of course, but we had always had meat, we had always had pork and chicken. GS: Who did your butchering for ya? BB: We did it. GS: Did your mom butcher? BB: No, she ground the meat and the sausage. GS: But I mean as far as killing the animal and everything, who did that? barefoot ; basketball ; Buffalo Wallow ; cornmeal ; croquet ; grinder ; Hog Wallow ; hundred-pound sack of sugar ; moccasin ; overalls ; square dance club ; swinging parties ; Tibbons ; western heritage days 1403 Radios, TV, and Electricity GS: Do you remember the first time you heard a radio? BB: No not really GS: Did you have a radio in your house? BB: Yes, with a battery. And dad— they just listened to it for the news, except when Joe Louis (ph) was gonna fight and of course I loved anything tomboy, and so me and my dad would hear the Joe Louis fights and then mom led us— when the grand the Grand Ole Opry came into be on Saturday nights, she let us hear the Grand Ole Opry. Well then after that we would play Grand Ole Opry and that’s a hard hand taught me how to play the guitar when I was nine years old, and then we’d play like we were Grand Ole Opry and one by one I taught my brother John to play the guitar, and my sister she wasn’t very interested in it when I started playing the fiddle. Anyway, got them all together, and only two kids— two grandkids are following the music tradition and (Muffled noises) they’re good. Little John, he plays the fiddle really good. GS: Oh he does? Conasiny Tiger ; Grand Ole Opry ; Joe Louis ; Kerosene stove 1674 Early Family History GS: Okay you mentioned your grandfather earlier built the first school. Tell me about your grandparents. First tell me their names. BB: Well his name was Foster William, William— William Orange Foster (ph). He was from— shoot I can’t think of it. GS: That’s okay BB: But anyway, he and my grandmother were— my grandmother had lived up there when she was little, but they lived in Farmersville, Texas and they got married in Farmersville, Texas. My grandmother’s dad was in church and he picked her up in a buggy and they eloped. And then they wanted to come to Oklahoma, and they came in a covered wagon, and they stopped through Shawnee town, which no longer exists, but it was down somewhere near Shawnee. And he had a friend a mile west of Iron Post that ran— had a dairy, and the friend told him that he could work for him, so they lived in a dugout on the east side of their house till he could buy some land. And my grandfather bought— they had a, Indians had an auction and he bought land from the Indians and I can’t remember but it was, he didn’t pay much of anything, seemed like a dollar for ten acres [Indecipherable] Buffalo Wallow ; Farmersville, Texas ; Nettie Alice Foster ; Shawnee town ; William Orange Foster https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/26847106/nettie-a-foster Nettie Alice Foster 2010 School and Church GS: Oh. Okay, now we’re gonna— BB: [Indecipherable] GS: Now we’re gonna head off to school BB: Oh (Laughter) GS: Where did you go to school first? BB: Iron Post GS: Iron Post, and that was how many miles south of Bristow? BB: Would’ve been 7 miles south and a mile west. GS: Okay, who was your teacher? BB: Mrs. Howell (ph) 4H Club ; black school ; Bunny ; Duns cap ; Home Demonstration Club ; Iron Post ; Joe Isle ; Mrs. Bourget ; Mrs. Howell ; Pontiac ; Tibbons ; tin bucket ; white school 2561 Christmas GS: What were Christmases like as a child? BB: Oh, they were great! We didn’t have wrapping paper, we didn’t have money for it, you know. And we— seems like we got a dollar for— to buy with. But there’s a big joke there that if you can get jigsaw puzzles for a dollar, for 25cents, either 25cents or a nickel, I think it was 25cents, but there was all six of us to buy for, you know, and so we would— GS: I’s just checking making sure it’s still working, it is BB: We would buy our brothers Bob and John, they just hated jigsaw puzzles, but my sister and I we just loved to work them. So every Christmas we’d buy them a jigsaw puzzle, and well— to tell you what you wanted, you know. They, Tibbons, furnished a great big Christmas tree for the Iron Post school, and with the money we made off of putting on plays at Gypsy and Iron Post and whatever, they bought candy and they made they a sack for every family whose children went to school at Iron Post. It had an apple and an orange and package of gum and miscellaneous candy, and some nuts, it was real nice. GS: And it was one per family? Christmas ; jigsaw puzzles ; John Wayne ; Pie Suppers 2843 Medical Care GS: Okay we’re gonna skip now to medical care. BB: Uh-oh GS: What was medical care like when you were a kid? BB: Well there wasn’t any really. I broke my collarbone and didn’t go to the doctor, you can feel it. GS: Oh my word BB: When I was 19, I went to the doctor with the flu and he said “When did you break your collarbone?’ well I knew when I broke it but I didn’t tell him about it. ‘Ol Dr. King, his mother and my mother— my grandmother were good friends and he took care of us and every fall, he would mix up liniments and it was just his own secret and bring it out and it’d be a quart in a big bottle and mom called it horse liniments. That boy would cure your colds and whatever. GG: Wow BB: And he would bring his mother and leave her at my grandmother’s house so they could tear all the neighbors apart black powder ; Dr. King ; liniments ; medical care 3025 Businesses GS: Okay let’s skip now to Bristow, and we’re still in early childhood here, so what was Bristow like in your early childhood? Did you get to come to Bristow often? BB: We came on Saturdays a lot ‘cus we brought stuff— vegetables and stuff to the poor farm, and— GS: Did you sell them to the poor farm or give them to the poor far? BB: No we just gave them to the poor farm. But I know where the, it’s the dollar store on main street, what’s the name of that store? GS: Dollar General BB: Yeah Dollar General. Well around the corner, there was a bar and we would try to park across the street because every night there’d be a fight at the bar and they’d take it outside, you know. But we would sit in the car and watch the people go by or walk up and down the street and then we’d hope to see somebody we knew. dollar general ; dollar store ; feed sacks ; Hamburger King ; JC Pennys ; poor farm ; Strongs 3337 Jobs GS: What was your first job Bunny? BB: Piggly Wiggly Grocery store GS: Where was it? BB: It was on the west side of main street down from, it was in the block south of, can’t even think of what’s there now, sixth street or something. You know where the bank was. GS: Spirit or Community? BB: First National GS: Okay BB: On the corner of main street, it was down south of there. That was during my junior and senior year, and then I went on to work with Maxine Jenkins at Lions Café as a soda jerk. GS: Now just for generations that have never heard of soda jerk, what was a soda jerk? I know but let’s hear it explained candy building ; Community Bank ; First National Bank ; Johnny Horainy ; Lions Cafe ; Maxine Jenkins ; Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store ; soda jerk ; Spirit Bank ; typist ; Wanda Sanders 3733 Marriage and Western Heritage Days GS: Okay I wanna know about when you met Merle BB: I knew him all my life, I guess. They played, you know, music for the Pie Suppers and everything, so we’d go in and hear them GS: Was he from the Iron Post area also? BB: No he was from down by— well at first he was over on the east of Talaha (ph) [Indecipherable] GS: Okay BB: And then they moved to south of town, I think he went to school at Valentine maybe GS: Okay BB: And, but he— I don’t know they might have had a bus running from Gypsy down there, but I never knew him until he was, you know, he was in school at Gypsy. GS: So did he ask you out on a first date? Bunny ; chestcord ; Doy Cochran ; Francis Wrestler ; Gingham Dress ; Government Assistant Work Programs ; great depression ; J& ; J Cafe ; Kenneth Mann ; Mason Family ; Merle Tommy Baker ; Mr. Poston ; Pie Suppers ; Talaha ; Tibbons ; Western Heritage Days https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25859691/merle-tommy-baker Merle Tommy Baker 4810 Politics and Military Service GS: Do you remember any of the— I know you said none of your family worked for the WPA, but do you remember coming into Bristow when they maybe built the amphitheater or when Mrs. Roosevelt came and dedicated it in the building? BB: Well mom would bring us to town like there was somebody, Landon I think it was, ran for president. He’d come on the train and talk on the back of the train, and she would bring us to town to see those people, she was always very good with— GS: Political binded BB: Yeah political binded. But I don’t remember that GS: Okay, okay. BB: I might’ve come, but I don’t remember it. GS: She was [Indecipherable]. Was she involved in politics in any other way? BB: Well, I don’t know if she was always— she, there was a mayor Brong (ph). Anyway, she always came to their meetings, you know, she was always interested in the government, whatever was going on so I guess she was interested in politics. Alfred Dobson ; amphitheater ; Japanese ; marines ; Mayor Brong ; Mrs. Roosevelt ; Pearl Harbor ; Ration Book ; Tulsa World ; WASP ; womens sufferage ; World War II ; WPA ; WWII 5148 Biggest Impacts and Problems Today GS: That’s wonderful. What would you consider to be the most important inventions during your lifetime? BB: Wow so many GS: Yes, there are. There’s so many that have impacted life, it would be hard to pick just a few favorite. BB: Yeah, I guess most important would be the computers. But I don’t have one, don’t want one. I’ve gone this long, long time without one, don’t need one. GS: What event would you say influence the world the most during your lifetime? Event or events? BB: I would say World War II GS: Did you— were you aware during WWII of what Hitler was doing? BB: Yes, I kept up with the news. Mom insisted on a daily newspaper, so. GS: Oh, this is a loaded question ; how different is the world today than it was when you were a child? Bunny ; C. C. Wilson ; Caroline Webb ; CPA ; Hitler ; Johnny Simmons ; reporter ; WWII In this 2020 interview, Bunny Baker shares her experiences growing up in Bristow. She discusses family history, western heritage days, and shares many fun stories from her childhood through young adult life. Interviewer: Georgia Smith (GS) Interviewee: Bunny Baker (BB) Other Persons: Date of Interview: September 11, 2020 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. GS: Testing. There we go. Okay, Bunny, I' ; m going to sit this right here so it' ; ll pick you up good. Let me check the volume on it. Oh yeah, it' ; s up there. Okay. So. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Society' ; s ongoing oral history project. The date is September 11, 2020 and I am sitting here with Bunny Baker at her house, who is going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name. BB: The real name? GS: The real name, Bunny. BB: Herpal (ph) A. Baker. GS: Okay. And where were you born? BB: Six miles south and a half mile west of Bristow. [muffled sounds] GS: Sit that right there so it' ; ll get ya. Don' ; t touch anything on it, just--we' ; ll just let it sit right there, so. BB: Okay. GS: Yeah, ' ; cause I want to make sure it' ; s still recording. Yeah. So we' ; ll just sit it right there, and it' ; ll pick it up. It' ; s not gonna fall, I don' ; t think. I think you might' ; ve just told me, but I was paying attention to the recorder. Where were you born? BB: Six miles south and one mile west of Bristow. GS: In the family home? BB: Yes. GS: And what was your date of birth? BB: May the twenty-third, 1926. GS: Aww, how wonderful. What were your parents' ; names? We' ; ll start with your mother' ; s maiden name. BB: Hester Mae Foster. GS: Hester Mae Foster. And when were your parents married? BB: I don' ; t remember. GS: That' ; s okay. Do you know where they were married? BB: In--no, I don' ; t. GS: Okay, that' ; s alright too. Do you know--were they all, were they raised, born in this area or did they move in to this area? BB: They were born in this area. GS: Okay, alright. How many children did your parents have? BB: Six. GS: And what were your siblings' ; names? BB: Nonna (ph) Mae (ph)--you want the full name? Was Dowdy. Nonna (ph) Mae (ph) Dowdy. Junior Frank Dowdy. Herpal (ph) A. Baker. Dorothy Jean Bak--Baker. Oh, not Baker. GS: Dowdy. BB: Dowdy. And John Joseph Dowdy. And Bobby Donald Dowdy. GS: Okay. What work did your father do for a living? BB: He was a ninety-eight percent disabled World War I veteran. Before that, he was a barber. And then he was always in and out of the hospital. The rest of his life he was disabled. GS: Bless his heart. What about your mother? Did she work out at the home? BB: No, she worked in the home for everybody that came by. GS: So how did they get by if your dad-- BB: Well she drew a small oil check, her mother had five oil wells on her land, and she drew it. Of course you know, that oil. GS: ' ; Cause the government didn' ; t have disability back then, did they? BB: No no no, no. GS: Did he farm or anything? BB: Yeah we farmed. GS: Did you sell any of the produce? BB: Yes GS: At a farmer' ; s market or a little bench alongside the road or what? BB: No, just brought it to town. GS: What were some of the crops you sold? BB: Oh, peanuts, cotton, cotton first, then peanuts, and--so much of it like corn we used to grow on the farm GS: Oh BB: But we sold the peanuts and the cotton. GS: Okay. What was your spouse' ; s name? BB: Merle Baker (ph) GS: And what was the date you got married? BB: June the thirtieth, 1945 GS: Oh, right after the war or during the war? BB: Right after GS: Right after. How many children did you have? BB: None. GS: But you did adopt some? BB: Yes GS: What are their names? BB: Cathy Rae (ph) and Donna Rae (ph) GS: Okay, now were' ; gonna get into what it was like when you were a kid at home. Tell me about what life was like when you were a kid, as a young child living at your house BB: Well it was a riot GS: (Laughter) Of course it was BB: My mother was a disciplinary, disciplinary-- GS: Disciplinarian BB: Yes, I can' ; t think of words. But she was a lady, but she would' ; ve been a wonderful children' ; s teacher GS: Uh-huh BB: She punished you in such funny ways. She thought of things like--she said that on a moonlit night if you had been good enough, you could watch the fairies dancing on the east side of the house out on the lawn. Well, we had a bedroom with a window in the east side of the house. So every night when the moon shone, we' ; d gather at that window to look for fairies. GS: Oh how wonderful! BB: But we had to be good enough, if you weren' ; t good enough you couldn' ; t see the fairies. So every night after we couldn' ; t see the moon when we were younger, we' ; d swear we was gonna be better. And then she had another one if we got into trouble, she made us play on opposite sides of the house, that way you didn' ; t have anybody to play with. Oh she was something else, and she--we asked her where calves came from, and she said the old cows found them in the woods. Well we figured if a cow could find a calf we sure could. And that was her way, I now know, of getting us out of her hair. But we would spend hours out in the woods looking for calves. GS: It sounds like she was a pretty smart lady! BB: Yes, she was GS: Besides thinking outside the box BB: Yeah, yeah she' ; s-- GS: Very clever! BB: She had it all going, but if you didn' ; t behave you was in trouble. We found out early that she could run faster than we could then you got a whoopin' ; for running. And we were punished with peach tree limbs and we had to get our own switches, they were switches, but if you got one too big then you got--you know, on purpose, you got two switches instead of one. And girls wore dresses and it stung like crazy. You didn' ; t ask for that very much. GS: Oh I' ; m sure not, I' ; m sure not. Who was the oldest child in your family? BB: Norma Mae [Inaudible] GS: And where did you fall in there, Bunny? BB: In the middle, naturally. GS: In the middle, of course. So what are some of the things--chores that you had to do when you were a kid? BB: Well milk, feed the hogs, feed the chickens, feed the cows, anything outside, I worked outside with my big brother ' ; cause dad wasn' ; t there. He' ; s--I didn' ; t remember my dad until I was probably a young teenager because he was in the Hospital, [Indecipherable] hospital, and then [Indecipherable] for years GS: Oh, how sad. BB: And then as he' ; d go back, he' ; d--he could just, later he could come home maybe for a week or two, but then he' ; d have to go back. But he suffered from the [Indecipherable] GS: Aw, I' ; m so sorry. That' ; s sad Bunny. BB: Yeah, like he couldn' ; t--if he was home, we had to cool our own lamps, and somebody had to fill the lamp every evening because the bowl would hold enough cooler oil for the night, but if he woke up during the night and it was dark, he would see Germans and stuff. GS: Aw, we just don' ; t know how thankful we are to-- BB: Boy that' ; s right GS: Not have had to go through that. What kind of house did you live in? BB: Well it was just a wooden house, it had three rooms then dad built on a small room for [Indecipherable] because--so she could have a room to herself. So it was, I guess a four room house. GS: And this was still six miles south? BB: Right. GS: Did the kids have to share beds? BB: Oh yeah, three to a bed (Laughter) GS: What were your favorite toys as a child? BB: I don' ; t know, we played house we just did everything. GS: Did you make most of your toys or did you have store bought toys or? BB: We didn' ; t have many store bought toys. We played house, like we played house with broken dishes, pieces of broken dishes. And we played hopscotch, my brother had a pocket knife and you' ; d throw that--we played marbles, tin can shinny, and you saved your--we very seldom got ahold of a tin can, but when you did you saved it to play hockey with. Then you' ; d play hockey with the tin can and you' ; ve got sticks out in the woods to hit it with. GS: How fun! Out in the pasture probably BB: Yeah GS: Okay you' ; ve kinda already told me this, but if--case it triggers anything else, it says " ; What role did your mother play in the home?" ; BB: Well she was the boss. GS: And she was pretty much everything. She was the provider wasn' ; t she? BB: She was everything GS: Cause with your dad being off in a hospital, she had to shoulder it all. Did she get any help from relatives? BB: Once in a while when she was--no from relatives, but we didn' ; t have any relative around there, but when she was pregnant, or just had a baby, she would hire Missy Shepard (ph), a black lady, who lived down at the depot and she would iron for mom till some of us got older, you know. And then Bill and I, my brother, we did ever except when it was harvest time, she would hire somebody to help us, you know. Well we didn' ; t--we made some molasses, Bill and I did all of that except that' ; s why John got attached to horses because we had to ride the horse turn the table, you know. GS: So did you grow your own sorghum? BB: Oh yes, and he used to love to ride the horses, he' ; s just about three years old, and that' ; s why he loved horses. But we bailed our own hay, we got people that had machines would loan them and they would loan us their hay bailer and it was scary because I put the hay in the trolley, whatever it was, and Bill put the blocks in, and you had to put enough hay in there for a block. And if you got caught in there, some people got damaged getting caught. And a horse turned that too and it just kept going, and you didn' ; t get your hand out in time you' ; re in big trouble. GS: Yeah that would be scary work. You had to stay on top of things and not goof off BB: Nope GS: What kind of stove did your mom cook on? BB: A big wood stove, wood cook stoves had a warming place on the right side and then--what' ; s the other one for? GS: Burners BB: Burners GS: Did you and your brothers have to take care of getting the wood for the stove? BB: Absolutely, we cut wood and we got and we got into more fights for accusing each other for riding the saw GS: (Laughter) Now what does it mean by ' ; riding the saw' ; ? BB: Well, he' ; s on one end it, you' ; re on the other. GS: Uh-huh BB: And if you don' ; t do your part ; the other guy has to do the part. GS: I see, I see. BB: You get kinda slow or lazy, you' ; d be riding the saw. GS: Yeah you don' ; t want somebody riding the saw when you' ; re working. What are your--what are some of the normal means that you had? BB: Oh, we raised everything we ate, and mom was a wonderful cook and had on the small cabinets, she had--I don' ; t know. But we had cornbread and beans of course, but we had always had meat, we had always had pork and chicken. GS: Who did your butchering for ya? BB: We did it. GS: Did your mom butcher? BB: No, she ground the meat and the sausage. GS: But I mean as far as killing the animal and everything, who did that? BB: Well usually a hard man, what you did you put the hog in a pen by himself to fatten him up before you get read to kill him. Somebody went and got a big sheet of tin, and then we fed him and when he had his head down, this guy would hit him in the head with a sledgehammer to kinda knock him out, and while he was not doing-- then somebody else jumped on his back and cut his throat, and then we let him bleed out and then put him on the sheet and took him to the house where people had already got their water in the-- boiling, wash the kettle, and dug a hole in the ground and buried half of the barrel, you put the water in the barrel and just get all the hair off of it. And you know, I never could-- and then you start scraping the hair off of it and pull it out of the barrel and scrape the hair off of him--but I never could do the head because those eyes would be looking at you weird GS: Oh yeah that' ; d be hard BB: I couldn' ; t do the head GS: That would sure be hard. Okay now you mentioned before we started the interview about a hog wallow, what is a hog wallow? BB: No just a wallow GS: Oh, just a wallow. BB: Yeah GS: Okay, what' ; s a wallow? BB: It' ; s a buffalo wallow. GS: Okay BB: There' ; s one, I guess it' ; s still out there, but when I was a kid, it was on the west side of the barn out in the pasture. And it was completely-- absolutely round, and it was-- I don' ; t know how big, big enough for a buffalo. And it wasn' ; t but about maybe four inches or maybe six inches deep, it wasn' ; t very deep at all. But the bottom of it was coal black, and nothing grew in it, not one weed grew in it. GS: Wow BB: And so I asked my grandmother about it, and she said that black was the oil off of buffalo hides where they would rub [Inaudible] GS: Oh my goodness, really? BB: Yeah, and when I was a teenager, I went over there, might have been after I was married, but anyway I was over and there were a few springs of grass growing through it for the first time, and I don' ; t know what it looks like now but like I said, about two weeks later I thought about writing that for an article in the paper about two-- and I thought well nobody will believe it ' ; cause nobody heard of that-- of a buffalo wallow. And so I saw a buffalo heard on the news and it showed this hog, this-- buffalo and a hog and a buffalo wallow and it was doing just like my grandmother said it was even rubbing its heads and just rubbing and turnin' ; over and just rubbing all of its body in that. GS: I' ; ve never heard of such a thing, that' ; s really interesting BB: Well I saw it so-- but I believe my grandmother saw it, you know, she saw a bunch of those. And-- but I didn' ; t figure anybody else would believe it, and I couldn' ; t prove anything so. GS: But there it was in a movie so evidently other people have seen it BB: [Inaudible] GS: Did you shop for groceries? You said most of the food you grew on your own farm, but I' ; m sure there' ; s some stuff that you bought. BB: In the fall mom bought a hundred-pound sack of sugar and that had to last us all winter GS: Wow BB: And to the next summer, ' ; bout a year I guess. And when we ran out of [Indecipherable], well we made our own meal when we needed meal dad would, when he was home, he wasn' ; t-- me and my brother would fix mom up with a sack of corn, we' ; d grind out corn and then send it in and they' ; d grind it into cornmeal GS: And you had a grinder to do that with? BB: Yeah GS: Did you have to turn it manually or with a horse or? BB: Yeah, no no no. GS: Manually? BB: It was- you put your corn in your thing like this and-- GS: So it was a small handheld type grinder BB: Yeah not-- not small but it was a grinder. GS: Okay, okay. And you' ; ve told me mostly about daily chores I think. So-- and you' ; ve owned livestock and you did your butchering so we got that. What kind of clothes did you wear? BB: Well, we got a new dress for Easter, and mom made the rest of our clothes. And, ' ; course I wore-- my brother would outgrow his overalls so I' ; d take them GS: Yeah BB: ' ; Cus I was always outside all the time, and-- GS: Were you a tomboy Bunny? BB: I was a boy GS: (Laughter) BB: I just filled the place of a boy GS: Uh-huh BB: And I was never in the house except the evening-- or asleep GS: What about your sister, did she do housework or outside work? BB: No, my oldest sister, she was such a lady and one-time mom told us she thought she was-- I was already milking, I started milking I think like six or seven years old, and she told us she-- maybe you should go to the barn and help you know, and so she took off for the barn, she came back to the house crying, and mom asked her what was wrong and she said " ; That old cow looked at me" ; GS: (Laughter) BB: I never saw her anywhere near the barn after that. GS: I love that, what about shoes? Did you wear shoes all the time or did you go barefoot a lot? BB: We went barefoot a lot, but we-- we bought shoes in the fall for school, but if you outgrew ' ; em you' ; re in trouble. And then by high school, I had some kind of moccasin type, and I know my heels hung out about that far out of the back ' ; cause I, you know, outgrown them GS: Yup, yeah. And that probably wasn' ; t unusual, you probably didn' ; t stick out that way BB: Oh everybody else was- GS: Was in the same boat, weren' ; t they? BB: Yeah GS: What about friends? Who did you play with? BB: Oh, uh Tibbons had an oil lease about half a mile from our house, half a mile south. And my grandfather built the first tool house a mile south of iron post, and it was of logs and it burned down, ' ; course they burned wood for heat. And then they built one of boards, and then when Tibbons got this oil, they built a brick schoolhouse down there, and they had a croquet court on this lease, it was sixteen families there at one time. GS: Oh my. BB: And they had a flaming torch all the time, and so we kids would go over there and play until after it got dark, went and got dark, you know. But I just had plenty of things to play with. GS: What were some of your favorite games that y' ; all played? I think you kinda talked to me about that earlier already. BB: Oh, well when I got to be in the seventh-- eighth grade or something, they had-- they called it swinging parties, and it was really square dancing but we didn' ; t know it GS: Oh okay! BB: But you-- everybody sang the songs and it was really square dancing, but I didn' ; t realize that until after I was married and joined the square dance club. But it was swinging parties and we played those, and we played croquet and basketball and-- GS: Did you join the square dance club that was in Bristow? BB: Yeah GS: What years were you in that? BB: Oh it was the year of the first western heritage days, and I don' ; t remember when that was GS: 50' ; s or 60' ; s? BB: No, it wasn' ; t in the 60' ; s I think. I' ; d say in the 40' ; s GS: Oh really? BB: Well seems like I was-- I don' ; t know how old I' ; d be. GS: That' ; s okay, that' ; s okay. Let' ; s see. BB: With the round up club they had, you know, square dancing. After the rodeos and all GS: Oh how fun BB: Yeah, we had a lot of fun GS: Do you remember the first time you heard a radio? BB: No not really GS: Did you have a radio in your house? BB: Yes, with a battery. And dad-- they just listened to it for the news, except when Joe Louis (ph) was gonna fight and of course I loved anything tomboy, and so me and my dad would hear the Joe Louis fights and then mom led us-- when the grand the Grand Ole Opry came into be on Saturday nights, she let us hear the Grand Ole Opry. Well then after that we would play Grand Ole Opry and that' ; s a hard hand taught me how to play the guitar when I was nine years old, and then we' ; d play like we were Grand Ole Opry and one by one I taught my brother John to play the guitar, and my sister she wasn' ; t very interested in it when I started playing the fiddle. Anyway, got them all together, and only two kids-- two grandkids are following the music tradition and (Muffled noises) they' ; re good. Little John, he plays the fiddle really good. GS: Oh he does? BB: And little Joe, Bobby' ; s boy, he plays the guitar and he plays with a band occasionally GS: Well how wonderful. And so you play? BB: Yeah I learned to play everything. And I keep thinking I' ; ll take time to learn to play the piano, that' ; s all I think I could handle. Playing guitar and all that you' ; ve got to build calluses on your hand GS: I' ; ve tried, it' ; s not pleasant BB: No it takes time to build that. Well this finger used to be, it' ; s still kind of lopsided GS: Yeah BB: Because of a callus on it. But I' ; ve still got all kinds of musical instruments in there, but what I' ; m gonna do is [Indecipherable]. But I' ; d love to have time to-- GS: Mess with them BB: At least play the piano better [Inaudible] GS: What about a TV, do you remember the first TV you saw? BB: Not really GS: Do you remember the first TV you watched in the house when your family got a TV or when you got a TV? BB: My family never had a TV, they didn' ; t even have running water or electricity or anything else. Yeah, it was accurate I guess, we built our house without a television, so GS: So you say you didn' ; t have running water, did you have a well and you had to haul the water or did you have a pump outside that you hauled it from? BB: We had a well with a bucket, and that was my job to draw the wash water every Monday GS: Oh my! BB: And I had a twenty-one-inch waist, and I think that' ; s why because pulling on that rope, you know. GS: Yup BB: But we had that for a long time, then we got a pump. And we-- I don' ; t know when we got, I don' ; t remember when we got electricity. Mom finally got a kerosene stove GS: Now when I did another interview of the Indian lady, Conasiny (ph) Tiger BB: [Indecipherable] that' ; s what we called her GS: Okay, which means grandmother BB: Mhm GS: She said that when I interviewed about Conasiny (ph), she said that her grandmother was the first to have electricity taken out there so that might be maybe when your family got electricity. BB: It was after we were married GS: Yeah, ok. BB: Yeah I' ; ll tell you something about Conasiny (ph), my mother went to school with her children GS: Okay! BB: And she' ; s-- I won' ; t tell you that because [Inaudible] but anyway, Bill in 44' ; died. He was some kind of a chief I guess, I can' ; t remember. But they just lived through the woods from us, and they celebrated his funeral a week, and all night every night beating the drums and yelling and stuff, and us kids were scared stiff. GS: ' ; Cus you had never heard that before, had you? BB: Well no you could hear them through the woods and we could-- GS: Your imaginations ran wild, didn' ; t they? BB: Yeah, it was wild. GS: Okay you mentioned your grandfather earlier built the first school. Tell me about your grandparents. First tell me their names. BB: Well his name was Foster William, William-- William Orange Foster (ph). He was from-- shoot I can' ; t think of it. GS: That' ; s okay BB: But anyway, he and my grandmother were-- my grandmother had lived up there when she was little, but they lived in Farmersville, Texas and they got married in Farmersville, Texas. My grandmother' ; s dad was in church and he picked her up in a buggy and they eloped. And then they wanted to come to Oklahoma, and they came in a covered wagon, and they stopped through Shawnee town, which no longer exists, but it was down somewhere near Shawnee. And he had a friend a mile west of Iron Post that ran-- had a dairy, and the friend told him that he could work for him, so they lived in a dugout on the east side of their house till he could buy some land. And my grandfather bought-- they had a, Indians had an auction and he bought land from the Indians and I can' ; t remember but it was, he didn' ; t pay much of anything, seemed like a dollar for ten acres [Indecipherable] GS: Wow BB: Bought forty-five, a forty acres we added on the five acres. And that was next to the [Indecipherable] place, and-- GS: Who is Conasiny Tiger, right? BB: Yeah, but we always called her that, you know GS: Uh-huh BB: And that-- it connected her land and that' ; s where my grandmother got the five oil wells. GS: Woah, okay BB: Yeah [Indecipherable] was the richest person in the country GS: Yeah, that' ; s what I' ; ve heard. So what was your grandmothers full name with her maiden name, if you know. BB: Yeah it was Nettie Alice Foster GS: Okay, do you know what her maiden name was? BB: Foster GS: Well she married a Foster BB: Yeah GS: But her maiden name was Foster too? BB: Yes GS: Okay. Do you have any memory of your great grandparents? BB: No GS: Yeah BB: My grandmother would be 145 or 46 years old, she was-- GS: Long time ago BB: Yeah GS: Who' ; s the oldest person in your family that you can remember from when you were a little kid? BB: My grandmother Foster GS: Okay, and do you have any special memories about your grandmother Foster that we haven' ; t mentioned already? BB: Oh yeah, well I would do my chores, she-- her husband, she married a man older than her, he was-- died at 42 I think. And she lived by herself out there half a mile east of us, and I would do my chores of a night and eat my supper and then I' ; d walk to her house a half a mile and spent the night with her, and then walked back the next morning, do my chores then go to school, you know. But I was with her so much and she' ; s the one that' ; s told me so many tales about the Buffalo wallow and all this-and-that and she had a real interesting life. GS: Do you remember how-- how so it was interesting? I mean-- BB: Well yeah, she loved-- that' ; s where I got my love of flowers I guess because she didn' ; t allow a weed to grow in her entire yard, it was rows of flowers GS: Wow BB: And you weren' ; t allowed to play in her yard, you could play in the driveway, that was the only place you could play. But we would work outside and feed the chickens and do chores and everything and then in the evening when it was still clear outside, she always had a quilt out and she taught me to quilt when I was just a kid. GS: Wonderful! BB: And we would quilt till the night, and I' ; ve got one of her quilts she gave me for a wedding gift, and her son-- abacko (ph)-- tobacco used to come in little bags and men had to roll their own cigarettes GS: Uh-huh BB: And her son smoked cigarettes. She saved those little tobacco sacks and she washed them and then she dyed them and she made quilts out of them GS: Well how wonderful! BB: And I' ; ve got a quilt that she gave me for my-- I don' ; t know how old it was when she gave it to me for my wedding gift, but it' ; s made out of pink and something-- anyways got pink squares. She cut the sacks into patterns, you know, and then we would save our best cleanest cotton for her to-- to pad her quilts with. So it' ; s padded with homemade cotton GS: Wow BB: And I' ; ve still got it. GS: Oh, that is so wonderful! So special! BB: I' ; m thinking of giving it to the museum GS: Oh isn' ; t there a-- I mean as much as we would love to have it, isn' ; t there a family member that it should go to? BB: No I' ; m the only one that sews so-- GS: Oh. Okay, now we' ; re gonna-- BB: [Indecipherable] GS: Now we' ; re gonna head off to school BB: Oh (Laughter) GS: Where did you go to school first? BB: Iron Post GS: Iron Post, and that was how many miles south of Bristow? BB: Would' ; ve been 7 miles south and a mile west. GS: Okay, who was your teacher? BB: Mrs. Howell (ph) GS: And did you go to first grade there and all through high school? BB: No through the 8th grade, and that' ; s as far as it went. But I' ; ll tell you about my first day in school. Mrs. Howell is so sweet, and you came in the door and she would greet you and then assign you a seat, and of course we knew better than to, you know, get out of line GS: Oh yeah BB: But there was a boy, I won' ; t tell you his name because he' ; s got kin folks living here. But he was-- his family was a real rough family, and the boys had two older brothers and they just came to school to fight and cause trouble. Well he strolled in one morning whistling, you didn' ; t whistle then or talk out loud period without permission. He strolled in whistling and Mrs. Howell asked him, says " ; Good morning Bobby" ; she says " ; How are you this morning?" ; " ; Fine" ; she says " ; Bobby do you know your ABC' ; s?" ; he says " ; Hell no, how you expect me to know em, I just now got here" ; GS: Ohh! BB: And he later became a mayor of some little town in California GS: (Laughter) Oh, that' ; s a good story. BB: Scared me to death, I thought ' ; man he' ; s gonna get it' ; GS: Did he get it? BB: No, he didn' ; t. That was the first day of school, she was good to everybody I guess GS: Did-- did all the different ages go to school in the same room-- BB: No GS: Or were there grade levels? BB: There was a first and second graders and-- I think it was first, second, and third. Anyway, fourth and fifth and a sixth, seventh, and eighth. GS: Okay, so they did have them separated a little bit by levels BB: Yeah, three different rooms [Inaudible] GS: Okay BB: And we-- when before school started, everybody gathered out in front of the school house on a wall sort of, and we saluted the flag and we had the Lord' ; s prayer GS: How wonderful BB: And uh-- GS: That' ; s good. How many hours did you go to school? BB: I think it was from 9 -- 4 GS: Ooh, okay. And did you walk there or? BB: No we walked unless it was raining and then mom would take us. GS: And how-- what would she take you in? BB: The government gave the veterans-- the WWI veterans a bonus, and it was either six or eight hundred dollars, and they bought a new Pontiac, which was-- GS: Oh how wonderful! BB: [Indecipherable] GS: Was that a wooden building or brick or-- what kind of building was it? BB: It was brick GS: Okay, did they have any clubs or organizations or anything there? It' ; s awfully small BB: Yeah, we had 4H club GS: Okay BB: And the women had a Home Demonstration Club I think they called it GS: Did you go to any of those? BB: To the 4H club GS: I figured that, okay. Did they use the school for anything else like church or anything? BB: We had Sun-- my mom and Mrs. Bourget had Sunday School every Sunday, but we didn' ; t have church often, just when we could find a preacher. And the girl that married Joe Isle (ph) the last time GS: Uh-huh BB: Her dad was a preacher and when she was a little girl, they had several kids and they always came to our house for dinner and how mom made dinner for so many people and what she had to cook, I don' ; t know. But we had that-- but we put on plays every so often to raise money for Christmas GS: Oh, uh-huh BB: And-- and I know I was always part of it, and I think I can remember a poem I was supposed to say and then I was supposed to bow and of course everything was boards, and I think the poem that said " ; My momma' ; s little girl, don' ; t you think I' ; m sweet? Something--" ; and then I was supposed to bow and I bowed too hard and nearly broke my knee GS: (Laughter) You' ; re always doing something Bunny BB: Lemme turn on the air conditioner, I don' ; t have it on GS: Oh okay BB: Hold on a minute GS: Do I need to move that seat? BB: No GS: There we go ; there we' ; re running now. Okay I' ; ll sit it right back here and we' ; ll finish. We-- we took a break to turn the air conditioning on, but we' ; re back now. And we were talking about school, did your mom pack a lunch for you? BB: Yes, that' ; s the only-- I didn' ; t-- I didn' ; t taste homemade bread till I was in the 8th grade GS: Wow BB: Yeah, we had-- we had a sixteen-pound lard bucket, or was it-- was it that eight pound? It would' ; ve had to be an eight pound, big ol' ; tin bucket. And we all put our lunches in that, and bless our hearts she' ; d send a napkin, you know, mom was kind of proper GS: Aw BB: And we had biscuit sandwiches and we had sausage sandwiches and we had ham sandwiches and we had a big orchard and we always had a piece of fruit, but we-- she never-- we never had sweets except on Sunday. She would bake cakes and pie on Sundays. GS: Well that sugar had to last all year BB: Yeah, that' ; s right. But this girl, her dad worked for Tibbons and they had money, you know, and she would bring sandwiches with store bought bread and she wanted-- everybody loved the biscuit sandwiches and so she traded with me one day, and that' ; s the first time I tasted that. But there was one family that they had a huge orchard and all they brought was fried pies. They didn' ; t have money for anything else GS: They ate fried pies for lunch? BB: Mhm, but they didn' ; t always do that because a bunch of us was anxious to trade GS: Yeah well sure you were! BB: Yeah, hey and later they started a program, the government furnishing food for kids, you know, and I still got my tin cup, we-- each kind had a tin cup and you had to bring your own spoon and that' ; s what you got, a tin cup full of stuff, macaroni and tomatoes, I never will eat any more of those. GS: (Laughter) BB: And soup, but whatever was in that tin cup is what you got. GS: Wow BB: The boys could get seconds, but the girls couldn' ; t GS: That' ; s just not fair BB: Well, and we had-- we had a drinking water bucket set in the corner in the hallway where everybody could have access to it and we all drank out of the same [Indecipherable] GS: This isn' ; t on my list, but did you have any other cultural people attend your school, or was it a strictly a white school? BB: It was a white school. There was a black school just about a mile and a half east of us. GS: Do you remember the name of the black school? BB: No GS: That' ; s okay, we' ; ve been talking about the schools lately BB: Well I' ; ve got it down someplace because I knew all the people. GS: Was your teacher very strict? BB: Yes GS: What would happen if you misbehaved, what would she do? BB: Well she' ; d send you to the office and you' ; d get a whoopin' ; , or if it wasn' ; t very bad you' ; d have to stand in the corner with your whole-- stand in the corner or at the black board with your nose in the hole, or sit on the stool in the corner. GS: Okay, did you-- did they have a Duns cap? BB: Yeah GS: Did they really? BB: Yeah. GS: Wow. Okay did you-- you already talked about your mom had Sunday school in the school building, did they attend church anywhere else when you were a child? BB: No, and I taught my first Sunday school lesson when I was sixteen, taught the first graders GS: In that school building? BB: At Iron Post, yeah. GS: What were Christmases like as a child? BB: Oh, they were great! We didn' ; t have wrapping paper, we didn' ; t have money for it, you know. And we-- seems like we got a dollar for-- to buy with. But there' ; s a big joke there that if you can get jigsaw puzzles for a dollar, for 25cents, either 25cents or a nickel, I think it was 25cents, but there was all six of us to buy for, you know, and so we would-- GS: I' ; s just checking making sure it' ; s still working, it is BB: We would buy our brothers Bob and John, they just hated jigsaw puzzles, but my sister and I we just loved to work them. So every Christmas we' ; d buy them a jigsaw puzzle, and well-- to tell you what you wanted, you know. They, Tibbons, furnished a great big Christmas tree for the Iron Post school, and with the money we made off of putting on plays at Gypsy and Iron Post and whatever, they bought candy and they made they a sack for every family whose children went to school at Iron Post. It had an apple and an orange and package of gum and miscellaneous candy, and some nuts, it was real nice. GS: And it was one per family? BB: No, it was each child GS: Oh okay BB: Oh yeah we looked forward to that, but nobody wrapped their gifts and-- oh and we had Pie Suppers to raise money for Christmas too. But they put them in and under the Christmas tree, well every year me and my sister we got dolls, I still got my dolls that I got when I was 12 years old. GS: Aw BB: Mine would have blue dress and Peggy' ; s would have a pink dress, and the boys got guns and I wanted a gun so bad GS: I figured that (Laughter) BB: But I never did get one, like I said 12 years old got a-- we were still playing with dolls, you know, 12 years old. But when mom made the boys play with us half the day and the girls the other half of day, play house-- girls games and vice versa, so I got to use the guns, you know, half hour of the day. Oh and back to the puzzles, the boys hated them and we loved to work them and my brother John died at 75 I think it was and I bought him a puzzle every year, for him and Bob both for Christmas and then Bob would just get so mad after he got about, oh 18 years old or something, he would-- he' ; s gonna throw it in the trash and then he learned I was putting money and stuff in it. But this year was Bobs birthday in March and he hasn' ; t been here, but he loved John Wayne and I ordered a book of John Wayne and his life, and he came home and I found a puzzle box that the book would just fit in and I wrapped it and then I gift wrapped it real nice, and he hasn' ; t been here yet, he' ; s coming Saturday and he' ; ll get his Christmas present GS: (Laughter) BB: And when he unwraps that and sees it' ; s a puzzle, he' ; ll give me the dirtiest look GS: Surely he' ; ll know you' ; ve got something else inside of it BB: He' ; ll see that box, puzzle box and he' ; ll just know he got another puzzle GS: I love that ; I just love that. Do you remember going to any weddings when you were younger? BB: No GS: Okay we' ; re gonna skip now to medical care. BB: Uh-oh GS: What was medical care like when you were a kid? BB: Well there wasn' ; t any really. I broke my collarbone and didn' ; t go to the doctor, you can feel it. GS: Oh my word BB: When I was 19, I went to the doctor with the flu and he said " ; When did you break your collarbone?' ; well I knew when I broke it but I didn' ; t tell him about it. ' ; Ol Dr. King, his mother and my mother-- my grandmother were good friends and he took care of us and every fall, he would mix up liniments and it was just his own secret and bring it out and it' ; d be a quart in a big bottle and mom called it horse liniments. That boy would cure your colds and whatever. GG: Wow BB: And he would bring his mother and leave her at my grandmother' ; s house so they could tear all the neighbors apart GS: Do you remember his black powder that he used to give people? BB: Oh well I had-- I was-- it was actually, we were married and I was in Texas and I had a goiter and they wanted to operate and I said " ; No I' ; ll, I' ; d rather see my doctor at home" ; and I-- and he gave me, I' ; ve still got it, but a little compact about that big that' ; s full of something sad, but looked just like axel grease, black. And he said " ; Lay down, rub this on that place on your neck and stay there for an hour" ; that was during the noon hour, " ; And do get up, just lay there" ; and I said Ok, and it just got rid of it. GS: Wow BB: It was his own mixture, and I talked to his nurse later and I did his books and one time we visited, like one time I asked him, I said " ; How come you been married so many times Dr. King?" ; He says " ; Well, my daddy said it wasn' ; t meant for man to live alone, and I believe him" ; He was a mess, he was a sweetheart GS: I went to Dr. King when I was little BB: Really? I just came across a clipping of, I' ; m gonna see if they' ; ll put it in the paper about old time doctors and it' ; s about him GS: Oh yeah, we need that! BB: It' ; s real interesting, it' ; s real interesting GS: Yeah BB: The buggy, horse and buggy doctor or something but it' ; s the title GS: How wonderful BB: He was a great old man, you couldn' ; t read his writing GS: And the women usually gave birth at home, didn' ; t they? BB: Yes [Inaudible] GS: Were you ever hospitalized? I don' ; t think you were-- BB: Not that I remember GS: Since you broke your collarbone and didn' ; t get it fixed BB: No not until after I got married, or you know. GS: Okay let' ; s skip now to Bristow, and we' ; re still in early childhood here, so what was Bristow like in your early childhood? Did you get to come to Bristow often? BB: We came on Saturdays a lot ' ; cus we brought stuff-- vegetables and stuff to the poor farm, and-- GS: Did you sell them to the poor farm or give them to the poor far? BB: No we just gave them to the poor farm. But I know where the, it' ; s the dollar store on main street, what' ; s the name of that store? GS: Dollar General BB: Yeah Dollar General. Well around the corner, there was a bar and we would try to park across the street because every night there' ; d be a fight at the bar and they' ; d take it outside, you know. But we would sit in the car and watch the people go by or walk up and down the street and then we' ; d hope to see somebody we knew. GS: Were was the poor farm located back then Bunny? BB: Well, it-- I don' ; t, I can' ; t remember exactly but it was south of town and west off of the highway on the other side. GS: South on 48? BB: Mhm. GS: How did most people travel in your childhood? BB: Well, my mother still had a buggy, my grandmother still had a buggy, but we always had a car. GS: Good, yeah. But were a lot-- were there kind of a mixture of cars and horses and buggy on the road? BB: Yeah GS: Okay BB: And when you took cotton to town, of course you took it by wagon GS: Yeah BB: And they always let--a hard hand would take to town and my brother Bill always got to go, and I picked the same amount of cotton he did and I never could understand why they wouldn' ; t let me go to town too GS: Aww BB: And then I, now I realize that-- GS: It wasn' ; t safe BB: Women didn' ; t do that GS: Yeah, yeah. What kind of businesses were in Bristow? What were some of the biggest businesses? BB: Well JC Penny because that' ; s where we bought what clothes we bought, and at Strongs (ph) they had a shoe store and all, but they had a thing that you stepped on to get the size of your shoe, it was real interesting, and-- GS: Was it like an x-ray machine? BB: No, don' ; t think so. It just-- might' ; ve been, it just showed up what size you wore. Might' ; ve been x-ray because there was a light under it GS: Huh BB: But-- GS: Or they maybe just called it that and it wasn' ; t BB: Yeah, Hamburger King and-- gee I can' ; t remember. GS: Did you ever eat at the Hamburger King as a child? BB: Not as a child, nuh-uh. We never ate in town. GS: What kind of clothes did people wear? How did they dress? BB: Well, girls and women wore dresses GS: How long were the dresses? BB: Well some of them were back- way back when, well when school teachers couldn' ; t wear anything, it had to be just above the ankle. And my grandmother boarded two school teachers who taught at Iron Post, so I can' ; t remember that. But they were below the knee, I' ; d say, and my mother was-- had a lot of pride. She wouldn' ; t go to town without her hat, her corset, and purse GS: Aww BB: Everybody wore a corset I guess GS: And did she mostly make her clothes too? She made-- BB: Yeah, we bought feed sacks, feed at Cantrell' ; s feed store and if we-- mom was wanting a dress, she' ; d buy two sacks alike to get the print. GS: Enough material BB: They were printed, yeah. Most of them were made out of them feed sacks. GS: Did you ever come into Bristow for holiday events, or did Bristow have holiday events back then? BB: I don' ; t remember coming in, of course that was seven miles to drive over a rough road GS: Yeah, yeah. What did you want to be when you grew up? BB: Everything (Laughter) BB: Mostly a hunter and fisherman. Me and my brother John, we started hunting and fishing together when we were both super little. But when we grew up, we wanted to go to Alaska-- live in Alaska and hunt and trap fish. GS: Did you ever make it to visit Alaska? BB: No, made it close but we once lived in [Indecipherable] North Dakota fifty miles from the Canadian border GS: Aw BB: That' ; s close as I got. GS: What was your first job Bunny? BB: Piggly Wiggly Grocery store GS: Where was it? BB: It was on the west side of main street down from, it was in the block south of, can' ; t even think of what' ; s there now, sixth street or something. You know where the bank was. GS: Spirit or Community? BB: First National GS: Okay BB: On the corner of main street, it was down south of there. That was during my junior and senior year, and then I went on to work with Maxine Jenkins at Lions Café as a soda jerk. GS: Now just for generations that have never heard of soda jerk, what was a soda jerk? I know but let' ; s hear it explained BB: I don' ; t really know myself, but it was when you made sodas, soda pop for people, you know. Had a tab. GS: Did you do the ice cream too? BB: Don' ; t remember that. GS: What kind of jobs have you had in your life? You' ; ve said you' ; ve had several. BB: Maybe. First I took typing and short handing in high school. My first job after I graduated from high school was a friend got me on at Hamburger Kings, she was, I can' ; t remember his name [Indecipherable], but she managed it-- GS: Was it Horainy (ph) that had it or was it Maxis? Maxis had it first, and then he sold it to Johnny Horainy (ph) BB: It was Johnny GS: Okay BB: Yeah, and she-- all she did was boss me and I did all the work and she was making twelve dollars a week and I was making ten GS: Aww BB: And I thought " ; This is ridiculous" ; well my girls that I graduated with had all gone on to Tulsa and got jobs, so I said " ; well this is a mess" ; of course I wanted to be at home, and so I quit and went to Tulsa. GS: Yup it' ; s still running BB: And got a job as a typist, me and Wanda Sanders at the candy building, and from there I got a job with a wholesale drug company and that was a riot, and I worked over night as a curb hawk for drive in and that was the money I earned to come home on, be there by bus or train. GS: Now come home, where were you? BB: Back to Bristow, in Tulsa GS: Oh okay BB: I was in Tulsa. Yeah and one night we girls decided that we were gonna [Inaudible] and we decided we would just-- the soldiers were crowded up there, they were saying you' ; re in the big crowd, we thought we' ; d go shopping, in the shop to see what was going on. And we noticed all of the girls had their pant legs cuffed, ya know, so we thought that was in style, of course we was in the country and didn' ; t know anything and so we rolled our cuff lengths up. Well some soldiers joined us, you know, but they didn' ; t start walking with us and talking and so they said something about a hotel room, we didn' ; t know what they was talking about, and they said well how come you' ; ve got your pants legs rolled up, that' ; s what that means GS: Oh my word, I never heard that! BB: Well we rolled our pants legs cuff down so fast it' ; s make your head spin GS: So if a girl was easy, so to speak, they rolled their jeans up and the guy knew to take them out BB: Right GS: Oh my word, I never knew that. That' ; s interesting BB: I didn' ; t know it either (Laughter) GS: You learned real quick though, didn' ; t you? BB: And the first-- on the first job I got, was just typing, and I had interviewed, you know, been interviewed you know, and well the first time Wanda and I, we' ; d just never been around stop lights GS: Now who' ; s Wanda? BB: Wanda Sanders, she was my best friend GS: Okay BB: And we were walking across the street, crossing the street and a car honked at us and we weren' ; t paying attention, you know when we had walked across the street, we got to work and to was our boss, we were crossing at a red light. And momma told us don' ; t get in a car with strange men, she said whatever you do don' ; t get in a car with strange men. Well, I was standing out in the rain one time waiting for the bus-- GS: Uh-huh BB: To get to work, and a car stopped. It was pouring down rain and he was honking, you know, I wouldn' ; t [Indecipherable] I looked the other way and kept waiting, and finally he drove on, well that was our boss too. I had-- it was always something like that going on with me GS: (Laughter) BB: And you had to ride-- we rode the train home and we couldn' ; t get a seat, you had to hold on because it' ; s so full of service men and people who couldn' ; t get a seat, and Tom, my oldest nephew, he-- of course his dad was killed in [Indecipherable] and he wanted a rabbit so bad, and you couldn' ; t get a rabbit in Bristow, so I bought him a rabbit from Tulsa and you weren' ; t supposed to take things like that on the train, so I hid it under my coat and I looked like I was pregnant and everybody was giving room for me, you know. And then another time he wanted a stick horse, so I bought him a stick horse, I [Indecipherable] everybody on that train, [Indecipherable] (Laughter) GS: On purpose or accidently? BB: No, accidentally because it was long, you know, it was sticking out from under my coat. I' ; ve always had a lot of fun, usually at my expense. GS: Okay I wanna know about when you met MerleBB: I knew him all my life, I guess. They played, you know, music for the Pie Suppers and everything, so we' ; d go in and hear them GS: Was he from the Iron Post area also? BB: No he was from down by-- well at first he was over on the east of Talaha (ph) [Indecipherable] GS: Okay BB: And then they moved to south of town, I think he went to school at Valentine maybe GS: Okay BB: And, but he-- I don' ; t know they might have had a bus running from Gypsy down there, but I never knew him until he was, you know, he was in school at Gypsy. GS: So did he ask you out on a first date? BB: No, they would come to him and Dilmore would come to that place on Tibbons lease, you know, where we had the games and all, and he would walk me home and there were a bunch of people on north of me that walked, we' ; d all walk together and he would walk me home. And he played the banjo, and his brother played the guitar at that time, and I wanted his brother to walk me home, but every time his brother would ask to walk me home, well Merle would intervene, he wouldn' ; t have it. Well I didn' ; t like Merle very well. But anyway, he never-- Merle never turned loose, and one time I told him, you know, I didn' ; t wanna see him anymore, I couldn' ; t run him off, and my sister and I in our old smoke house we made it into a bedroom for us, and mom, well she wasn' ; t well then, and we had an old wire couch that folded up that I [Inaudible]. And so us kids would play music out there, well Merle he would come and he left his banjo out there, and he would come up and he would play the banjo and I' ; d play the basket or guitar, and he' ; d get ready to leave and he' ; d say " ; You gonna kiss me goodnight?" ; I thought " ; I don' ; t kiss boys" ; . Peggy would say " ; Well I' ; ll kiss you Merle" ; So [Indecipherable] (Laughter) GS: Now who' ; s Peggy? BB: My sister GS: Oh BB: Just younger than me GS: Okay BB: But one time he came to the house and he-- I didn' ; t let him stay he threatened to kill himself he had something in his hand, and I said " ; Well kill yourself if you want to" ; but he says " ; I' ; m not coming to see you, I' ; m coming to see Bobby" ; and he just kept coming to the house, you know. And then come to find out in later years, he told all the boys in High School that I dated [Indecipherable] just one or two or three, and well I' ; d get tickled, you know, sometimes I' ; d get tickled. I wouldn' ; t date him anymore. But he told them to lay of off me, you know, and if some- only way you knew somebody was coming to see you was going to show up because there' ; s no telephones or anything. And I remember Francis Wrestler had come to see me, and we were outside of course talking and Merle came up and he stayed till after he left. Uh he was-- I couldn' ; t get rid of him GS: So what did he do to finally win your heart? BB: Well, when I was 14 or 15, and Kenneth Mann had- that was when they were building ships for the war and paying good money, so Kenneth left school and went to California and told Merle that, you know, it' ; s a good deal out there. So Merle went, and he-- well Kenneth, they tried to get us girls to go with them and marry them, and Marie went ; she was just 15. GS: Oh my goodness BB: And I said " ; I don' ; t wanna get married" ; and I wasn' ; t about to take off with him, and I didn' ; t let boys kiss me. I didn' ; t want any, if they weren' ; t fun, forget it. And so Merle ended up sending me a set of rings, and I told mom " ; What am I to do with this?" ; I said " ; I don' ; t want them, I' ; m not gonna get married" ; and she said " ; Well if you don' ; t want them, send them back to him" ; so I did. And he- there was a peach orchard between the highway and their house, he had stopped there before he left trying to get me to marry him and I told him, I said " ; No, I' ; m not interested" ; And so after he was in the service and got out, he was in there for four years, and he got out, and we were going-- he came, of course to the house, and he was going to move down, I was with him to [Indecipherable] his house, well we stopped at the peach orchard, and I thought " ; Uh-oh" ; he pulled out those same rings, well what do you do? So, we got married GS: (Laughter) Not exactly sweeping you off your feet, was he? BB: Yeah and then after we moved to town, well you know back then the soldiers whistled at the girls and when we would go out, you know, any place, we had to go out to eat a hamburger because I didn' ; t cook, I didn' ; t have anything to cook with. And if somebody whistled at me, he' ; d say " ; wait here" ; and he' ; d be ready to fight ' ; em. GS: Oh my goodness BB: So I quit going out with him, I just quit going out with him. And come to find out, after he died, somebody, I can' ; t remember his name, he told me that Merle told those boys [Indecipherable] that they better keep their hands off of me. GS: He really was smitten by you Bunny BB: He' ; d kill me if I run around on him as they say. GS: Yeah sounds like it, what was your wedding like? BB: Well it was night,' ; course it was nice because I had to keep laughing. Well, he bought me a big bouquet and I was shaking and the leaves were rattling. GS: (Laughter) And that got you tickled BB: Well the preacher was my cousin and he didn' ; t look at me afraid he would laugh if I was looking. Didn' ; t look at him afraid he would laugh, but my daddy gave me away, and my sister, oldest sister was my bridesmaid, and Johnny, Nathans mother mother had a flower shop here and so [Indecipherable] his best man. And I was-- I had a date Saturday night before, and on Tuesday, Tuesday I had told him I would marry him. I felt sorry for him, he couldn' ; t even eat, you know, couldn' ; t keep food down his stomach, he just weighed 120 pounds GS: Oh my word BB: He lived on rations all those years and he couldn' ; t eat, and I felt so sorry for him so I thought " ; Well, I' ; ll marry him and get him on his feet then he can marry somebody else" ; and I had told him that on Tuesday night, Saturday night I had a date with somebody else, and I wasn' ; t about to give up the date, so I had a date. Anyway GS: Did you ever go to the bigger cities like Tulsa or Oklahoma City? BB: I don' ; t ever remember going to Oklahoma City till after I had Donna lived up there GS: Did you ever take the train back then? BB: No GS: Anywhere? BB: Just to Tulsa ; well yeah I was in Tulsa a lot, ' ; cus I worked up there GS: Yeah once you started working there BB: Yeah GS: Do you remember when, well no ' ; cus you were born that year so you wouldn' ; t have remembered when route 66 was built. BB: No GS: Okay, let' ; s go-- BB: I had two cousins that helped build the road to Slick from Bristow GS: I' ; m gonna skip some of these questions and ask you about your involvement with Western Heritage Days BB: Well, I helped-- I guess I helped get it started and all-- we were all working together. Merle, he learned to weld in the shipyards, you know, and Doy Cochran (ph) was a welder, he had his own business, and they were the special welders that built this arena in there where the chestcord (ph) is now. And, but with help from everybody, everybody was interested, and as they welded the pipes together, Warren, well shoot I can' ; t think of her name, he was a policeman GS: Hall, Freddie Hall? BB: No GS: No BB: Warren GS: I don' ; t know, that' ; s okay BB: But anyway we painted them, we painted them the same GS: And what did you do with them? BB: Well we painted the corrals ' ; cus they built them GS: Oh okay, for the rodeo? BB: Yeah. And uh-- GS: What about the parades and everything? Did you help with that? BB: Well not particularly. GS: What about that picture of you that we have when you' ; re all dressed up in your costume as a Saloon lady BB: Yeah GS: What about that? BB: Well if I was meeting a man on the street, he would' ; ve looked at me kind of questionably. And if he had on a hat, he would-- he would be smiling too. But I had a Gingham dress too, but that was the most popular. And one time at the end of the parade, I went to stand on the west side to watch the rest of the parade and Mr. Poston (ph), highly a religious man was there, but I standing kind of against the building about that far. But he looked at me like that and he scooted over GS: (Laughter) He thought you were the real thing, didn' ; t he? BB: Yeah, but what the funniest thing was, Merle had told me I was-- you know wore a dress one day then the other, the next day, and I was-- had that red dress on and so Merle told me he said " ; I' ; ll pay for your lunch if you meet me down at the J& ; J at 12 o' ; clock" ; and I said " ; okay" ; and I' ; d made my little, little bag, ya know, to match my dress and so he said, I told him I' ; d be there at 12 o' ; clock. Well, I was late and he says " ; How come you' ; re late?" ; and I had took a ten-dollar bill and had it changed into quarters and I just threw that on the table and I said " ; Well what do you think?" ; GS: (Laughter) BB: He just gave me a dirty look ; he knew I wouldn' ; t have been worth a quarter GS: Now you' ; ve told me some stories before about the-- some of the pranks and jokes you and Merle would play on each other. Your marriage was pretty much-- BB: Play GS: Play. Can you recall any of them? BB: Oh, that' ; s all you can do that, if you recall it it' ; s something. We were always at each other, we were trying to put something off on each other, and just like that quarter game. But, well for one thing he would-- he would, he was ornery. And one year for every fourth of July, all the family was at the house and the boys would go play golf and we had a big ice cream freezer and we' ; d make ice cream. Well his birthday was the twelfth of June and so he told me what he wanted for his birthday was an electric ice cream freezer, so I-- that' ; s what I bought him for his birthday, I had no idea what he was thinking. And the boys, Merle of course beat them all at golf so he didn' ; t have to turn the freezer but all the other guys took turns turning the freezer and it finally froze so hard that they had to quit. Well Merle came out of the house with his ice cream freezer and he says " ; boys look what I got for my birthday" ; I thought they were gonna kill him GS: Oh after they had made it the other way BB: Yeah GS: (Laughter) BB: Crazy thing GS: Oh my goodness BB: And then, oh one of the good times I got off on him, I was planting flowers along the fence and then we had a yard fence and then two strands of barbed wire above that, and he came up behind me and I didn' ; t know it and poked me with his ho or something, and I jumped and I jumped between those two barbed wire fences and my hair, of course I had long hair and it was all tangled up, and he was just dying laughing until he saw my head was bleeding. Then he started helping me get out, get untangled, you know. Well that was fine ; but wasn' ; t long after that that we had this 8-foot picture window in the living room that you could see clear down to the end of the road. And so he came in, took a bath, and he was in his shorts sitting in his chair, he was on this side of the window and I was over here, I could see down the road. And we were sitting there watching television and I had that table that' ; s-- that' ; s table for the old home, and I said " ; Oh gosh Merle here comes a car" ; and he jumped up and he jumped across that table and hit it and fell off of it, and he jumped up again and he took off down the hall (Laughter) BB: And pretty soon he came back dressed, you know, and he says " ; Who was it?" ; and I said " ; Oh it wasn' ; t anybody, I just thought it was somebody" ; he just gave me a dirty look. That' ; s how I got even with him. GS: That sounds like you sure did. Do you remember when Bristow was segregated? Do you have any memories of that? BB: No I don' ; t because we weren' ; t segregated, we had a family called Mason family and they had a lot of kids and they were poor. They picked our cotton every year, picked for but we had to pick too, but they picked for us. We [Indecipherable] a lot of cotton, but we-- we helped black people all we could. GS: Yeah BB: We didn' ; t-- but when we went to build the barn, it' ; s build on telephone poles that was disbanded, and Merle was trying to get one of them down the road to help him and he said he was afraid that he would lose his assistance from the government, so I had to help him. And I was up on top of one of those telephone poles. We were building it, and the poles were in the ground, but we were stretching woods across from one pole to the other. And I got on top of one of those telephone poles to be sure we got this board leveled, and he was gonna- looked down and he was about to poke me with a stick, I' ; d have fell off of that telephone pole. GS: Oh my goodness! BB: Crazy thing, and he would weld. He built our pens and everything and I would help him. And one time he tried- he was gonna hand me a red hot piece of pipe, you know. GS: Oh gosh that would' ; ve hurt BB: Yeah, you had to keep your eye on him! Of course he kept his eye on me too GS: I was gonna say I bet he had to keep his eye on you too BB: Yeah (Laughter) GS: Do you have any memories of the great depression? I know you were pretty small and-- BB: Yeah but all I remember is we were poor, you know. If we didn' ; t raise our food, we wouldn' ; t have had any food. GS: Did any of your-- was any of your family involved in any of the government assistant work programs? BB: No, but at one time the government at Iron Post, they sent beans home with each family according to the size of the family and we had six of us, we had a big stack of beans. Well, guess who had to do the carrying ' ; cus he' ; s biggest? And we quit-- we traded off some but I had to carry them mostly. And-- GS: I bet they got pretty heavy BB: They did after a mile GS: How far did you have to walk? BB: A mile. But I was always stout, you know. GS: Yeah BB: Working outside and everything GS: Do you remember any of the-- I know you said none of your family worked for the WPA, but do you remember coming into Bristow when they maybe built the amphitheater or when Mrs. Roosevelt came and dedicated it in the building? BB: Well mom would bring us to town like there was somebody, Landon I think it was, ran for president. He' ; d come on the train and talk on the back of the train, and she would bring us to town to see those people, she was always very good with-- GS: Political binded BB: Yeah political binded. But I don' ; t remember that GS: Okay, okay. BB: I might' ; ve come, but I don' ; t remember it. GS: She was [Indecipherable]. Was she involved in politics in any other way? BB: Well, I don' ; t know if she was always-- she, there was a mayor Brong (ph). Anyway, she always came to their meetings, you know, she was always interested in the government, whatever was going on so I guess she was interested in politics. GS: Did any of your family members ever run for office? BB: No GS: Did your mother mention when women got suffrage when they got the right to vote, anything about that? Now you' ; ve mentioned the 40' ; s, what year did you graduate? Well, what year did you-- well let me just skip that part. What are your memories of WWII? BB: Well, foil. I' ; m reminded of that every day, I just hate to waste a piece of foil because we collected foil, they needed it for armory. And even chewing gum, each stick was wrapped in foil, and boy we-- if somebody was chewing gum, we would watch and the one that had the biggest ball of foil at a certain time, we' ; d turn them in every so often. And the one that had the biggest one got a package of gum GS: Well BB: I remember that. GS: That' ; s the way they got kid to recycle. BB: Yeah, and I' ; ve got some things about that over there to get toothpaste or something, you had to bring an empty tube. GS: Do you remember your ration books that your mother had? BB: Yeah, yeah. Sugar and gasoline and everything, but mama Foster got a ration book and she didn' ; t go anyplace so we got to use hers GS: Well that helped a big family BB: Yeah, yeah it did. GS: Did she live very far away from you? BB: Half a mile GS: Half a mile, that' ; s good. Did anybody, I know your husband Merle served in WWII, tell me about that. BB: Well, he-- he was on, he was on the [Indecipherable] canal and all those little islands around there, [Indecipherable] GS: What, was he in the marines? BB: Yeah, my brother was in the navy GS: Okay BB: And he burned his feet, they were fighting with fire on the walls I think it was. And a boy worked for us, the neighbor boys would work for us and just come and live with us. When they got sixteen, their dad' ; s would run them off and they' ; d come to our house and they' ; d [Indecipherable] and moved on. But Alfred Dobson (ph), Pete' ; s brother, he was working for us and he quit to join the navy, and he was on the wasp, and we never found his body. GS: Aw, was the wasp, did it go down? BB: Yeah, Japanese. GS: In Pearl Harbor or out on the- BB: Out in the GS: Out in the ocean, in the ocean BB: Yeah in the ocean GS: But your brother survived BB: Yeah he had burned feet, but he got out GS: Good, was your brother and Merle the only two who served in- BB: In WWII GS: In WWII? BB: No. GS: Did you-- were you, did your family listen to the war news on the radio? BB: I don' ; t know because I wasn' ; t home [Inaudible] GS: You mentioned the radio battery earlier, was it a car battery that you used on your radio? BB: I don' ; t-- GS: I' ; ve heard some people used car batteries BB: I don' ; t know GS: Don' ; t remember, okay. Did you read any newspapers as a young adult? BB: Yes GS: What newspapers did you read? BB: Tulsa GS: Tulsa World or whatever it was back then BB: Tulsa World. Yeah, that' ; s where I have all these old clippings because there wasn' ; t anything to do, and I was always interested in History, and so I' ; ve got a box full of old newspaper clippings GS: Oh BB: Even at the beginning of World War II GS: That' ; s wonderful. What would you consider to be the most important inventions during your lifetime? BB: Wow so many GS: Yes, there are. There' ; s so many that have impacted life, it would be hard to pick just a few favorite. BB: Yeah, I guess most important would be the computers. But I don' ; t have one, don' ; t want one. I' ; ve gone this long, long time without one, don' ; t need one. GS: What event would you say influence the world the most during your lifetime? Event or events? BB: I would say World War II GS: Did you-- were you aware during WWII of what Hitler was doing? BB: Yes, I kept up with the news. Mom insisted on a daily newspaper, so. GS: Oh, this is a loaded question ; how different is the world today than it was when you were a child? BB: Just as different as you can get GS: Yeah BB: Absolutely just exactly different. There' ; s no-- you can' ; t punish children for anything, you can' ; t punish murderers for anything, there' ; s no laws, no regulations, everybody can do whatever you want you, and you won' ; t get punished very bad for it. No manners, kids don' ; t have manners, they' ; re not being taught manners and good behavior. GS: And that has to come from home and they' ; re not getting it at home. BB: That' ; s right, that' ; s right. I can remember mom was pretty good, she was bad on manners and we weren' ; t allowed to eat until everybody was seated at the table, and if you wanted to leave earlier than most people, you had to be excused from the table. And you didn' ; t slam doors, and Tom was about three or four years old and he was at our house and we had a door between the living room and the kitchen, and he was upset about something, he-- mom had got onto him for some reason, and he slammed the door, but we didn' ; t hear his footsteps leaving, so he just there waiting. He came back, opened the door and he said " ; Anytime I slam a door like that, you know I' ; m mad" ; and he [Indecipherable] and she said " ; You go home before you get in trouble" ; . GS: Ooh! I think you kind of alluded to the problems, but I' ; m gonna ask this question anyway. As you see it, what are the biggest problems that face out nation today? BB: Love GS: What? BB: Love GS: Love BB: If you love people you wouldn' ; t treat them like you do. Everybody' ; s greedy, everybody' ; s ready to cheat anybody out of a dollar, and-- GS: It is a sad state BB: It really is, don' ; t look out for one another at all. And that' ; s the way we were raised, we were raised to look out for one another. Backed people whoever GS: Yup, okay we' ; ve talked about a lot ; is there anything else you' ; d like to tell us that I haven' ; t thought of to ask ya? BB: There' ; s a lot of things I' ; d like to tell you but I don' ; t-- wouldn' ; t want it on tape (Laughter) GS: Is there anything of historic significance that you could tell me that you would want to have on tape? BB: Yes, there' ; s one thing I' ; m so proud of. I worked for the first CPA in Bristow GS: And who was that? BB: C. C. Wilson GS: C. C. Wilson, and what did you do? BB: Kept books. GS: K, okay. And what year was that, years? Decade would work. BB: Probably not, I don' ; t remember GS: Was it after you and Merle were married? BB: Yes GS: So sometime after 45' ; BB: Yeah GS: When did you stop working for him? BB: Well see, when he died, he left the office-- office, he had five offices and he left the offices to the manager [Indecipherable] Bristow office, the Johnny Simmons (ph) GS: Oh okay BB: And I remember Johnny Simmons, but- GS:I think I knew that and had forgotten. BB: I have no clue, don' ; t know how long. GS: Okay. Well I' ; ll tell ya Bunny, if you think of anything else that you think " ; Oh man this would' ; ve gone good in that" ; , you call me and I' ; ll bring the little recorder back and we' ; ll get it taken care of, okay? BB: Well, I-- My ambition was to be a-- was a reporter GS: Court recorder, or reporter? BB: Reporter, I worked for a, what was his name, out at the house, I typed for him. The court reporter here. I can' ; t think of the name, but we had money for a camper, fast boats, anything you wanna mention, but we never had the money for a machine so I could be a reporter. GS: Now I didn' ; t ask you how long you and Merle were married BB: It was sixty- no fifty-eight years GS: Fifty-eight years BB: Because I was looking forward to sixty GS: Aw BB: He didn' ; t make it GS: When did he pass away Bunny? BB: Hm, can' ; t remember GS: That' ; s okay BB: I' ; ve got it down GS: It' ; s okay ; that' ; ll work, that' ; ll work. Well I really appreciate your doing this, we at the museum were all excited! Linda said " ; Oh those are two heavy weights you' ; re doing, you and Caroline Webb" ; so, I haven' ; t got to do Caroline yet but I think I should' ; ve stopped this before I rambled. Yup it' ; s still going. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-01_Bunny_Baker.xml OHP-2020-01_Bunny_Baker.xml
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Bunny Baker
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2020 interview, Bunny Baker shares her experiences growing up in Bristow. She discusses family history, western heritage days, and shares many fun stories from her childhood through young adult life.
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OHP-2020-01
Date
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2020-09-11
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
Type
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sound, oral history
farming
Great Depression
holidays
home life
hospital
Iron Post
Native American ceremonies
Poor Farm
restaurants
social life
stores
World War I
World War II
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Title
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Family Histories
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Oral History
Subject
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Georgia Smith
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Monta Jean Wheeler
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-11_Wheeler,_Monta_Jean.xml
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5.4 November 11, 2020 OHP-2020-11 Monta Jean Wheeler OHP-2020-11 0:00-60:58 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Monta Jean Wheeler Georgia Smith MP3 1:|58(3)|87(13)|116(6)|146(8)|175(8)|202(5)|244(7)|271(13)|299(2)|320(5)|342(3)|358(2)|382(10)|418(5)|427(13)|460(2)|483(16)|514(2)|529(5)|561(5)|585(9)|601(17)|620(9)|648(16)|670(12)|685(4)|721(5)|750(8)|777(4)|799(9)|822(13)|842(6)|858(5)|878(1)|884(14)|918(4)|934(3)|970(9)|989(15)|1027(2)|1048(2)|1065(5)|1099(7)|1135(5)|1178(5)|1189(2)|1208(2)|1231(14)|1257(10)|1279(1)|1317(2)|1340(4)|1365(3)|1376(6)|1408(4)|1431(7)|1448(13)|1458(4)|1472(1)|1489(6) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHP-2020-11 Wheeler, Monta Jean.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family History GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this is an interview is part of the Historical Society’s ongoing oral history project. The date is November 11, 2020 and I am sitting here with miss Monta Jean Wheeler at the depot, who is going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name. MW: Monta Jean Wheeler GS: Okay let’s begin. What was your name at birth? MW: Monta Jean Baker GS: And where were you born? MW: I was born at the [Indecipherable] hospital here in Bristow on west 8th street. GS: That’s awesome, what was your date of birth? Albert Kelly ; American National Bank ; Anna Baker ; Anna Beatrice Herndon Baker ; Anna Chrome ; Bristow ; Cattle Drive ; Cleta Ann Bishop ; Cleta Ann Wheeler ; Cletus Wheeler ; First Church of God ; Georgia Smith ; Golf Oil Company ; Magic City, Texas ; Mike Wheeler ; Monta Jean Baker ; Monta Jean Wheeler ; Montfort Jones Baker ; Philly Station ; Steve Wheeler ; W. O. Baker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22325322/montfort-j-baker Montfort J. Baker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22461686/w-o-baker W. O. Baker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22325396/cleta-ann-bishop Cleta Ann Bishop 507 Growing Up In Bristow GS: Okay, tell me what life was like at home when you were a young child once you got settled back here in Bristow MW: Yeah, where the main farm, we moved on it. I had my sixth birthday right after we moved on it GS: Aw MW: And so I grew up there, daddy managed— he took care of the farm. Grandpa had gotten to the point he wasn’t able to get out and walk and tend to things, and so he turned it all over to daddy, and so that’s where I actually grew up. And then I went to country school, Pine Hill was the name of the school, and I went to school there through the first through the seventh grade GS: Okay, and where was that located Monta Jean? Assembly of God ; Carnation Milk Company ; Grade A Milk ; Grade B Milk ; Hiskets ; Hiskits ; Monta Jean ; Olive School ; Pine Hill 949 Appliances and Chores GS: Oh I think that’s good. How did they do laundry at your house growing up? MW: We had a Maytag washing machine, it had a gasoline motor on it GS: A gasoline washer MW: Uh-huh, you had to— it had a pump on it. I mean a deal, pedal that you had to step on that turned the bell that started the motor GS: Oh okay MW: And it was a ringer type washing machine GS: Uh-huh MW: I’ve got my hands hung in that before GS: I got mine hung in my grandmothers Aladdin Lamps ; Bea ; Gas Lights ; Herndon ; manorth ; Maytag ; Maytag Washing Machine ; Old Flat Irons ; Safeway ; WareEver ; Warehouse Market ; White Gasoline 1442 Farming GS: Did your parents ever employ help in the dairy, or in the house or anyplace? MW: Not in the dairy or the house, but daddy at times had people come in to help with some of the farm work. GS Okay MW: And at one time, they raised peanuts GS: Yes MW: And they had— that was all the, peanuts were pulled by hand, he used several black people here around Bristow that he would go and get and they would pull the peanuts and some of the black ladies would come and stack the peanuts. Daddy fixed poles in the— however he fixed them to where they could stack the peanuts on those GS: Okay Myrtle Alexander ; Myrtle Hines ; Odell Alexander ; Survell 1636 Clothing GS: Okay, what kind of clothes did you wear? Did Bea (ph) make your clothes or was it store bought? MW: Mother made almost all of our clothes, and a lot of them back then were made out of feed sacks GS: Yes MW: And the feed that you bought for the chickens or the cows, you could buy printed, yeah. Yeah mother— GS: Uh-huh, about everybody around here grew up in feed sack dresses MW: Yeah, yeah GS: Now did boys wear feed sack clothes? Bea ; Feed sack Clothes ; Feed sack dresses 1723 School Life GS: What kind of games did you play? MW: Course, my best friend of course was a girl, and of course we played with our dolls, played house, you know, typical little girl stuff. But then of course at school we played most games like kids at school play, you know, Annie Over, [Indecipherable], you know tag and all that kind of stuff, typical games. GS: What kind— did you sing songs at school or? MW: Oh yes GS: what, can you remember any of them? (Laughter) MW: No I don’t GS: Boy, songs are something I remember [Indecipherable] if it had a tune to it, I would remember it when I couldn’t remember anything else. Okay let’s see, we’ve talked about your dad, do you remember the first time you heard a radio? Aline Crow ; Annie Over ; Fibber McGee and Molly ; Gipsy ; Goodmans ; Hillcrest ; Kellyville ; Mannford ; Mr. Bass ; Mr. Crow ; Mrs. Bass ; Mrs. Crow ; Olive School ; Pie Supper ; Pine Hill ; Tag ; The Great Gildersleeve ; The Little Christmas Tree 2335 Church GS: Okay good, now you’ve mentioned you were brought up in the Church of God, and you mentioned the Church of God campground, is it—was it back then in the same place that it was in the 70’s? MW: Yes GS: Okay, do you remember by chance when they bought that property for a campground and when it was sold? MW: I don’t remember exactly what year they bought it, they bought that from my husband’s parents. GS: Oh really? MW: Yeah GS: I did not know that! MW: Yeah, yeah his parents lived just north of the campground. GS: And what was their name? Church of God ; Marie Wheeler ; Oscar Wheeler 2460 Medical Care GS: What was medical care like when you were a child? Did you go to the doctor much? MW: Oh not a whole lot, but I think people just basically you knew what to do, ya know? GS: Uh-huh MW: And my grandmother Baker, she used to come out to the farm, there was a certain plant out there that it grew in the farm in the barn lot GS: Uh-huh MW: And I don’t remember the name of that plant, I can pic— I can see it in my mind. It had blooms on it, and she would pick the blooms and I assume took leaves and whatever. She would come out and gather stuff and bring home and make savv (ph) and stuff out of certain plants that grew on the farm out there. GS: That’s a neat part of the way people were brought up back then, they had to be self-sufficient. MW: You— yeah, you did. It had to be a pretty serious matter to go to the doctor GS: Yeah. Did you have a family doctor? American Legion ; Dr. Cisler ; Dr. Cowart ; Dr. King ; Grandmother Baker ; savv 2612 Businesses and Holiday Events GS: So that’s good, very good. What are your recollections of the city of Bristow? MW: Well, I mean it was nice because you could buy about anything you wanted because you had Pennys, you had Anthonys, and then there was Strongs there, there was the Globe store, the Grand Leader store (ph) GS: Oh I don’t remember that one, where was that? MW: The Grand Leader, let’s see. It was there on main street, and I’m thinking it was in that block from seventh to eighth GS: Okay MW: Safeway was on the corner of eighth and main GS: And what did they sell? MW: Who? Anthonys ; Busches ; Christmas Parade ; Globe Store ; Grand Leader ; Hamburger King ; J. C. Pennys ; Pennys ; Shamuses ; Strongs 2840 Jobs GS: Okay, when you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? MW: Oh, I don’t know. Really, mother really wanted me to go onto school, and of course I took all commotional subjects in High School, and I said well, it— I’ll tell ya, I said “If I can’t get a— if I can’t get a job when I graduate, I’ll go with Drawns (ph) business school in Tulsa” GS: Yup MW: Well, graduated in May and I [Indecipherable] the first part of July, J.L. Darnell was county superintendent of the schools and he had come to the house and we were gone, and back then you left notes on your screen door with a bobby pin GS: Uh-huh MW: And he left a note telling me that if I wanted to come to work for him, to be there on a certain day at a certain time and the job’s yours GS: Wow, that’s wonderful! MW: So I went to work— worked for him in July of 54’ GS: Was that for the school system? American National Bank ; Bristow ; California ; Camp Stoneham ; Cleta Ann Bishop ; Depew ; Drawns Business School ; Eisenhower ; Fort Sill ; Gipsy ; J. L. Darnell ; Korean War ; Lone Star ; Oklahoma City ; Sapulpa ; Slick ; Spirit Bank ; Winter Work https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77214387/jesse-lawrence-darnell J. L. Darnell 3168 World War II GS: Okay now Korea war was in the 50’s, do you have any memories of World War II? MW: Oh yeah GS: What are your memories there? MW: I know where, I was— well let’s see. I think I was six, no war broke out the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, was in 41’ pleasant day, I think it was 41’, I would’ve been— I was five, going on six. We were in Oklahoma City at my aunts’ house, and my uncle was in the service and he was home on leave and they went to— my grandparents lived in Illinois but they were here— they were visiting. And they went to get gas in the car and all and they heard it on the radio, and they came back and of course they didn’t want grandma to know what was happening, and I remember he was even in Military clothes GS: Oh wow MW: And he was called right back up and he was in four years Guam ; Mils ; Oklahoma City ; Pearl Harbor ; Ration Stamps ; Safeway ; Tulsa World ; World War II ; WWII 3355 Concluding Thoughts GS: Okay, right. Thinking back over your life, what would you consider to be the most important inventions that you’ve seen in your lifetime? That’s a hard one because there’ve been so many MW: There’s been so many, that probably— because see even when we got electricity, they had electric irons at that point GS: Mhm MW: Probably TV was one of the most important, you know, other than your radio. GS: It brought the world into your living room, didn’t it? MW: Yes, it did, uh-huh GS: How is the world different now than when you were a child? MW: Horrible. GS: I understand that Electric Irons ; Industrial Supply Company ; Marshall Supply ; Marsuco ; Tulsa In this 2020 interview, Monta Jean Wheeler shares her experiences growing up in the Bristow area. She discusses her childhood, the various businesses throughout Bristow, and the impact that World War II had on Bristow. Interviewer: Georgia Smith Interviewee: Monta Jean Wheeler Other Persons: Date of Interview: November 11, 2020 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-11 at 00:00 to 60:58 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this is an interview is part of the Historical Society' ; s ongoing oral history project. The date is November 11, 2020 and I am sitting here with miss Monta Jean Wheeler at the depot, who is going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name. MW: Monta Jean Wheeler GS: Okay let' ; s begin. What was your name at birth? MW: Monta Jean Baker GS: And where were you born? MW: I was born at the [Indecipherable] hospital here in Bristow on west 8th street. GS: That' ; s awesome, what was your date of birth? MW: 1/16/1936 GS: What were your parents' ; names? Mothers maiden name, mother and her maiden name first. MW: Her name was Anna Beatrice Herndon Baker (ph) GS: And where were-- your father' ; s name? MW: Montfort Jones BakerGS: And where were they married? MW: Here in Bristow GS: Okay MW: In my grandparents' ; house GS: Aw how wonderful. So they were already here in Bristow, were your parents always here in Bristow? I mean grandparents, were your grandparents always here in Bristow? MW: My grandfather came in the late 1800' ; s GS: And what brought him to Bristow, do you know? MW: I' ; m not exactly sure, but he was-- he came from Ohio. Left home at a young age like a lot of them did back then, and he wound up in the Kansas area, and that' ; s where he met my grandmother. And then during that time, he met Albert Kelly GS: Okay MW: And he, at one time, helped him get-- they brought cattle from Kansas, up in Kansas to Bristow. GS: Okay MW: And back then, you just drove on through. GS: Yup, just a cattle drive MW: Yeah GS: Now, we' ; ll skip to this part. We' ; ll get everything else, but since we' ; re talking about your grandparents, what were their names? MW: His name, he went by his initials ; W. O. Baker, that' ; s what everyone knew him by, or-- yeah. And my grandmothers name was Anna. GS: Anna, and do you know her maiden name? MW: Chrome (ph) GS: Chrome? MW: MhmGS: Okay. Alright, we' ; ll go back to-- MW: And at that time, he didn' ; t have-- there was-- he didn' ; t have any relatives here. GS: Okay, so-- MW: He just-- GS: He just picked this spot? MW: Well he picked this place, and at that time with Albert Kelly, they were in-- business partners with the cotton gin, one of the cotton gins here. Do you remember the old Ice Plant that was here? GS: Oh yes MW: And there was a cotton gin right down there just on the east side of the railroad track GS: Okay MW: And that-- they ran that cotton gin. And then also at one time, my grandad was on the-- stockholder in the American National Bank. GS: Okay, okay that' ; s interesting information! MW: That was way back, way back before my time GS: Way back when! (Laughter) GS: Was this before statehood or after statehood? MW: Well, it was before because in 1906 my grandad purchased from the Indians the property I' ; m living on right now ; it has been in our family since 1906 GS: Oh that' ; s wonderful, and what direction is that? MW: Where-- actually due north of Bristow GS: Okay MW: But the way you have to get to it more North then Northeast and all GS: Okay, okay. Wow that' ; s amazing. I' ; m gonna jump back up to your parents now and ask you how many children your parents have? MW: Just one GS: Just you, huh? MW: [Inaudible] GS: Okay, and what did your dad do for a living? MW: Well, he had-- he was at the time I was born, he was running a Philly Station here in Bristow GS: Okay MW: It sat down on the corner of somewhere off of fourth-- I think it faced on fourth street, off down along around in there where Sonic was or in that-- GS: Do you remember the name of it by chance? MW: No I don' ; t GS: That' ; s okay. Did your mother stay home or did she have a job? MW: No she-- after she and daddy married, she stayed home. GS: And what is-- MW: Well then after that, then they moved to Sapulpa GS: Okay MW: And I don' ; t know how long they were there, but that was after I was born. And then later on, we wound up in Seminole, daddy worked for the Golf Oil company GS: Okay MW: He was the bookkeeper for them GS: Uh-huh MW: And then after that, then he got a job in Texas, a place called Magic City, Texas and it was mainly-- he was a bookkeeper for a big gasoline plant out there. And we lived in a camp, they had houses and it-- that the employees lived in GS: Right, uh-huh MW: And then when I was five, then we came back to Bristow GS: Okay, and was your-- were your grandparents living on the land where you' ; re living now? MW: No, at that time they were living in town GS: Okay MW: And he had renters GS: Out here? MW: Out on the farm GS: Okay, okay. ' ; Cus I knew that was-- that land was already in the Baker name MW: Yeah GS: Okay, I know your spouse is deceased, what was his name? MW: Cletus Wheeler, Pete is his nickname, he was known by Pete here in Bristow GS: And when did you get married? MW: In February of 1955 GS: And was that here in Bristow? MW: At the First Church of God in Bristow GS: Okay, in the old church? MW: Yes GS: And where was that located, the old church of God? MW: The old church was just-- it was right along-- just about, well it was a little bit north of where the present one is GS: Okay MW: Probably in about the area of the gym GS: Okay, I didn' ; t-- MW: Because there was a-- I remember there was a lot on the north side of the church because I remember people parked along that north edge out there and in the front lot GS: Okay, I didn' ; t realize that' ; s where it was MW: Yes GS: Okay, and how many children did you and Pete have? MW: Three GS: Three children, what are their names? MW: Cleta Ann and then she married Danny Bishop GS: Okay MW: Here in Bristow, and then she passed away in August of 19-- 2007 GS: 27? MW: 2007, yeah. GS: I didn' ; t realize it had been that long MW: Yeah GS: Okay, and your other children? MW: And then Mike, and Mike lives in the Tulsa, east Tulsa Area GS: Okay MW: and Steve lives in Yukon, and yeah. GS: Okay, tell me what life was like at home when you were a young child once you got settled back here in Bristow MW: Yeah, where the main farm, we moved on it. I had my sixth birthday right after we moved on it GS: Aw MW: And so I grew up there, daddy managed-- he took care of the farm. Grandpa had gotten to the point he wasn' ; t able to get out and walk and tend to things, and so he turned it all over to daddy, and so that' ; s where I actually grew up. And then I went to country school, Pine Hill was the name of the school, and I went to school there through the first through the seventh grade GS: Okay, and where was that located Monta Jean? MW: It was two miles north of us GS: Okay, that wasn' ; t very far then MW: No GS: What kind of house did you grow up in? MW: We had a, well it was the original house that grandpa had built GS: Was it frame, wood frame? MW: Wood frame, uh-huh yeah. Nice house GS: What were your favorite toys as a child?MW: Oh I don' ; t know, you know being a country kid I was-- GS: Probably played outside a lot, didn' ; t ya? MW: I was outside a lot, ya know, and as I got a little older I played basketball at the country school, played softball at the country school, and of course I had my bicycle and it was kinda tough-- I attempted several times to ride it to school, which wasn' ; t too bad but coming back home at the end of the day, it was coming up hill to get to the house GS: Ohh, ohhMW: I had to push it up (Laughing) GS: Well going to school was easy anyway! Oh, boy. Now you said your mother didn' ; t work, so she probably just worked really hard at being a housewife and a mother MW: Very hard, and we-- my folks ran a dairy GS: Okay! MW: And so there was the milking to be done twice a day, and then later with that-- now I didn' ; t do too much-- very much milking, bout the only time I did if daddy got caught in the field and was late coming in in the evening, I might have-- I might go and help. There was one or two that I couldn' ; t handle GS: Uh-huh MW: But mother did most of it in a time like that, but when he wasn' ; t in the field course he was there too. And then they sold their-- at first they started out, there was a place just right up here on the ally, from here GS: Okay so like between sixth and seventh street? MW: No, it was just right due west of where we' ; re sitting right now GS: Okay MW: And the place was-- it' ; s the building that the Assembly God Church is in at this time GS: Cornerstone, yeah MW: Yeah, and they came in to the back where you could park. They brought their cream, eggs, mother even raised chickens and sold chickens that you could come in here and sell. And then later on, then they went into full dairy, and they sold-- it was considered grade B milk in just the ordinary barn, and just right over here cattycorner from where we' ; re at right now, carnation milk company had a drop off that you could bring your milk in GS: Wow MW: Brought it in the regular milk cans GS: Yes MW: And then later, daddy had a new barn built with all the specs state-- that the state required and went to grade A milk. And that' ; s what went on, there' ; s been times when I brought the milk in and left the cans here to-- GS: So like at seventh and main? MW: No, right over here. Right over here just across from the depot right there on the back. GS: Okay, okay. Like right around where Hiskits (ph) is or across the street from Hiskits (ph)? MW: No, just right here at the back of these buildings right here GS: Okay, okay MW: Yeah, there was a place that you could come and bring your milk cans in GS: Okay MW: Yeah, and drop it off. And then it was sent on to Tulsa to the Carnation Milk Company GS: I never realized that MW: And then you got your-- then you got your checks for your milk from the Carnation milk company GS: Well at least you didn' ; t have to deliver it yourselves that way MW: No GS: That' ; s good MW: Although daddy did drop off-- the church had a missionary that was here, and out at the campground GS: Yes MW: They worked back here on sabbatical, and they had three, I think three children, and the kids wanted fresh cow' ; s milk. So daddy told them that he would provide them with milk because he said that I have to-- and at that time, we came in on old sixty-six GS: Uh-huh MW: That went north of town and then circled around to, you know. And he told them if you have your bottles sitting on the porch, he said, I' ; ll bring it to you and you know, I' ; ll pick up your bottles and then I' ; ll deliver it to you. So they did and they wanted to pay for it and daddy told them no, I' ; ll bring you the milk. And I always have to tell this with this incident. My grandad had their-- he had royalty in a well up close to going to Olive, up in the direction of Olive school GS: Uh-huh MW: And all. And after he passed away, then daddy got a check ; a royalty checks from that. So the months that he delivered milk to the people, his royalty check increased. GS: Oh, that gives me chills MW: And I don' ; t remember exactly how long they were here, and then they later let him know " ; well we' ; re gonna be going back and we won' ; t be needing milk anymore" ; and then after-- so after they left and he quit delivering milk, the checks would drop back to what they normally would. GS: Now that' ; s-- MW: God works in mysterious ways GS: That has to be in Gods way, yes he does. MW: And I' ; ll tell you, it pays to gift-- GS: To be generous, it does. MW: Yes, it does. I had to put that in. GS: Oh I think that' ; s good. How did they do laundry at your house growing up? MW: We had a Maytag washing machine, it had a gasoline motor on it GS: A gasoline washer MW: Uh-huh, you had to-- it had a pump on it. I mean a deal, pedal that you had to step on that turned the bell that started the motor GS: Oh okay MW: And it was a ringer type washing machine GS: Uh-huh MW: I' ; ve got my hands hung in that before GS: I got mine hung in my grandmothers (Laughing) GS: Just something kids do I guess MW: I guess so GS: What about cooking, what kind of stove? MW: Well to start with, we had I think it was used kerosene in it-- with it to cook on. And then later on, there was a gas well on the place ; and so later, daddy got pipe and laid the gas line from that well to the house so we had gas GS: For your cook stove MW: For the cook stove, our heat was stove and lights. At that time, we had gas lights GS: Oh how interesting MW: That had-- that had little manorth (ph) on there that you lit a match to do it. If a bug happened to get a-- fly in the house or whatever happened to fly into one of those, it ruined them. GS: I just imagined it again MW: And then later then, we went to Aladdin lamps that run off of white gasoline GS: Okay MW: We did that, and we didn' ; t get electricity until I was a freshman in high school GS: Wow, and so that would' ; ve been in what? About-- MW: Let' ; s see, that would' ; ve been probably in 19, it was probably 1940-- GS: 1949? MW: Somewhere in, yeah, somewhere in there. GS: Did you have to buy your kerosene, go buy kerosene in a little container and bring it home to--? MW: Yeah, well you used white gas, I think it was. GS: Okay MW: In those. And then, well before we got electricity, we used the old flat irons, that' ; s how-- I learned to iron with the old flat irons. GS: My grandmother had them MW: And you had your different sizes for your different type material GS: Uh-huh MW: And I learned to iron that way. And then, when later-- then we went to, I don' ; t even know the brand of the iron, but you did-- you put white gas in. It had a little bowl on it and you put that in there and then you had a pump that you' ; d pump-- fill air in there, and then you lit that. It' ; s-- I often think back on that, it' ; s a wonder those things didn' ; t blow ya up. GS: Well that was my next question, did you ever have any of those things blow up, your lights or your stove or anything?MW: Nope, nuh-uh, we never did, never did. And I was really so glad when we did get electricity GS: Oh I' ; m sure MW: Because in the summer, mother always raised a big garden with the dairy and then raised a big garden, and my job was to do-- I had to do all of the ironing and stuff. And that' ; s back when men wore khaki pants and I' ; d always have to-- GS: Have to iron them MW: And I did all that in the summer. Mother always hated to see school start GS: I' ; m sure she did (Laughter) GS: I understand that, so where did you shop for groceries? MW: Well they had Safeway here in Bristow GS: Oh really? MW: They also had a warehouse market GS: Okay MW: Which was down on I think it was between sixth and fifth street I think on main street GS: On main street? Okay. MW: Yeah I think that' ; s where it was. GS: Do you have any family recipes from your childhood from Bea (ph) that you still make? MW: I don' ; t know, seems like mother just cooked a lot, by-- GS: A little bit of this and a little bit of that MW: A little bit of that GS: Just by memory, probably didn' ; t write anything down MW: Yeah I don' ; t-- I don' ; t recall. She had a cook book, I remember. In fact, I' ; m trying to think if I still have that or ended up it was just the pages rotting in it and I think I ended up GS: Tossing it MW: Tossing it because if I think it was-- it looked kinda like a cook book that comes-- had come with some cookware or something she had. She used WareEver (ph) was actually the name of the cookware she used WareEverGS: WareEverMW: But it wore forever. GS: Was it stainless steel? MW: Yeah GS: Yeah. Now you mentioned one of your daily chores in the summer was ironing, what were some of your other chores? MW: Oh I-- from before we got-- I' ; ll back up a little bit. The house was plumped, for it was completely furnished, bathtubs and everything. But for some reason at the time we moved him, there wasn' ; t the running water in the house, everything was there, and there-- they used I guess at one time they did use it. They had a big dug well out in the barn lot, and that' ; s-- they pulled in water from there. But we had-- daddy drilled, had a well drilled that we had to draw the water out of our well that we used most of the time until later. Daddy had another well drilled and after everything could be rehooked up and all so we could have running water. GS: Well good. MW: But before we got back, my job-- when they went to milk, mother always had supper back then GS: Uh-huh MW: Supper right after I got home from school, because then they had to go to the barn to milk. My job was to do the dishes. I had to heat the water on the stove to wash my dishes and then heat water to scald my dishes. GS: Oh my goodness MW: Yes, and I was probably, I as probably nine GS: When you started? MW: When I started doing that GS: Uh-huh MW: And that was my job to do and they left the house to go to milk GS: Everybody had to work MW: Everybody had a job to do, and that was still my job until I left home. That was just my responsibility that-- now if there was, by that time, by the time I was starting, well before I started school in town, my grand-- my mother' ; s parents had moved to Bristow. GS: Okay MW: And I spent a lot of time with them for school activities because mom and dad were tied up with the milking and all that GS: And what was their names? MW: Their' ; last name Herndon, was their last name. GS: Okay MW: So that was the job that I had had to do, is as long as I was home. GS: Did your parents ever employ help in the dairy, or in the house or anyplace? MW: Not in the dairy or the house, but daddy at times had people come in to help with some of the farm work. GS Okay MW: And at one time, they raised peanuts GS: Yes MW: And they had-- that was all the, peanuts were pulled by hand, he used several black people here around Bristow that he would go and get and they would pull the peanuts and some of the black ladies would come and stack the peanuts. Daddy fixed poles in the-- however he fixed them to where they could stack the peanuts on those' ; GS: Okay MW: But the poles, that' ; s what the women done. And Odell Alexanders mother was wanting-- was one of the ones that I definitely remember from helping do that from when she was a young woman. GS: Oh my goodness, isn' ; t that amazing MW: And there was one black women, I don' ; t know how-- course I don' ; t know how old they were, I was probably six, seven? While in that age, daddy would go in his pick-up and pick them up and I' ; d ride right in the back with them, you know. And, but when they' ; d be stacking peanuts, there was this one, she would get after me with a pitchfork GS: (Laughing) Just teasing, playing uh-huh MW: Teasing, you know, but oh she' ; d be serious about it, you know. And one day when I was working at the bank here in Bristow, Myrtle was in the bank and I remember I said " ; Myrtle, did you remember who that was that you used to chase when you all worked stacking peanuts that used to get the pitchfork after me?" ; And she told me ' ; yes' ; what her name was, and you know I' ; ve already forgotten it what her name was. GS: And that was Myrtle, Myrtle Alexander? MW: No, she was Myrtle Hines GS: Oh okay, okay. MW: I' ; m pretty sure she [Indecipherable] Hines as her last name GS: Okay, did your family have livestock other than the cows that they had in the dairy? MW: We had-- at one time we, actually daddy started out with a team GS: Okay MW: He, and I' ; ve driven, I have driven that team when mom and dad were gathering corn GS: Okay MW: I was probably at that point six, seven years' ; old GS: Did your dad ever do his own butchering? MW: Oh yeah, yeah they did. In fact, there was a smoke house on the place that they could-- when they killed the hogs especially, you know, my grandmother Baker would come out and help with that and whatnot, yeah. GS: Whole different era, wasn' ; t it? MW: Different era, yeah. GS: How did you store foods? MW: Well mother had a, she had a refrigerator, it was the Survell (ph) was the name of it that run off of gas GS: Uh-huh, uh-huh. I' ; ve heard of gas refrigerators MW: Yeah, that' ; s what we had. GS: Okay, what kind of clothes did you wear? Did Bea (ph) make your clothes or was it store bought? MW: Mother made almost all of our clothes, and a lot of them back then were made out of feed sacks GS: Yes MW: And the feed that you bought for the chickens or the cows, you could buy printed, yeah. Yeah mother-- GS: Uh-huh, about everybody around here grew up in feed sack dresses MW: Yeah, yeah GS: Now did boys wear feed sack clothes? MW: Well not [Indecipherable] I' ; m sure that they could' ; ve at one time, maybe shirts made out of them, I don' ; t know. GS: Okay, did you have shoes year round? MW: Oh yes GS: Okay. Did you have friends out in the neighborhood out in the country to play with? How far did you have to travel to get to see them? MW: Well my close friend lived probably two miles GS: And would you walk to each other' ; s homes? MW: No, not really. Not really, no, our folk' ; d bring us GS: Take you? MW: Yeah GS: That' ; s good. MW: And they used to meet in the summer time and all. There was two or three families that' ; d meet together in the evening and people play cards and someone maybe they' ; d make pies and have coffee and pie and the kids would play outside. GS: What kind of games did you play? MW: Course, my best friend of course was a girl, and of course we played with our dolls, played house, you know, typical little girl stuff. But then of course at school we played most games like kids at school play, you know, Annie Over, [Indecipherable], you know tag and all that kind of stuff, typical games. GS: What kind-- did you sing songs at school or? MW: Oh yes GS: what, can you remember any of them? (Laughter) MW: No I don' ; t GS: Boy, songs are something I remember [Indecipherable] if it had a tune to it, I would remember it when I couldn' ; t remember anything else. Okay let' ; s see, we' ; ve talked about your dad, do you remember the first time you heard a radio? MW: [Indecipherable] I was real small ' ; cus there was a radio because they ran off batteries. GS: Okay, so they had a radio that they listened to before a TV? MW: Oh yes, and back-- and I remember back after we moved onto the farm some of the old shows we listened to in the evenings Fibber McGee and Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, and those two really stood out, ya know. GS: Do you remember the first TV your parents got? MW: Yes GS: Were you home when they got one? MW: Yes, I think, I think I was a freshman in high school, well it was junior high back then. GS: And of course it was black and white MW: Black and white, it went off at midnight GS: Oh, yeah! I had forgotten about that! (Laughter) GS: Okay, well we talked about your parents, so and you talked a little bit about school, so I wanna ask you about the Pine Hill area. What can you tell me about the Pine Hill area? Maybe some of the people that lived there? Activities that were there perhaps or? MW: The school always in October, I believe it was in October-- late October, but they always had a community Pie Supper GS: Okay MW: And this was to raise money to buy-- they had then a Christmas, a community Christmas tree GS: Uh-huh MW: And the moneys that came in from the Pie Supper was to buy treats and stuff, we always had a huge Christmas tree that sat on the stage at school GS: Uh-huh MW: And parents could bring, if they had gifts for their kids for Santa, well it said Santa Clause, to give to their kids they would do that, we always had a program. And I never will forget my first year in first grade, I, that year, I, out of our hardback reader, I memorized the story of, The Little Christmas Tree or something, I can' ; t remember the exact, it was to do with the Christmas Tree. I memorized that whole story, and that night when it was time, time to give it, I just froze. GS: Aww MW: But mother was standing over, they had a curtain fixed up to where we come out of another room in there to those that were doing-- participating in it, and I looked around and mother was standing behind the curtain coaxing me on. Once I got started, I did it, but I did that in first grade, yeah. GS: Aww, well. MW: But, and of course they had folding doors between the rooms. One room was the first through fourth grade, and then the other room was fifth through eighth grade. GS: Okay MW: And they opened the doors up and that way the whole church, I mean the whole school was people there for the-- people would come, you know, they had come to the Pie Supper and all and they gave out treats and stuff. GS: Now, was it just a school or did it function as a church also? MW: It- there at one time, that' ; s where I first started a Sunday school, was there was a Church of God preacher and I went to Sunday school there. GS: Okay, what about the people that lived in the area? Do you remember any of the people that lived in Pine Hill area? MW: Oh yeah, course I don' ; t know where a lot of them are. GS: Yeah, do you remember their names?MW: Yeah there was people, but there was-- the people, there was the Goodman' ; s that lived there, which that was Pete' ; s uncle and his family, and his-- the daughter of them, she took me-- she was about three or four year older than me and she took me under her wing because I didn' ; t have any brothers-- older brothers or sisters. And she kinda took me under her wing, and then the summer, I guess it was before we started fourth grade, she got real sick and they didn' ; t know what was wrong with her, and they thought she had the flu and they took her on to Hillcrest, and she-- come to find out she had tick fever, and she passed away. And till this day, that bothers me. GS: Yeah MW: She was my friend ; she took me under her wing. GS: Yeah, how old was she? MW: Thirteen GS: When she passed? MW: Yeah GS: Oh wow, wow. MW: That-- that was tough GS: That' ; s hard MW: But I had two sets of teachers, at the first-- the teachers I started school under, I went through third grade with them, and then another set of teachers came and they were there clear through seventh grade. GS: Do you remember any of your teacher' ; s names? MW: Their last names was Crow, Aline Crow (ph) was my first grade teacher, first through third grade, and then a Mr. and Mrs. Bass, they lived here in Bristow, but they taught out there fourth through eighth grade GS: Okay MW: Well I didn' ; t go eighth grade because they left at the end of their-- our seventh grade, and they turned the school into a one teacher school for eight grades GS: Wow MW: ' ; Cus there was five of us in the eighth grade class, and daddy said ' ; no way, that' ; s too many kids for one person to have to take care of' ; so he went before, applied for transfers into Bristow, and of course they were-- we were turned down and he had to go before the county judge and it ended up all five of us being transferred here into Bristow in the eighth grade. GS: Wow, did-- so you didn' ; t have an eighth grade graduation at Pine Hill, did you? MW: I didn' ; t, no. GS: Yeah. But they, the school would? Would they have an eighth grade graduation? MW: Oh yes, yes. GS: And where did most of the kids continue their education? MW: A lot of the kids that lived north of the school went to Olive to school GS: Okay MW: And we had a basketball team at Pine Hill and we played, we used to go to Olive and play grade school basketball with them, we' ; ve gone to Kellyville, we' ; ve gone to Gipsy, and-- GS: Did you go to Depew? MW: No we never did go to Depew. And we went to tournaments at Mannford and yeah. GS: And you played softball? Was it the same way?MW: Yeah GS: That' ; s cool MW: Yeah GS: Did you take a sack lunch to school? MW: Some of the time we did, and then sometimes we had-- there was a couple of ladies that used to cook, oh gosh the food was good. I mean, it was like-- it was like home cookin' ; GS: Yeah MW: Yeah because, you know, not as many kids and-- GS: None of this microwave cooking MW: No. no. GS: Okay, was your teacher Mrs. Crow and your next one, were they very strict? MW: Well, you know I don' ; t recall of being strict and all because kids growing up during that time minded GS: Yes MW: They did, there was discipline at home. And so many of the families out there have four to five, six kids, you know? They had big families GS: Yeah MW: And there just wasn' ; t a disciplining problem, you just knew to behave when you went to school. GS: Do you remember anything else about the Pine Hill School? MW: No I think I pretty much covered it. GS: Okay good, now you' ; ve mentioned you were brought up in the Church of God, and you mentioned the Church of God campground, is it--was it back then in the same place that it was in the 70' ; s? MW: Yes GS: Okay, do you remember by chance when they bought that property for a campground and when it was sold? MW: I don' ; t remember exactly what year they bought it, they bought that from my husband' ; s parents. GS: Oh really? MW: Yeah GS: I did not know that! MW: Yeah, yeah his parents lived just north of the campground. GS: And what was their name? MW: Wheeler GS: What was the first name? MW: Oscar Wheeler GS: Oscar Wheeler? Okay MW: Oscar and Marie GS: Well MW: Yeah, he sold them that property to start a campground GS: To start the campground, and so was it there in the 40' ; s? MW: No, if it was, it was probably the late 40' ; s GS: Okay MW: Because I know it was there when I-- ' ; cus we were going to the-- we had a, they later built a country church, I think the Bristow church more or less helped to get that started, they built a country church a mile north of where we live GS: Yeah MW: And we went to church there from, I forgot how old I was when we started-- first started going. And we came into the Bristow church in the summer of 1953 GS: Okay MW: Before I started my senior year of high school GS: Okay MW: Yeah GS: What was medical care like when you were a child? Did you go to the doctor much? MW: Oh not a whole lot, but I think people just basically you knew what to do, ya know? GS: Uh-huh MW: And my grandmother Baker, she used to come out to the farm, there was a certain plant out there that it grew in the farm in the barn lot GS: Uh-huh MW: And I don' ; t remember the name of that plant, I can pic-- I can see it in my mind. It had blooms on it, and she would pick the blooms and I assume took leaves and whatever. She would come out and gather stuff and bring home and make savv (ph) and stuff out of certain plants that grew on the farm out there. GS: That' ; s a neat part of the way people were brought up back then, they had to be self-sufficient. MW: You-- yeah, you did. It had to be a pretty serious matter to go to the doctor GS: Yeah. Did you have a family doctor? MW: Yes, we doctored with Dr. King, I' ; m sure you' ; ve-- you probably know-- remember him GS: I remember Dr. King and his little black powder (Laughing) MW: We-- we used him and then we used Dr. Cowart (ph) and Dr. Cisler (ph) as long as they were here at the-- they were in the hospital GS: Okay MW: You know, that was there next door to the American Legion hut GS: Okay, yes. MW: It' ; s where they were GS: Do you know who delivered you? MW: Dr. Cowart GS: Okay, did they make house calls back then? MW: Oh yeah, oh yeah GS: (Laughing) Now you were born in a hospital, were most of the people your age born in the hospital do you think around here, or were some born at home? MW: Oh that I don' ; t know because my mom had surgery when I was born so GS: Oh okay, were you ever hospital-- were you ever hospitalized as a child? MW: Yes GS: Okay, do you have any memories of that? MW: Oh yes GS: What happened? MW: Well-- GS: If you' ; d rather not say-- MW: I' ; d rather not GS: That' ; s okay MW: I' ; d rather not go into that GS: Yup that' ; s fine MW: I' ; d rather not GS: That' ; s fine, but you survived well so MW: I survived, yes GS: So that' ; s good, very good. What are your recollections of the city of Bristow? MW: Well, I mean it was nice because you could buy about anything you wanted because you had Pennys, you had Anthonys, and then there was Strongs there, there was the Globe store, the Grand Leader store (ph) GS: Oh I don' ; t remember that one, where was that? MW: The Grand Leader, let' ; s see. It was there on main street, and I' ; m thinking it was in that block from seventh to eighth GS: Okay MW: Safeway was on the corner of eighth and main GS: And what did they sell? MW: Who? GS: Grand Leader MW: Clothes GS: Clothing store MW: Women' ; s clothing GS: Okay MW: And of course the Globe store sold women' ; s clothing GS: Yes MW: And then-- then there was Shamuses (ph) GS: Yes MW: Down on south main GS: Uh-huh MW: And so there was plenty places to shop GS: Not like today MW: Not like today GS: What kind of shops did your mother frequent when she-- when you were growing up? MW: Well mainly Pennys, Pennys and Anthonys, StrongsGS: Yeah MW: I mean even-- even after we-- after I married and even after we moved back here, I bought all of my shoes at StrongsGS: Yup, we did too. I loved the little Polly Parrot thing with the shoe that you would get a little-- now the parrot would lay an egg, it was lots of fun. Did you ever eat out at the restaurants in town? MW: Oh yes, we had to eat at Busches (ph) when they were open, we had-- had eaten at Hamburger Kings before, and I' ; m sure there' ; s other restaurants that we ate at. GS: Did they have any big holiday events in town back then when you were growing up? Like Santa clause coming at Christmas or anything? MW: Oh yeah, they always had the Christmas parade GS: Okay MW: In fact, one year at the Christmas parade, they handed out candy canes and they had numbers on them, and one year there was a kid from the people lived north of the school, and he won the bicycle they gave, a boys bicycle that year. And he came from a family of about five kids GS: Aw, that' ; s wonderful MW: Yeah, and then they always had-- it was next door to community bank, they had a haunted house or whatever GS: How fun! (Laughing) MW: Yeah [Indecipherable] GS: Did you ever go in it? MW: Oh yeah, yeah, uh-huh GS: Were you scared? MW: Well, usually it was with somebody, you know. GS: Was it laughable or was it scary? MW: Well it was a little scary, but a little gross (Laughing) GS: Okay, when you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? MW: Oh, I don' ; t know. Really, mother really wanted me to go onto school, and of course I took all commotional subjects in High School, and I said well, it-- I' ; ll tell ya, I said " ; If I can' ; t get a-- if I can' ; t get a job when I graduate, I' ; ll go with Drawns (ph) business school in Tulsa" ; GS: Yup MW: Well, graduated in May and I [Indecipherable] the first part of July, J.L. Darnell was county superintendent of the schools and he had come to the house and we were gone, and back then you left notes on your screen door with a bobby pin GS: Uh-huh MW: And he left a note telling me that if I wanted to come to work for him, to be there on a certain day at a certain time and the job' ; s yours GS: Wow, that' ; s wonderful! MW: So I went to work-- worked for him in July of 54' ; GS: Was that for the school system? MW: That was-- he was-- he was county superintendent of all of the country schools GS: Oh okay MW: He probably kinda like advisor to the independent schools, like Bristow and Sapulpa. Well I don' ; t know about Sapulpa, Sapulpa and Bristow it was more the ones that came into the office were like the superintendents and all up in Depew, Gipsy, Slick, and those schools did come into the office. GS: Where was his office? MW: In the court house in Sapulpa GS: In Sapulpa, okay MW: Yeah GS: What other kinds of jobs did you have? MW: Well after him, I quit when I had Cleta. I worked for Winter Work (ph) in 54' ; and I quit at the end of 56' ; , she was born in January of 57' ; , and then he would have me come back to help. See, I had to close out all of- all of the rural country schools and back then, there was a bunch. GS: A lot more than today MW: Oh yeah, see about all' ; s today is Lone Star about out south of Sapulpa and-- and, well they don' ; t even have a country superintendent anymore. GS: Oh MW: So I don' ; t know how all of that goes, you know. But he' ; d have me come in to help close out the schools because he had-- the lady that he had hired to replace me was only there when she went to work in January so she wasn' ; t there long enough to really be that familiar at close out time GS: Right, right MW: And then when Cleta was, oh she was about eight months old I guess, something like that, went to work at the bank in Sapulpa GS: Okay MW: So from then on it was banking GS: Banking, and you were with American National bank MW: 20 years GS: For 20 years, which later became Spirit Bank MW: Yeah GS: You never served in the military, did you? MW: No GS: Did Pete? MW: Yes, he was in two years GS: In what area? MW: Korea GS: Korea? MW: MhmGS: And what branch of the service was he in? MW: Army GS: He was in the army MW: Yeah the day that they-- they left Oklahoma City to, he had finished boot camp and everything at Fort Sill, and the day he left Oklahoma City for Camp Stoneham (ph) in California, Eisenhower signed the peace treaty and they didn' ; t-- course on the plane they didn' ; t know that until they got to California GS: Wow MW: But still, then he-- he guarded prisoners part of that time too, then of course he was in the artillery so they were the ones that set up everything and, I mean-- GS: Were you married then? MW: No GS: No, good. Do you have any other memories of the Korean war? MW: No, because with that peace treaty things had kind of settled down to a point, but they still had to go out and set up just to keep things going in case something broke out GS: Yeah MW: To know exactly what they had to do to-- GS: They had to be peace keepers I guess MW: I didn' ; t know this, but Steve has talked about it. He had told Steve that, I didn' ; t know about it, he lost-- their group lost their colors while they were in Korea over something, but they didn' ; t get them back GS: Now what does that mean, lost their colors? MW: Well it' ; s-- it' ; s to do with military, however, you know, so. GS: Okay now Korea war was in the 50' ; s, do you have any memories of World War II?MW: Oh yeah GS: What are your memories there? MW: I know where, I was-- well let' ; s see. I think I was six, no war broke out the day Pearl Harbor was bombed, was in 41' ; pleasant day, I think it was 41' ; , I would' ; ve been-- I was five, going on six. We were in Oklahoma City at my aunts' ; house, and my uncle was in the service and he was home on leave and they went to-- my grandparents lived in Illinois but they were here-- they were visiting. And they went to get gas in the car and all and they heard it on the radio, and they came back and of course they didn' ; t want grandma to know what was happening, and I remember he was even in Military clothes GS: Oh wow MW: And he was called right back up and he was in four years GS: Oh no MW: Yes GS: What branch? MW: He was in the Army GS: In the army MW: Yeah he served over in Guam and [Indecipherable] and all in that area, yeah, yeah he told us after he got out of the service that there was many times all they had to eat was monkey meat and cow, and coconuts GS: Oh my gosh MW: Yeah GS: That would be so hard MW: Yeah GS: Do you remember life being different when you were-- during World War II, I mean, you know, sacrifices or things you couldn' ; t get or anything like that? MW: Oh yeah, I can remember mother had ration stamps and there was a office next door there at the corner of eighth and main, Safeway was there for a good many years GS: Uh-huh MW: And next door, there was office in there, it was a ration board they called it. And I remember one time that mother came in to see if she could get extra sugar to do her canning with, and I-- I don' ; t know if she got it or not, but I remember her having ration stamps when you' ; d go to the store to use, and back then they' ; d use mils GS: They used-- oh mils! The little-- MW: Yeah GS: Tenth of a penny MW: Yeah GS: I' ; ve seen those MW: Yeah GS: What did you read the newspapers any growing up? MW: I don' ; t remember us actually having the newspaper, the Tulsa World at that time. We used-- you listened more to the radio GS: Okay, right. Thinking back over your life, what would you consider to be the most important inventions that you' ; ve seen in your lifetime? That' ; s a hard one because there' ; ve been so manyMW: There' ; s been so many, that probably-- because see even when we got electricity, they had electric irons at that point GS: MhmMW: Probably TV was one of the most important, you know, other than your radio. GS: It brought the world into your living room, didn' ; t it? MW: Yes, it did, uh-huh GS: How is the world different now than when you were a child? MW: Horrible. GS: I understand that MW: There' ; s a-- the lack of discipline in, I hate to say this, there' ; s a lack of discipline that has come about during all that time of don' ; t whip your kids, don' ; t this, don' ; t that, and it' ; s mainly the lack of discipline. GS: I agree with ya. As you see it, what are the biggest problems that face our nation now, and how do you think they could be solved? MW: I think a lot of it' ; s greed, with-- I' ; m just gonna be frank. I think it' ; s the greed with the politicians, one trying to outdo the other, the party is-- the party itself has got to, it' ; s just my way or the highway, and so therefore it' ; s just a constant-- GS: We are very divided MW: We are, the division that has come about GS: Is there anything else that you can think of that you' ; d like to add that I didn' ; t think to ask you? I don' ; t think I asked you what Cletus did for a living? MW: He went to work when he got out of the service, he spent two years, then he got out of service and he went to work for a industrial supply company in Tulsa. He started out filling orders in the-- in the, well it' ; s just filling orders and stuff that the company sold, and then later on he moved up to counter sales, and then later on he moved into head telephone salesman for the company, and then he was put over the telephone department, and by then they had outside salesmen, and by then he was ready to get outside. And they-- but they put someone else in, there was a opening and they put someone else in instead, and he went to another company and put his application in and of course they called the company to get his-- GS: Information MW: Information GS: Uh-huh MW: And they ended up and gave him a raise to keep him GS: Well good, they can help out [Indecipherable] employee MW: And then later on then he-- one of the salesmen had a heart attack and died immediately and he got the job as outside salesman, and he was with the company 25 years GS: Wow MW: And health reasons he had to-- just had to quit. GS: What company was that again? MW: It was called Marsuco (ph) in Tulsa, it started out Marshall Supply, and then later as time went on to Marsuco and, yeah. But he spent 25 years there. GS: Well, that' ; s a long time. Well Monta Jean I just thank you ever so much for coming in and talking to us, we appreciate you and someday this will be put on the website so your words will be available for all posterity, thank you. MW: Yeah I, ya know, I don' ; t mind, you know, sharing audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-11_Wheeler,_Monta_Jean.xml OHP-2020-11_Wheeler,_Monta_Jean.xml
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Monta Jean Wheeler
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In this 2020 interview, Monta Jean Wheeler shares her experiences growing up in the Bristow area. She discusses her childhood, the various businesses throughout Bristow, and the impact that World War II had on Bristow.
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OHP-2020-11
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2020-11-11
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
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sound, oral history
dairy farm
farming
holidays
hospital
Korean War
Native American allotment
peanuts
Pine Hill School
restaurants
statehood
stores
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Georgia Smith
Interviewee
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Cecelia Wittman
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5.4 August 18, 2020 OHP-2020-03 Cecelia Wittman OHP-2020-03 0:00-39:14 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Cecelia Wittman Georgia Smith MP3 1:|74(6)|96(3)|117(3)|142(6)|161(2)|181(16)|196(15)|211(14)|235(8)|253(13)|277(7)|295(5)|307(10)|325(8)|340(15)|350(10)|367(3)|389(6)|405(10)|437(2)|461(14)|476(12)|517(1)|534(11)|551(9)|571(14)|608(20)|634(8)|666(8)|704(10)|728(12)|742(14)|768(9)|793(12)|815(5)|852(5)|876(9)|895(1)|915(1) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/OHO-2020-03 Cecilia Wittman.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family History CW: Okay GS: Okay, I’m sorry. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historic Society’s oral history project. The date is August 18th, 2020, and I am sitting here at the museum with Cecelia Wittman, who’s going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name please. CW: Cecelia Loraine Wittman (ph) GS: What was your name at birth? CW: Cecelia Loraine Nutt, N-U-T-T GS: And where were you born? CW: In Tahlequah, Oklahoma GS: Do you remember the hospital or at home? Barbara Jean Nutt ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Cecelia Loraine Nutt ; Cecelia Loraine Wittman ; Cecelia Wittman ; Connie Sue Nutt ; Conniesenny Tiger ; Etna, Oklahoma ; George Wade Wittman ; Georgia Smith ; Hastings Indian Hospital ; Hershel Quintin Nutt ; Jeramiah Joseph Wittman ; Joe'B Nutt ; Lacricia Joe Nutt ; Martha Yarbrough ; Tahlequah, Oklahoma 235 Tiger Mansion GS: Okay, now tell me about what brought you in today to see me CW: Well I wanted to talk about my grandmother’s house that was built in 1925, and I don’t— GS: And who is your grandmother? CW: Her name was Conniesenny Tiger, she would’ve been my great grandmother, and she—this was a part of the original allotment where the house is built, and back in the—with the removal act from when everybody was removed from the southeast, they were brought here and then the, all the Indians were brought here for, which you would refer to Native Americans today, but we still say we’re Indian because we’re the natives of this time. We’re still in this era, this age group that I live in, and— GS: Was your grandmother part of the journey, great grandmother? CW: Yes, my great grandmother was. She said that she was—she was Conniesenny Bristow, Oklahoma ; Bureau of Indian Affairs ; Conniesenny Tiger ; Dawes Act ; Hannah Brown ; Indian Department ; John Wesley ; Lomus ; Lumous ; Ma Smith ; Martha Marie Brown ; Mr. Smith ; Mrs. Smith ; Original Allotment ; Porter Tiger ; Tiger Mansion ; Yuchi 1440 Indian Culture GS: You were gonna tell me a little about the Indian Culture around here CW: Oh I’m sorry about that GS: No that’s—you’re fine! CW: The culture here is still strong today, it is—there’s still ceremonial ground that is out here south of town and, which is referred to as Iron Post, or there was an original ceremonial ground that was called Sand Creek, so now younger generation refers to this particular Iron Post as Sand Creek so it’s kind of changed along the way, but there’s still thick native Yuchi culture here out of Bristow and Kellyville between here and Mounds GS: And what do they do there? CW: Oh we have our green corn ceremonial, we have green corn ceremonies here, and all of the—it’s a fasting where you fast and pray and dance and sing and all these things that you go then we celebrate with fresh green corn and tomatoes, you know, everything all of your fresh fruits and vegetables at that time of year. And it’s usually done in July and August GS: That’s—you know I’ve lived here all my life and never heard of that Absente Shawnees ; Destin, Florida ; Ethaline Washburn ; Gelenium ; Green Corn Ceremonial ; Iron Post ; Lucian Tiger ; Lucian Tiger III ; Pensacola, Florida ; Sac and Fox ; Sand Creek ; Yuchi ; Yuchi Community https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=YU001 Yuchi 1730 Memories of Bristow and Church Life GS: Okay let’s see, okay you told me that you have memories of visiting here because you weren’t raised in Bristow CW: Nuh-uh GS: But your grandmother was, your mother was? CW: And my husband was from Bristow GS: Okay CW: He was actually from Bristow from Gipsy corner, my husband was so yeah I have those families from him as well as from his family, but when I was a child, we would come back to visit his family GS: Okay CW: So— GS: So you knew his family Ah-La-Quan ; Anchor-In ; Christian ; Conniesenny ; Conniesenny Tiger ; CR Anthonys ; Ethaline Washburn ; Polly Long https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/22443141/polly-ah-la-quan-long Polly Long 2093 Family History GS: Who was the last relative of yours to own that house? CW: Hannah Brown (ph) GS: Hannah Brown, and she was your grandmother? CW: Mhm GS: And she married who? CW: She married Joe Yarbrough (ph) GS: And was he Indian also? CW: Yes, but he was from—there was not no recording of that, you know back then when you got divorced or when you got mad or whatever, you just said you’re a half GS: Oh okay CW: So it was one of those deals, there was a divorce Hannah Brown ; Joe Yarbrough ; Methodist Church ; Newbie In this 2020 interview, Cecelia Wittman shares her families history in the Bristow area. She discusses the Tiger Mansion and Indian Culture. Interviewer: Georgia Smith Interviewee: Cecelia Wittman Other Persons: Date of Interview: August 18, 2020 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-03 at 00:00 to 39:14 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. CW: Okay GS: Okay, I' ; m sorry. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historic Society' ; s oral history project. The date is August 18th, 2020, and I am sitting here at the museum with Cecelia Wittman, who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about her history in the Bristow area. Now, give me your full name please. CW: Cecelia Loraine Wittman (ph) GS: What was your name at birth? CW: Cecelia Loraine Nutt, N-U-T-T GS: And where were you born? CW: In Tahlequah, Oklahoma GS: Do you remember the hospital or at home? CW: Hastings, Hastings Indian Hospital GS: Again, you were born on what date? CW: February the 20th in 1958 GS: And what was your father' ; s name? CW: Hershel Quintin Nutt (ph) GS: And your mother' ; s maiden name? CW: Her name was Martha Yarbrough (ph) GS: And do you know when they--when and where they were married? CW: No, it was in the 1940' ; s GS: Okay, and why did they come to Oklahoma? CW: Well, my father was from out in western Oklahoma, and my mother was born here, so. GS: Okay, how many children did your parents have? CW: There was five of us GS: And what are your siblings' ; names? CW: My oldest sister was Connie--Connie Sue Nutt (ph), and she was named after Conniesenny Tiger (ph), my great Grandmother. And she was born in 1949, so. Then I have another sister, her name is Lacricia Joe Nutt (ph), and then a brother, which was Joe' ; B Nutt, it' ; s J-O-E Apostrophe B, just Joe' ; B GS: Thank you CW: Nutt, and my youngest sister, and then it was me, which I' ; m Cecelia and my youngest sister is Barbara Jean Nutt (ph), there was five of us. GS: Nice family, what did your father do? CW: He was a--a bull rider, bronc rider, he was a rodeo performer and before that, he was a jockey and--but he was raised on a cotton farm out in Etna, Oklahoma GS: How exciting, how interesting. What did your mother do? CW: He--But he was a welder--he was a welder by trade though, later on he became a welder. GS: Okay, very good. CW: The end, in the end he was a welder. My mother she was a house wife and she worked all over, she did everything and different things, but mainly she was a homemaker. But back in those days, you know, then she worked at different places along the way and she ended up retiring and working for this school system as a custodian in Glenpool, she retired there for 20 years. GS: Very--when was she at Glenpool? CW: Let' ; s see, in 1980? From 19 maybe 79, late 70' ; s till she retired. GS: Okay, okay. What is your spouse' ; s name? CW: His name was George Wade Wittman, he' ; s deceased. But it' ; s George Wade Wittman Jr. GS: Okay, and what year did you get, or when did you get married? CW: We got married August the 29th of 1989. GS: Aw, your anniversary' ; s coming up CW: Yes, it is GS: How many children did you have? CW: We had four, he had one son and I had two sons. It was both our second marriage and then between us, we had our youngest son, which was Jeramiah Joseph Wittman (ph). GS: Okay, now tell me about what brought you in today to see me CW: Well I wanted to talk about my grandmother' ; s house that was built in 1925, and I don' ; t-- GS: And who is your grandmother? CW: Her name was Conniesenny Tiger, she would' ; ve been my great grandmother, and she--this was a part of the original allotment where the house is built, and back in the--with the removal act from when everybody was removed from the southeast, they were brought here and then the, all the Indians were brought here for, which you would refer to Native Americans today, but we still say we' ; re Indian because we' ; re the natives of this time. We' ; re still in this era, this age group that I live in, and-- GS: Was your grandmother part of the journey, great grandmother? CW: Yes, my great grandmother was. She said that she was--she was Conniesenny GS: Conniesenny CW: Senny, and she was--yes she was. And my mother said she arrived here when she was 9, when she was 9 years old she-- GS: She made that trek when she was 9? CW: She arrived when she was 9, so we don' ; t know anything prior to that GS: Would you spell Conniesennys' ; name for our typist? CW: Yes, let me get the card, let me see if I brought it. It' ; s C-O-N-N-I-E-S-E-N-N-Y GS: Tiger CW: Tiger, T-I-G-E-R GS: Okay, very good. Okay well tell me about all of your memories of your grandmother Conniesenny CW: Well I have no actual memories ; I just have stories to where what is related to my mother. She was--my mother was born in 1923 and so she was raised in the house that Conniesenny had built GS: And where is that house? CW: That is actually--it' ; s 5.3, I think 5.3 miles south of Bristow, and I was told, so of course she had the original allotment, and back then you were allotted 160 acres. Each individual native American was allotted this called the Original Allotment, and she was an allottee, so this was her land and they struck oil on this land and then this-- GS: That' ; s marvelous CW: Yes, it was marvelous, and anyway according to the history, they said that what we would call the Bureau of Indian Affairs today, but it was called the Indian Department back then GS: Okay CW: Had, I guess they had their own architects and their own builders and their own people that went in and built different homes for native Americans, and she had this house built in 1925, according to History I think, I don' ; t know. GS: Was this before or after she struck oil? CW: It was after she struck oil, so prior to that, and 1889 to I think 1906 is when they had the Dawes act (ph) was in commission and they began to record the history. At that time, they each individual had their row numbers and where their allotment was and where they were enrolled at, there was a census just like it is now, the 2020 census is going on, this census was taken for the Indians. But they kept track of all the Indians at that point. GS: Okay CW: So they were allotted this land through that row number, and so they were registered and had their allotments. Actually I think their allotments were given out before the enrollment. Anyway, she was, this land was hers and she--and years later, ' ; cus she was enrolled I think in 18, in the 1890' ; s, I wanna say 1896 she was enrolled, she was already--she had already received her row number at this time, that' ; s why she was documented GS: How old was she then? Do you-- CW: It does--it says she was 45 at that time and age GS: So had she been living south of Bristow? CW: We don' ; t know where, I don' ; t know GS: You don' ; t know where CW: I don' ; t know when--I need to do some more digging and find out myself to where she--when she was actually allotted the land, I don' ; t know that part, I don' ; t know that date, and I don' ; t know what time frame there was between her--for her age, what her marriage she was, and all that type of, before she had the house built. GS: Okay CW: Because she was 45 in the late 1890' ; s and so she died in 1944 GS: Okay CW: So the house was built in 1925 GS: Okay CW: So they struck oil on her land and at that point and time, and fast forward, so my mother was raised in that house, my grandmother was born on 1905 and there' ; s a whole other history that goes with that, and so my mother was born in 1923, and her siblings, she had--there was Martha Marie and John Wesley and they were all three raised, they were Hannah Browns (ph), my grandmother was Hannah Brown and she was shown, three children were raised there in that house, which one of those were my mother. GS: In Conniesenny Tigers house CW: In Conniesenny Tigers house GS: Okay CW: And my mother was her translator because my mother had gone to school because she was a full blood Yuchi, I need to probably specify that. They were all full bloods and my mother wasn' ; t a full blood, but my grandmother, my great grandmother were full blood Yuchi GS: That' ; s--That is awesome CW: And so my mother and her siblings were raised in this house so she was the oldest of the three, my mother was. And they just all through life and I don' ; t think they sold the house until in the late 50' ; s, before they sold the house. GS: Now were you ever in that house as a child? CW: No, I just remember coming by there as a child growing up and as I was returning back to Bristow, because by this time we had moved to Muscogee, and life goes on and my brother and my other sisters they were--they could have been but, and my oldest sister, she was born in 1949 and yes, she was there. She had memories, she just recently passed away this past June. GS: Aw, I' ; m sorry CW: I lost her in June of 2020, she passed away, but she grew--so when we got the house back, she was just amazed, she remembered all the memories of playing in the barn and in the house, what the house looked like, everything, all of her childhood memories. So she was there but I wasn' ; t GS: Now I have heard that this house has been called the Tiger mansion, can you describe it to me, the house? CW: Well, it' ; s a very sound. It' ; s so well built, it was built to last and I remember the story that my mother said that Conniesenny told her which she called her grandma, she didn' ; t call her Conniesenny, she called her--she said " ; grandma tell me" ; , she wanted this house to last a lifetime, a hundred years. Build it to where it will last a hundred years is what she was thinking, and it has lasted a hundred years, it' ; s still well built, it' ; s very sound, still the beautiful concrete pillars. It' ; s a brick home, it' ; s a large three bedroom, has a huge basement, and it has six windows in each room, all this original wood is still there, the original doors, the original hardware, the original flooring, everything it' ; s just--it' ; s just still beautiful, beautiful as it' ; s ever been. The baseboard, everything' ; s still original. GS: And you were fortunate to be able to purchase this recently CW: Yes, I was, yes I was. And the people that had it previously, they did sell I think two or three times before [Indecipherable] was able to Lomous (ph), or Lumous (ph), I' ; m not sure how you pronounce it, her and her husband was Jack and they purchased it and they were caretakers, they--it was their home, you know. They treasured it, they took well care of it, and it was just preserved and that was dated, very dated in the kitchen. But apart from that, because it' ; d been remodeled and sort of 80' ; s stuff, 70' ; s and 80' ; s but, you know, apart from all that, it' ; s just a beautiful. The land itself is beautiful, the original fence is still there. Conniesenny, she also had a, this being her original allotment, she allotted one and a half acres to be our families cemetery, and it' ; s still fenced off to this day with the exact same fencing that' ; s around the house that the property sits on. GS: How many family members do you have buried there? CW: Oh a good twenty, a good twenty people GS: That is wonderful CW: My mother' ; s there, my grandma Conniesenny' ; s there, my husband' ; s there, my father' ; s there, my uncles, my aunts, everyone there. Of any importance ; my mother-in-law is buried there, yeah it' ; s a beautiful family and family history there. GS: Can you tell-- it gets emotional, does it yeah? CW: Yeah, yeah it does GS: Can you tell me anything about, you might not know since you weren' ; t here then, but about the Indian culture that was south of town at that time? CW: Well now the culture goes deeper than people even know and realize that it' ; s still there today, not only just within the property, so I' ; ll back up here a little bit. So the 160 acres had already been--some of it had been sold off in the 50' ; s, like I said when they sold the house, and they' ; d been divided up I think like in the, oh I' ; m not sure exactly what year all this had transpired, but there' ; s different sections of the land has-- is, was gone, but there was still the 40 acres that the house sits on now. And that Jack and Burla (ph) were able to purchase. So it' ; s the house and 40 acres, and so after Burla back to the house, she--a little bit of the history here, she I think ended up going to a retirement home or something and then after she lost her husband, and then she stayed there for years by herself. Well she--my nephew and different ones would stop in, my sister, different ones and I always stopped in and visited her and ask her if, how she was and if they could see the house because there was so much nostalgic memories that go there. My mother' ; s memories have been there with my dad and him proposing to her and all kinds of beautiful memories that go there. And anyway, so we were able to purchase it again, it came up for sale but they hadn' ; t listed it on the market yet and we had always requested that if you please, if anybody decides to sell it, please let us know before it goes out so we can get it back into our family. GS: Yes CW: And as it turns out, my husband and I went down in October and, of 2018. We went down there 2018 and we said " ; Oh let' ; s go see it, let' ; s go see it" ; and the opportunity came so we went and he said " ; Yeah, let' ; s do it, you think you wanna do it?" ; I said " ; Of course you know I wanna do it" ; GS: (Laughing) CW: And so of course we were happy and I was able to get a few pictures that day with my husband and I and little did I know that a few months later that he would pass away GS: Oh CW: So-- GS: I' ; m sorry, know it' ; s hard. How long were you married? CW: 35 years GS: 35 years is a long time. CW: Yeah. I have it, I have it right here. GS: Okay, I was trying to look around to see if I had Kleenex CW: I' ; m sorry, I' ; m sorry about that GS: No, you' ; re fine. CW: So my sons, of course by this time [Indecipherable] my husband had a stroke in 2016 and I resigned from my job to take care of him and so--and in 2018 like I said, we decided to purchase the house and we put a down payment on it and everything so one thing happened with the other then we went into the holidays, November, December, ya know. But January he got sick and went to the hospital, and he died February the 8th of 2019, and so we were in the process of selling our other house to get everything done, and so my sons, I have two older sons, and they picked up the ball and-- GS: Bless their hearts CW: They knew I couldn' ; t do it financially by myself, now when my husband was here we could' ; ve done it GS: Right CW: But he had retired from the American Airlines and had other incomes so, but my sons were able to pick up the ball and purchase it for us, and I moved there now and my sons and I are all entitled together--without my husband, but I' ; m there GS: That' ; s wonderful CW: And he' ; s down the road at the cemetery GS: That' ; s right CW: And that comforts me GS: He' ; s close CW: He' ; s very close GS: Yes, he is CW: So him and my mother and my dad and everyone so I' ; m there with everyone, and I live there in the house and it' ; s, it' ; s just absolutely beautiful. The house is beautiful, and I remember them calling it, referring--I' ; m probably talking too much GS: No you' ; re fine, not at all CW: I remember them referring to it as the Tiger mansion when I was growing up, just the different nostalgic stories that my mother would just say " ; Oh we would do this, and oh we would do that" ; and you know, they had--they had what we would refer to as a nanny today and a housekeeper, she was a live in and her name was Ma Smith, she was a black lady. And her and her husband was Mr. Smith, I don' ; t remember his first name ' ; cus momma never called him by his--she always called him Mr. Smith. GS: Mr. Smith CW: Mr. and Mrs. Smith GS: Very respectful CW: Yeah she didn' ; t call Mrs. Smith ' ; Misses' ; , she always called her Ma, Ma Smith. Maybe they called him Paul, I don' ; t know, but I don' ; t remember that. I always say Mr. Smith and Ma Smith but I would refer to her husband as ' ; Alright now, Mr. Smith' ; s gonna be coming in pretty soon and so you girls need to do this' ; because she was their nanny and momma said she bathed them and took care of them, but she was a live in because she--now there was a servants' ; quarters there on the property, but they didn' ; t live there, they lived in the basement GS: Okay CW: So she could be near Conniesenny in case she needed anything GS: Oh CW: And she was the caretaker, she did everything. She did the cooking and took care of the--her, whatever her needs were, she was there and helped with the kids and helped with raising my mother. GS: How wonderful CW: And she was very hands on and very affectionate. And so Mr. Smith was the groundskeepers and now I know why he, they had a full time groundskeeper, because it' ; s a lot, it' ; s a lot to keep all, everything done and we have weed eaters nowadays and he did it by hand, but at that point in time, there was a fenced in area that was like an orchard and so there was fruit trees and gardening and all of those things that they had. And so anyway, but I think this was the first house to have indoor plumbing S: Oh CW: So it had indoor plumbing and my--the story goes, now this is what my mother told me, that Conniesenny Tiger paid to have the, the first one to pay to have the electric strung five miles, and so the electric that' ; s out there now, everyone has benefited throughout the years because she' ; s the one that had it installed GS: Because she got it started, well I imagine that' ; s true, she had the money to do it. CW: Yes, she did, she did. GS: That' ; s exciting CW: Yeah, and they said that when she died, she had six hundred thousand dollars in her checking account GS: Wow CW: Not what she was worth, because they house, the land, everything that went all together and that day was, of course, doesn' ; t even account for today' ; s money GS: No, yeah CW: But back then, that was a lot of money GS: I' ; m sure, so was that money then distributed to your mother CW: Yes GS: And CW: No, not my mother GS: Your grandmother CW: My grandmother GS: Yes CW: So my grandmother had another son, his name was--his name was Porter Tiger, and so they had a real soft spot in their heart for the depot because he was killed in Colorado and that took his body--took them two weeks to get his body shipped back to Bristow GS: And they did it by rail? CW: They did it by rail, and he came here and they and to come to the train station and pick him up, and so it just broke my grandmothers heart, her heart was just broke, and my great grandmother--I said my grandmother, but it' ; s my great grandmother GS: Conniesenny CW: Conniesenny, yes. Her heart was just broken, and he has two children. He had two children, still does, so--or he has great grandchildren and great grandchildren from her two as well, and she had--so it was the land and, but my grandmother, Hannah Brown (ph) was able to get the house and the land, she inherited that and I think the money and different parts, different sections of that land was inherited to the Porter Tigers children GS: Okay, okay, so that' ; s when it started getting divided up? CW: Yes, after her death so [Indecipherable] GS: You were gonna tell me a little about the Indian Culture around here CW: Oh I' ; m sorry about that GS: No that' ; s--you' ; re fine! CW: The culture here is still strong today, it is--there' ; s still ceremonial ground that is out here south of town and, which is referred to as Iron Post, or there was an original ceremonial ground that was called Sand Creek, so now younger generation refers to this particular Iron Post as Sand Creek so it' ; s kind of changed along the way, but there' ; s still thick native Yuchi culture here out of Bristow and Kellyville between here and Mounds GS: And what do they do there? CW: Oh we have our green corn ceremonial, we have green corn ceremonies here, and all of the--it' ; s a fasting where you fast and pray and dance and sing and all these things that you go then we celebrate with fresh green corn and tomatoes, you know, everything all of your fresh fruits and vegetables at that time of year. And it' ; s usually done in July and August GS: That' ; s--you know I' ; ve lived here all my life and never heard of that CW: Well there' ; s a full blood Yuchi community in Bristow, it' ; s one of the largest ones where everyone if you were from the area, you know between here and--there was a lot of Yuchis that married in with the Sac and Foxes and the Absente Shawnees is as well GS: Are the Yuchis creek, or is that separate? CW: It' ; s actually separate GS: Okay CW: They were--they were band together with the creeks back during the removal, so back then you were just Indian. It didn' ; t matter what you were, you' ; re so--but the majority of, so when they were band together during the removal, they were moved with the creeks because we were neighbors back in the homeland GS: Do you know what state your grandmother Conniesenny came from? CW: Georgia GS: She did come from Georgia, that' ; s very interesting CW: Yeah it' ; s from Georgia GS: Okay CW: So there was the northers Yuchis and the lower Yuchis, southern Yuchis, the northern and the southern since you had the Yuchis that was up in the Appalachians so those were like the northern ones and then you have the southern ones GS: Okay. I never knew that. CW: Close to it GS: Very nice CW: It stretches all the way around from all the way down like where Pensacola and Destin Florida is today GS: Yes CW: Yeah GS: Wow CW: All the way there, all the way. Then once you start getting into Alabama, there was the Georgia, the creeks were there in Georgia as well. But all through Georgia and Alabama was creeks and the Tennessee GS: Fascinating, just fascinating CW: It goes all the way to the east coast all the way back, so there was a huge, huge-- GS: So the Yuchi nation was a big tribe CW: It was--yes and our language is still alive, not it' ; s almost extinct to this day, but there is a younger generation that has really grasped hold and had become faithful and steadfast and we have two elders right now that are still full blood, living full blood. GS: Oh that' ; s marvelous. CW: Yeah it' ; s still, and there' ; s some right here in Bristow is Ethaline Washburn (ph), she' ; s still alive and well and just a beautiful, beautiful lady. GS: She' ; s probably someone we should interview CW: Yeah, you probably should. And she' ; ll say " ; Oh I don' ; t know about that" ; if you know, she said, she' ; s very modest about it, but she was very, very wise. GS: Do you have relatives still living here in Bristow? CW: No I don' ; t GS: Okay, because when we heard the name Tiger we thought " ; Well there' ; s some tigers" ; we' ; ve heard the name tiger in this area CW: Okay so now that they' ; re, they are Conniesenny descendants first for the Tiger, Lucian Tiger, Lucian Tiger the III, they are her grandchildren and great grandchildren. GS: So they' ; re distant relatives to you maybe CW: Yes, to me, but to her they' ; re direct descendants GS: Right, are they still here? CW: Yes, uh-huh yes GS: Okay, yeah, that' ; s what I was asking. CW: Yes, okay so they--they mainly bond, I' ; m sure they bonded with Conniesenny too, but they had their own history here through their mothers' ; side GS: Okay CW: [Indecipherable] And a lot of them made, like that' ; s how the enrollment goes, and any most of your upper whatever, usually followed by the mother [Indecipherable] GS: I' ; ve read that, I just love that, yeah CW: Everything' ; s about Gelenium (ph), and like if you' ; re gonna go with your clan or you' ; re gonna go you follow your mothers clan. (Laughter) GS: The woman in me loves that CW: Yes GS: Okay let' ; s see, okay you told me that you have memories of visiting here because you weren' ; t raised in Bristow CW: Nuh-uh GS: But your grandmother was, your mother was? CW: And my husband was from Bristow GS: Okay CW: He was actually from Bristow from Gipsy corner, my husband was so yeah I have those families from him as well as from his family, but when I was a child, we would come back to visit his family GS: Okay CW: So-- GS: So you knew his family CW: Yes, yes. GS: Well before you every were romantically involved with him CW: Yes, he' ; s Yuchi too GS: Okay CW: We' ; re all--they were all Yuchis, all of them. There' ; s a Yuchi committee that, like the [Indecipherable] Church GS: Yes CW: Okay so anyway, my mother and my grandmother we would always come back here to visit their friends, I don' ; t know, I couldn' ; t tell you there' ; s certain friends, but like one lady was a seamstresses, and we' ; d come back here to pick up the quilts or whatever, or we would come back to go to the ceremonial dances that they had, but anytime we would come to eat, and I would remember coming through town and all of the, you know brick streets, I just loved that as a kid being in the back seat loving that, and I remember them talking about a CR Anthonys that was here on Main Street, I remember just all the old buildings and going in and out of the stores, but I don' ; t remember the names of them. GS: Yeah CW: The pool hall, seems like I remember where there was a pool hall GS: There was, there were a couple right up there CW: Yeah, so I remember that as a child coming through there and the Anchor-In where the hamburgers were, so it' ; s coming back forward another twenty years you know, but-- GS: Well we' ; re so glad that you' ; ve moved back here CW: Oh gosh I am too, I am too. GS: And it' ; s nice, do you have any of your husbands' ; relatives who live around here that you know? CW: They don' ; t live here, no they live in Norman and in Oklahoma City, but they were raised here, they were raised here. When their grandmother, their mother and grandmother passed away, they moved away. They moved away actually before the grandmother passed away, but they of course came back every weekend I remember to always see her because she was a pillar here in the community as well. She, her name was Polly LongGS: Polly Long CW: She was, her native name was Ah-La-Quan and so she lived here for years. She couldn' ; t speak English either, and they chose not to, you know back then they chose not to because they had it so hard, they knew what others were attempting to say but all of her-- she raised three boys, they were her grandsons, she raised them all here. And you know back then the mothers would have to leave home and go off to work if they weren' ; t married, so. And then anyway as time goes on-- GS: Okay let me see, now since you' ; re not from Bristow, I' ; m gonna concentrate on some other area here CW: Okay GS: Church life, your grandmother or any of them, did they attend church, were they religious people? CW: Yes, they were, she was a devout Christian number one, and they-- back then they didn' ; t have church homes, houses, church buildings, a place of worship all over, so back then you traveled to your home to have church GS: I' ; ve heard that CW: So I have pictures of them having church inside the house where I lived now, she had church every--all the time so I have pictures in there in front of the fireplace that still exist today, the exact same windows and everything is in the pictures, GS: We would probably love to have a digital copy of that if you wouldn' ; t mind CW: And my--the lady I mentioned Ethaline Washburn (ph) was in that picture, and my husband was in that picture GS: Aw CW: At that particular church service, he showed one picture of the pastor standing at the pulpit and preaching and the ladies having their hymnals out and singing and then you have another one of them against the wall back over to the dining room where they had the chairs set up for church, and my husband was sitting right in the middle of the row GS: And about how old was he? CW: He was about six, maybe seven. Six or seven GS: Oh how wonderful, how wonderful is that picture! Oh we would love to have a CW: Copy of that GS: A digital copy of that if it' ; s possible, I love that. CW: We have pictures of Conniesenny, she' ; s just a beautiful and the things about it is, we don' ; t know when this picture was taken, but it was taken there in the house GS: The one where your husband was six, or are you talking about a different picture? CW: I' ; m talking about a different picture GS: Oh CW: We have a portrait of Conniesenny Tiger herself, yes it' ; s beautiful. GS: Yeah we would love to have that too CW: Yes, that' ; s beautiful. But all of our childhood memories and all the pictures that my mother would talk about that she could just get the nostalgic, you know somedays she she' ; d just sit there and cry because of her memories that was taken place there at the house and when grandma did this and grandma did that and how grandma was and what they had for supper or you know, just things like that and my--all of the family photos that we have are all taken there at the house with the same entrance, everything' ; s still exactly the same, the front entrance, the from steps, everybody took pictures there GS: It was the gathering place for your family CW: It was, it was. And then we said when we were able to come back and purchase it, we said you know, 70 years since this bloodline has been back in the house GS: Who was the last relative of yours to own that house? CW: Hannah Brown (ph) GS: Hannah Brown, and she was your grandmother? CW: Mhm GS: And she married who? CW: She married Joe Yarbrough (ph) GS: And was he Indian also? CW: Yes, but he was from--there was not no recording of that, you know back then when you got divorced or when you got mad or whatever, you just said you' ; re a half GS: Oh okay CW: So it was one of those deals, there was a divorce GS: Okay CW: And, but he was from Newbie? GS: Yes CW: I think he was from around Newbie GS: Okay, okay. CW: I don' ; t know any, I don' ; t remember--now my mother remembered just talking about his mother, which would have been her grandmother, but I can' ; t, we can' ; t remember her--their names. We don' ; t know who they were or, you know. Some things you just as a kid don' ; t ask, and then even when you got older, before momma died, we-- GS: You don' ; t think to ask until it' ; s too late CW: Until it' ; s too late, it is not as important as it is now GS: Exactly, exactly. What about holidays, what kind of festivities did they have at holidays like Christmas and Easter? CW: Just the same thing GS: Same thing CW: The same just like everybody else did GS: yeah CW: Yeah, my mom always had a tree and my grandmother always seen to it. Back then, we used to come, I remember coming as a child to my lucky Methodist church out here and her bringing--we' ; d come from Muskogee and she' ; d bring baskets of--baskets of oranges and baskets of apples to help set, pass out for the candy sacks for the bags of candy, and she would do stuff like that. GS: That' ; s wonderful. CW: But we would always come back to Bristow GS: Was your grandmother Conniesenny benevolent with her money? CW: I' ; m not really sure, I' ; m not really sure, but I just know that on one hand, she was very free hearted and on the other hand it was always like--actually things were just stolen from her, just stolen. Her money, her mineral rights, everything. It was a lot that was stolen. It was underhanded things that happened. GS: From--from family members CW: No, no GS: or from other [Indecipherable]? CW: Yeah ' ; cus back then, you had to guardians over your money, and then like, they took like over half of her fortune. So it was, it was a lot--it was a lot of hard--I hate that part to be recorded, so I mean it' ; s deeper than you can imagine, but whenever she signed her oil lease away, she was thinking she was selling it and my mother was not there to interpret for her that particular day GS: They took advantage of her CW: They--oh yeah, they actually conned her into signing away her mineral rights, they stole her oil. And so I' ; m sure she was grieved, can you imagine how grieved she was, so you don' ; t know when that took place, we don' ; t know how it did but it' ; s gone now, it' ; s all gone. My mother, we still have a portion of royalties but it' ; s not a lot. And then they act like that we' ; re--I mean it' ; s just too much to put on tape, so. GS: I' ; m sorry. CW: Yeah it' ; s a lot GS: I' ; m so sorry CW: Yeah. When my mother, when my grandmother when I was a child, I remembered going and sitting at in Tulsa in the car all day long and, because the guardian wasn' ; t gonna give her any of her money, and she said " ; well he thinks I' ; m not--" ; GS: Was it because she was Indian? CW: Oh yeah it was because she was Indian, and you know they had kept her money, they guarded the money, they had the government set up to where they appointed guardians over individual people since they thought they were ignorant and dumb Indians, so that' ; s what they did they just, you know, so Indians and dogs are the only ones that are registered with a dog tag with a number on it. If you registered, that' ; s how you get registered. So back then, they had--they took care of all their individual-- audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-03_Wittman,_Cecelia.xml OHP-2020-03_Wittman,_Cecelia.xml
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Title
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Cecelia Wittman
Description
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In this 2020 interview, Cecelia Wittman shares her families history in the Bristow area. She discusses the Tiger Mansion and Indian Culture.
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OHP-2020-03
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2020-08-18
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
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sound, oral history
Dawes Act
Iron Post
Native American allotment
Native American guardianship
Native American removal
stomp grounds
Yuchi
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Debbie Blansett
Interviewee
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Lydia Taryole
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5.4 July 7, 2020 OHP-2020-05 Lydia Taryole OHP-2020-05 0:00-50:14 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Lydia Taryole Debbie Blansett MP3 1:|59(2)|98(6)|156(2)|188(6)|243(2)|264(9)|315(2)|337(1)|365(3)|407(11)|453(7)|480(4)|526(3)|565(8)|606(4)|639(2)|683(4)|702(13)|719(14)|749(5)|774(12)|812(9)|846(4)|863(3)|892(6)|925(1)|939(1)|952(17)|985(10)|1024(6)|1055(2)|1080(1)|1119(14)|1140(9)|1184(2)|1215(2)|1253(5)|1275(4)|1296(7)|1337(3)|1377(5)|1397(12)|1416(1)|1436(11)|1469(6)|1504(4)|1535(19)|1540(12)|1551(10)|1578(2) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Lydia Taryole.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family History DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Societies on going Oral History Project. The date is July 7th, and I am sitting here with Lydia Taryole at the Community Bank Board Room in Bristow Oklahoma who’s going to tell me a little about their—her history in the Bristow area. Her daughter Natalie Hogner is also in the room with us. Now I’m gonna ask each of you to give me your full name so that the transcriber will know your voice when you talk. So Lydia if you’ll say your name LT: Lydia Barnett Taryole NH: Natalie— LT: [Indecipherable] Barnett NH: Natalie Lynn Hogner DB: Alright, so we’re ready to start. Lydia’s brought some pictures today with her LT: That’s my son Barbara Ann ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Bunji Norman Taryole ; Christopher ; Clairview ; Clearview ; Debbie Blansett ; James Barnett ; Lizzie Star Barnett ; Lydia Barnett Taryole ; Michael West ; Natalie Lynn Hogner ; Newman Taryole Jr. ; Nicolas Hogner ; Weleetka ; William Barnett 348 School DB: What do you remember about school in Bristow? LT: Mr. Lester, I went to school every day and I didn’t know my math, he passed me DB: That’s a good one LT: Mr. Lester NH: She remembers Mr. Lester LT: I remember that DB: Mr. Lester LT: I didn’t know my math, or les—arithmetic’s. I went to school— DB: And he passed you anyway Audrey Bigpond ; Chilocco Indian School ; Eufaula ; Lydia Barnett ; Mr. Lester ; Navajos ; Newkirk ; Norma Jean 810 Young Adulthood DB: Well tell me about your husband, how did you meet your husband? LT: Ohhh DB: Oh is that a bad story? (Laughing) LT: My cousin told him about me DB: Did he play ball? LT: Who? DB: Your husband? LT: Yeah, he [Indecipherable]. That’s him in the army DB: Oh, he was in the army Baseball ; Berryhill ; Carl West ; Fort Louis ; Newman ; Newman Taryole ; Statewide Tree Service ; Thomas Nick ; Warehouse Market ; Whinie Lowell 1209 Businesses DB: Oh my goodness, you were the ringer? That’s the good thing. What do you remember about Bristow, like what were the big businesses here when you came back to live in Bristow? LT: Uh, momma, what was his name, Abraham? DB: Uh-huh LT: He had a grocery store I think, Abraham I think, mhm DB: Yes, yes, on main street? LT: Mhm DB: What did main street look like? LT: I had a picture of it with them old cars, and I was looking for it and I lost it DB: That’s alright, but lots of places to shop? Lots of things to do? Abraham ; Burris ; Four-mile corner 1427 Childhood DB: Well, there’s just so many things ; what other stories do you have? Let’s surprised Natalie, what other stories can you remember from—did you do any ornery things when you were a girl? LT: I ran around with that O’Brian (ph) girl NH: What does that mean? DB: Did you get in trouble with that? LT: Her mom was a bootlegger DB: Oh my goodness LT: Down on the highway DB: Now those are the kind of stories we want to hear, so the O’Brian girls’ momma was a bootlegger LT: And I was going to school and she come and wanted me to run around with her and I go “No I gotta go to school” she left Kellyville ; Lizzie Star Barnett ; Model-A ; O'Brian 1628 Greatest Inventions and Differences in the World DB: If you think back all the way from 1933 until now, what are the greatest inventions, or the greatest things— LT: My daddy tried to farm DB: He tried to farm, that was a pretty big deal! Did he have luck? Did he grow things? LT: Yeah he had watermelon and people come stole them DB: Oh my gosh, I think it might’ve been, I think I might’ve known a person that was involved in that. He tells stories about stealing watermelon anyway. But y’all had a wagon, how long until you had a car? LT: Well mom had a model-A and she bought a truck, cus’ she had money. She got 160 [Indecipherable] DB: She just bought it or she was left that land? LT: Yeah they gave it to her, I don’t know what year. Daddy got 160 DB: And this was all through Indian Land grants? Creek ; Indian Land Grants ; Okemah ; Okmulgee ; Original Allottes ; Springfield ; Springfield United Methodist Church ; Tulsa 1962 Baseball DB: Do you go to any of the Pow-wows or Stomp Dances or anything like that? LT: My father-in-law did, he belonged to Nuyaka (ph). Me and Newman was out playing ball or he was running the ball with his team and basketball, he had a baseball team. DB: Oh wow NH: Yeah that’s where I grew up on the Stomp Grounds in Nuyaka, it’s on my dad's land, the stomp grounds. Then of course in the fields they built their own little baseball– softball field LT: Newman's dad belonged to it, he [Indecipherable] him and his wife, she cooks. NH: Oh yeah she cooked out on the fire outside LT: They cooked outside NH: Yeah Barbara Ann ; Baseball ; Buckeye ; Joe Barnett ; JoJo ; Nuyaka ; Pow-Wow ; Softball ; Stomp Dances ; Stomp Grounds 2220 Family History (Continued) and Conclusion DB: Well, I sure have enjoyed it. And you know this is gonna become part of the oral history and you can see it LT: Oh I hope not DB: Oh yes it will and it will be available online if people wanna know things about you or about your family LT: I told Reba, I said “That highway is 65 miles an hour”, I told her that’s old 66, she don't believe me. She said “Oh you know, that’s not true”, she didn’t believe me. That’s old 66 DB: Yup LT: Now that’s 48, and it’s 65 miles, they pass each other DB: Where you live on 48, that used to be old 66? LT: Yeah [Indecipherable] by the four-mile corner then turn up there east 55' Ford ; Barbara Ann ; Bristow ; Chicoma, Washington ; Delores ; Eufaula ; Four-Mile Corner ; Haskell ; Haskell Indian College ; Home Ec ; James Barnett ; Jennetta Barnett ; Jennetta Scott ; Junior 4H ; Junior Red Cross ; Lizzie Barnett ; Mrs. Dire ; Mrs. Dyre ; Navajos ; Okemah ; Pinehill ; Tahlequah In this 2020 interview, Lydia Taryole shares her experience growing up in Bristow. She discusses her childhood, family history, and baseball. Interviewer: Debbie Blansett Interviewee: Lydia Taryole Other Persons: Natalie Hogner Date of Interview: July 7, 2020 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-05 at 00:00 to 50:14 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Societies on going Oral History Project. The date is July 7th, and I am sitting here with Lydia Taryole at the Community Bank Board Room in Bristow Oklahoma who' ; s going to tell me a little about their--her history in the Bristow area. Her daughter Natalie Hogner is also in the room with us. Now I' ; m gonna ask each of you to give me your full name so that the transcriber will know your voice when you talk. So Lydia if you' ; ll say your name LT: Lydia Barnett Taryole NH: Natalie-- LT: [Indecipherable] Barnett NH: Natalie Lynn Hogner DB: Alright, so we' ; re ready to start. Lydia' ; s brought some pictures today with her LT: That' ; s my son DB: She' ; s showing me pictures of her son LT: And they used to have this at school, who' ; d you say? NH: That' ; s Christopher, that' ; s her grandson. DB: Oh NH: So, that' ; s Nicolas DB: Okay, she' ; s got pictures of her grandsons, her son--grandson Nicolas Hogner, her son-- NH: That' ; s Newman Taryole Jr. DB: Newman Taryole Jr, oh my who is this? NH: That' ; s my brother Bunji Norman Taryole (ph) DB: Normal Taryole LT: He' ; s got long hair now (Laughing) DB: And she' ; s got--is this a grandchild or a great? NH: That' ; s grandchild Christopher DB: Christopher her grandchild NH: That' ; s Bunji, see how they look alike? DB: Yes, very much LT: This is Mike, he graduated here NH: She knows Mike DB: I know Mike LT: No, you know-- DB: This is Mike LT: Mhm DB: Michael West LT: Mhm, here' ; s my oldest daughter when she was young. DB: And this is her daughter NH: Barbara DB: Barbara, what grade was she in in this picture, do you remember? How old was she? LT: She was young DB: She was young LT: Now I don' ; t know DB: She was very young LT: She didn' ; t put it down NH: Yeah write it on the back, sometimes write them on the back, nope. LT: This is my mom and dad when they were young DB ; Okay tell me about your mom and dad, what were their names? LT: Lizzie Star Barnett (ph) DB: What was the first name again? LT: Lizzie DB: Lizzie? LT: Mhm DB: Star LT: Barnett DB: Barnett, and your dads name? LT: James Barnett DB: Do you know where this picture was taken? LT: I think at my grandma' ; s house DB: At your grandma' ; s house? LT: Mhm NH: Was that the house out north or was that after? Probably after. LT: Before, yeah. NH: She brought me and I learned a lot from this abstract that was her dads, James Barnett, or he was a lot of land as a newborn creek when he was two years old DB: Oh wow, yes I wanna get pictures of that so we can attach it to our-- NH: Yeah that' ; s what I was going through it and trying to see everything and you know, learn that his--my great grandpa was named Daniel DB: Huh NH: I learned a lot from just reading through this and then-- DB: And she just had this all the time? NH: Mhm, just said " ; Hey, I have this" ; LT: It had William Barnett on there NH: That' ; s her brother LT: And I thought I found it in my trunk NH: Yeah this is their original land out North DB: Well Lydia when were you born? When were you born, do you remember when you were born? NH: What' ; s your birthday? LT: 6/17/33 DB: July seven--I mean June seventieth LT: Uh-huh, 33' ; DB: 1933 LT: Mhm [Inaudible] DB: Were you born at home or in a hospital? LT: In a hospital DB: You were born in a hospital? LT: In Weleetka DB: In Weleetka! NH: They had a hospital in Weleetka? LT: Probably DB: If she was born there! NH: Okay, well it says place of birth I was waiting, I' ; m gonna put Weleetka DB: Well when-- LT: They said Clarview but I don' ; t wanna put Clairview DB: Oh is that the name, the actual name probably of the city where you were born? NH: That' ; s not really a city LT: Weleetka BD: But you lived in Clareview-- Clairview-- Clearview? LT: My grandma did DB: Your grandma did. What did your dad do? What kind of work did your dad do? LT: He was rich, he had oil wells out there on ol' ; 66 DB: On old 66 LT: six-seventeen, I used to remember--nine. Six-seventeen-nine, that was his 20 acres DB: 20 acres NH: six-sixteen-nine LT: When he was young, he was--he had oil wells out there on ol' ; 66, but it' ; s 48 now DB: Okay, and what did your mother work outside the home? Was--she was a homemaker? LT: We had an old home and we didn' ; t have no water or electric, she cooked on the wood stove DB: Cooked on a wood stove LT: And sent me to school DB: And did you go to school in Bristow?LT: Mm DB: What do you remember about school in Bristow? LT: Mr. Lester, I went to school every day and I didn' ; t know my math, he passed me DB: That' ; s a good one LT: Mr. Lester NH: She remembers Mr. Lester LT: I remember that DB: Mr. Lester LT: I didn' ; t know my math, or les--arithmetic' ; s. I went to school-- DB: And he passed you anyway LT: Yeah, momma got us up and I went every day, all I had to do was catch that bus. My brothers wouldn' ; t go to school. DB: How many brothers did you have? LT: Four DB: And how many sisters? LT: One DB: That' ; s a--that' ; s a lot of kids LT: [Indecipherable] Mhm. She graduated with the Chilocco (ph) DB: Graduated what? NH: Chilocco Indian School [Indecipherable]. Is that Norma Jean? DB: Oh, who was this sister? NH: Norma Jean, yeah. LT: That' ; s the only sister I had NH: And she was the youngest DB: And where was that school? LT: On the other side of Newkirk. I don' ; t--can' ; t remember that [Indecipherable] NH: Chilocco, I think they' ; ve shut it down LT: Mhm DB: Was it a creek school? Or-- LT: No it was a-- DB: Just any Indian? NH: Just any Indian LT: Yeah, I think I got a book, I brought my book. We had good teachers and good kids, that' ; s when I graduated. DB: Oh my heavens NH: Oh wow, I' ; ve never even known she had that, those are [Indecipherable] DB: Okay she' ; s showing me now the--is this the word you' ; re saying? NH: Chilocco DB: Chilocco yearbook LT: Yeah that' ; s when I graduated. You know, I come here and I--they hired me as the, where you work? DB: They hired her at? NH: The garment factory LT: Yeah garment factory, he hired me I forgot his name. When I graduated, I went to work. DB: So you didn' ; t graduate from Bristow? LT: No DB: No. LT: I was going to Bristow and a man came into our Indian home, they had to build it for us, and he asked mom if she had any kids that would go to Chilocco, I was crazy I said " ; I will" ; and that' ; s way down there! DB: Did you--so you had to go live there? LT: Yeah, uh-huh DB: And then they would come get you to come home and visit or was it all the time or-- LT: Yeah when we were home on holidays and summers, they came after us. Graduation. DB: How many people were in your, well I guess I could look, but how many people went there? How many were in your graduating class? LT: Even the Navajos went there, they were in groups on--in that book. We had good teachers. DB: Barnett LT: Let me find that DB: Lydia Barnett, there you are! LT: Really? DB: Right there LT: I didn' ; t even know it! I was looking for it! DB: I think it says Lydia Barnett, is that you? LT: Yeah, that' ; s me. DB: My goodness, it' ; s like looking at Natalie in that picture NH: Let me see (Laughing) LT: I was looking for it in our-- DB: Or one of your boys. Down at the bottom. NH: Yeah that' ; s-- LT: That' ; s my mom DB: Oh my goodness LT: She always cooked NH: Audrey Bigpond (ph), she' ; s from Bristow. LT: Yeah, she went to [Indecipherable] with us, mhm. Coming home cause our parents couldn' ; t come after DB: Your mother stayed at her home, did your mom--how old was she when she passed? LT: 75 I think DB: Did your father go first? LT: No DB: He lived after she did? LT: Yeah, yeah, he went first. NH: He passed first, ' ; cus I never met him but I met her. LT: He was laying on the bed, he' ; d been hospital, he told me he said " ; They said I had an enlarged heart" ; DB: Aw, what was the best thing she cooked for you, your momma? LT: Yeah she was-- DB: What was your favorite thing? LT: Her biscuits DB: Her biscuits? What' ; s the best thing you cook? Biscuits? LT: Chicken NH: Fried chicken DB: Chicken! LT: Fried chicken [Indecipherable] DB: Well I' ; ve had your fried corn and I know that' ; s pretty good, this is-- LT: That' ; s my sister DB: This is the same girl LT: Oh I' ; ve got two of them, I was gonna take that out. DB: Yes LT: I' ; ll give it to Natalie. This is my daddy' ; s sister DB: Your daddy' ; s sister NH: She lived here, yeah. DB: So the Barnett' ; s in Bristow, that' ; s your dads side of the family? LT: Mhm. I went to school at Eufaula and my sister, she was in kindergarten, that' ; s in Eufaula. DB: This is in Eufaula LT: I was on the third floor DB: When did you go to school in Eufaula LT: 32' ; I think, I don' ; t remember DB: Like you were in grade--elementary school like young? LT: Yeah, mhm. And she was in first--kindergarten DB: Kindergarten, so you probably were in the second grade or first grade or something? LT: Yeah, mhm. DB: Again, did you live there in the school? LT: Yeah I was on the third floor. DB: Hm, where were your parents? LT: At home DB: At home? LT: Mhm DB: With the boys, who wouldn' ; t go to school LT: Yeah (Laughing) LT: They wouldn' ; t catch that bus, that' ; s me in our old house. DB: This is your old house or when you were a-- LT: We lived there DB: Your mommas house? LT: My daddy' ; s house DB: Your daddy' ; s house. Look at that old truck LT: Do you see a truck? DB: A truck back here LT: I didn' ; t even see that DB: That' ; s pretty neat. LT: That' ; s when I was younger DB: This is how I remember, when our boys were young LT: There' ; s Natalie' ; s picture DB: There' ; s Natalie as a senior. There' ; s Jarrett looking at me from that [Indecipherable] NH: Is that Jarrett? LT: Jarrett [Muffled Noises] LT: She went to Sequoya, she left Bristow DB: Oh, Natalie did for a while? NH: I thought my brother [Indecipherable] Kinda like her, they said " ; Wanna go somewhere" ; and I got up and go. It was an Indian school too DB: Well tell me about your husband, how did you meet your husband? LT: Ohhh DB: Oh is that a bad story? (Laughing) LT: My cousin told him about me DB: Did he play ball? LT: Who? DB: Your husband? LT: Yeah, he [Indecipherable]. That' ; s him in the army DB: Oh, he was in the army LT: Yeah NH: He went to the army to play baseball DB: Oh LT: They let him play baseball DB: Wow LT: Hey, after-- DB: He' ; s a very handsome man! LT: That' ; s when he was younger, here' ; s when he' ; s--he had friends. He did good, we got married and he picked me up and took me to California and he got drafted. DB: Oh wow and left you in California LT: Yeah DB: And went off to basic training LT: Mhm DB: Did he have to go anywhere? Was he-- LT: He said " ; I don' ; t want to go to army" ; and I said " ; Well you just have to stay there two years at Fort Louis" ; DB: At Fort Louis LT: Mhm NH: Yeah there' ; s a story, I don' ; t know the whole story, but he almost made it to the minor leagues, or major leagues, something in baseball. LT: Yeah I found that picture, but I don' ; t know where it' ; s at NH: And then his brother, I guess him and his brother was real good, and they--his brother got sick and wanted to come home and then he came home with him instead of staying DB: And he' ; s also from Bristow? What' ; s your husband' ; s name? LT: Newman DB: Is he from Bristow also? LT: He' ; s from Okemah DB: He' ; s from Okemah LT: Here' ; s when he was-- DB: Oh my goodness LT: I had my daughter out there DB: Have you seen this picture? LT: [Indecipherable] NH: Let me see, no LT: She' ; s got mommas picture when she was young. Newman worked, he worked in Tulsa at warehouse--was it-- DB: Warehouse Market LT: Yeah, he was good DB: Such a handsome man LT: That' ; s my oldest daughter DB: This is the one married to-- LT: Hey here' ; s his army picture DB: Mr. Carl West? LT: Here' ; s his army picture DB: Oh his baseball team from the army LT: Mhm, he didn' ; t wanna go I said " ; Well you just have to go two years" ; and it was peace time, his momma, she worried because he was in the army. Here' ; s his mom and dad DB: And what were their names? LT: Whinie, Lowell NH: Nick, Thomas Nick, is that grandpa Nick? LT: Yeah NH: Yeah, Thomas Nick, that' ; s who Nicolas is named after DB: And the mothers name? NH: Whinie (ph) DB: Whinie? NH: Mhm, [Indecipherable] DB: Was this their home? Was this taken at their home? LT: Yeah, uh-huh NH: She was, one you know when they talk about, she' ; d go out there and catch them chickens and we' ; d be like " ; how' ; d she do that?" ; and we' ; d be running chasing them, and she' ; s just go ' ; Kch' ; and she' ; d take it inside and start plucking ' ; em DB: Oh my goodness NH: That' ; s what I remember LT: This is our preacher from [Indecipherable], he' ; s in Berryhill, that was momma' ; s preacher DB: This was taken in 1955, there' ; s a date on that one NH: Who is this? DB: Preacher NH: Oh the preacher LT: Berryhill, that' ; s his daddy. DB: Uncle [Indecipherable] LT: There' ; s his daddy and that' ; s his daddy' ; s brother DB: Now who' ; s dad am I looking at? Oh this is Newman' ; s dad LT: Mhm. There' ; s Newman, I don' ; t know who that boy is. His friend, cousin probably. DB: Oh these pictures are so wonderful LT: Here' ; s me and Newman and our kids. I had three daughters and two sons. DB: Okay now I' ; ve got more questions for you NH: [Indecipherable] was asleep DB: He has his eyes closed. So did you live, did you live in town? You said you--when you were growing up, you lived-- LT: We lived in Tulsa when Newman was working DB: Okay, and then you moved back to Bristow when the kids were born? LT: We moved to Okemah with his folks then my brother said if you pay for that house, y' ; all can have that house. They didn' ; t give it to nobody else but me and Newman, and he paid for it. He worked at Tree Service, Statewide. DB: Statewide Tree Service. LT: Mhm DB: So many questions, so many different ways I could go with this. You were born in a hospital, so did you go to the doctor for other things when you were a child and did they have doctors' ; offices or--? LT: I had Gallbladder surgery, she had to take me DB: But when you were little NH: When you were little DB: When you were really young NH: When you were little DB: Do you remember going to the doctors' ; offices? LT: No I played softball with the Alcorn girls, they were good DB: They were good, you played with all the Alcorn girls LT: Yeah, I was the only Indian DB: You were the only Indian on the team? LT: Mhm DB: Oh my goodness, you were the ringer? That' ; s the good thing. What do you remember about Bristow, like what were the big businesses here when you came back to live in Bristow? LT: Uh, momma, what was his name, Abraham? DB: Uh-huh LT: He had a grocery store I think, Abraham I think, mhm DB: Yes, yes, on main street? LT: Mhm DB: What did main street look like? LT: I had a picture of it with them old cars, and I was looking for it and I lost it DB: That' ; s alright, but lots of places to shop? Lots of things to do? LT: She shopped at four-mile corner, Burris (ph) had that store, she had [Indecipherable] there DB: The Burroughs (ph) had the store? LT: Burris, Burris DB: Oh Burris. LT: Uh-huh DB: Well let' ; s see LT: Four-mile corner DB: At the four-mile corner LT: These are business there NH: Yeah I seen her when she [Indecipherable] who she owed money to, we' ; ll try to look LT: Probably Burris NH: I thought I saw something like that but--she owed community states bank $43 LT: Really? DB: Oh my goodness. So now your dad was the oil man? LT: Mhm DB: And so he would' ; ve been involved in the big oil boom that happened LT: A long time ago DB: In Bristow and in Slick when they had all the oil and stuff like that LT: He didn' ; t know how to save his money DB: He didn' ; t know how to--so he just spent it? LT: Yeah DB: Did he spend it on anything in particular? LT: He bought his mom a house DB: Where? LT: In Clareview, and that place was sandy. He built her--his mom DB: It' ; s hard to build a house in the sand LT: A long time ago, he didn' ; t build us none. We lived in that old house, we didn' ; t have no electric, water, that was a long time ago. DB: And a wood stove LT: Yeah DB: What was that like, cooking on a wood stove? LT: It was good NH: She still likes to do that, she liked to go outside and set up the wood and have a little area, she likes to cook outside DB: Because you are an Indian, were there any problems or did you ever feel like you didn' ; t have the same things everybody else had? It sounds like you were pretty well off. LT: Well they were going with the preacher in Sapulpa and he said " ; Why don' ; t y' ; all sign up for an Indian home?" ; and they build it in seventy, that' ; s when me and mom was in living room and that man came, it was in seventy, I don' ; t know when it was DB: In your home you live in now? LT: Yeah, mhm. I said " ; I' ; ll go" ; , which is crazy DB: I' ; ll go ; there she is volunteering again. That' ; s me, I' ; ll go NH: That' ; s it. DB: Well, there' ; s just so many things ; what other stories do you have? Let' ; s surprised Natalie, what other stories can you remember from--did you do any ornery things when you were a girl? LT: I ran around with that O' ; Brian (ph) girl NH: What does that mean? DB: Did you get in trouble with that? LT: Her mom was a bootlegger DB: Oh my goodness LT: Down on the highway DB: Now those are the kind of stories we want to hear, so the O' ; Brian girls' ; momma was a bootlegger LT: And I was going to school and she come and wanted me to run around with her and I go " ; No I gotta go to school" ; she left DB: She left, and you went to school and still didn' ; t learn your arithmetic LT: No, I went every day. DB: Did you have animals? Cows, pigs, chickens? LT: They gave momma them fantasy horses, and we' ; s coming to town in a wagon. We came to town and a train was going by and I though them horses would take off, them fantasy horses, they bought them from mom. She had mules, they kicked the barn down DB: That' ; s not a good thing, so you brought the wagon to town? LT: Yeah, that was a long time ago, I was scared cause that old thing was making noise and I thought they' ; d take off. My daddy was-- DB: Was driving it? LT: Mhm, we didn' ; t have no car. DB: So you had to use the wagon to get to town? LT: To get to town. She had a model A, it was real neat and good DB: Who had a model A? LT: Mom DB: Oh NH: Is that her? LT: Yeah, I thought I didn' ; t have no pictures. NH: I remember that' ; s the last thing I remember of my grandma Lizzie (ph) cause she was sick whenever I was four I think, and I remember I used to always rub her head because she always had those scarves on DB: Scarves on LT: [Indecipherable] NH: And I would sit and rub her head, that' ; s all I remember LT: We went to Tulsa and we were driving mommas truck and we broke down in Kellyville, she was--mom had money and we had to rent a house because our truck broke down and Natalie was small and she' ; d jump up and down on the bed. She was active NH: Yeah until my brothers roped me and cut me and put a big scar on my head. And she just " ; Ah pour some sugar on it" ; , said " ; you' ; re good" ; DB: Oh my goodness, pour some sugar on it NH: Pour some sugar on it LT: Yeah, my brother had to come and get her because our truck broke down and we left it there and he come and got it. Jake was oldest, Joe was next. DB: If you think back all the way from 1933 until now, what are the greatest inventions, or the greatest things-- LT: My daddy tried to farm DB: He tried to farm, that was a pretty big deal! Did he have luck? Did he grow things? LT: Yeah he had watermelon and people come stole them DB: Oh my gosh, I think it might' ; ve been, I think I might' ; ve known a person that was involved in that. He tells stories about stealing watermelon anyway. But y' ; all had a wagon, how long until you had a car? LT: Well mom had a model-A and she bought a truck, cus' ; she had money. She got 160 [Indecipherable] DB: She just bought it or she was left that land? LT: Yeah they gave it to her, I don' ; t know what year. Daddy got 160 DB: And this was all through Indian Land grants? NH: Yeah LT: Mhm NH: What do they call it, the original allottees LT: Mhm, she got 160 acres in Depew DB: She still has--you still have that? LT: I' ; ve got 20 acres, mhm. DB: But what has happened to this land in the abstract? NH: All the brothers split DB: All the brothers have it? NH: Split, yeah. DB: But the land, you still own the land as far as you know? LT: My sister got 40 acres, mhm. DB: Oh so the 20 she' ; s talking about it part of this? NH: Mhm LT: And I' ; ve got 20 out there on oil-- NH: They have land in Bristow and Depew DB: Anything else different? What' ; s the world like? What would you think--what' ; s different about how everything is in the world right now? LT: Virus DB: The virus (Laughing) DB: the virus is very different LT: I have to stay home DB: We all have to stay home LT: That' ; s bad, it' ; s getting bad. DB: Have you ever been on an airplane? LT: No, when he was in the army, he was scared. He got drunk and got--and got-- DB: And got on LT: Yeah he was scared to ride the airplane No I' ; ve never-- DB: Never been on an airplane. Been on a train? LT: Yeah, mhm DB: What' ; d you take-- LT: We went to a train here with my daddy DB: Where' ; d you go? Tulsa? LT: Tulsa I guess, [Indecipherable] was on that train. DB: Think hard. Natalie is there anything? NH: That you missed? DB: That we' ; ve missed? Were you in clubs in high school? LT: I was in something? DB: Were you in choir? LT: No NH: What is this? DB: Were you in speech and debate? She also brought a calendar that' ; s got pictures-- that has pictures of creek LT: Yeah. Hey that' ; s the [Indecipherable] house in Okmulgee DB: Yes, and this is-- this is how you say January in Creek? LT: I can' ; t talk creek DB You don' ; t speak creek NH: Can you understand it? LT: I can' ; t read that, mhm DB: No but do you understand if somebody is speaking creek? Do you understand them? LT: Newman was mad at me because I couldn' ; t talk creek and he was Fluent NH: Fluent LT: And he had that stroke in 96' ; and it took it-- he can' ; t talk DB: And he can' ; t speak it anymore LT: Mhm NH: He can LT: A little bit NH: Like if we go somewhere, like when there' ; s other people or speakers, he' ; ll sit there and have a conversation with them now. Whether he knows he' ; s speaking right or not, we don' ; t know. But my oldest sister, she can understand it, she just doesn' ; t speak it. LT: That' ; s the way my brother was DB: There' ; s a church in Okemah LT: Oh is that in-- NH: That is Springfield LT: Oh that' ; s our church, mhm DB: This was the church you went to in Okemah? LT: Yeah, mhm DB: These words have to be creek for the days of the week LT: Mhm DB: Because this is Sunday LT: Spring, it' ; s Springfield DB: That' ; s the name of the church? LT: Mhm DB: Springfield United Methodist Church? LT: Mhm DB: Do you go to any of the Pow-wows or Stomp Dances or anything like that? LT: My father-in-law did, he belonged to Nuyaka (ph). Me and Newman was out playing ball or he was running the ball with his team and basketball, he had a baseball team. DB: Oh wow NH: Yeah that' ; s where I grew up on the Stomp Grounds in Nuyaka, it' ; s on my dad' ; s land, the stomp grounds. Then of course in the fields they built their own little baseball-- softball field LT: Newman' ; s dad belonged to it, he [Indecipherable] him and his wife, she cooks. NH: Oh yeah she cooked out on the fire outside LT: They cooked outside NH: Yeah LT: It was called Nuyaka NH: [Indecipherable] LT: That' ; s in Okema, Nuyaka DB: Well, this was all just pretty interesting Mrs. Lydia NH: No see she was excited about this digging stuff out LT: I said " ; How come she wanna interview you?" ; you know what she said? DB: What' ; d she say? LT: She wants an older person (Laughing) DB: Well we want to know the history of Bristow LT: I' ; m 87 DB: 87 years old LT: Newman' ; s 87 DB: Well y' ; all are just spring chickens NH: Yeah LT: My daddy said " ; when you gonna quit playing softball?" ; I said I don' ; t know, [Indecipherable]. She started playing, she' ; s an outfielder. NH: Yeah I used to just go with her and then one day they didn' ; t have enough people so they threw me in the field and then that was over with, I was out there all the time. LT: That' ; s what my oldest daughter, she' ; s an outfielder. Barbara Ann DB: So baseball, softball, that was a big part of your life. LT: Mhm, well my brother Joe Barnett NH: You know Joe, Joe and all them DB: That' ; s your brother? LT: Mhm NH: Joe, [Indecipherable] DB: Oh LT: Well Newman was his coach, and Joe drank, he come to play ball, he set him on the bench DB: There you go LT: And he quit drinking, he wanted to play baseball DB: Absolutely. Now Larry, my Larry, played with JoJo (ph), so that would' ; ve been Joe' ; s son in Tulsa? NH: Yeah LT: Yeah mhm, he was a catcher NH: Jojo [Indecipherable] DB: JoJo? LT: Yeah, he was a catcher. I never could play catcher. DB: I just know he could hit the ball NH: I remember him catching [Indecipherable] LT: Yeah, now he' ; s-- DB: Played for a really good team, they were hard to beat. [Indecipherable] LT: He was a good catcher DB: I think Carl played with Larry in lots of things, Carl. LT: West? DB: Played with Larry in lots and lots of things. They would invite him to play ball, and said-- Larry would say " ; But I' ; m not Indian" ; and they said " ; You look enough like one, come on and play" ; NH: You get dirty real quick (Laughing) DB: And we would go to, out there by IXL back east, there' ; s a place. NH: Hm up on the hill DB: Do you know the name of the place? NH: Just IXL DB: No, there' ; s a name-- there' ; s a ballpark NH: Buckeye DB: Buckeye LT: Oh yeah, Buckeye DB: And they had the brush [Indecipherable] set out and those ladies would come in and cook and cook and it was like, are we here for base-- are we here for softball or eating? Because they cooked all day long. LT: Remember that ball game you played at, them women didn' ; t cook NH: No LT: That was a reason-- DB: What' ; d you pull out here at the end? LT: I was just looking at it DB: Oh this is just from a hospital, we don' ; t need that NH: We don' ; t need that DB: Well, I sure have enjoyed it. And you know this is gonna become part of the oral history and you can see it LT: Oh I hope not DB: Oh yes it will and it will be available online if people wanna know things about you or about your family LT: I told Reba, I said " ; That highway is 65 miles an hour" ; , I told her that' ; s old 66, she don' ; t believe me. She said " ; Oh you know, that' ; s not true" ; , she didn' ; t believe me. That' ; s old 66 DB: Yup LT: Now that' ; s 48, and it' ; s 65 miles, they pass each other DB: Where you live on 48, that used to be old 66? LT: Yeah [Indecipherable] by the four-mile corner then turn up there east DB: Well, I' ; m ready to wrap this up unless there' ; s something else. LT: [Indecipherable] what was her, her grandma was 100 years old when she had to take care of her grandma DB: And who was this? LT: Pinehill, she' ; s got land on Pinehill road DB: Pinehill road LT: Mhm DB: Well I appreciate you, thank you for sharing your time LT: Good thing I could remember DB: Well I' ; m glad you could, alrighty. NH: Get over there and I' ; ll take y' ; alls picture, scoot closer together DB: I' ; ll move over here by [Indecipherable] LT: Hey I' ; m for OU (Laughing) DB: I know I am too! NH: Look up, [Indecipherable] DB: Okay now, let' ; s see. Let' ; s get these older pictures. Now who was this? LT: My aunt, my daddy' ; s half-sister, or his sister, I don' ; t know half-sister. You want one of these? DB: Your dad' ; s sister? LT: Mhm DB: You don' ; t know her name? LT: Jennetta NH: Scott? Was that Jennetta? Jennetta Scott (ph). JEA DB: JEA LT: She had one daughter NH: [Indecipherable] I remember Jennetta DB: Yeah, Jennetta Barnett (ph) I guess NH: Scott is her last name LT: Scott, she [Indecipherable] DB: She was a Barnett? NH: She was a Barnett DB: Then a Scott? LT: Mhm, she had one daughter DB: And then this is important because this is Newman to the far right over here, way over here? NH: Yeah DB: This is Newman LT: You know what I did? DB: No LT: We had a 55' ; Ford when I was in California and I drove to Fort Louis in that Ford, my aunt-- his aunt had to go with me because he didn' ; t want me to go by myself, I was pregnant. DB: And this was the-- NH: Is that the army base mom? DB: The 22nd, LT: I don' ; t know ; can you see? DB: Yeah I have to get my bifocals, I don' ; t know which one, I' ; m looking. LT: Yeah he didn' ; t wanna go, he said " ; I don' ; t wanna go to the army" ; and I said " ; well it' ; s just two years" ; back then DB: [Indecipherable] because I can' ; t find him LT: He' ; s on top NH: Yup on top, very top. LT: Here was a picture! DB: He was a picture? Very top? NH: Right LT: He got to heavy, he' ; s a heavy DB: I can see him there, oh here it is, 22nd infantry LT: Oh is it [Indecipherable] DB: Right 1957, Newman LT: Yeah [Indecipherable] DB: [Indecipherable] LT: Yeah it burnt my school down. Christmas, they left a Christmas tree, the light on and it burnt my school down. Do you got one on that? I mean Norma NH: I might have in that package you gave me DB: This is the school in Eufaula? LT: Cause I got two of them NH: Oh okay DB: And you, we don' ; t know what year this was, maybe the 50' ; s, late 50' ; s LT: Yeah, she was in kindergarten DB: This is James Barnett and Lizzie Barnett LT: That was probably in Walitka DB: Look at the clothes, where was the other one at? NH: Which one? DB: I need that manual over there. Oh I don' ; t know these old ones, they have a really really good scanner at the historical society and if you would allow me to get these scanned, then I will get them back to Natalie NH: Yeah here' ; s the army LT: That was Barbara Ann, my oldest NH: The oldest DB: So do you know when she was born? How much older-- NH: She' ; s older but I don' ; t have her birthday DB: How much older is she than her? NH: She' ; s 14 years older than me. When' ; s her birthday, April-- DB: Well I don' ; t know when you were born LT: 70 DB: So she would' ; ve been born in 54' ; , 56' ; ? LT: That' ; s when we built our house, 70' ; s DB: 56' ; ? NH: I was gonna say 56, that sounds right. DB: I just can' ; t get over you and your husband, so young and beautiful! Your hair was perfect. LT: We' ; ve been married, what, 64 years? DB: And I can so see your boys NH: When was you born? It has date of marriage on here, I mean when was you married? DB: When' ; s your anniversary, do you know? LT: Anniversary NH: 11/8, November the 8th is her-- DB: So this is in California NH: What year did y' ; all get married? LT: We got married in Okemah, this is all he bought me for $10, I never did take it off DB: That' ; s the same one? LT: Mhm DB: And how long have they been married? NH: What year did you get married? How old were you? LT: 50' ; - I can' ; t remember that NH: How old were you? DB: My mom and dad got married in 56' ; LT: I was 22 NH: So she was born in 33' ; , 22, 55. Yeah because then Barbara was born in 56' ; , yeah. DB: And she was born in California? Was Barbara born in California? LT: Chicoma, Washington NH: Washington DB: Oh I thought they went to California NH: They did but somehow she ended up in Washington for a little bit LT: I drove out there DB: So was this in California or in Washington? LT: Chicoma, Washington. That' ; s Barbara NH: Yup, and [Indecipherable] DB: So we figured she and her husband have been married how long? 65 years? NH: 64, 65 years? 64 because November, yeah. LT: Barbara and what' ; s his name? DB: She' ; s the one married to Carl. She' ; s the oldest NH: She' ; s the oldest LT: She was-- look here! DB: This is her baby, not her baby LT: That is her baby NH: Yeah DB: One of her babies LT: She lived here and said " ; mom, I' ; m hurtin Brandon" ; DB: Brandon is the one after [Indecipherable] LT: I had a van, well she' ; s been to Tahlequah but they didn' ; t keep her. And I-- she said " ; Mom I' ; m hurtin, take me to Bristow or Okemah" ; I said no I' ; m taking you back to Tahlequah, because that' ; s where she was having her appointments. They didn' ; t keep her, I got her up there and it was foggy and I had that old red van. I bought her here, we bought her here, we paid for it, and I took her to the Tahlequah and she said " ; mom, I had him an hour and a half later" ; it was foggy, my aunt had to go with me to take care of her oldest son Carl [Indecipherable], Jennetta took care of him. She-- I had to wait for her, pick her up, good thing I had a van and it was foggy, and that nurse [Indecipherable] She' ; d been there that day before " ; No I' ; m taking you back to Tahlequah" ; and I drove to Tahlequah and that' ; s Cherokee country. DB: Not in music LT: That school was a agriculture school and Delores, what was her name, had me and her go and milk that cow and said " ; Can you milk a cow?" ; I said " ; Yeah I guess" ; . DB: This school had many different because there' ; s Navahos-- LT: Yeah they were in groups, they were Navajos. Norman, he graduated in Haskell, that was a college DB: Haskell Indian College LT: Mhm. And them Navahos [Indecipherable] and he brought one home, he said Norman won' ; t stick up for himself NH: He was quiet, he' ; s still quiet. LT: He was talking to a chairman when Jane she comes home " ; I don' ; t know what he was saying, he talks quiet" ; DB: Oh it says that you were in Home Ec, Junior 4H, and Junior Red Cross. LT: Oh, I didn' ; t know that DB: It says right there LT: I didn' ; t see that one DB: For Bristow LT: Mhm DB: I might ought to take this so they can scan this one page and then-- LT: She was music teacher, Mrs. Dire (ph) DB: Teacher of local music LT: We had good teachers DB: I' ; m gonna it that in there, the rest of this--LT: I had them in here I think [Indecipherable] audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-05_Taryole,_Lydia.xml OHP-2020-05_Taryole,_Lydia.xml
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Lydia Taryole
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In this 2020 interview, Lydia Taryole shares her experience growing up in Bristow. She discusses her childhood, family history, and baseball.
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OHP-2020-05
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2020-07-07
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
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sound, oral history
Chilocco Indian School
Native American allotment
Native Americans
Nuyaka
Sequoyah Indian School
stomp grounds
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Family Histories
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Debbie Blansett
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Royce Kelly
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5.4 July 22, 2020 OHP-2020-06 Royce Kelly OHP-2020-06 0:00-49:47 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Royce Kelly Debbie Blansett MP3 1:|52(1)|59(5)|67(4)|78(11)|87(8)|95(9)|101(13)|111(1)|115(13)|124(16)|132(2)|139(15)|145(2)|152(15)|162(7)|168(1)|191(14)|198(7)|207(1)|222(1)|233(6)|245(16)|268(5)|296(5)|314(11)|323(1)|327(5)|334(3)|343(10)|349(8)|356(4)|368(4)|374(10)|382(6)|393(2)|406(10)|412(2)|417(10)|436(4)|443(6)|449(7)|455(1)|464(9)|472(3)|482(4)|494(5)|504(6)|521(6)|534(10) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Royce Kelly.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction, Polio, and Activities DB: I’m gonna have to put them back on. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the Historical Societies ongoing oral history project. The date is July 22nd, 2020 and I am sitting here with Royce Kelly at the spirit bank board room in Bristow, Oklahoma, who’s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now if you’ll give me your full name so that they’ll know your voice. Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Debbie Blansett ; Hop Along Cassidy ; Iron Lung ; March of Dimes ; Polio ; Royce Kelly ; William Royce Kelly 236 Family History and Businesses RK: Our father had homesteaded in, well he had come to Bristow following seven years of drought in the Burlington, Kansas area, and he was looking for something, greener pastures so to speak, and came down here and—on horseback and saw a friend and they were able to dig turnips on New Year’s day and he just knew this had to be the land of milk and honey, so he went back, being the middle of 13 children to a widow mother and made arrangements for the rest of the family and then came on down the next year in a wagon and homesteaded you might say, he bought some acreage ; Al Thompson ; Albert Kelly ; Ann Arbor, Michigan ; Burlington, Kansas ; Conger ; Conger Kelly ; cotton gins ; Doctor Reader ; Dorcas Barnum Tracey ; Dr. Fight ; Hominy, Oklahoma ; hydraulic operating table ; Loren Thompson ; Masonic Temple ; peanut mills https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25270611/loren-frank-thompson Loren Thompson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25270826/william-albert-thompson Al Thompson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25204226/albert-kelly Albert Kelly https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25182368/dorcas-b-kelly Dorcas Barnum Tracey 810 Growing Up in Bristow RK: Some thoughts about Bristow growing up, we had progressed from the times of dirt streets to main street being paved with bricks, laid by hand. One of the gentlemen I knew as I grew up and became an adult, a gentleman called McKinley Shoals. And he was an African American but he was one of the individuals that helped lay those bricks. And it’s a little rough [Indecipherable] than you have today, it’s been covered over with asphalt, but made for a good solid street. Kemp Drugs ; Leon Davison ; McKinley Shoals ; Mignon List ; Washington Schools ; Wendall List https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25204411/mignon-list Mignon List https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25204414/wendell-oliver-list Wendall List 1229 School and Western Heritage Days RK: Another thing that I remember from younger days in school: Christmas season, the local merchants would be selected to put up funds and school would let out and you’d march by classes or proceed by classes down main street to sixth and main where they would have a podium in the middle back off the street, podium in the middle about 12ft square built in the middle and probably 4ft high of stairs going up and they would—as your class got to the center of the intersection, you’d be handed a peppermint candy cane, it was probably 8 inches long and thickness of an inch probably Edison School ; Lincoln School ; Sanford Willis ; Washington School ; Western Heritage Days ; Woodland Queen 1487 Influential People and Businesses RK: We had a bowling alley at one time. Garment factory was probably our first large industrial plant followed by carpet mill and some items like that. Weldon Gas (ph) has always been a great mainstay through the ups and downs of the industry. I remember in the 50’s when the toll road came through and one of the little [Indecipherable] over the toll road was that they were using dynamite to blast through rock formations to level out the highway access. Of course that broke a lot of plaster in homes around town so they had to deal with the legal ramifications of that. American National Bank ; Caroline Foster ; Carpet Mill ; Choora Paramen Cobbler ; Civic Clubs ; Clarks Good Clothes ; Doctor Yurman ; Dora Wolfe ; Garment Factory ; Hamburger King ; J& ; J Beach Shop ; Jean Sampson ; Paul Wilslef ; Ricksol Drive ; Silver Plunge ; Spirit Bank ; Weldon Gas ; West Minister College https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25974041/dora-a-wolfe Dora Wolfe 1883 Church and Service DB: No not at all. When you were here, you went to church? RK: Yes, one of the stories told within the family was that, this was not too long after the turn pike was built, and it used to have manned tollbooth, a toll taker. And this person stopped at the tollbooth, paid his toll, and asked, he said “I’m coming to see the Kelly’s, you know where they’d be?” Albert Charles ; Albert Charles Kelly ; Allison Asbury ; Allison Asbury Kelly ; First Presbyterian Church ; Forest Levan ; Forest Levan Kelly ; Freeland Family ; Mr. Rolleston ; Oliver Tracey ; Oliver Tracey Kelly https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25204231/albert-charles-kelly Albert Charles Kelly https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/141534677/forest-levan-kelly Forest Levan Kelly https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96953333/oliver-tracy-kelly Oliver Tracey Kelly https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/181122428/allison-a-kelly Allison A Kelly 2284 Kelly Brothers DB: So there were five Kelly brothers RK: Yes DB: And there still is a Kelly brothers? RK: Yes DB: What made that come up out? RK: Thank you for your question. Our, and I’m going to digress just a little bit DB: Oh okay Bristow City Cemetery ; Kelly Brothers ; National Convention ; Oklahoma Delegation ; Poor Farm ; Republican National Committee ; Tulsa Race Massacre ; Tulsa, Oklahoma In this 2020 interview, Royce Kelly shares his experience growing up in Bristow. He discusses his family history and talks about the many influential figures and businesses throughout Bristow. Interviewer: Debbie Blansett Interviewee: Royce Kelly Other Persons: Date of Interview: July 16, 1986 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-06 at 00:00 to 49:47 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. DB: I' ; m gonna have to put them back on. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the Historical Societies ongoing oral history project. The date is July 22nd, 2020 and I am sitting here with Royce Kelly at the spirit bank board room in Bristow, Oklahoma, who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now if you' ; ll give me your full name so that they' ; ll know your voice. RK: Okay, well Debbie it' ; s good to be with you and I appreciate your interest and efforts on behalf of Bristow' ; s history, it' ; s important. I' ; m William Royce Kelly, born in the family home on east 12th street in Bristow, Oklahoma on December the 30th, 1941 shortly after the start of WWII. I think it' ; s interesting is I was thinking about this opportunity, here we are in the middle of a, hopefully, in the middle of the downhill pull side of a COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, and when I was in grade school, the big concern at that time was polio. And all the precautions that were taken for that, with particularly the young people and even when, and that was back in the times when you know, the iron lung was created, things like that. Talk about respirators today, an offshoot of that and polio is virtually eliminated in the world today. But one of the things I remember doing during that era at the time, Bristow had three movie theaters on main street. At the time I was old enough to go to the movies, there were only two ; The Princess and The [Indecipherable]. And you would get news reels, kind of like a news broadcast, of course they were dated, many of the items were either of national importance or things that were happening overseas, and you' ; d have that and then you' ; d have cartons, and usually for the younger set, such as myself--as my age group, the Hop Along Cassidy or something like that movie. And one of the things that communities did to support the research and so on for polio was called the March of Dimes. DB: Hm RK: Well, if you--they' ; d give out little cards, little cardboard cards and they had slots on them, and if you got them filled up with dimes and it was probably $3 worth of dimes, you could get in the movie free. And--but that was part of the community involvement pulling together to try to combat some of that. And that was a time when we still had county fair here in Bristow, and I remember coming home with some cotton candy and my mother promptly throwing that in the trash because it could catch germs. Our father had homesteaded in, well he had come to Bristow following seven years of drought in the Burlington, Kansas area, and he was looking for something, greener pastures so to speak, and came down here and--on horseback and saw a friend and they were able to dig turnips on New Year' ; s day and he just knew this had to be the land of milk and honey, so he went back, being the middle of 13 children to a widow mother and made arrangements for the rest of the family and then came on down the next year in a wagon and homesteaded you might say, he bought some acreage ; this was before statehood, and he was able to buy acreage at that time and you had to prove it up, you had to make enough income off the land to be able to make your payments. So he was basically a farmer, but then in the 20' ; s, they hit--drilling company hit some oil on the farm and so he had an income off of that, and so he was able to prosper even more, wound up having a cotton gin and at that time, Bristow had six cotton gins-- DB: Woah RK: And three peanut mills, so we were agriculturally based in the economy. We weren' ; t manufacturing plants or anything of that nature. He--during the depression, the several of the banks in town failed or closed due to the economic situation, and he' ; d had two nephews follow him down here, Loren and Al Thompson (ph) and they were working in the American National Bank, and because it needed capital, just as banks do today, to keep from being closed down. And so they approached uncle Albert, our father, about investing in the bank to stay afloat. He did and subsequently became also a banker and also had the cotton gin and the--so he was a bit of an entrepreneur but before those two things happened, he had a general store at what today would be sixth and main, and he' ; d sell bread, everything-- DB: Everything RK: general stores sold back in those days, he and a gentleman named Conger (ph), Conger Kelly Grocery. He was blessed in many ways ; then in 1920, our mother Dorcas Barnum Tracey (ph) came to town to open the towns first hospital. This was in a time when you went to the hospital to die, but the--she worked for a, I would call him a society doctor in Tulsa, Doctor Reader (ph), also was the public registrar for the health department. And Bristow was experiencing an oil boom in the early 20' ; s and the doctors said " ; You know, they really need medical care in Bristow" ; so she came to town, she was what I' ; d call a women' ; s liver before a women' ; s limb, she had received her nursing degree from Ann Arbor, Michigan and had grown up in the Hominy area. She also had, while she was working in Tulsa, had rental property that she ran and managed, and so she came to Bristow, found a building, equipped it, they had the first hydraulic operating table in the state and she was making the rounds, calling all the doctors and saying " ; [Indecipherable] in town" ; . And remember, this was a time when Bristow was thriving, it was not unusual for offices to be up stairs on the second floor ; I can remember as a child, my dentist was on the second floor from building at seventh and main ; Dr. Fight (ph). So she was making the rounds, calling on the doctors to use her facilities, we can help your people get well, and many of them that are injured in these oil field accidents or farm accidents rather than relying on untrained family to try to nurse them through, and this is when she met our father. She called on the doctor, this one particular doctor, and she was ushered into his office and he was in there with another gentleman which happened to be my father, Albert Kelly, and the doctor kind of gave her a short audience and said " ; well come back tomorrow" ; and so she did, she came back the next day, and the doctor and my father were in there having a cordial you might say, and she--her comment was he again gave her kind of a short time to make her appointment and she said " ; Well doctor if I' ; d known you needed a bouquets" ; alluding to a brand of liquor known as four roses " ; I would' ; ve brought a bouquet" ; . And with that little bit of sass, needless to say my father' ; s attention was peaked and low and behold, the doctor had agreed to use that hospital. And after a courtship that was during a time when he went to the world cotton conference in Liverpool, England and toured the Europe and middle parts of Europe and the Middle East, brought back two stones from King Solomon' ; s mines, one of which was given to the Masonic Temple and the other one was in our garage here on twelfth street. And father being known as he was, was certainly pursued by other ladies, but mother was the only one he brought gifts back to. And it went from there to their marriage in Tulsa in 1921 and from that issued 5 boys spread over 19 years of which I was the youngest, and today I am the only one living. At the time of their marriage, mother was 24 and daddy was 47, but they were blessed and in turn became a blessing. RK: Some thoughts about Bristow growing up, we had progressed from the times of dirt streets to main street being paved with bricks, laid by hand. One of the gentlemen I knew as I grew up and became an adult, a gentleman called McKinley Shoals. And he was an African American but he was one of the individuals that helped lay those bricks. And it' ; s a little rough [Indecipherable] than you have today, it' ; s been covered over with asphalt, but made for a good solid street. The--what should I be telling you about? DB: Hm RK: Bristow of course when I was young, movie theater like I mentioned. There was a skating rink where a lot of times if you were lucky, you got invited to a birthday party at the skating rink. And we had--I can remember Bristow in the days of segregation, I can remember when Washington school, there were two grade schools, one for the blacks and one for the whites, it was on the east side of town and it closed and the two grade schools were integrated as well as on up. The city hall so to speak was located on the south east corner of 8th and main and you had the fire station, the police department, you had public segregated bathrooms, accessible from the outside, not of the best cleanliness most of the time, but they were segregated, and the courts system was upstairs, the city offices were upstairs, it was sort of a [Indecipherable] level so everything was in one little package there, and-- DB: On both sides of the street? RK: No just in one building DB: Oh RK: Those kind of three story building DB: Is there a parking lot there now? RK: It' ; s on the corner there DB: Across from Roots? RK: Up north of Kemp Drugs DB: Okay, there' ; s a parking lot there now RK: The--it was another useful item was, if we had a good sleet or ice storm or snow, was to go to 10th street, west 10th street and sled down the hill and that became quite a gathering for mostly young people, got some adults out there too. The--it was simpler times, you go camping, you go fishing, [Indecipherable] guys in the neighborhood or whatever. I was blessed to grow up here, and be influenced by some of the people that helped bring this community along. There were prominent citizens, the Joneses and others that were a part of the oil patch bonanza that happened in the area. My--some of my teachers--I' ; m sorry I' ; m bouncing around so much DB: That' ; s alright RK: I remember Mignon List was my first grade teacher, her Husband Wendell ran the Ford dealership here in town, the building is just across from the old public library, that would be 10th and main. The Bristow had a bowling alley, I remember when televisions was invented and came to town so to speak. I--we had a neighbor that had a TV and I got to go over and watch that TV, but in those times you didn' ; t really go to Tulsa much to do your purchases, so there were a couple of retail establishments on main street, and in the evening they would have the television in the window so people on the outside of the window at night could watch the television play. DB: Oh wow RK: And that was necessary advertisement for them. DB: Yes RK: With the elections coming up this year, that time was very common for the people running for office would hire a car run by Leon Davison (ph) at night time who would drive his car around with speakers on the top and extoll the virtues of the candidates that paid him to do that. And handing out little tokens, whether it was match strip covers or little sewing kits or what have you was fairly common. DB: Buttons RK: Yes, buttons little clip on buttons. Another thing that I remember from younger days in school: Christmas season, the local merchants would be selected to put up funds and school would let out and you' ; d march by classes or proceed by classes down main street to sixth and main where they would have a podium in the middle back off the street, podium in the middle about 12ft square built in the middle and probably 4ft high of stairs going up and they would--as your class got to the center of the intersection, you' ; d be handed a peppermint candy cane, it was probably 8 inches long and thickness of an inch probably DB: Wow RK: So big piece of candy, and in those days that was really a treat. And in the wrapping, it had a number and they would call out numbers and if they called your number, you could go up on stage and they would give you a prize DB: Oh wow RK: You know the merchants had been solicited for a pair of roller skates or a book or whatever. So that was usually a big event DB: Where was the school? RK: The schools are virtually, you had--you had Edison where it is now, but it was in an old building, Sanford Willis, a wonderful gentleman was our custodian. DB: And that' ; s where you would walk from to 6th and main that' ; s from the old Edison? RK: Yes DB: Okay RK: And, which was at 9th, 9th and main roughly, 8th to 9th. But there was also a school ; excuse me, back up I think the black grade school was Lincoln DB: Yes RK: It was Lincoln school, and Washington school is also on the east side DB: Yes RK: So those students would-- DB: Come RK: Would come, and-- DB: How many children about? RK: I have-- DB: A lot RK: [Indecipherable] DB: For your little--when you were young, it probably seemed like a sea of children. RK: Yes, it was a good size crowd and of course the adults would be there, those that could be away from work would be there to observe it, it was during the day. Western Heritage days was also a big draw to celebrate some of the early days of the Woodland queen is Bristow, we had a [Indecipherable] for a period of time, and-- DB: It' ; s almost that season again. RK: Yes DB: Western Heritage days, when did that begin? Do you remember when that began? RK: No I do not. I do remember a time I was going to ride my pony in the parade, I was again in grade school so not exactly a master of my fate. But I got on the pony, which I' ; ve had ridden [Indecipherable] and I was waiting for the parade to start and this was at about 11th and north main street. I was on my horse, other people were on their horses or pulling a wagon or whatever, and everything went fine until the band started to play, and my horse Tony (ph) took off DB: Oh no RK: And I--some good souls were finally able to get in front of the horse and stop him down in front of what was the old library. DB: Oh no RK: So, but I remember that one DB: Oh I bet RK: We had a bowling alley at one time. Garment factory was probably our first large industrial plant followed by carpet mill and some items like that. Weldon Gas (ph) has always been a great mainstay through the ups and downs of the industry. I remember in the 50' ; s when the toll road came through and one of the little [Indecipherable] over the toll road was that they were using dynamite to blast through rock formations to level out the highway access. Of course that broke a lot of plaster in homes around town so they had to deal with the legal ramifications of that. Occasionally, I' ; d get to go to the Silver Plunge, which was out at the city park at Bristow Swimming pool, and this was before it was--before the present pool and it was always enjoyable, while I didn' ; t get to go there very often but. Then [Indecipherable], memory for a lot of Bristow children. I remember other teachers of course. Dora Wolfe (ph) and Caroline Foster (ph), Jean Sampson (ph), many wonderful people that helped for a lot of youth. [Indecipherable] The Lebanese community, they had stores on main street some of them, there were shops, Doctor Yurman, he was a leader in the optometric world doctor, Clarks Good Clothes, he had a brother with Clarks clothing in Tulsa but he was here and he sold I guess you could say upscale men' ; s clothing mostly, that' ; s where you could get your boy scout uniform. But he was always interesting, Choora Paramen Cobbler (ph), Paul Wilslef (ph), Ricksol Drive (ph), all wonderful. On Sunday if--and this was again in the day before there was so much going on, if you had a visiting preacher in town, they' ; d usually wind up at our house after the service since there weren' ; t places to take them. You didn' ; t--most restaurants and places were closed on Sunday and even if they were open, there were not many of them. But one of the, there were two place, one was the J& ; J Beach Shop, which was I guess you' ; d call it today a little more upscale restaurant, and just down the street from that was the Hamburger King, and in the days of route 66 being the only main quarter from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, many people would stop at Hamburger king, they' ; d plan their trip to be able to stop there to get a sack of burgers and they always were good and just smell great coming out of that paper sack. So Bristow has been--you seen people go from the school system here and be success in their profession worldwide heading up organizations, doing good things, you' ; ve had a lot of good solid citizens here, what' ; s the old song, good folks and General people, they live in my home town. I was gone basically from--I went away to High school at New Mexico military institute and from there to college at West Minister college from Missouri where Churchill gave him Iron Curtain address, and from there to serve in the United States Army. And then worked for 15 years in for a bank in Oklahoma City prior to returning to town and working for America National Bank here, which today is Spirit Bank. Civic Clubs have always been a star work for Bristow, they are not as much in fashion to use a term as they were 50 years ago even, but they' ; ve done a lot in their wave for promoting Bristow, doing good, [Indecipherable] a vehicle for to [Indecipherable] of civic responsibility, and hopefully we' ; ll get back to that time when people are more, more civic minded than we allow ourselves to be today. DB: You' ; ve covered a lot ; I' ; m very pleased with the things that you brought to the table today. RK: A little disjointed perhaps, but-- DB: No not at all. When you were here, you went to church? RK: Yes, one of the stories told within the family was that, this was not too long after the turn pike was built, and it used to have manned tollbooth, a toll taker. And this person stopped at the tollbooth, paid his toll, and asked, he said " ; I' ; m coming to see the Kelly' ; s, you know where they' ; d be?" ; He said " ; Well, it' ; s Sunday morning, they' ; ll be in church" ; so we, we were again blessed to have a church, that was important to the family, and participated and did our share of teaching Sunday school and all the things that happen in a small town church, and that continues today. But first Presbyterian church was built I think in 1920, might have been 22' ; it' ; s on the cornerstone. And the several of the, everyone in the church helped participate in the funding, two of the notable ones were the Freeland family, Glenn who lived in the house immediately west of the Church, which still stands today, and his brother Glenn, they had been a very successful and had a little oil company from the oil boom days but had lost it in the depression. But they had participated quite a bit, and then predominately Mr. Rolleston (ph) who was one of these wild-catter types if you will, or oil people that had come to the area, and he had been bankrupt four times. He' ; d make a fortune then lose it one way or another, drilling dry holes or whatever happened. And the story is that he (Coughing) Excuse me, that he said " ; God, make me rich again and I' ; ll build you a church" ; . Well, God did make him rich again and he did contribute very successfully to the building of First Presbyterian Church. The--they had a architect I believe out on Saint Louis, they have this recorded, but the I believe it' ; s Carthage Limestone, Tiffany stained glass windows, and the first pastor that was called had come from the old Sod as they would say, he was from Ireland. DB: Oh RK: Ireland [Indecipherable], so many of the saints have come from. And, but he also had also been skilled in building, so he was not only a preacher, he was superintendent of construction. And as they started putting on the roof, he noticed they were not using the right materials, they were using galvanized nails. And the plans called for copper nails, so they had to take all the old galvanized down, and put it on properly with copper nails. DB: Absolutely RK: And I think that roof has only been replaced one time since then. DB: Oh wow RK: Entire roof. The Rolleston (ph) wound up committing suicide after he had lost his fifth fortune, and he lived on about 30 acres on the edge, on the north edge of town, which happens to be the house that I grew up in and was born in. The--I, being 19 years younger than my oldest brother, of course the older two brothers went to, served in the second world war, Albert in the navy, my brothers were Albert Charles, Forest Levan, Oliver Tracey, and Allison Asbury. Albert served in the submarine in the navy, Levan was in the army, he served in the pacific, Tracey served in the Korean war, Allison registered but his eyes were weak enough that he could not pass that part of the entrance, and then I served in the army during the Vietnam conflict and I was fortunate enough I did not see combat. And of course I' ; d gone through ROTC and things of that nature, we were all officers, so that' ; s marked each of us. The-- DB: So there were five Kelly brothers RK: Yes DB: And there still is a Kelly brothers? RK: Yes DB: What made that come up out? RK: Thank you for your question. Our, and I' ; m going to digress just a little bit DB: Oh okay RK: To [Indecipherable]. When we grew up, we had, when I was younger from the [Indecipherable] boys right in a row, we had about 8 years and another brother Allison and then I came home and got five years later, so with that spread and with the economics at the time, the old brothers were in that era when they had to milk the cows and stuff. We always chores when we came [Indecipherable]. Chickens or feed the dogs or whatever, mow the lawn, we always had chores and things to do whether that was our election or not. And, but my father died of cancer in when I was 4 years old, so I missed that influence but I also was blessed by having older brothers to fulfill part of that. But, so mother was left with raising five boys and a ranch to run because daddy had progressed from hog to cattle at that point, so she had all that to run plus the household. And it was not unusual for when there was a calf born and the mother might reject it, or there were some runt pigs, my older brothers would get the responsibility of hand raising them so to speak. And, but then when they became big enough to go to market, they got the proceeds and so that kind of established a bit of a pattern, and so at one point, we decided to call it Kelly Brothers and then under Oklahoma Law, you could not have a corporate farm at that time, you can today. So we incorporated as a legal entity and called it Kelly Brothers, our brand was 6k, which would be mother and the five boys, and it was centered primarily around our ranching activity, at one point we ran about fifteen hundred cows and my brother Levan kind of took that over when he came back from World War II, brother Albert took more of the financial side and the bank, and--but we continued to do family business DB: Yes RK: whether it was ranching, a little bit of oil and gas royalties, what can we do to make the town better, can we, you know, whether it' ; s working out deals to provide land for the airport or--our father was very, very much, I don' ; t know that humanitarian was quite the right word, but for instance: he provided land for a black cemetery, African Americans. This was at a time when they were not allowed to be buried in the Bristow Cities cemetery, but he provided land for them to have proper burials. He also provided one for indigenous people that were the county winds up with the responsibility to do something. That' ; s on west of 66, as is the black cemetery. Both still in use today, and but before that, our father provided land for what became known as the county poor farm. It was a two story sandstone building on some of the family property near our ranch headquarters west of town, and there was a producing well on it, and he provided the income from that to help support those individuals so that' ; s where after the depression, if you couldn' ; t-- DB: [Inaudible] RK: there was not a welfare system or anything of that nature at that time. And I' ; m going to digress again on another matter, our mother, as I say, came here to open the first hospital, and this was at--on main street across from the then public library and I' ; m not even sure which came first. But anyway, having been in Tulsa prior to that, she was still involved over there and when they had the race massacre in 21' ; , she left here to go up and get her orderly staff, the people that helped her provide nursing and care and so on, up there she went to the old fair grounds, not where they are today, but the old fair grounds to get them out of lock up and remember her last name was Tracey, and she said " ; I could hear them calling ' ; Ah Ms. Tracey save us' ; " ; and so she was able to go out there and common dear things and get them out of lock up, and get them to where they could: one, be safer and two, serve some of the medical needs at the time. DB: Wow RK: The, and she would also when things were not very much in season here in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables, she would drive to Tulsa and that started when part of the road was not paved. She would drive up there to get fresh fruits and vegetables for her patients. Now, you' ; d ask about Kelly Brothers ; we continue today to try to do things that are economically beneficial. One of the stories within the family is that, well, mother would show some sticks, and she said " ; watch this" ; and she could just break a stick. Well she said if you put these together, if you put five sticks together, it' ; s very hard to break them, and that kind of became the visual if you will of Kelly Brothers, is that together you can do more and support one another. DB: Oh that' ; s so good RK: More than being alone. Another [Indecipherable] is " ; If you wanna go fast, travel alone. If you wanna go together, you' ; d be more successful" ; , and so we have been blessed with the people that we' ; ve known, that have helped us ; we' ; ve had our adversities, but we' ; ve certainly had a large number of blessings. DB: Very blessed, and I am just amazed with the stories of your mother, what a tough, tough lady-- RK: She was DB: And, do you remember when she left her nursing? Did she ever retire or did she just keep--? RK: Well no, well she spent most of her time nursing five boys, because she-- DB: When they came RK: She was very, very resourceful in terms of providing medical care. DB: Hm, she ran that ranch when you lost your father RK: Yeah we, of course-- DB: Or the farm RK: I remember her being so sunburned one time, we were out branding and she was helping and fair skinned anyway, but she did that and her day to day was mostly running around. But then she got involved in politics, she was a republican national committee lady woman, and was very involved in the [Indecipherable] Eisenhower years, and then in the Dixon years, she was head of the Oklahoma delegation both years, national convention, etcetera. But we were instilled in being involved in politics, because that does influence a lot of what goes on, and church, and trying to do good for everybody involved. DB: Okay, well I' ; m gonna say thank you for all of your time talking to us ; we appreciate it and this is going to become an important part of the oral history archives for the museum RK: Thank you audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-06_Kelly,_Royce.xml OHP-2020-06_Kelly,_Royce.xml
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Royce Kelly
Description
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In this 2020 interview, Royce Kelly shares his experience growing up in Bristow. He discusses his family history and talks about the many influential figures and businesses throughout Bristow.
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OHP-2020-06
Date
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2020-07-22
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
Type
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sound, oral history
banks
farming
hospital
Lincoln High School
polio
Poor Farm
Presbyterian Church
restaurants
segregation
statehood
stores
television
theaters
Tulsa Race Massacre
Washington School
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Georgia Smith
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Basil Baker
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-08_Baker,_Basil.xml
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5.4 December 13, 2020 OHP-2020-08 Basil Baker OHP-2020-08 0:00-82:09 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Basil Baker Georgia Smith MP3 1:|59(4)|95(10)|123(10)|146(2)|180(9)|193(2)|226(6)|260(9)|279(10)|316(3)|348(2)|377(2)|405(10)|414(5)|437(10)|457(3)|474(11)|486(4)|510(6)|527(1)|539(4)|568(2)|585(9)|601(8)|619(8)|639(4)|665(4)|683(16)|701(9)|720(7)|761(13)|778(2)|793(17)|814(2)|840(6)|862(1)|876(11)|890(15)|898(8)|910(12)|934(3)|948(9)|963(14)|978(5)|1000(16)|1010(7)|1032(12)|1044(3)|1059(2)|1081(4)|1105(10)|1118(12)|1150(1)|1188(3)|1212(2)|1226(5)|1244(4)|1265(4)|1281(12)|1288(12)|1307(3)|1322(14)|1332(1)|1358(1)|1377(2)|1396(7)|1410(11)|1417(12)|1432(5)|1466(2)|1487(12)|1513(7)|1521(8)|1528(15)|1539(10)|1553(3)|1573(9)|1608(14)|1621(8)|1635(4)|1664(5)|1678(7) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Basil Baker.mp3 Other audio 0 Intro and Family GS: Okay, I’ve got that set now we’re gonna set it right there Basil BB: Okay GS: And I’m gonna talk first BB: Okay, I hope you do a lot of the talking GS: No, you’ll do most of it. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the history societies ongoing oral history project. Today’s date is December the 13th, 2020 and I am sitting here with Basil Baker at his home in Bristow who is going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow area. Okay Basil, let’s begin. What is your full name? BB: Basil Baker Basil Baker ; Bessie Baker ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Bunny Baker ; Cordie Overstreet ; Dillard Baker ; Dillard Roy ; Georgia Smith ; Gonda Inez Meek ; John H. Baker ; Merle Baker ; Mill Chapel ; Mills chapel ; Oval Baker ; Reeth Baker ; Virgil Baker ; Wayne Baker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/217928254/cordie-baker Cordie Baker https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/217917768/john-henry-baker John H. Baker 651 Work (Hospital and Military) GS: Gonda Inez Meek (ph), okay. And you both got married in September, on September 13th, 1973? BB: Yeah GS: Good, and where did you get married? BB: Las Vegas GS: Were you living there at the time? BB: No, we took a vacation, we were working at a hospital GS: Oh BB: And we took a vacation and went out there and got married 7th Cavalry ; Albuquerque, N.M. ; Gonda Inez Meek ; Santa Fe, New Mexico 1297 Dust Bowl GS: That’s amazing, I’m gonna back you up just a little bit and ask you about the Dust Bowl. What are your memories of Oklahoma in the Dust Bowl? BB: [Indecipherable] GS: (Laughing) BB: I don’t even [Indecipherable] think of it. To begin with, you couldn’t see anything GS: Even here in Bristow? BB: Yes, way out there where we lived on the farm just south of Bristow, it looked like a light bulb in the sky GS: Wow Dust Bowl ; Oklahoma Dust Bowl ; Peanut Capital 1711 Military Service GS: Now you told me that you entered WWII in 1940? BB: Mhm GS: Was that before Pearl Harbor? BB: Yeah GS: What made you enter then? BB: Well, I didn’t wanna be a farmer, dad wanted me to be a—well he wanted me, he’s getting old and he wanted me to take over my end of the farm, I didn’t want that. I didn’t wanna starve, if I did I wanted to starve doing what I wanted to do Fort Bliss, Texas ; Fort Eustis, Virginia ; Fort Riley ; Fort Riley, Kansas ; Fort Sheridan, Wyoming ; Frankford, Germany ; New Mexico National Guard ; Pearl Harbor ; Santa Fe, New Mexico ; Topeka, Kansas ; WWII 2793 School BB: I taught school GS: Oh you did? BB: Yeah GS: Tell me about that BB: When I was, after I graduated, time I graduated in June, we used to get out of school in June, and I was 12 years old and then I was 13 the following November. So I went to—I enlisted, I enrolled in Bristow High school, the bus went by the house, I was proud of my new striped overalls and new shirt, but there was a group of guys at that farmer had no place in Bristow high school, and they drove me out, I quit— Bristow High School ; VanOrsdol 3007 Economic Depression BB: The depression GS: Yes BB: Wasn’t fun either GS: No it wasn’t BB: I saw people, they never did complain, the guy with a wagon, the team would pull up with their commodities they called them GS: Yes Economic Depression ; Roosevelt Administration 3219 Church GS: Did you go to church as a child? BB: Pardon? GS: Did you go to church as a child? BB: Oh yes, the church I was with was right across the road from me GS: What church was that? BB: It was the Advent Christian GS: Okay, okay, and— BB: It’s like the one going south of Chestnut Advent Christian 3349 Doctors and Cars GS: What about doctors? Did you go to the doctors much when you were a child? Or your family? BB: No, the doctor come to us. GS: Okay, okay. BB: Yeah the doctor by the name of Doctor King and he drove a touring car I think it was a dodge and he had a crate on the bumper of the car and he would take chickens, he would take hogs, he would take anything, he owned a farm. And he’d take anything that he could take back to that farm GS: For payment? BB: Yeah GS: Yup Chevrolet Coop ; Doctor King ; Model T-Ford 3468 Market and Ways of Payment GS: Did you come into town much? Did you bring your goods for—to market? BB: Saturday GS: Okay, what was that like? BB: Butter and egg day. Well that’s the only time you had any money. GS: Okay BB: Momma had customers that she sold butter to and eggs. And for all the eggs that was left, we took them to Safeway and they’d be able to take the eggs and pay you in what you wanted to buy GS: Okay American National Bank ; Mr. Floods ; Mr. Stone ; Safeway ; Spirit Bank 3922 Works Protection Act (WPA) GS: I won’t tire you out too much, but—Do you remember anything about the Works, Works Protection Act during the 40’s and— BB: The WPA? GS: Or the 30’s I guess it was, yeah the WPA, do you have any memories of that? BB: Yeah, yeah. There was, there’s a funny thing that was attached to that too. They had lots of pick and shovel prize, I mean they did everything with pick and shovel GS: Okay BB: And then so many guys in the – had to register that lived in the community, and each one of them would get fifteen days’ work, then— GS: Okay Eleanor Roosevelt ; Works Protection Act ; WPA 4170 How the World Has Changed GS: Okay, we’re gonna wind down here. What would you consider to be the most important inventions during your life time? BB: The most— GS: The most important inventions that have been—happened in your lifetime BB: Oh my goodness GS: There have been so many, I know it’s hard to pick one. BB: I think the one that has probably involved more people, served more people, and was a convention—was a convenience for them, was the airplane. GS: The airplane Jessica Baker 4816 TV Appearance GS: And I appreciate it ever so much. BB: Well that’s just like, I appreciate it being on TV GS: Yes BB: I never thought something like that would happen. And Jessica was the cause of it. GS: Oh was she? BB: Yeah she has a friend, this lady from— GS: Amy Kaughman (ph)? BB: Yeah, Amy. GS: Uh-huh Amy Kaughman In this 2020 interview, Basil Baker shares his experience growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses his family, military service, and life during the dust bowl. Interviewer: Georgia Smith Interviewee: Basil Baker Other Persons: Date of Interview: Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-08 0:00 - 82:09 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. GS: Okay, I' ; ve got that set now we' ; re gonna set it right there Basil BB: Okay GS: And I' ; m gonna talk first BB: Okay, I hope you do a lot of the talking GS: No, you' ; ll do most of it. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the history societies ongoing oral history project. Today' ; s date is December the 13th, 2020 and I am sitting here with Basil Baker at his home in Bristow who is going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow area. Okay Basil, let' ; s begin. What is your full name? BB: Basil Baker GS: You have a middle name? BB: No GS: No middle name, and where were you born? BB: I was born five miles south and one mile east on a farm GS: In your home, in the home? BB: Yup, born in the home. GS: What was the date of your birth? BB: 11 November, 1920 GS: Very good, you just celebrated your 100th birthday, didn' ; t you? BB: Two days ago GS: Do you know that makes you the oldest person I' ; ve interviewed so far? I feel honored. BB: There you go GS: And channel six came and did a special on you Wednesday on your birthday, didn' ; t they? BB: Yes, yes GS: Yes, I was impressed that you were on the golf course hitting golf balls. What was your mother' ; s name, her full name? BB: Cordie OverstreetGS: And your father' ; s name? BB: John H. Baker GS: Okay, do you know when they were married approximately? BB: Moses was the preacher GS: Okay BB: I' ; ll have to be a little funny about this because my momma--I' ; m gonna have to back up from the time they died GS: You just do that BB: Momma died in 66' ; , dad died in 64' ; and they had celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary GS: Okay BB: They both died at 88 years of age. GS: So your mom was 66 when she died? BB: No she was 88 GS: Oh, no--oh she died in 66 you said? BB: Yeah, yeah GS: And they had just celebrated what anniversary? BB: Before that, they' ; re--celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary, so 65. GS: So they were married in 1901 maybe? BB: Probably GS: Okay, 1901 sounds good. BB: My dad was 4 in 1878 GS: Okay, at the end of the civil war BB: Yeah, and momma was born in 1880 GS: Okay BB: So that could probably, I know they married momma was 16, and--I' ; m about to get ahead of things here. GS: No you' ; re fine, if you' ; re telling me something, we' ; ll just go with it Basil. BB: She had 3 brothers and 2 sisters that lost their mother GS: Aw BB: And they came and lived with her and my dad, so every one of them but one was older than she was. And so she raised two families GS: Wow BB: She--her own and them. GS: Aw BB: And they always called her mom GS: Aw BB: I' ; ve been to visit at Arkansas and talked to all of them and they said she was just like a mother to them so they just called her mom GS: Now was your mother living in Arkansas at that time, and dad or were they here in Bristow? BB: That' ; s where--that' ; s where she was born GS: Okay BB: And both my dad and mom GS: Okay BB: And they came to Oklahoma in 1905 GS: What brought them here? BB: Just needed to move out of Arkansas and new country, Oklahoma [Indecipherable] just about ready to become a state, and I don' ; t--they didn' ; t get any land, they didn' ; t--that wasn' ; t what they came for. But the boys was old enough that they wanted to come, so they came and settled around the mills chapel area, old mill chapel (ph) area. GS: Okay BB: In fact, it was just half a mile north of mill chapel GS: Now was that south of Bristow? BB: No, well yes. That' ; s three miles south and two miles east GS: Okay, okay I know about--there' ; s a housing addition down there now I think BB: Oh sure now GS: I think BB: Well, they stayed one year, things didn' ; t work out then they went back to Arkansas and came back in 1908 GS: Back to Oklahoma? BB: Yeah GS: Okay BB: But they didn' ; t go to the same place, I don' ; t know where they went to, to tell you the truth. That never was revealed to me as far as I know GS: Sure, do you have any brothers or sisters? BB: Yes, yes. We was a family of 9 GS: Oh my word, can you tell me their names? BB: Seven brothers--yeah, seven brothers and two sisters. GS: My goodness BB: Well I had six brothers, there were seven boys and two girls. GS: Well I bet your dad appreciated all that help on the farm BB: Well, the thing of it was, well when they were other than the farm that he bought and he settled that, there was only three of us that grew up there GS: Oh okay BB: And the rest of them was gone then working in oil fields and what have you GS: What were their names? BB: Okay starting at the oldest GS: Oh good BB: Dillard GS: Dillard Baker? BB: Dillard Roy (ph) GS: Okay BB: The next one was Wayne (ph), don' ; t ask me the middle names of these GS: That' ; s fine, Wayne Baker? BB: Wayne. The next one was Bessie (ph) GS: Okay BB: Then Oval (ph), then Reeth (ph), and then Virgil (ph) GS: Okay BB: And then between me and there was actually ten of us, but I had a brother that was two years and five months old and he died, they never did find out what was wrong with him. The doctors didn' ; t know then, but anyway I was come along and I was the last one GS: Now I thought you were brothers to Merle Baker BB: Merle was a nephew GS: Okay, okay. Because I got your phone number from Bunny BB: Yeah, yeah. GS: Okay. What did your mother do in the house? BB: Work herself to death GS: I imagine BB: She worked in the field before I was born, she used to tell me, not before I was born, but I mean before I was old enough to do anything outside of the house, she would tell me about how some of the older ones when they were babies, she' ; d take a number three washtub to the field, find a shade, put a big quilt in the washtub and put the baby in the washtub. GS: Oh my goodness BB: And then if they were chopping cotton or corn or chicken or what have you, every so often she' ; d go to the tub and let the baby nurse GS: Uh-huh, uh-huh BB: And she said he never did have any problems with it GS: Well very good BB: It just, it was just a hardship that' ; s all GS: Yeah BB: That' ; s all we knew GS: Yeah that' ; s true BB: We did own our own farm GS: Oh that' ; s good BB: And had a cellar full of fruit, vegetables, meat-- GS: That your mother canned BB: Yeah, and we never lacked for food, so we was alright that way GS: Uh-huh BB: No money GS: Yeah, yeah I don' ; t think many people had money back then BB: No, I remember my dad telling my mother Cordi, we came out with a hundred and ten dollars, they set a hundred and twenty in the paper, but that was around one hundred and ten dollars this year GS: Oh my goodness, can you imagine? BB: No GS: Now Basil, every now and then I' ; m gonna get up and just make sure this is still going just to satisfy me, so it' ; s fine so don' ; t get nervous when I stand up, I' ; m just checking that that' ; s going BB: That don' ; t bother me GS: Okay, what is your wifes name? BB: Gonda (ph) GS: And her maiden name? Meek (ph)? BB: [Indecipherable] GS: Was it Meek? BB: Yes, her last name is Meek, I was trying to think of her middle name GS: Oh BB: Inez (ph) GS: Gonda Inez Meek (ph), okay. And you both got married in September, on September 13th, 1973? BB: Yeah GS: Good, and where did you get married? BB: Las Vegas GS: Were you living there at the time? BB: No, we took a vacation, we were working at a hospital GS: Oh BB: And we took a vacation and went out there and got married GS: Where were you working? BB: In Santa Fe GS: Santa Fe BB: New Mexico GS: Was this after WWII?BB: Oh yes, yes. This was just before I re--well, I went to work there the third, I went to Sears, I retired during the week, I don' ; t remember the day but on the following Wednesday, so it must' ; ve been a Monday or a Tuesday I went to Sears to see if I could get a job there and they hired me as a manager of their appliance department GS: Oh BB: So I thought I' ; s pretty lucky GS: Yes BB: I went out the door and I ran across a man that I had met when my wife and his wife was in the hospital, military hospital in Albuquerque GS: Oh my goodness BB: And so he said " ; hey, when you gonna retire?" ; I said I just did, just last week. He said " ; What are you gonna do?" ; , I said " ; Well I just got a job in Sears" ; , he said " ; Go back in there and tell them you can' ; t take it" ; . I said " ; Man I need it" ; , he said " ; I got a job for you" ; well he knew what experience I had in the military GS: Yes BB: So he said " ; I want you as my personnel director at the hospital" ; GS: Wow BB: It was a 200 bed hospital bed with 906 employees GS: Wow BB: So I went up and talked to the sister who was the administrator of the hospital, it was a Catholic hospital, and she was unsatisfied with my education because I had nothing to show other than this letter and I couldn' ; t have found it in a week. I knew where it was, but it was packed with other things that was somewhere GS: Right BB: And I told her that if she would give me 30 days that at the end of it, if she was happy with my work she' ; d put me on the payroll ; if she wasn' ; t, she didn' ; t owe me a thing, I would go my way, friends and she--it was her decision. GS: So did you stay more than a month? BB: 13 years GS: (Laughing) I figured. BB: Two weeks later she saw me in the hallway and she told me I was on the payroll GS: Very good BB: But they' ; d--the personnel records were scattered all over the hospital GS: Oh myBB: Each floor had the records of the people that worked on that floor. The one that squealed the loudest about getting a raise got a nickel or something like that an hour, and they made minimum wage [Indecipherable] was five seventy-five, or six seventy-five GS: Oh, uh-huh BB: But anyway, I had a little trouble gathering all the records of all the employees because I had to explain that each floor I go to, I had to explain how much easier it was gonna be with the records in one area, one place, and they could be relieved of taking care of them GS: Yes BB: that took time GS: Yes BB: So when they finally agreed and I got all the records, well from there they didn' ; t have any pay scale, and just hodge podge two people in that hospital that was drawing the same hourly rate GS: Oh my goodness BB: So, I come up with a wage schedule, it was a seniority wage schedule and it costs the hospital 3 million dollars to put it into effect it was so screwed up. GS: Wow BB: They had nurses that had worked there for 20 years and that' ; s--they were still drawing so little pay that they couldn' ; t recruit nurses. So once we got this straightened out and I had the pay of a nurse which would make her willing to come if pay was the cause of her coming or not coming, and so that proved it and I don' ; t know where they got the money, maybe from the mother house I don' ; t know, but anyway it went into effect. GS: Sounds like they really needed you BB: Well they needed someone GS: Yes BB: And there' ; s one thing about me: I love people, I just love people GS: That' ; s wonderful BB: I' ; ll talk to anybody about anything at any time. I' ; ll go into a store with Gonda, she' ; s going after something, it won' ; t be three seconds or minutes, until I' ; m talking to someone and she' ; ll come out, we' ; ll leave the store, she " ; Who was that?" ; and I said " ; I don' ; t have the slightest idea. I said Hello, they said hello, and I started talking to them" ; . That' ; s why I like the personnel field, that wasn' ; t all I did in the military, but I was in the administrative area because I got hurt when I first went in the army, I was in the 7th cavalry horse. GS: Oh my goodness, you were in the cavalry BB: Yes, and I got injured on my knee. I rode in between--I was a squad leader and I [Indecipherable] when we went into the line for parade, it was supposed to leave room for me to ride in, it didn' ; t. GS: Uh-oh BB: So I spurred my horse and forced my way in and the rifle on the one of the left of me, the [Indecipherable] caught my knee GS: Oh wow BB: And it messed it up really, really bad. GS: Aw BB: I had to have surgery twice and I couldn' ; t crawl after that, they ran that thing all the way down. Now then it' ; s orthoscopic and a little hole and I' ; ve got probably a twelve-inch scar over my knee, and I can' ; t get down on my knee at all GS: To this day Bb: Yeah it' ; s--the scar is tender GS: Aw, uh-huh BB: And so they put me in an administrative field and that' ; s where I got into the first [Indecipherable] field. But I was interested in them for [Indecipherable] and I thought the relationship that I had with them, if it was good, they' ; d do a lot more GS: Yes BB: Because they would come and talk to me about anything. But you see, I had about 75 or 80% women, and the rest of them was in the maintenance part GS: Yes, yes BB: I didn' ; t have any male nurses at all GS: Not back then BB: Uh-uh. And if I knew that one of the men from the maintenance department, their daughter, had had a baby, I would stop and ask him how the baby was doing and things like that, I always--I showed an interest in anything that I knew that was important to them. And consequently, two years after I retired and moved to Bristow, we went back to visit Gondas sister that lives in the Sandy Mountains west, south west of Albuquerque GS: Oh okay BB: And from there, it' ; s only about 40 miles to Santa Fe. So I went back up to Santa Fe to visit the hospital ; oh my goodness. They was all over me! GS: Oh I bet they were delighted to see you! BB: They hugged me, they had me by the arms, it just made me feel so god. GS: Oh, well you made them feel good I' ; m sure when you were working there. BB: Well I got replaced by a man that had a degree in personnel management GS: He probably didn' ; t do any better BB: He lasted six month GS: (Laughing) BB: That' ; s the truth, I found that out after I went back [Indecipherable], I knew his name and ' ; where is he at?' ; , ' ; oh he got fired' ; , so. But anyway that' ; s-- GS: That' ; s amazing, I' ; m gonna back you up just a little bit and ask you about the Dust Bowl. What are your memories of Oklahoma in the Dust Bowl? BB: [Indecipherable] GS: (Laughing) BB: I don' ; t even [Indecipherable] think of it. To begin with, you couldn' ; t see anything GS: Even here in Bristow? BB: Yes, way out there where we lived on the farm just south of Bristow, it looked like a light bulb in the sky GS: Wow BB: Dark as, it was just dark. And we--you had to tie a rope to, from the barn to the house, to the chicken house, wherever you needed to go you had to have a rope to guide you from the end of the rope to the other with feed or whatever in the other hand. GS: How often was it like that where you couldn' ; t see? BB: It seemed forever GS: I' ; m sure it did BB: It wasn' ; t hardly, ya know I can' ; t tell you. I would say off and on two weeks. GS: Wow BB: Or maybe longer, I' ; m not sure. But what contributed a lot to the Dust Bowl ; peanuts were in demand at that time GS: Yes, they were, and Bristow was the quote " ; peanut capital" ; BB: Right, and when these farmers planted their peanuts, they grew up into a bush just like they' ; re supposed to GS: Uh-huh BB: Okay, if you go out and pull them up, that' ; d be a lot nuts stay in the ground. You don' ; t pull loose from the vine. So they developed, most of them, used car springs. Sharpened on the edge, it went to a single row plow GS: Wow BB: Was a two wheel called a [Indecipherable] GS: Uh-huh BB: Alright, that plow went underneath the ground and clipped the roots of these peanuts and left the dirt, didn' ; t make a furrow, it left the dirt just like, it just went underneath that dirt. The dirt reminded me of a mole working at the ground GS: Oh okay BB: And that loose dirt, the wind was blowing so hard, it just dished that dirt right out of--it was just like that. And when we went to school, we could walk over the fences GS: Oh my word BB: It had, it would stop behind the weed, big amount, it was just so thick and my mother, we had a bedroom, my brother and had a bedroom on the south of the house, and of course the wind was blowing from the south, she would put a sheet in a tub of water and wring it out and put it over us at night GS: To protect you from the dust? BB: Yeah, and in the morning, we was almost the color of that couch GS: Just hard to believe it was that bad BB: In the house GS: In the house, yeah BB: The windows was, keep in mind this was a house that was probably 20 years old. GS: Okay BB: Maybe a little older. So they had wooden windows, and you could shake them like that where the [Indecipherable] up and down and any crease where the dust could get in, it came in and built a little pile there, and mom would have to sweep out those windows every day. GS: Oh my goodness BB: She' ; d sweep it out on the porch, [Indecipherable], and sweep it out on the porch GS: Yeah BB: But we survived GS: Yes BB: And it' ; s been everybody, [Indecipherable] died far as I knew GS: How bad did it affect your crops? BB: Not bad other than sand piling up GS: Yeah B: Or there was something that it could hit GS: Yeah BB: But a lot of people took the fence down and used to tame horses in what they called a slip, which had two hands and you could fill it, it was fixed to where you could raise it up, it wasn' ; t on a [Indecipherable], it was fixed to work. You could raise it up and hold it and it would go into the ground, that' ; s how horses pulled it GS: Oh BB: And then you pushed down in it, it' ; d come up out of the ground GS: I see BB: So and then you go in where you wanna dump it, you raise up on the handle and then it just dumped it. And they would take this sand and spread it back out over the field then set their fence again where it was to have a decent fence to keep the stock outside. GS: Yeah, one that wasn' ; t covered in dirt that the cattle could just walk right over probably BB: Yes, yes, yes. Not every fence, but the fence that run east and west because the dirt was coming from the south. Now it--I don' ; t know how much area or how wide it was, I was too young to know, I was in about the third, fourth grade or something like that. It was enough, it would plug your nose when you breathe, we never thought about wearing a mask back then GS: Yeah BB: But anyway it was, it was bad. GS: Now you told me that you entered WWII in 1940?BB: MhmGS: Was that before Pearl Harbor? BB: Yeah GS: What made you enter then? BB: Well, I didn' ; t wanna be a farmer, dad wanted me to be a--well he wanted me, he' ; s getting old and he wanted me to take over my end of the farm, I didn' ; t want that. I didn' ; t wanna starve, if I did I wanted to starve doing what I wanted to do GS: Uh-huh BB: No it wasn' ; t really that bad, but it was hard work GS: Sure BB: But one of the guys, a friend of mine, came home and he was stationed at Fort Sheridan (ph), Wyoming, and he was telling me how great the military was. So I wasn' ; t doing anything, I thought ' ; well, if that' ; s a case, I' ; ll just enlist and go with you back to Fort Sheridan, okay' ; , I said okay. I went to Tulsa, enlisted, they signed me to the infantry, and they put me in a pan, it looked like it had ink in it, I don' ; t know what it was. It had me stay on a my [Indecipherable] that long, and had me stand on a piece of paper to check my instep GS: Huh BB: And my foot, my instep was as flat as it could be GS: Well BB: And they took me out of the infantry immediately and assigned me to the cavalry GS: Well good BB: We had to go this way and that way [Indecipherable] GS: Oh, yeah. BB: Yeah, but that' ; s the way I started out. It wasn' ; t a big deal to me, I knew how to ride a horse GS: Yes BB: But I didn' ; t know how to ride it military style GS: Yes BB: If you was comfortable on a horse in the military, something was wrong GS: Really? BB: Really. That' ; s--the saddle to begin with had a split about two to three inches wide right down the middle GS: Oh no! BB: To let the air into the horse' ; s back GS: AhhBB: That was their [Indecipherable] that that kept the heat from the horse' ; s back GS: I see BB: Calling them [Indecipherable] GS: But I bet it was not comfortable to sit on BB: It was not, it was not. But you had to saddle [Indecipherable], every day. And you come in from training and you had to saddle [Indecipherable], saddle it, clean it up GS: Wow BB: Corral your horse GS: Yes BB: Water them, and tie them in the stalls for feeding. The stables sergeant took care of the feeding them but you had to get them there. GS: Right BB: And odd thing people laugh about it, they had [Indecipherable] they were boarding for horses, if one of them was limping or had a cold, a horse can take a cold, and whatever was wrong with them, he took them to the vet GS: Well BB: And if one of them was your horse, you didn' ; t--they didn' ; t give you another horse to ride, they put you on stable police, and that was cleaning out stalls and hauling that stuff to the mound where we put it GS: So you probably hoped your horse never got sick BB: Yeah that' ; s the truth. But you--we used shoe polish on their hooves for inspection, oh they glistened. All the brass was shiny ; we weren' ; t gonna miss stuff. GS: Did you ever go to battle on your horse? BB: No, I--after I got her and was sent to Fort Riley, about that time they had horses there, we had, I think we had one group of recruits come in for horse equitation, and then they did away with them GS: Oh, huh BB: Because they was recognizing GS: Oh I see BB: And so the horses, they had some mules that they sent to Italy for pack mules to take artillery up into the mountain GS: Okay BB: But no horses GS: Okay BB: But they--horses, the buyers would go somewhere and buy horses, they may be in from a wild herd, I don' ; t know. But they would ride them one time to a standstill, they had GIs, that was their duty is to break the horses. GS: Oh BB: Yeah, so they--the horse was ridden and stopped bucking, it didn' ; t mean it wasn' ; t gonna buck again, but not as much (Background noise) GS: We' ; ll stop for just a minute. BB: Get back in there GS: There' ; s nobody there, there' ; s nobody there (Background noises) BB: Coda (ph), Coda, get over here. Here. GS: You were in the personnel department then, where were you stationed for most of the war? BB: After the war, I was-- GS: No during the war BB: Oh, well actually I left Fort Bliss about the time of Pearl Harbor GS: Okay BB: And I went like I said, to [Indecipherable], I mean to Fort Riley, Kansas, and this place that I was assigned to was a cavalry replacement training center. We did with the recruit, [Indecipherable] had been drafted, enlisted, whatever, they got their basic training there. GS: Okay BB: Not everybody was all over the United States, just that area GS: Okay BB: And it was every, about every six weeks there was a turnover and I was assigned to department of weapons as a weapons--cut it out--as a weapons instructor GS: Okay BB: And I was there for five years and-- (Background noise) BB: And from there, I went to Topeka, Kansas which wasn' ; t a post, it was a city that the reserve of Kansas held meetings there and different places rather than over the state. And I was a-- an advisor to the Kansas reserve GS: Okay BB: Regular army advisor, which meant that you went where they had meetings, and you didn' ; t take their count, you made count GS: Okay BB: So that you--there, who said ' ; here' ; was actually here, and the number, what was it, coincided with the number of people that said here. GS: Okay, uh-huh BB: And from there, I was with the horses, I went to Austria GS: Okay BB: I went to a post that was 50 miles down in the valley from [Indecipherable] GS: Oh my gosh BB: And it was just between two mountains [Indecipherable]. After the war, during the war, the American soldiers had acquired a hotel on the lake, big lake from the Germans, and they were using it to send our men to train people who were unaccompanied who didn' ; t have their dependents with them when they went overseas. They--and they had to take a six-week basic training to learn how to deal with the civilian population because we were an army of occupation and we had to get along with the people, and so I came back from there after about a year, year and a half, moved back to [Indecipherable], and I was sergeant major, post sergeant major for [Indecipherable] Military post. Now to anybody this doesn' ; t mean that much, but we were in charge of a transportation unit, we were in charge of an MP unit, and we were in charge of an intelligence unit. GS: Wow BB: So, I was there four years. During that time there, I was in Holland coming home, I was in Italy, I was in North Africa-- GS: Oh myBB: And get the ship to come out. Eight days in that water, I never got so sick of water in my life. GS: It' ; s a good thing you weren' ; t in the navy then BB: Yeah, but it' ; s odd how different people are in their homeland. For an example, we went through Italy, we saw an old man plowed his grapes with a horse and a cow GS: Oh my goodness BB: And the grapes were big as a fence post GS: Oh my word BB: [Indecipherable] And they were trim dried down to a nub GS: Huh BB: It was odd ; I didn' ; t know you could trim grapes that close. GS: Yeah BB: And Holland there was an island out 20 miles from the shore [Indecipherable], completely surrounded by the sea, salt water with a fresh water spring on the Island GS: How odd BB: Yeah it was odd. They--one thing was odd too, a boy and a girl gets engaged, he is required to make her a wooden shoe. They were [Indecipherable] GS: Yes BB: And when they get married, he gives her the other one. That' ; s a custom, but it' ; s a nice friendly country. We went to Poland, we stayed in a hotel, we eat at the hotel (Background Noises) GS: We' ; ll stop right there. [Indecipherable] There we go, that' ; ll hush you up. BB: We were there four days and when we returned to--hush--Frankford, Germany, we rode electric train to Holland and back. [Indecipherable]. We had spent $74 GS: Oh BB: But I was in uniform and they didn' ; t charge me like they did my wife GS: Aw BB: I came back to the states and was assigned to Fort Eustis, Virginia and a transportation unit was there. But that fall every morning, the dampness, I couldn' ; t take, my knee would--it wouldn' ; t take it. So they assigned me to Fort Bliss, Texas. GS: Yes. You' ; re fine, go on, I' ; m just checking this again. BB: And the unit I was assigned to there was--they were experimenting in low flying aircraft, what certain sized bombs would do GS: Oh myBB: To get as many personnel as you could. And we didn' ; t fly planes, but we' ; d fill flour sacks with about a three-pound paper bag and they drop those from the plane when they--when we signal them, they drop them. And we measured the distance that this flour flew out GS: Yes BB: And it' ; d given us approximately how many guys might be in that area. GS: I see BB: And then one time I remember each time we went out, they would drop one right after another, which made it almost the circle come--to the edge of the circle that they dropped the bomb for GS: Uh-huh BB: So it was a concentration of low flying air GS: And they could get more BB: Yeah GS: Enemies that way BB: Yeah, and that' ; s what--I was first sergeant of the unit there. From there, I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico as an advisor to the New Mexico National Guard GS: And was this still during the war? BB: Yeah GS: Okay BB: Yeah, and after that, I went to Hawaii and I was there for three years. I was working in the headquarters, I was in charge of, they told me, roughly forty thousand classified documents GS: Oh my goodness BB: They would come--they were in charge of the building construction in the south west pacific, and then it would be the coming and going of the information between there and Hawaii because it was a headquarters of the union. And I left there and the state [Indecipherable] general for New Mexico requested that I be assigned, reassigned New Mexico ; my old job, so that' ; s where I retired GS: Okay, and that' ; s how you met Gonda then, because you were there in New Mexico BB: Yeah GS: Okay BB: I retired at the highest in [Indecipherable] command sergeant major, and always felt that for somebody with an 8th grade education, wasn' ; t bad GS: I don' ; t think it was at all BB: I taught school GS: Oh you did? BB: Yeah GS: Tell me about that BB: When I was, after I graduated, time I graduated in June, we used to get out of school in June, and I was 12 years old and then I was 13 the following November. So I went to--I enlisted, I enrolled in Bristow High school, the bus went by the house, I was proud of my new striped overalls and new shirt, but there was a group of guys at that farmer had no place in Bristow high school, and they drove me out, I quit-- GS: Aw, those bullies BB: I told my dad I wasn' ; t gonna put up with that, so that' ; s why I wound up with an 8th grade education. But anyway this school teacher which happened to be [Indecipherable], of the VanOrsdol clan that' ; s here. GS: Yes, yes. BB: He was a farmer, and at certain times he had to take off to plow, certain times he had to take off to maintain, sometimes he had to take off to gather so he needed someone for two or three days at a time, and he asked me if I would like to substitute teach. I went through school, just like that, it was easy for me. And I don' ; t mean to brag, but it was just easy GS: No but it was easy, yup. BB: And I told him that I would, he got permission from the school board to do that. It wouldn' ; t allow any pay for me, if so it would have to come from him. And being a friend as well as a teacher, I wasn' ; t going to ask him to pay me for it cause I wasn' ; t doing anything GS: Yes BB: And it lasted during the year, school year, maybe thirty days, two days three days off and on, so it wasn' ; t no big thing but I got a lot of fun out of it GS: Well sure you did BB: But you know I felt sorry for some of the kids that had--they' ; d get to go to school maybe out of the nine-month session and they might get in three months four months GS: Oh my BB: Helping at home GS: Yeah BB: And so we had some sixteen, seventeen-year-old pupil that was in the sixth, seventh grade GS: Was that in the early thirties? BB: Yeah it had to be GS: That' ; s what I figured BB: Probably 32' ; , I think the dust storm was in 32' ; GS: Okay BB: The depression GS: Yes BB: Wasn' ; t fun either GS: No it wasn' ; t BB: I saw people, they never did complain, the guy with a wagon, the team would pull up with their commodities they called them GS: Yes BB: Maybe they in a--in a sack, they might have a couple of pounds of flour and some oat meal and maybe some salt or bacon powder or something like that, and they' ; d hand me tools, I never heard anybody complain. And of course this was a district thing we was getting probably, oh maybe 20 people from families. GS: Did you ever see the food kitchens or soup lines or anything like that during the depression? BB: The what? GS: Oh the food kitchens and the soup lines, did you ever see those? BB: Nothing in Bristow was like that. But during the Roosevelt administration, he paid farmers, for an example not to raise cotton. My dad was one of the people to go measure the cotton and measure the field and for the past five years, they would pay you for how many bales of cotton you had raised on that field during that five years. And it also meant that you couldn' ; t--I' ; ve had people plow cotton, it was that high. I say I' ; ve had--I' ; d go with my dad to measure and I saw farmers not wanting to do it. GS: Well sure BB: But they had to, it was a law that they had to do it GS: Why did they have to do it? BB: So that there wouldn' ; t be so much on the market. GS: Okay BB: Cattle ranchers did the same thing, they' ; d kill cattle, shot them right where they were standing GS: Wow BB: People would jump on them cows and take a quarter home GS: And this was during the depression? BB: Yeah GS: Wow, that almost doesn' ; t make sense, does it? BB: Well it wasn' ; t no way to keep the meat GS: Right BB: They would take the choice pieces, take them home and as long as they lasted and would not get rancid, well they would eat it and maybe sell them afterwards, I don' ; t know. GS: Wow BB: Anyway, they did that and then they canned a lot of meat, the government did GS: Okay BB: And issued back as canned meat to people. And I think I just about covered a hundred deer GS: (Laughing) BB: I think I [Indecipherable] GS: Did you go to church as a child? BB: Pardon? GS: Did you go to church as a child? BB: Oh yes, the church I was with was right across the road from me GS: What church was that? BB: It was the Advent Christian GS: Okay, okay, and-- BB: It' ; s like the one going south of Chestnut GS: Okay and your whole family went, did your whole family go? BB: Yes, Yeah. GS: Do you have any special fond memories of that? BB: Yeah, my mom and I had to sweep it out every Saturday, so it' ; d be ready for Sunday. The seats, them' ; s the hardest things to sweep around GS: I imagine BB: You couldn' ; t move them, they' ; d screwed to the floor GS: Yeah, bolted to the floor, yes. BB: Yeah I do remember--you know, in those days, there wasn' ; t any automobiles, there just wasn' ; t that many GS: Right, people couldn' ; t afford them, could they? BB: No, and they' ; d come in a wagon, some of them made 10 miles to church GS: Wow BB: And in the wagon they would have hay where they take the team from the front, bring one of them on one side and one on the other side and tie them there so they could eat this hay while they was there at church. GS: Oh my goodness, wow. BB: And they would bring almost every Sunday, there was dinner on the ground. And that' ; s why we kids looked forward to--It wasn' ; t, I don' ; t guess it was really every Sunday. It was just special Sunday, I mean a special, yeah special Sunday. And anyway it was, it seemed frequent, but they, about two oh, two thirty they' ; d all start piling back into the wagon and taking off for home. GS: What about doctors? Did you go to the doctors much when you were a child? Or your family? BB: No, the doctor come to us. GS: Okay, okay. BB: Yeah the doctor by the name of Doctor King and he drove a touring car I think it was a dodge and he had a crate on the bumper of the car and he would take chickens, he would take hogs, he would take anything, he owned a farm. And he' ; d take anything that he could take back to that farm GS: For payment?BB: Yeah GS: Yup BB: And we' ; ve taken a hog by there a lot of times when we' ; d be going to town. We finally got a model T Ford, touring, but that was top stuff GS: I bet it was BB: Yeah GS: I bet your father was proud of that BB: Yeah but he didn' ; t know how to drive, my sister--my sister drove and we later got a thirty, forty-seven Chevrolet coop. And he couldn' ; t drive the thing, so I was--well I was 12 so it was 32' ; I guess, and so I drove and I couldn' ; t hardly see over the steering wheel, I had to set on the edge of the seat and to shift cause he would put the car in low and then jerk it and put it all the way in high GS: Oh my goodness BB: And you could hear that car grinding GS: Oh I imagine BB: I told him, I said " ; Dad, you' ; re gonna ruin your transmission" ; , " ; Well you drive if you' ; re so smart" ; so I did. GS: Did you come into town much? Did you bring your goods for--to market? BB: Saturday GS: Okay, what was that like? BB: Butter and egg day. Well that' ; s the only time you had any money. GS: Okay BB: Momma had customers that she sold butter to and eggs. And for all the eggs that was left, we took them to Safeway and they' ; d be able to take the eggs and pay you in what you wanted to buy GS: Okay BB: So you didn' ; t get any money GS: But you got food or-- BB: Yeah you got food. But the butter and eggs in the community were in Bristow that she sold, she got money for that. She--my dad had a good name with the merchants in Bristow ; they would trust him. If he needed a plow share, he' ; d say ' ; I want you to go in and see Mr. Stone, tell him to send me a plow share for twelve-inch breaking plow (ph) and I' ; ll pay him Saturday when I come in' ; That' ; s all that' ; s needed, so I meeted Mr. Stone ' ; Dad said so-and-so' ; he gave it to me and I go back home. And that' ; s the way it was about anything. If he bought several sacks of feed for the horses, and it was almost thirty dollars. So he gave it to momma, my brother was coming to town and so she came with him to get groceries and he gave it to momma to get the groceries and then put the rest of it in the American National Bank, Spirit Bank took over American National. GS: Yes BB: Or it became Spirit Bank GS: Right BB: She always tied any money she had, any bills or [Indecipherable] in the corner of a handkerchief GS: I see ; I remember my grandmother doing that BB: Well, she got out on my brother' ; s car and went in to buy the groceries. She went to pay it, no money. They went back out-- this has all been told to me, I wasn' ; t along--and went back out and they looked and looked. So finally she saw it laying next to the curb, she recognized the handkerchief ; there was two guy standing there leaning up against a light post. So she went over there and picked it up and he' ; s chewing tobacco and probably, you know, spittin' ; around it what have you. And in front of them, she opened it up to see if it' ; s all there, [Indecipherable] GS: (Laughing)BB: Standing right there with it wrapped around thirty dollars GS: They might not have realized it was hers and they were thinking " ; We could' ; ve had that" ; BB: Right. They was going to charge the groceries, but when she found the money she went back and paid for it ; everything turned out. But things come up, one thing that I laughed at more than anything was probably my dad sold a breaking plow to a bootlegger. GS: Oh, haha! BB: And he was to pay him at a certain day. Well that day passes and no money. Dad waited, I don' ; t know, two or three weeks or something, and he stopped by Mr. Floods little shack, said you know " ; I need my money for the breaking plow" ; " ; Well I just don' ; t have it John H." ; said " ; I' ; ll tell ya what I' ; ll do, I' ; ll give it to you in whiskey" ; . It was fifty cents a pint. I mean it was old shotgun, it wasn' ; t like the stuff that you get this [Indecipherable] it was homemade GS: Home brewed, yes BB: So he took it was, I think there was 6 pints, and dad didn' ; t drink, but my brothers did once and a while when they' ; d come home GS: Uh-huh BB: So he took this home GS: Yes BB: And put it behind a washboard that was leaning up against the corner of the garage GS: Yes BB: Well during the meantime, leaves and [indecipherable] blew into the garage GS: Uh-huh BB: And there was enough behind this washboard that a hen started laying back there, made a nest back there. Mom was getting eggs everyday behind that washboard, oh man the day we got home, he said ' ; I don' ; t know what I' ; m gonna do with this stuff' ; and I said ' ; Well put it there behind that washboard' ; I didn' ; t know there was a hen laying there then GS: Yeah BB: Well he said " ; that might be a good idea" ; so he put it behind the washboard, you couldn' ; t see it if you didn' ; t know it was there. Momma went to gather eggs, you' ; d think that a rattle snake had bit her ; she screamed " ; Johnny, you got time to come here?" ; . She poured it out right there in front of him, every drop of it. GS: She probably thought he was drinking it or something BB: He didn' ; t say anything, cause he knew it shouldn' ; t be there to begin with. GS: Yeah BB: But that was funny to me. Fall days, a lot of things happen, I couldn' ; t start to cover any of it. Most of the stuff when you live on a farm, it happens and it happens so often, it just comes common place GS: Right BB: And you don' ; t think about--make her stay down GS: Oh she' ; s okay, she' ; s quiet when she' ; s laying on my lap. BB: But that' ; s about, unless you' ; ve got some questions GS: Well I have a few more here BB: Okay GS: I won' ; t tire you out too much, but--Do you remember anything about the Works, Works Protection Act during the 40' ; s and-- BB: The WPA? GS: Or the 30' ; s I guess it was, yeah the WPA, do you have any memories of that? BB: Yeah, yeah. There was, there' ; s a funny thing that was attached to that too. They had lots of pick and shovel prize, I mean they did everything with pick and shovel GS: Okay BB: And then so many guys in the -- had to register that lived in the community, and each one of them would get fifteen days' ; work, then-- GS: Okay BB: And they' ; d take ten men or half of them, and they' ; d work the first fifteen days and then the second half of them worked the next fifteen days. GS: Okay BB: Well they was building a bridge south of the house and they had to build it up pretty good on the road to elevate the bridge enough so there wasn' ; t a--a big drop off, you just kind of a slope down to the bridge if you cross. Well they was doing it all with wheelbarrows, they' ; d you know, they' ; d take it out and dump the dirt then come back and somebody else would fill it up at the bottom. Well, chewing tobacco then was a common thing, and smoking [Indecipherable]. Well this one guy chewed tobacco but he never had any. And he bummed chewing tobacco every day, so I went to this guy and he told him, he said--ask him for chewing tobacco, and he said ' ; now shorty, I' ; m gonna give you a chewing tobacco' ; but he said ' ; I don' ; t want any more complaints out of you, or I don' ; t want any more asking about chewing tobacco' ; . So it was in the summer time and they' ; d sweat and salt would go on their back then their armpits, well he had a new plug of chewing tobacco, so he took it out, rubbed it under his arm, all that sweat under there, and he handed it to him, he said ' ; what did you do that for?' ; . Well he said ' ; I always chew my tobacco--I mean I always do that to my tobacco, it causes it to be moist and last longer' ; well that guy said ' ; I don' ; t want any of this' ; and handed it back to him and never asked him for chewing tobacco again. GS: That man was pretty smart, wasn' ; t he? BB: Yeah, the guy said ' ; I ruined it, but it was a dime at the store, said I only lost a plug of tobacco, but he never did ask for another chew' ; . GS: That' ; s just too funny, that is good. Okay, we' ; re winding down here Basil. BB: They [Indecipherable], they did good work. GS: Would that be PA? BB: Yeah for years after your--they built school houses, they built--well of course it was the outhouses too, they built those, they lasted forever it seems like. GS: Do you remember when they built the amphitheater here in Bristow? BB: Yes GS: Or that building? BB: Yes GS: Yeah BB: Yes GS: Did you come in to see Eleanor Roosevelt? BB: No I wasn' ; t gonna walk to town to see that GS: Oh you would' ; ve have to have walked? BB: Probably, dad probably wouldn' ; t let me use a [Indecipherable] GS: Okay, we' ; re gonna wind down here. What would you consider to be the most important inventions during your life time? BB: The most-- GS: The most important inventions that have been--happened in your lifetime BB: Oh my goodness GS: There have been so many, I know it' ; s hard to pick one. BB: I think the one that has probably involved more people, served more people, and was a convention--was a convenience for them, was the airplane. GS: The airplane BB: Yes. Just north of Bristow, there was a guy that would come there in a little open cockpit plane GS: Uh-huh BB: It had a bar at the back at the--at the tail, underneath it. GS: Okay BB: So when you go, it would drag your [Indecipherable] GS: Okay BB: Man if it was wind blowing and dirt from that spike came in the tail there, it was terrible. But anyway, the charge, either 25 or 56, I think it was twenty-five six, for a trip around Bristow and back. GS: Oh, well that' ; s cool! I never had heard that. BB: I didn' ; t do that ; I wouldn' ; t have gotten into one of those things for anything. GS: Was the first time you flew when you were in the service? BB: Yeah GS: Yeah, I kinda figured that. BB: But not very many people would get in it. GS: How' ; s the world different now than when you were a child? BB: Not really. GS: How is it different? How is the world different today than it was when you were growing up, or is it? BB: Well, still around. GS: (Laughing) Hasn' ; t got flat yet, has it? BB: It' ; s gonna get that way. It' ; s the people that' ; s different, that' ; s the biggest thing. The world itself has furnished lots of mysteries that were unsolvable until recent years. But the people is really the biggest thing that I-- GS: How are they different Basil? BB: Oh my goodness, there is not a drop of love between families, neighbors. You know, used to if you--farmer broke his arm and it was time to plow, as soon as somebody heard about it, here they are, they' ; d come and plow his farm for him and wherever he wanted it plowed. Just like he would go if somebody else needs him, you know. If they heard--if somebody gets sick, they' ; d go sit up with them, you know. Work the next day would go sit up two to three hours with them at night. A woman, or a man died, we went into community and got them ready--the caskets were so flimsy, oh they were flimsy. And then they would put them in the casket and they would put them on the back of that, have a board on the back, generally a door off of a corncrib or something ; the back of two chairs, put the casket up on top of that, and they would take them to the cemetery in a wagon, and someone would go that morning and dig the grave and have it ready when they got there with the corpse. GS: Wow. BB: And people that went to the funeral wanted to get in the car, hooked up a team, left early enough that they' ; d get there for the funeral. But generally they would have a funeral at, I' ; ve seen them have it at the church, I mean at the hold, if there wasn' ; t any churches close. Where we live, the church is across the road, they' ; d have funerals there. But I don' ; t know how those caskets stay together, I' ; ve thought about that so much really during my life, it' ; d come across my mind ; flimsy. GS: It was a greater sense of community back then, wasn' ; t it? BB: It what? GS: A greater sense of community back then, wasn' ; t it? People helping each other in the community. BB: Yes, and it was just love for people. Another thing too, if a kid was at a house and something happened and they got into a little trouble or something, their mom was on the phone calling the kids momma, they' ; d send him home, tell her what they did, what he did, if they knew exactly--boy when you got home you got it. GS: I' ; ve heard that a lot, it' ; s a shame it' ; s not that way anymore. BB: No GS: Okay, we are in the middle of a pandemic, have you ever seen anything like what we' ; re living through right now? BB: No, no. Generally, the flu, you knew that it wasn' ; t lasting more than three or four days, and it was over with. GS: Right BB: But the thing you don' ; t know how long it' ; s going to last, you don' ; t know what causes it, you can' ; t prepare against it, other than what they suggest. GS: Right BB: You know, I' ; m almost afraid to get out of the house GS: Of course you are BB: And I stay home [Indecipherable] GS: Yup. BB: And Gonda doesn' ; t bother GS: Is Gonda still working? BB: You know what her job is? GS: What? BB: Taking care of her granddaughter GS: Oh BB: She takes care of Jessica' ; s little girl GS: I did not know that BB: Three houses down GS: Well that' ; s wonderful, that' ; s a nice job to have. BB: Yeah, once you retire, Jessica asked " ; what' ; re you gonna do?" ; Gonda said " ; I don' ; t know, but I' ; ll probably need something to do" ; she said " ; I' ; ve got a job for you" ; so she' ; s been taking care of the little girl for--ever since she been born GS: That' ; s wonderful BB: She' ; ll go to [Indecipherable] her grandma will sometimes leave her mother with her grandma. I never seen some I really, not because she' ; s my life, I have never ever seen a grandma like my wife. She will--one of the grandkids asked her, said, I' ; ve had it a couple of years ' ; Grandma, would you take us to McDonalds and get us a hamburger?' ; and she just drops everything and gets in the car and takes them McDonalds GS: I bet she didn' ; t do that with her own kids when they were little. BB: No, no GS: There' ; s something about being a grandma that can change that BB: Yeah she, well, all our kids I was part of it, and I was kind of rough on my boys, I tried to tell them what value was and how it should work in their lives, and never ever smear your name. And of course other things, they just knew how I stood, they knew how to work, of course I showed them how to work. But Jessica come along, she got it a little soft. She was a girl then, I treated her a little differently. GS: Well Basil can you think of anything else you' ; d like to tell me? BB: Not really. GS: Well I just consider it a great privilege to have been able to interview you BB: Well thank you so much GS: And I appreciate it ever so much. BB: Well that' ; s just like, I appreciate it being on TV GS: Yes BB: I never thought something like that would happen. And Jessica was the cause of it. GS: Oh was she? BB: Yeah she has a friend, this lady from-- GS: Amy Kaughman (ph)? BB: Yeah, Amy. GS: Uh-huh BB: Yeah, and so Amy was talking about [Indecipherable] and what have you interviewing somebody, she said " ; Oh why don' ; t you interview my dad, he' ; s has a birthday, he' ; s 100 years old, well he' ; ll just fit right in" ; GS: Well I think it did! BB: I was out then at the country club for about three hours GS: Oh my goodness BB: And they had my driving balls on the range, driving range GS: I saw that, you did pretty good there BB: They had me on the putting green and there was one hole that must' ; ve been thirty feet from where it--I never putted a ball on that green in 20 years, I didn' ; t know where it [Indecipherable] naturally, but I could see where there was a little slope to that hole, so all I wanted to do was just try to get it close enough for a tap in. I hit it, and it started curving, went right in that hole GS: Oh how wonderful Basil! BB: And he had the camera on it all the way GS: Oh that' ; s perfect, that is perfect. Well thank you so much-- BB: Oh you' ; re welcome GS: Yup it' ; s still going so we' ; re good BB: I' ; m sorry those dogs [Indecipherable] GS: Oh those dogs didn' ; t bother me at all BB: Finally, this one-- audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-08_Baker,_Basil.xml OHP-2020-08_Baker,_Basil.xml
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The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Basil Baker
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2020 interview, Basil Baker shares his experience growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses his family, military service, and life during the dust bowl.
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OHP-2020-08
Date
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2020-12-13
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
Type
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sound, oral history
Advent Christian Church
banks
Bristow Public Schools
Dust Bowl
farming
Great Depression
Mills Chapel
peanuts
statehood
stores
World War II
WPA
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Title
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Family Histories
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Oral History
Subject
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Oral accounts of various family histories
Source
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Debbie Blansett
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Bob Thompson
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-12_Thompson,_Bob.xml
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5.4 January 4, 2021 OHP-2020-12 Bob Thompson OHP-2020-12 0:00 - 66:56 Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Bob Thompson Debbie Blansett MP3 1:|47(5)|58(5)|74(3)|88(11)|94(13)|99(5)|118(9)|127(7)|135(16)|155(2)|166(9)|186(3)|198(13)|213(7)|230(10)|234(8)|242(6)|273(11)|286(6)|308(5)|320(1)|329(2)|340(8)|350(5)|362(3)|375(9)|385(1)|394(3)|398(9)|416(10)|424(7)|430(3)|437(1)|440(17)|445(4)|459(16)|468(12)|474(7)|483(14)|493(9)|506(5)|516(3)|527(5)|536(8)|545(9)|551(1)|564(3)|569(11)|576(4)|583(6)|597(4)|611(7)|624(6)|629(7)|636(11)|642(1)|653(8)|676(15)|707(4)|714(11)|722(7)|729(4)|746(8)|753(2)|771(2) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Bob Thompson.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow historical society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is January 4th, 2021 and I’m sitting here with Bob Thompson in his home in Bristow who’s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now give me your full name so that we’ll know who all’s here. Bob Thompson ; Bobby Thompson ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Debbie Blansett ; Larry Blansett https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/232073174/bobby-hope-thompson Bob Thompson 63 Hand Dug Water Well DB: Alright, let’s begin. First thing, do you know anything about the hand dug water well that’s in Bristow? BT: I know a little bit about it DB: Can you tell me a little bit about it? BT: It was dug back in the 20’s, my grandparents stayed all night there in 1921, and it was dug there and was a congregational place for all of the farmers would come in and congregate and stay all night and go somewhere. You know, it was a more or less stopping point of people leaving Bristow or creek county and going there which way. cedar street ; Greensburg, Kansas ; Hadie Bishop ; Hand Dug Water Well ; Mickey Moore 683 Childhood DB: So you just had an anniversary BT: I just had an anniversary DB: 61 years BT: I just had an anniversary of living in this town. I have the honor of being the oldest tenant of cedar street DB: That’s still here? BT: Of age, and living here. All of these other houses, these 42 houses has been—somebody has been in it since 1960 DB: Wow BT: There’s no, no other one lived here as long as I have Ball Park Hill ; Depew, Oklahoma ; Gulf Oil Company ; Stedman Hill 892 Education and Work BT: In 1940, or 41’ rather, in June of 41’ we moved to Drumright. They had a lease up there that my father [Indecipherable]. We lived there till 1949, I’m graduated from Drumright in 1949, and I wondered how long it’d take. It used to be the schools—it used to be the school’s technology. That’s OSU University. I stayed there, I graduated from there in 1950, 53’. And I had to go to the army and—no, in 51’ they came back, in 51’ and in 52’ I graduated, got out, and there was when Gloria was real going strong and I got drafted in Korea campaign. I stayed in the army until 1954. I went to Japan, I was sent to Japan as a radar operator and [Indecipherable] division. I got pulled out in Yokohama, Japan and went to call the Hiroshima specialist school DB: A Hiroshima specialist? creek county ; Eastern Electrical Oil Company ; Fort Bliss, Texas ; Hervert Oslers ; Hiroshima ; Hiroshima Specialist School ; Korean Campaign ; OSU University ; Radar M.O.A. ; Yokohama, Japan 1546 Family DB: You’ve done some really spectacular things BT: I’ve had a good life, I lost my wife five years ago, I’ve reconciled that, I have friends that I would not take a hundred dollars for, I would give 50 cents for some, but I wouldn’t take a hundred dollars. DB: How many children did you have? Do you have? BT: We have two children, Michael (ph), which is 62 and Cathy, she’ll be—it’s kind of strange, I want to say this, I tell people that my family grew. My son was born on the twenty—on the 14th of January, my daughter was born on the 19th of January, and my wife and I got married on the 21st of January DB: Oh! Amanda ; Cathy Thompson ; Elizabeth ; Megan ; Michael Dillon ; Michael Thompson 1858 Hospital DB: I remember. Now you told me on the phone that you had some—you had the cornerstone from the clinic, and you had some specimen vials or flasks and you had doctor Sisler’s (ph) day book, how did you come by those things? BT: How did I come by those? In 1960, I was on the city council, I can’t remember what I did, I served two terms on the city council and at that time, we had a hospital where Doctor Sisler— DB: Sisler BT: Sisler and Cowart, C. O. W. A. R. T., they were partners, Sisler and Cowart Clinic, and they both retired. Well that left a building with the facilities for a hospital. Well, Dr. Frank Chapman, coming he would become a doctor at that clinic until our hospital was built out here. That became a vacant building and [Indecipherable] and we needed a parking place, parking, so we decided to put it up for auction and put it up for bid and a fella by the name [Indecipherable] and they were the highest bidder. Barbara ; Cowart ; Cyler Raymond Jones ; Doctor Sisler ; Dr. Frank Chapman ; Jimmy Rae Jones ; Kacey Jones ; Loraine Hocket ; Sisler and Cowart Clinic 2345 Cedar Street BT: Oh, by cedar street, let me back up a little bit, and not back up but just fill about cedar street. When I come to Bristow in 1952, I stayed in the house over there on the corner. The house back to the side, on the west side of it, was a farm house, this was a corn field and a hog pen. My backyard was a hog pen. I’m building my patio, I dug into an old hog jaw. And I know because the smell was still there. All of this was corn field, this twenty acres. This was built—I started building this—this addition [Indecipherable] winding down, and all the G.I.’s wanted [Indecipherable]. Oh gosh there were G.I.— there was G.I.’s all up and down, this was the world protection we had three highway patrolmen on this street at one time. DB: Wow BT: [Indecipherable] lived over there, [Indecipherable] lived here, John (ph) lived next door, and then on the corner it was when I was a little big old boy, he was a highway patrolman, he lived next door. DB: Very well protected area. cedar street ; Louis Templeton ; Mr. Dordie 2753 Geneology BT: We’ll go to the—we traveled a lot. This room in here, spare bedroom, is a genealogy room. My wife was real deep in genealogy. We traveled probably the last four years of her life, I suppose. We started out after I retired. We liked to travel, we had travel trailers. We spent three weeks out in Salt Lake City in the library, we found out that my grandmother on my daddy’s side, his mother, ancestors come from another country called Rine Meed (ph) in Europe. German has—Germany has taken over this little country, and it was called Rine Meed. I’d [Indecipherable], my daddy’s ancestors back to 1655. At 1655, I have computer book about that too, looked like a [Indecipherable]. Ancestors for my grandson matched to him. We saw Gustaugh Rorabough (ph), was his name. DB: Say it again BT: Gustaugh DB: Gustaugh BT: Rorabough Gustaugh Rorabough ; Rine Meed ; Salt Lake City 3188 Amphitheater BT: Oh, there’s something about a amphitheater I’d like to put out. DB: Have a what? BT: The Amphitheater DB: The amphitheater, yes! BT: In 1965, the boy scouts was real active here, and there was four adults, [Indecipherable], Haskell Golden (ph), George Back (ph), and myself were scout leaders. We—two of us, George Back and Haskell Golden was a boy scout master, Haskell Golden and I were exploring, there were boys over 17 and older, seniors in high school, juniors and seniors in high school, we combined that and called it Post 271. At that time, we entered a [Indecipherable] Robuck Foundation grant for a project in Bristow. Amphitheater ; Clydes Daily ; Conservation Corporation ; Eleanor Roosevelt ; George Back ; Haskell Golden ; Leon Davis ; Mike Dual ; Post 271 ; Robuck Foundation Grant ; Walter Jones 3993 Conclusion DB: Well, I appreciate your time BT: Have we run out of tape? DB: Oh I never run out of tape, but I’ve got to save some room for some other folks. But I just can’t begin to thank you enough for the time you gave us today to just walk down the memory lane and— BT: [Indecipherable] DB: And we’ve enjoyed it. I’m gonna turn this off, thank you Bob BT: You’re welcome. In this 2021 interview, Bob Thompson shares his knowledge of Bristow. He discusses the hand dug water well and the local amphitheater. Interviewer: Debbie BlansettInterviewee: Bob Thompson Other Persons: Date of Interview: January 4th, 2021Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-12 at 00:00 to 66:56 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. DB: This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow historical society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is January 4th, 2021 and I' ; m sitting here with Bob Thompson in his home in Bristow who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Now give me your full name so that we' ; ll know who all' ; s here. BT: My name is Bobby Thompson, I live at 638 south cedar and I' ; m 90 years old. LB: My name' ; s Larry BlansettDB: And Debbie Blansett. Alright, let' ; s begin. First thing, do you know anything about the hand dug water well that' ; s in Bristow? BT: I know a little bit about it DB: Can you tell me a little bit about it? BT: It was dug back in the 20' ; s, my grandparents stayed all night there in 1921, and it was dug there and was a congregational place for all of the farmers would come in and congregate and stay all night and go somewhere. You know, it was a more or less stopping point of people leaving Bristow or creek county and going there which way. My grandparents went from Olive to Bristow to Pushmataha county down at Antlers. But they stopped all night here in Bristow because of that well, they could get fresh water and there was a horse trough right there they could water their horses and feed and stay all night, and a safe place to stay. DB: So it was already there in the 20' ; s BT: Yes DB: But you don' ; t know who dug it or-- BT: I don' ; t, you know they' ; re saying the Chinese dug it but I don' ; t know. DB: You don' ; t know? BT: I don' ; t know for sure, but I do know that back in the 60' ; s when there was on the city council, an electrician, a water commissioner [Indecipherable] was a water commissioner there then and it' ; s not like it was set or like it was now, each department head was elected. He was elected as a water commissioner, we had street commissioner, we had building inspector, and things like that. But he asked me to go down and rewire that pump in the well. Of course it had unsafe wiring and I went and rewired it and it was spooky. DB: I bet BT: I had to walk out there, the pump was a fifteen horse [Indecipherable] pump DB: A? BT: A [Indecipherable] pump, it was a screw type. It wasn' ; t a lift pump, it was a screw type water pump, and it was fifteen horse power and it pumped water to this part of to the water system, and at that time, the water department was up on north chestnut street about ten and a half, it' ; s past 10th street. Each well would have 27 wells at that time pumping water for the city of Bristow. Of course, he added more up there, there was about two-foot-long and about a foot wide and it had numbers on it ; 1-27. And that was [Indecipherable] of what water well was pumping at that time. If the number one well was pumping, it was in the on position. They had a pin, a plug that they' ; d put out there and if number one water well was off, it put it over in the off position. And that way, the people would know [Indecipherable] the employees at the water department would know which well was pumping at that time. They alternated these wells, they were at the golf course and east oak street and out at [Indecipherable] we had all over town. There was water wells. DB: Are there still water wells like that? BT: They' ; re still here, the hole is there but they' ; re capped off. We only have three, I believe three water wells supplying the water for Bristow now, I' ; m not sure but I think there' ; s only three water wells. DB: When you worked on the fifteen horse power pump, did it remain a fifteen horsepower pump? BT: It did. DB: Or did you make it larger? BT: No, it remained at fifteen horse power but eventually they disbanded it because of the health department because it was not safe for human consumption. Because of the consumption, there' ; s a building around it. It was an open building, people could walk in there and throw trash and anything, bicycles, toys, anything that a kid could put in there they would put in it. But they disbanded it and now they' ; re trying to do something with it. They found out that it was larger than the one in Greensburg, Kansas. DB: Yeah they say that it' ; s the biggest one, biggest one in the world or the biggest one somewhere, I don' ; t know. BT: It shifted in and they didn' ; t go down to the bottom of the well. Went in there one time and run a survey, tape down and they found out that it was larger, deeper than the one in Greensburg, Kansas. Our mission team from the Methodist church went to Greensburg, Kansas when the tornado come through and demolished it. We went up there and spent a week rebuilding help, rebuilding [Indecipherable]. DB: Uh-huh BT: And I had the pleasure to go down to that Greensburg water well because back in 1947, no it was 1949, we were coming back from Wyoming to see my brother who was in the air force and we stayed all night in Greensburg, Kansas so dad and I drove up there from the motel and visited that water well. I had the pleasure of taking my camera bag, who was had a decal on the back of it showing the water well at that time. The mayor was--of town at that time was so elated that she took a picture of my camera bag of the water well back in 1949 DB: Oh wow BT: So that' ; s, that' ; s about what I know about the water well DB: Okay BT: I don' ; t know DB: No that sounds great, there' ; s just not a lot of people I know, Mickey Moore (ph) has done some work there, but it was just rumored that you knew some things about it. I find it interesting that it was a gathering spot in the 20' ; s for travelers to get water and to feed their animals and a safe pass through BT: Of course all of that was a passage, was an open field. The nursing home was not there then. DB: The houses weren' ; t there BT: Hadie Bishops (ph) house was not there on the corner of main and first street, there was not a grocery store there at that time, it was all--Kum and Go was not there, [Indecipherable] Stop was not there, the church of-- DB: Yes BT: All of the buildings, it was just open field just like this here. This cedar street was built and was put together in 1957, 58' ; and 59' ; , and I moved out here the first day of January of 1960. I stayed in this house in 688--638 south cedar. DB: So you just had an anniversary BT: I just had an anniversary DB: 61 years BT: I just had an anniversary of living in this town. I have the honor of being the oldest tenant of cedar street DB: That' ; s still here? BT: Of age, and living here. All of these other houses, these 42 houses has been--somebody has been in it since 1960 DB: Wow BT: There' ; s no, no other one lived here as long as I have DB: So did you--you didn' ; t live in Bristow ; you weren' ; t born here? BT: I was not born here, but I was born in Depew DB: Not far BT: I didn' ; t fly far from the nest. I was born in Depew in 1930 DB: Were you born at home? BT: I was born at the home and I had the bed stead that I was born in DB: Oh wow BT: And I wanted to be close to my mother. I was born from Depew, people know Ball Park Hill, Ball Park Hill, I was born from there. It was a mile south, a mile east, and about a half a mile north. My father worked for the Gulf Oil Company, and there was 12 houses from that corner all the way up to we call it Stedman hill [Indecipherable] the water well. I stayed there, started my first school there, and in 1949, my dad was transferred to davenport and [Indecipherable] the Gulf Oil Company had a lease over there. Junior of 49' ; , we moved back. DB: To Depew? BT: To Depew, and that same lease, and then the lease house. The house that I was born in was what you call the shotgun house, was a three room house, excuse me. DB: Okay. Okay I think we' ; ll go on again. You were in a lease house that was a shotgun house BT: Yeah, was three--was three rooms, a kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Every room as all right together. The reason that we called it a shotgun house, you could open the front door, put a shotgun in there, and kill everybody in the house. DB: You go straight through the house BT: Straight through. In 1940, or 41' ; rather, in June of 41' ; we moved to Drumright. They had a lease up there that my father [Indecipherable]. We lived there till 1949, I' ; m graduated from Drumright in 1949, and I wondered how long it' ; d take. It used to be the schools--it used to be the school' ; s technology. That' ; s OSU University. I stayed there, I graduated from there in 1950, 53' ; . And I had to go to the army and--no, in 51' ; they came back, in 51' ; and in 52' ; I graduated, got out, and there was when Gloria was real going strong and I got drafted in Korea campaign. I stayed in the army until 1954. I went to Japan, I was sent to Japan as a radar operator and [Indecipherable] division. I got pulled out in Yokohama, Japan and went to call the Hiroshima specialist school DB: A Hiroshima specialist? BT: Hiroshima specialist school, it was a school, they had 27 different educations all the way from [Indecipherable] core which I was a part of, I taught school until 1954. I got out and come back home and I met my wife in the college in square-dance. We had square-dance at the activity center, and we were married in January the 21st of 1952. DB: I take my--the dates. You came back here from Japan in 54' ; ? BT: Yeah DB: And then you went back to school at that time because you would' ; ve had to stop? BT: No, I went to the army DB: Yes BT: In 51' ; DB: And you were-- BT: 52' ; DB: In 52' ; BT: July 52' ; DB: Had you finished your schooling? BT: I was discharged in 54' ; DB: Okay BT: But in 52' ; , I got set up here to--I don' ; t roll, the rock don' ; t roll fast [Indecipherable]. I come to Bristow with Eastern Electrical Oil Company as a power lineman and I stayed on the corner up there where 6th--by 6 days, I [Indecipherable] in July or January the 14' ; to 1952' ; . [Indecipherable] my wife and I were dating at that time and she was coming back and forth on a bus from Tulsa. She was living in Tulsa ; I was living in Bristow. We decided that there was no need of that, so she come down there January the 14th or January the 21st and we got married DB: Just that day? BT: [Inaudible] DB: You just got married on just that day? BT: Just after I got off of work, we just come down there and my [Indecipherable] and his wife stood up for us. They were the best man and judge Hervert Oslers (ph) DB: Herman what? BT: Judge Hervert Oslers (ph) DB: Hervert, ok. BT: Marriages had--I lived with [Indecipherable] for 63 years until her passing five years, and we had a good life right here in this house. And-- DB: So were you married when you had to go to Japan? BT: I was married six months DB: Oh my! BT: I got married in January and I had to go to Japan in July DB: Oh myBT: I went to Fort Bliss, Texas and gained a knowledge in radar and I went to Japan, which is radar M. O. A. [Indecipherable] DB: Uh-huh BT: I was qualified to run a radar DB: And then you taught your--you taught school there BT: Well while I was in Japan, they pulled me out in Yokohama and I went to school, which was about six miles south and three miles west out in the ocean was this Japanese naval academy, which the US in the army called it the Hiroshima Specialist School, and three days passed, my buddy and I were [Indecipherable] and we' ; d go to Yokohama, and we' ; d go to Hiroshima. I traveled several times as just visiting Hiroshima, and it was still devastated DB: Oh I' ; m sure BT: [Indecipherable] the council house was just still a shell. [Indecipherable] was at ground zero. His back was just nothing but solid blister, it was scarred, it was blistered from--then I come back to [Indecipherable]. Come back and I got discharged in 54' ; . Come back to Bristow and I got my old job back as a lineman for East Central Electric and I stayed with the core up until 1953, [Indecipherable] 1993. DB: Oh my! BT: Until I retired, I had 41 years with them DB: You saw them go through a lot of changes in 41 years BT: We had one sub session [Indecipherable] 325, some people don' ; t understand what I' ; m gonna say, what I' ; m gonna tell now. We had in 1954, when I got back from the army, we had one sub session that consisted of 325 KV transformers. That sustained a whole system of northern creek county. We had [Indecipherable] wooden servers, they was building one, a new substation east of town two miles. As the system grew, when I retired, we had seven sub stations DB: Oh man BT: And none of them could [Indecipherable]. We had one substation that carried the quick set corporation after [Indecipherable]. That was one substation, this substation east of town, we had a [Indecipherable], we had [Indecipherable], we had [Indecipherable], we had [Indecipherable], and there was those substations carried less than a hundred now, they were [Indecipherable], the forty years has grown that much, of oil field work industry, and [Indecipherable] was acquired--required at that time. DB: Yes BT: So, we had a good system. I' ; d go back [Indecipherable] once a year, I didn' ; t go this year so. DB: Just to check on them and make sure everything' ; s still going? BT: Yeah, it' ; s been a good life DB: You' ; ve done some really spectacular things BT: I' ; ve had a good life, I lost my wife five years ago, I' ; ve reconciled that, I have friends that I would not take a hundred dollars for, I would give 50 cents for some, but I wouldn' ; t take a hundred dollars. DB: How many children did you have? Do you have? BT: We have two children, Michael (ph), which is 62 and Cathy, she' ; ll be--it' ; s kind of strange, I want to say this, I tell people that my family grew. My son was born on the twenty--on the 14th of January, my daughter was born on the 19th of January, and my wife and I got married on the 21st of January DB: Oh! BT: Makes people think DB: Yes, yes. There' ; s something about January. BT: There was--Michael, when I retired in 93' ; , I hung my [Indecipherable] become a licensed electrician. And now since my six--about six years ago, I [Indecipherable] to my son Mike, and he' ; s taken over now. And Cathy is working in town at headquarters there and runs all [Indecipherable] in Catoosa. She and her husband had to sell out--highway 20 was taken their home from her. It was expanding, highway 20 from 169 to Claremore DB: Uh-huh BT: So they chose a new home down there and they bought a new underground home and I travel to Catoosa and they like it very well, and it' ; s 18 acres and [Indecipherable]. My grandchildren, Mike has one child and two adopted children, his name was Michael Dillon (ph), he graduated from Bristow high school and I have three granddaughters of Cathy' ; s children and Amanda is the oldest, Elizabeth is the middle child, she' ; s a teacher in Jenks high school, and Megan is living in Collinsville, Oklahoma. They all got children, Megan has got one, one little boy Jett, Elizabeth has got three, one adopted and two of her own, and Elizabeth has got one--or Megan has got-- DB: Amanda, Amanda. You told me Elizabeth and Megan. How many did Amanda have? BT: Amanda had one. DB: Now is Amanda the one that would come every summer and stay with you all? BT: Yeah, she would come and stay with us and we' ; d go places, take her to the park, take her to the zoo, what kids would like to do. DB: That' ; s right BT: And she remembers, she remembers. DB: I remember. Now you told me on the phone that you had some--you had the cornerstone from the clinic, and you had some specimen vials or flasks and you had doctor Sisler' ; s (ph) day book, how did you come by those things? BT: How did I come by those? In 1960, I was on the city council, I can' ; t remember what I did, I served two terms on the city council and at that time, we had a hospital where Doctor Sisler-- DB: SislerBT: Sisler and Cowart, C. O. W. A. R. T., they were partners, Sisler and Cowart Clinic, and they both retired. Well that left a building with the facilities for a hospital. Well, Dr. Frank Chapman, coming he would become a doctor at that clinic until our hospital was built out here. That became a vacant building and [Indecipherable] and we needed a parking place, parking, so we decided to put it up for auction and put it up for bid and a fella by the name [Indecipherable] and they were the highest bidder. At that time, the building was [Indecipherable] at this time. But I asked him if I could have the [Indecipherable] off of the building, and they said they don' ; t need, they wanted to bring the lumber out there, which [Indecipherable] and bricked his mothers house down in Gypsie, and [Indecipherable] took some lumber and built a home here in Bristow. I read that [Indecipherable] and I' ; ve had it ever since, I' ; ve moved it twice, that' ; s how heavy it is, it' ; s out in my backyard under my patio roof. And in the contents of the hospital, at one time I had [Indecipherable] and emergency equipment out at the hospital. [Indecipherable] over the years I don' ; t know where they' ; ve went. But I do have Doctor Sislers graduation picture from his college. I have the beakers of his chemistry room that he would put cultures in it and find out what was wrong. Now I have his day book that has daily patients, which come in as someone would pay a dollar, someone would pay fifty cents and, let' ; s see, that' ; s about all. And that--I do have his operating table and I' ; ve used it outside. It' ; s not deplorable, it' ; s--it can be--it can be [Indecipherable], it can be repainted, it can be and I' ; d like to get all of that all in one package because it' ; s related. DB: Oh they' ; re very thrilled about your donation ; I was just curious how you came about it but-- BT: Well that' ; s how I come about it, and I-- DB: Were they your doctors? When you all first were married and first were here? BT: Doctor Sisler, I had appendicitis at the time when I lived in Drumright. We had no hospital in Drumright, so dad brought me down on a Saturday afternoon, I was about to die, I thought. I had appendicitis at the time, and he brought a bed for me, took 28 minutes to Drumright to Bristow, they checked me in into Bristow clinic. Doctor Sister diagnosed me and he said " ; We' ; re gonna put him on ice" ; , and put ice on me. He put a big ol' ; pack of ice on me and said " ; We' ; ll operate if you want to" ; . DB: Maybe take some of the swelling down, maybe? BT: They concentrated all of that together, the pain and whatever it was. And I can [Indecipherable] other things more, [Indecipherable] because I was a teenager, I was 17 years old and the [Indecipherable] Jimmy Ray Jones (ph) and Cyler Raymond Jones, and Barbara, Kacey Jones' ; (ph) brother, [Indecipherable], it was Loraine Hocket (ph), I [Indecipherable] with her, I can only remember a lot as a kid, but they would come up and visit, bring me a candy bar, a package of gum. A sack of popcorn or whatever, somebody was always bringing me something. I become [Indecipherable] I come down to Bristow, I' ; d always come to see them. And that was--many times I wonder where they' ; re at. I don' ; t know. DB: Where their family? Where they are or where their families are? BT: I don' ; t know anything else DB: Well it sounds pretty remarkable to me BT: Oh, by cedar street, let me back up a little bit, and not back up but just fill about cedar street. When I come to Bristow in 1952, I stayed in the house over there on the corner. The house back to the side, on the west side of it, was a farm house, this was a corn field and a hog pen. My backyard was a hog pen. I' ; m building my patio, I dug into an old hog jaw. And I know because the smell was still there. All of this was corn field, this twenty acres. This was built--I started building this--this addition [Indecipherable] winding down, and all the G.I.' ; s wanted [Indecipherable]. Oh gosh there were G.I.-- there was G.I.' ; s all up and down, this was the world protection we had three highway patrolmen on this street at one time. DB: Wow BT: [Indecipherable] lived over there, [Indecipherable] lived here, John (ph) lived next door, and then on the corner it was when I was a little big old boy, he was a highway patrolman, he lived next door. DB: Very well protected area. BT: The reason the cedar street has built [Indecipherable] the engineers and the surveyors moved cedar street 10 feet to the east, that year the people on the west side of the street had [Indecipherable]. An [Indecipherable] is an ally closed by one end, it is not opened. DB: What do you mean it' ; s not open? BT: House, down the house, reason it' ; s not open. This is bigger, they don' ; t have one because they don' ; t have that 10 foot over there. And the people that [Indecipherable] works with, Louis Templeton (ph), he was a farmer. In 1957, he bought a place was 5 acres track east of us, and he lived there until 70' ; . He passed away in 1980--70' ; s. DB: So this was just a neighborhood of young-- BT: This-- DB: Young G.I.' ; s and-- BT: This was the most prolific straight in the town, had to have two one, two seven kids to the house. DB: Oh wow BT: We had box parties, we had little lady next door, lived in that house, brick house after. She was a party person, she had a little girl just cute as a button, but she wanted everybody to be happy. And every holiday, 4th of July, Valentines, she' ; d make a holiday to have something to do, she was free. She' ; d have shoe box parties, would have the kids to decorate a shoe box, and the first six houses had the most kids, and they were decorating, [Indecipherable]. Daytime on Saturday, you didn' ; t come up cedar street with a car, you waited until the kids got there [Indecipherable]. Forty--fourth of July, we were all--we weren' ; t poor but we didn' ; t have any spending money. We weren' ; t broke, but we weren' ; t badly bent. You know what talking about DB: Absolutely BT: We had, I followed Mr. Dordie, lived on the corner. He had a big tin can of big brown barbeque. We would make chicken, bologna, weenies, take them up to fourth of July, [Indecipherable], we' ; d just go anywhere. We didn' ; t have any money to go. Oh we did but we didn' ; t spend it. But we had-- DB: It was different ; it was different then. I grew up in the 60' ; s and--and we had a lot of fun at home. And if we did go someplace, it was to the lake. I mean it didn' ; t cost money to go to the lake except gas. BT: We' ; ll go to the--we traveled a lot. This room in here, spare bedroom, is a genealogy room. My wife was real deep in genealogy. We traveled probably the last four years of her life, I suppose. We started out after I retired. We liked to travel, we had travel trailers. We spent three weeks out in Salt Lake City in the library, we found out that my grandmother on my daddy' ; s side, his mother, ancestors come from another country called Rine Meed (ph) in Europe. German has--Germany has taken over this little country, and it was called Rine Meed. I' ; d [Indecipherable], my daddy' ; s ancestors back to 1655. At 1655, I have computer book about that too, looked like a [Indecipherable]. Ancestors for my grandson matched to him. We saw Gustaugh Rorabouh (ph), was his name. DB: Say it again BT: GustaughDB: GustaughBT: Rorabough DB: Rollbowl? BT: Rorabough, R. O. R. A. B. O. U. G. H. DB: RoraboughBT: Rorabough. And I have--I was just watching that lady there at the library in Utah, if you' ; re a Mormon, they won' ; t help you. You' ; re supposed to know how to go about it through their belief, which I sometimes [Indecipherable] and I have some Mormon left, Mormon friends. I was sitting there doing the computer and this lady was helping me and another man at another cubicle with a computer [Indecipherable] was a computer, and I was working this computer and I said " ; Dang, I' ; d like to find out something about [Indecipherable]" ; the computer was not--quit [Indecipherable]. And this lady said " ; I don' ; t know just exactly what to do" ; and this fella kind of heard us talking and he raised up enough and said " ; If you see that little note on that computer screen, that tells you that the rest of this program is in the archives in the mountains" ; in the mountains in Utah. I said " ; Well, I' ; d like to find that, how do I go about it?" ; and he said " ; Well you can' ; t because you' ; re not a Mormon" ; and I [Indecipherable]. I said " ; Well, are you?" ; He said " ; I am one" ; and I said " ; Well, what' ; d you charge?" ; And he said " ; Well, I get $15 an hour" ; I said " ; Well that' ; s not bad" ; but we were getting ready to leave the next day, I said " ; Well, how long maybe would it take?" ; He said " ; Well, it might take an hour, it might take 100 hours" ; I said " ; I think I' ; ll quit right here, that' ; s enough" ; and this lady-- DB: 1655 was pretty far back BT: This lady, she said " ; Do you want a copy of this?" ; and I said " ; Well yeah" ; she punched a copy button, I sat there-- DB: That' ; s where your book came from BT: That' ; s where my book come from. I took it to the cashier and he--we' ; ve become first name basis by that time and the cashier that day was Marilyn, I' ; ll never forget it, big ol' ; tall blonde headed girl. And I said " ; Marilyn I' ; d like to pay you for this" ; and I slid that book up there, and she said " ; Mr. Thompson, if you think I' ; m gonna count the pages on that, you' ; re just plum silly. Would $10 be plenty?" ; DB: Oh my goodness BT: So I gave her $10, but I imagine there' ; s over 300-400 pages of computer paper, and it' ; s just like a computer [Indecipherable], it' ; s a story book is what it is. And [Indecipherable], it starts that way then it goes to Gustaugh Rorabouh (ph). DB: That' ; s pretty amazing. BT: Right, that' ; s kind of--kind of funny. DB: I think I' ; ve got everything that I need to get, unless we' ; ve forgotten something else. Anything else pop in your head that--no? BT: Oh, there' ; s something about a amphitheater I' ; d like to put out. DB: Have a what? BT: The Amphitheater DB: The amphitheater, yes! BT: In 1965, the boy scouts was real active here, and there was four adults, [Indecipherable], Haskell Golden (ph), George Back (ph), and myself were scout leaders. We--two of us, George Back and Haskell Golden was a boy scout master, Haskell Golden and I were exploring, there were boys over 17 and older, seniors in high school, juniors and seniors in high school, we combined that and called it Post 271. At that time, we entered a [Indecipherable] Robuck Foundation grant for a project in Bristow. We undertook, refurbished the amphitheater and one time, if you look at the amphitheater now, there was a tree in between each one of those trees now. We cut out every other one of those trees. We refinished the stadium. At that time, there were two upright pianos, that grand level was over my head to the stage another was--the stage was six-foot or better from the ground level. [Indecipherable] " ; Mr. Thompson, what are you--what do you want to do with these old pianos?" ; and before I could say " ; I don' ; t know" ; there was no keyboards, no nothing, there was just out there in storage. Then old [Indecipherable] stage down under there, and there [Indecipherable] to stock up underneath. All of the trash, it was there. Walter Jones (ph) and [Indecipherable] Taylor (ph) would [Indecipherable] their horses in there with the gate of two barbed wire pieces of two barbed wire, and that was their gate. Their horses could not get out of there on account of the trees. There were so many trees like I said, if you count a tree, and I believe if I' ; m not mistaken, there' ; s a stump of a cedar tree. If you look, there might be the remains of a stump in between those trees. Very seldom, people think we renovated that, but that was the first time it was renovated since it was built and Eleanor Roosevelt spoke from that stage. [Indecipherable] DB: And she dedicated it? BT: When she dedicated it. Leon Davis was a photographer, VFW commander, mayor, jack of all trades here in Depew here in Bristow. Anyways, a promoter, I mean he was a promoter. He crawled up on the--used to be a--I can' ; t think. DB: The little back drop thing that' ; s at the back of the stage or--? BT: That was the back stage, the dressing rooms, we already finished those, rewired them, and they used to have fiddling contests on [Indecipherable] we' ; d have fiddling contests, people would come out-- DB: Is that where you climbed up on top of that? BT: No they never, no it was fiddling. DB: Oh, yeah yeah yeah. BT: In my land, people call it fiddling DB: Yes BT: And this was between the [Indecipherable] DB: Oh BT: I fiddled down here [Indecipherable] DB: Okay BT: I can remember Mike Dual (ph) and his grandpa would--his grandpa would play the fiddle and Mike Dual would play the guitar [Indecipherable] and he' ; d--and when Mike Dual back when he was younger, that was back in 65' ; . Leon Davis, who was the mayor at that time, he would call up on me [Indecipherable]which was the county fair barn. I can' ; t tell you what the name of it was, you remember when the building was out there? LB: That was, yes. DB: Oh the building that used to be in the parking lot? LB: Yes BT: Where the water tower is DB: Yeah it was a-- LB: Conservation DB: Conservation BT: Conservation Corporation DB: Yes BT: Yeah, that had a stage in it DB: Yes BT: And they had parties and stuff in it DB: Yes BT: Well I [Indecipherable] at that time, had part of me and down underneath had a basement. We care for several defense equipment, trucks [Indecipherable], firetrucks, jeeps, fire equipment underneath it. We had one of the most elaborate fire stations, fire equipment, we had five army jukes with two hundred fifty gallon tanks on the backs of them for brush, you' ; d go out here and drive over the pasture with a brush hog. We had two fire trucks, we had one water truck, and there was a whole other one [Indecipherable]. When the water or firetruck went out, a water truck went with it, and two jeeps went with it. We had this pasture out here caught on fire one time. My front yard caught on fire, I had my hose ready, I could [Indecipherable]. Several defense come through there, we had wire pliers, we cut pasture fences which farmers glad about it, we had a good one. But anyway back to the--we' ; d go out there, the scouts would go out there on Saturdays and we' ; d cut grass, we repainted the building, put a tin roof on top of it, we was working out there, cleaned grass up. Some of the [Indecipherable] was broken down and we' ; d dig them up from the back and bring them down in the front and replant them. [Indecipherable] those old seats, the broken seats, was put up there and eventually all of this dirt and the trash and the mayor at that time was [Indecipherable], Rosemarys (ph) father-in-law, Clydes Daily (ph), he said anything that the boy scouts wants he said he was gonna do it. He sent a truck driver out every Saturday morning and we' ; d fill the truck up and he' ; d bring it down to the front of the stadium and put it in that ditch. We needed a load of dirt, he' ; d take that truck and get a back hoe for the dirt and we' ; d spread it out over there, and eventually we had a level ground and all he had to do was step up on [Indecipherable]. DB: Like it is now BT: Like it is now, there' ; s three upright pianos and [Indecipherable] the garbage that people don' ; t know about DB: At the bottom of that-- BT: At the bottom of that pit. We won five hundred dollars second place prize in the contest. DB: In the [Indecipherable] Robuck company (ph)? BT: In the [Indecipherable] Robuck Company (ph). That gave us enough money to try to trip to Canada. We went to Canada, George Summoners (ph) canoe place was at [Indecipherable] Minnesota, which was on the Canadian border. We spend a week going to Canada, fishing and playing, seeing the country. And that was--and we have a book, a picture book of what we did, when we did, and how we got it and that was some of the--People don' ; t think--[Indecipherable] old timers, [Indecipherable] last summer, it was cutting a [Indecipherable] oh boy, we renovated the amphitheater, " ; You didn' ; t renovate it, you destroyed the second time" ; DB: Yes BT: We renovated it the first time because it was [Indecipherable] DB: Well and it' ; s--so it' ; s probably what they did last two summers ago, the work they did out there is probably the first time it' ; s been done since you all worked on it. BT: Yeah, yeah. DB: So it was way past needing to be done. BT: Oh if you want--if you want to go out there and look, in between each tree, there might be a stump. DB: I will, the next time I' ; m there I' ; ll make an extra effort to look and at least I' ; ll know why it' ; s that way. BT: [Indecipherable] DB: Uh-huh BT: And honestly I don' ; t know DB: Well, I appreciate your time BT: Have we run out of tape? DB: Oh I never run out of tape, but I' ; ve got to save some room for some other folks. But I just can' ; t begin to thank you enough for the time you gave us today to just walk down the memory lane and-- BT: [Indecipherable] DB: And we' ; ve enjoyed it. I' ; m gonna turn this off, thank you Bob BT: You' ; re welcome. audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-12_Thompson,_Bob.xml OHP-2020-12_Thompson,_Bob.xml
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Title
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Bob Thompson
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2021 interview, Bob Thompson shares his knowledge of Bristow. He discusses the hand dug water well and the local amphitheater.
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OHP-2020-12
Date
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2021-01-04
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
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audio, oral history
amphitheater
Boy Scouts
East Central Electric
hand dug well
home life
hospital
Korean War
social life
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Interviewer
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Georgia Smith
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Edgar Spencer
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https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-13_Edgar_Spencer.xml
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5.4 Unknown Date OHP-2020-13 Edgar Spencer OHP-2020-13 0:00-28:37 Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Edgar Spencer Georgia Smith MP3 1:|50(4)|90(2)|121(4)|154(5)|195(2)|242(2)|275(5)|309(12)|347(4)|387(3)|424(5)|460(2)|500(2)|527(3)|574(10)|609(2)|637(6)|669(3)|704(11)|739(6)|780(4)|806(5)|842(5)|869(2)|887(13)|921(3)|960(8)|982(4) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Edgar Spencer.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society—stop. Now that we have the cell phones turned off, we’ll try it again. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma, and I am here with Edgar Spencer of Bristow. We’re at the depot, he’s going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow area. Let me check my volume on this first, make sure we’ve got it turned up good. Yeah I think so, I think we’re good, yeah we’re good. Okay, what was your name at birth? ES: Edgar McDonald Spencer GS: And where were you born? ES: Slick, Oklahoma GS: Were you born in a home or a hospital? ES: Home GS: In a home? Did the doctor come there or was it a midwife? ES: I’m sure it was Dr. King Billy Chadmoore ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Dr. King ; Edgar McDonald Spencer ; Edgar Spencer ; Fanny and Lou Robinson ; Fanny Robinson ; Georgia Smith ; Hi-Way Cafe ; Johnny Spencer ; Laurie Puckett ; Lenon Spencer ; Liberty Glass ; Lory Puckett ; Lou Robinson ; Michael Spencer ; Nancy Thurman ; Slick, Oklahoma https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/168592424/nancy-jane-spencer Nancy Thurman 185 Growing Up GS: Okay thank you. Okay tell me what your life was like at home when you were growing up when you were small. ES: [Indecipherable] home, had three brothers, we got along well, did well. GS: No fights? ES: Oh sure GS: What kind of house did you grow up in? Was it a wood frame, a brick, what? ES: Wood frame GS: Wood frame, and was it in town or out in the country? ES: In Bristow GS: In Bristow, okay. Now you said you were born in Slick, when did they move to Bristow? ES: Well I don’t know Franklin Spencer ; Hi-Way Cafe ; Liberty Glass ; M& ; P Grocery ; Pulms 502 School GS: Okay, where did you first attend school? ES: Bristow, Washington school GS: At Washington Elementary? Who was your teacher? ES: What was her name? Mrs. Frump (ph) was one of them, that’s about the only one I miss [Indecipherable] GS: Okay, I had Mrs. Frump in second grade ES: Did you? GS: Mhm ES: Mrs. Spear (ph) GS: Yes, uh-huh ES: Mr. Zero (ph) Bristow Quarterback Club ; Mr. Zero ; Mrs. Frump ; Mrs. Spear ; Washington Elementary 595 Church GS: Okay, did your family go to church when you were a child? ES: Yes GS: Which church did they attend? ES: Bristow Gospel Tabernacle GS: Okay, is the same building now standing? ES: Mhm GS: Describe what your Sunday services were like ES: Typical prayer station, then a sermon. And [Indecipherable] GS: Did they have Sunday school— ES: Yes GS: --before, mhm. Do you remember any of the songs they sang? ES: Just the old hymns Bristow Gospel Tabernacle 698 Medical Care GS: What was medical care like when you were a child? You mentioned Dr. King delivered you, can you remember going to the doctor when you were small? ES: Just for immunizations GS: Yeah, yeah. Did you have a family doctor? ES: Yes GS: Dr. King? ES: Dr. King GS: Did he make house calls? ES: Yes, he did Dr. King 754 Businesses and Events GS: Okay we’re gonna turn around to Bristow now. What are your recollections of Bristow from when you were a kid? ES: My recollections? GS: Uh-huh ES: It was a small town GS: Anything in particular you remember like the buildings or the people or the business? ES: Oh the parks and the people and the church, schools. GS: Any building in particular stand out to you ES: No Drive In ; Globe Store ; Hi-Way Cafe ; M& ; P Grocery ; Prince ; Shamus Dry Goods ; Walmer ; Woolworth 917 Jobs GS: Okay. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? You had no—yeah. Nothing, huh? Okay what was your first job? ES: Working in service station GS: Which one was it? ES: Henshaw GS: Henshaws? Where was that located? ES: It’s about fourth and main GS: Fourth and main, okay. Where— ES: Down where the old ice plant used to be, you remember that thing? GS: Oh, okay, yeah. ES: [Indecipherable] it was right in there. city councilman ; Department of Public Safety ; Henshaws ; Korea ; military ; Missouri ; Oklahoma ; Policeman ; Service Station ; Texas 1081 Marriage GS: Okay, when and where did you meet Nancy? ES: When did I meet? GS: Uh-huh, when and where? ES: Well I don’t know GS: You just always knew her maybe? ES: Yeah just probably, we got together. GS: What were your first impressions of Nancy? What made you fall in love with Nancy? ES: Personality Liberty Glass ; Nancy Spencer ; Nancy Thurman https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/168592424/nancy-jane-spencer Nancy Thurman Spencer 1150 Transportation and Travelers GS: Did you ever travel to Tulsa or Oklahoma City when you were younger in your early life? ES: A little GS: Did you ever take the train from the depot here? ES: No GS: No, do you have any memories of the depot? ES: I can remember the trains ; it was a [Indecipherable] GS: Does your family always have a car, or was there a first car that made you this— ES: No we always had a car GS: Yeah ES: My dad always had a car Candy Creations ; Hamburger King ; Harby House ; Hi-Way Cafe ; J& ; J Cafe ; Oklahoma City ; route 66 ; Thurman Motel ; Tulsa 1270 Segregation GS: Okay. Okay, we’re gonna switch gears a little bit here and we’re gonna go to racism. Was Bristow a segregated town when you were growing up? ES: Early part, yes. I think I was probably a junior in High School when the first black went to High School in Bristow GS: Okay, do you remember the names of any of the black families in town during your childhood? ES: Not really GS: Were you allowed to socialize with the black kids? ES: Oh yeah, yeah. GS: And so you were a junior when segregation ended and they integrated into the schools. Did you ever swim at the Bristow City pool? ES: Yes GS: Were black children admitted then? ES: I don’t believe so Bristow City Pool ; Cloud ; Jerry Riley ; Riley ; Segregation https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112945715/jerry-garland-riley Jerry Riley 1416 Oil Boom GS: Okay, was your family involved in any of the early oil well boom that was in Bristow? ES: No GS: Do you have any memories of the boom? The oil boom here? ES: Just vaguely GS: What kind of memories? ES: All the people coming in, fill their [Indecipherable] go out and work on the rigs, stuff like that. GS: Okay ES: Bristow [Indecipherable] the oil boom back then 1472 Amphitheater and the City Lake GS: Okay, let’s move on to the 40’s. You were young, do you remember any of the things that went on in the city lake with the WPA doing the work projects out there, Eleanor Roosevelt coming, you have any memories? ES: [Indecipherable] GS: Of any of that? Do you remember as a kid people using the amphitheater much? ES: Mhm GS: What did they use it for? ES: Concerts, stuff like that. Revivals GS: Did they have high school graduations there? ES: I can’t remember, I don’t believe they did, but [Indecipherable] Eleanor Roosevelt 1543 Politics GS: Was your family politically involved? ES: No GS: Okay, did you ever have any family members run for office? ES: No, just me GS: Just you, that’s right just you! And how long were you city councilman Edgar? ES: Six years I believe GS: Okay, what years was that, do you remember? ES: No not really GS: Okay, it was fairly recent though, wasn’t it? ES: Yeah city councilman 1585 Closing Thoughts GS: Okay, what would you consider to be the biggest most—well let me rephrase, what would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime? ES: Most important invention? Probably medical GS: All the medical discoveries that they’ve made? ES: All the medical, yeah. GS: And how is the world different now than when you were a child? ES: It’s altogether different, it’s— GS: It’s not the same at all, is it Edgar? ES: Not the same, people are not involved with helping each other, helping the city, [Indecipherable] COVID ; OSU In this 2020 interview, Edgar Spencer shares his experience growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses the many businesses and segregation. Interviewer: Georgia Smith Interviewee: Edgar Spencer Other Persons: Date of Interview: Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2020-13 at 00:00 to 28:37 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society--stop. Now that we have the cell phones turned off, we' ; ll try it again. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma, and I am here with Edgar Spencer of Bristow. We' ; re at the depot, he' ; s going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow area. Let me check my volume on this first, make sure we' ; ve got it turned up good. Yeah I think so, I think we' ; re good, yeah we' ; re good. Okay, what was your name at birth? ES: Edgar McDonald Spencer GS: And where were you born? ES: Slick, Oklahoma GS: Were you born in a home or a hospital? ES: Home GS: In a home? Did the doctor come there or was it a midwife? ES: I' ; m sure it was Dr. King GS: Doctor King? What was your date of birth? ES: 11/[Indecipherable]/1939 GS: And what were your parents' ; names? We' ; ll start with your mother' ; s maiden name. ES: Fanny and Lou Robinson (ph) GS: And do you know about when they were married? ES: No idea GS: Have no idea, that' ; s okay. Do you know where they were married? ES: I would say Bristow, Oklahoma GS: Okay, and did they grow up here in Bristow? ES: Slick GS: In Slick, okay. How many children did your parents have? ES: Four GS: Four children? Can you tell me your siblings names? ES: Billy Chadmoore (ph), Johnny Spencer (ph), and Lenon Spencer (ph) GS: Okay, what did your father do for a living? ES: He worked at Liberty Glass in Sapulpa GS: Okay, and Edgar you might speak up just a little bit, with that mask it' ; s gonna make it a little hard to understand. What did your mother do? ES: She worked at the Hi-Way Café in Bristow GS: Oh, I ate there many a time! What is your spouse--what was your spouse' ; s name? ES: Nancy Thurman GS: Nancy Thurman, and when did you get married to Nancy? ES: 1962 GS: 1962, how many children did you have? ES: Two GS: Two? And what are their names? ES: Laurie Puckett (ph) and Michael Spencer (ph) GS: Okay, could you say those one more time? ES: Laurie Puckett (ph), P. U. C. K. E. T. T., and Michael Spencer (ph) GS: Okay thank you. Okay tell me what your life was like at home when you were growing up when you were small. ES: [Indecipherable] home, had three brothers, we got along well, did well. GS: No fights? ES: Oh sure GS: What kind of house did you grow up in? Was it a wood frame, a brick, what? ES: Wood frame GS: Wood frame, and was it in town or out in the country? ES: In Bristow GS: In Bristow, okay. Now you said you were born in Slick, when did they move to Bristow? ES: Well I don' ; t know GS: Don' ; t know, you were pretty small? ES: Yeah, I' ; m sure I was GS: Did the kids have to share a bed? ES: Yes GS: What were your favorite toys when you were a little child? ES: Probably trucks GS: What kind of role did your mother play in the house? ES: Typical housewife and she worked GS: She worked outside the home? ES: Yeah, Hi-Way Café GS: At the Hi-Way Café, that' ; s right you said. And was she a waitress or a cook? ES: Cook GS: She was a cook, that was some good food. How was your laundry done at home? ES: Washing machine, washtub GS: Was it one of the wringer kind or electric? ES: Wringer tub GS: I mean electric wringer. ES: Yeah GS: What kind of stove did you have? ES: What kind of what? GS: Stove, cooking stove. ES: Typical gas stove GS: Okay, and what were your meals like? Were they like the Hi-Way café or were they different? ES: They were good GS: They were good? Maybe meat and potatoes or-- ES: Oh yeah GS: Yeah ES: [Indecipherable] bacon, sausage GS: Oh yum, are there any family recipes from your childhood that you got to keep? ES: Meatloaf maybe GS: Meatloaf? She made good meatloaf? ES: Mhm GS: I probably should get that recipe from you, I' ; m not too good with meatloaf. What did you shop for groceries? ES: Where did? GS: Where did you shop, yes ES: M& ; P Grocery GS: And that was on seventh street, or? ES: I believe that' ; s correct, yeah. GS: Okay, and did you have daily chores you had to do? ES: Oh yeah GS: What were they? ES: Mow the lawn, work in the garden, help clean the house GS: You had a garden here in town? Vegetable garden? ES: Mhm GS: Did your mom can some of the produce from it? ES: Yeah GS: So they probably didn' ; t--weren' ; t able to own livestock though here in town, right? ES: No GS: Yeah, what kind of clothes did you wear? ES: Typical jeans GS: Mostly jeans ES: Mostly jeans, yeah GS: Button down the front shirts? ES: Yeah GS: And I' ; m sure I know the answer to this but it' ; s on here so I' ; m gonna ask it. Did you have shoes year round? ES: Did I have what? GS: Shoes year round ES: Oh, yeah GS: Yeah, I think most people from your generation on had shoes year round ES: [Indecipherable] we had shoes GS: Yeah, maybe my mommas, maybe not, but. Did you have many friends in the neighborhood that you played with or was it just with your brothers? ES: No, there was kids in the neighborhood GS: Anyone in particular that you remember fondly? ES: Well there was some Pulms, P. U. L. M. S. and a couple of kids we played with all the time GS: Did you have any childhood games that you played? ES: Typical games, hide and seek. GS: Kick the can? ES: Yeah GS: Where did your father work? ES: Liberty Glass in Sapulpa GS: Okay I didn' ; t know that, and what was his role in the house? Just as provider? ES: Yes GS: Do you remember the first time you saw a television? ES: No GS: Yeah, do you remember purchasing your first T.V.? ES: Not really GS: Okay, now we' ; re gonna go on to your grandparents if you can remember anything about them. Do you remember hearing your grandparents describe their lives, what it was like for them? ES: Not really GS: Not really. Do you remember great grandparents at all? ES: No GS: Okay, who was the oldest person in your family that you can remember from when you were a child? ES: My grandfather GS: Your grandfather, and what was his name? ES: Franklin Spencer GS: Franklin Spencer? ES: Mhm GS: Do you remember anything particular about him? ES: No, not really. Typical grandfather GS: Okay, where did you first attend school? ES: Bristow, Washington school GS: At Washington Elementary? Who was your teacher? ES: What was her name? Mrs. Frump (ph) was one of them, that' ; s about the only one I miss [Indecipherable] GS: Okay, I had Mrs. Frump in second grade ES: Did you? GS: Mhm ES: Mrs. Spear (ph) GS: Yes, uh-huh ES: Mr. Zero (ph) GS: Okay, what hours was school held? ES: I don' ; t know, from 9 -- 3 GS: Were you a member of any clubs or organizations or sports? ES: Bristow quarterback club GS: Okay, well when you were in school ES: Oh when I was--no. GS: Yeah, was the school building used for other community purposes? ES: I don' ; t believe so GS: Did your mother pack your lunch for you or did you eat in the cafeteria? ES: Both GS: Both? ES: Yeah GS: What kind of lunches did she pack you? ES: Sandwiches GS: Do you remember anything about the classroom in particular? ES: Not really GS: Were your teachers strict? Kind? What were your teachers like? ES: They were kind but strict GS: Kind but strict. Okay, did your family go to church when you were a child? ES: Yes GS: Which church did they attend? ES: Bristow Gospel Tabernacle GS: Okay, is the same building now standing? ES: Mhm GS: Describe what your Sunday services were like ES: Typical prayer station, then a sermon. And [Indecipherable] GS: Did they have Sunday school-- ES: Yes GS: --before, mhm. Do you remember any of the songs they sang? ES: Just the old hymns GS: Were holiday events at church special? Did they do anything special for Christmas or Easter or--? ES: Yes, we always had a program GS: Was it a children' ; s program? ES: Mhm GS: Were you in those? ES: Yes GS: What did--what was your favorite one? Can you remember one in particular? ES: No GS: What were Christmases like when you were a kid? ES: They were good GS: They were good, did you get a lot of gifts, one special gift? ES: We' ; d usually get one special gift GS: And did you--I' ; ve been curious about this, did you put up the tree like a month ahead of time or did you wait just a few days before Christmas? ES: Few days before GS: Few days before, I think that used to be more common than it is today ES: Yeah GS: Did your mother sing in the choir? ES: No GS: Or your father? ES: No GS: Were they involved in the church in any way? ES: A little, not a whole lot GS: What was medical care like when you were a child? You mentioned Dr. King delivered you, can you remember going to the doctor when you were small? ES: Just for immunizations GS: Yeah, yeah. Did you have a family doctor? ES: Yes GS: Dr. King? ES: Dr. King GS: Did he make house calls? ES: Yes, he did GS: I didn' ; t remember if he did or not. Did your mom have any home remedies that she would try out on you? ES: Yeah, I don' ; t remember what they were GS: But you were her guinea pig, huh ES: Yeah GS: Were you ever hospitalized? ES: I think once in my life I' ; ve been in the hospital with a pneumonia GS: Ah ES: I' ; ve been fortunate GS: Okay we' ; re gonna turn around to Bristow now. What are your recollections of Bristow from when you were a kid? ES: My recollections? GS: Uh-huh ES: It was a small town GS: Anything in particular you remember like the buildings or the people or the business? ES: Oh the parks and the people and the church, schools. GS: Any building in particular stand out to you ES: No GS: Did you--I know we had two walk in theaters and a drive in theater, did you attend those? ES: Yes GS: Did you do it on a regular basis? ES: Not regularly, we did it every now and then GS: Every now and then. Did you go to the Princes or the Walmer or the Drive in? ES: Both GS: Both ES: There' ; s Walmer, the Princes, and the Drive in GS: Yeah, okay. Do you remember any of the big businesses in town? ES: M& ; P Grocery (ph), Woolworth (ph), that' ; s about all I can remember. GS: Okay, what kind of shops did your mother go to shop at? ES: Grocery store GS: Did she go to Shamus dry goods ES: Yeah GS: Or to the Globe Store to buy her clothes ES: Yeah GS: Or did she make her own clothes? ES: No, she would go to the store GS: Okay, did you ever eat out at the restaurants? I know the answer to this ES: Yes, my mother worked at Hi-Way Café so we were always eating at it GS: Yeah, yeah. How did women dress back then? ES: How did what? GS: How did women dress back then? ES: Long dresses GS: And the men? ES: Jeans and shirt GS: I bet you saw a few more overalls ES: Oh yeah GS: And suspenders back then too ES: Yeah GS: Did Bristow have any main holiday events that they would make a big to-do out of? ES: They would always have a Christmas event GS: Parades? ES: Mhm GS: Did they have a fourth of July parade or a fireworks display? ES: I believe they did, yeah. If I remember right. GS: I remember going to the pirate drive in theater for fireworks ES: Mhm GS: After the double feature on the fourth of July. Did you ever do that? ES: Yeah, yeah. GS: Okay. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? You had no--yeah. Nothing, huh? Okay what was your first job? ES: Working in service station GS: Which one was it? ES: Henshaw GS: Henshaws? Where was that located? ES: It' ; s about fourth and main GS: Fourth and main, okay. Where-- ES: Down where the old ice plant used to be, you remember that thing? GS: Oh, okay, yeah. ES: [Indecipherable] it was right in there. GS: Okay, what kind of jobs have you had in your life? ES: Service station, policeman, military, that' ; s about it. GS: City councilman? ES: City council, yeah. GS: What career did you land on to raise your children? ES: Department of Public Safety GS: Department of Public Safety, and what was your job there? ES: Policeman. GS: Okay, how did you decide to become a policeman Edgar? ES: I don' ; t know, I just--I just liked it and enjoyed doing it GS: What do you think drew you to it? ES: Just people I knew that were in that profession GS: You respected them and-- ES: Mhm GS: When you were in the military, when and where did you serve? ES: I served in Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Korea. GS: Were you in the national guard or the army or what branch were you in? ES: Regular army GS: Regular army, and what rank were you? ES: Sergeant GS: Sergeant, and what years were you in there Edgar? ES: 19--I forgot already. Probably 1956 GS: Okay, I just like to check it every now and then.1956 through what? ES: 62' ; maybe GS: Okay, so you saw active duty in Korea? ES: Yes, after the war GS: After the war? ES: Yes GS: So you probably weren' ; t injured since it was after the war ES: Right GS: Were you in the peace keeping-- ES: Yes, occupation force GS: Okay, when and where did you meet Nancy? ES: When did I meet? GS: Uh-huh, when and where? ES: Well I don' ; t know GS: You just always knew her maybe? ES: Yeah just probably, we got together. GS: What were your first impressions of Nancy? What made you fall in love with Nancy? ES: Personality GS: Her personality, she did have a great personality. Were you engaged very long? ES: Six months maybe GS: Six months, did you have a big wedding? ES: We had a church [Indecipherable] GS: Very nice, what were your first years of marriage like? ES: Very good GS: Very good, did you live in a house, an apartment building with parents, where did you live? ES: We lived in rent houses GS: In rent houses, and where did you work when you were first married? ES: Liberty Glass in Sapulpa GS: At Liberty Glass, did you ever travel to Tulsa or Oklahoma City when you were younger in your early life? ES: A little GS: Did you ever take the train from the depot here? ES: No GS: No, do you have any memories of the depot? ES: I can remember the trains ; it was a [Indecipherable] GS: Does your family always have a car, or was there a first car that made you this-- ES: No we always had a car GS: Yeah ES: My dad always had a car GS: Yeah, do you remember--no you wouldn' ; t remember that, never mind. I--the question was " ; do you remember when route 66 was built?" ; and I thought " ; ah, no" ; ES: That was actually 37' ; GS: That was a long time ago. Do you remember though when route 66 came through here and was a big deal? ES: Oh yeah GS: Yeah, well it still does. Where did the Viet (ph) travelers stay when they came through Bristow? ES: I remember Thurman motel, there was two or three motels in town. GS: Was Thurman motels related in any way to Nancy your wife? ES: No GS: No, and I' ; m sure that they would stop at the Hi-Way Café and eat? ES: Oh yeah, Hi-Way Café GS: What are some of the other restaurants you think they stopped at? ES: Harby House (ph) GS: Where was the Harby House located? ES: Somewhere along there where our shop is now, where our shop was it was right in there GS: Where Candy Creations? ES: Yes, yes. [Indecipherable] GS: So between 8th and 9th street? ES: Yeah GS: Okay, on the west side. ES: Yeah. GS: Okay ES: Hi-Way Café GS: Are there any businesses that catered specifically to route 66 travelers, do you remember? ES: Probably Hamburger King and what was the other restaurant there by Hamburger King? GS: Oh, J& ; J Café ES: Mhm GS: Okay. Okay, we' ; re gonna switch gears a little bit here and we' ; re gonna go to racism. Was Bristow a segregated town when you were growing up? ES: Early part, yes. I think I was probably a junior in High School when the first black went to High School in Bristow GS: Okay, do you remember the names of any of the black families in town during your childhood? ES: Not really GS: Were you allowed to socialize with the black kids? ES: Oh yeah, yeah. GS: And so you were a junior when segregation ended and they integrated into the schools. Did you ever swim at the Bristow City pool? ES: Yes GS: Were black children admitted then? ES: I don' ; t believe so GS: How were most black people employed in the city? ES: Some of the worked for the city, some of them worked for the county, just various jobs. GS: Do you remember any freedmen in Bristow? ES: Any what? GS: Freedmen ES: No GS: Do you remember any incidents of racism in Bristow or in Oklahoma that occurred? ES: No not really GS: How were Indians treated in Bristow? ES: Indians? They were treated kind. GS: What kind of jobs did they have? ES: Just various, labor GS: Like anybody else? ES: Just various jobs [Indecipherable] GS: Who were some of the Indian families that you might remember? Do you remember any of them? ES: The Riley' ; s, Jerry Riley, Clouds, that' ; s about all I can remember GS: Okay, the Riley' ; s and the Clouds. Were there any other groups here in Bristow that you ever noticed were targeted for exclusion? For instance, maybe the Lebanese or any other groups? ES: There was quite a few Lebanese in Bristow, yeah. GS: Were they ever the targets of racism? ES: I don' ; t believe so, most of them were merchants on main street GS: Okay, was your family involved in any of the early oil well boom that was in Bristow? ES: No GS: Do you have any memories of the boom? The oil boom here? ES: Just vaguely GS: What kind of memories? ES: All the people coming in, fill their [Indecipherable] go out and work on the rigs, stuff like that. GS: Okay ES: Bristow [Indecipherable] the oil boom back then GS: Yes, it was, oil raised me so I have a soft spot for oil. Okay you were born in 39' ; , I didn' ; t want to ask you something that was gonna be age inappropriate there. So you were born at the end of the great depression ES: Right GS: Do you remember in the 40' ; s any residual effects from the depression? ES: No GS: Okay, let' ; s move on to the 40' ; s. You were young, do you remember any of the things that went on in the city lake with the WPA doing the work projects out there, Eleanor Roosevelt coming, you have any memories? ES: [Indecipherable] GS: Of any of that? Do you remember as a kid people using the amphitheater much? ES: Mhm GS: What did they use it for? ES: Concerts, stuff like that. Revivals GS: Did they have high school graduations there? ES: I can' ; t remember, I don' ; t believe they did, but [Indecipherable] GS: You might speak up just a little bit more. Was the lake area crowded? Did the people make good use of the lake? ES: Yup, there was quite a few people use the lake, fishing, even swimming. You wasn' ; t supposed to but they did GS: Yup, didn' ; t stop them did it? ES: Yeah GS: Was your family politically involved? ES: No GS: Okay, did you ever have any family members run for office? ES: No, just me GS: Just you, that' ; s right just you! And how long were you city councilman Edgar? ES: Six years I believe GS: Okay, what years was that, do you remember? ES: No not really GS: Okay, it was fairly recent though, wasn' ; t it? ES: Yeah GS: So in the 2010' ; s or-- ES: Yeah GS: Or in the teen years? ES: Yeah GS: Because it' ; s just been a few years since you retired, hasn' ; t it? ES: Yeah, it has yeah GS: Okay ES: I' ; m 81 now, I retired when I was 65 GS: Okay, what would you consider to be the biggest most--well let me rephrase, what would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime? ES: Most important invention? Probably medical GS: All the medical discoveries that they' ; ve made? ES: All the medical, yeah. GS: And how is the world different now than when you were a child? ES: It' ; s altogether different, it' ; s-- GS: It' ; s not the same at all, is it Edgar? ES: Not the same, people are not involved with helping each other, helping the city, [Indecipherable] GS: It' ; s an opinion I' ; ve had shared quite a bit Edgar. As you see it, what are the biggest problems that face our nation, and how do you think they could be solved? ES: That' ; s a good question, more togetherness, more involvement from people, people becoming involved and together. GS: Right now we' ; re in the middle of a pandemic, how has the COVID pandemic affected you? ES: I trying to stay away from the public, I try to avoid crowds. GS: Are you going to get the vaccination or have you already received it? ES: No they didn' ; t have it, it' ; s coming in next week. GS: Oh ES: Yes, I will get it GS: So you registered online for it? ES: Yeah GS: Good, good. Alright now is there anything I haven' ; t asked you about or anything that you' ; d like to tell me about? ES: No I' ; ve had a good life GS: Had a good life, no complaints, huh? ES: No complaints, Bristow' ; s a good little city for families GS: It is a good city. I really thank you Edgar for coming in and talking to me ES: You' ; re quite welcomeGS: I appreciate your coming down here and this will be an important part of our history here at the museum as well as we share with OSU extension service ES: Okay GS: So thank you so much ES: You bet audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2020-13_Edgar_Spencer.xml OHP-2020-13_Edgar_Spencer.xml
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Edgar Spencer
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2020 interview, Edgar Spencer shares his experience growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses the many businesses and segregation.
Identifier
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OHP-2020-13
Format
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audio
Creator
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Publisher
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Language
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English
Type
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sound, oral history
Bristow Gospel Tabernacle
Bristow Public Schools
drive-in theaters
home life
restaurants
stores
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856cc5fcee067cfc10e8569644200634
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289719686ca1f100515fd40c683b806e
Dublin Core
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Title
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Family Histories
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History
Subject
The topic of the resource
Oral accounts of various family histories
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Debbie Blansett
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Myra Fadely
OHMS Object
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Viewer)
https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-15_Fadely,_Myra.xml
OHMS Object Text
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5.4 March 17, 2021 OHP-2021-15 Myra Fadely OHP-2021-15 0:00-47:02 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Myra Fadely Debbie Blansett MP3 1:|51(12)|63(7)|77(6)|87(5)|98(7)|127(10)|134(8)|148(7)|164(10)|180(2)|189(5)|202(8)|210(17)|233(7)|243(7)|267(1)|289(13)|302(14)|317(5)|334(7)|348(7)|359(5)|369(5)|379(3)|392(5)|405(5)|439(12)|455(6)|477(5)|486(11)|506(2)|518(15)|525(16)|538(5)|566(5)|578(14)|602(11)|615(14)|649(13)|668(8)|697(5)|731(4)|744(5)|757(2)|771(1)|796(7)|833(3) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/Myra Fadely.mp3 Other audio 0 Family DB: Alright I think we’re going, let’s start. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Societies ongoing oral history project. The date is March 17th, 2021 and I’m sitting here with Myra Fadely who’s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Okay, so now we just talk. MF: Okay, well I’m happy to be able to give you a little bit about my life in Bristow, Oklahoma. To start with, I did not move to Bristow until December, 1971—71’? Yes, yes. And the funny thing about it was that it was just like two days before Christmas and I told my children that we weren’t going to have a Christmas tree because it was too much trouble and we didn’t know where our decorations were or anything. Brett Fadely ; Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow, Oklahoma ; Dallas, Texas ; Debbie Blansett ; Jean Ann ; Jean Ann Fadely ; Jean Ann Wilson ; Kemps Drug Store ; Myra Fadely ; Scott Fadely ; Topeka, Kansas https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25182641/jean-ann-wilson Jean Ann Fadely Wilson 140 Early Life DB: I’d love to hear some about your early life MF: Okay DB: Even if it wasn’t in Bristow, let’s hear a little bit about your early life MF: Okay, I can tell you I was born in a little Podunk town in Arkansas named West Point. There was a school, there was a little store that also served as the post office, and there was a gas station and that was it. And my dad worked at a plant that employed people in that area. Ginger Rogers ; Independence, Kansas ; John Fadely ; Margie Lou ; Marion, Ohio ; Polly Kelly ; Stamps Baxter Boys ; Topeka, Kansas ; Tracey Kelly ; West Point, Arkansas 525 Dentistry MF: Well, we had only been here maybe a year and one day Doctor Reed McCullough (ph) who is a dentist called and asked if I would like to work in his dental office, and the kids were all in school and I thought hmm I’ve got time, I need to be doing something so I said sure. So I went, like the next day, and didn’t know what to wear but I thought okay it’s a doctor’s office, everything’s always white. So I had this cute little white dress so I sashayed down there and they laughed at me. Anyway I found out that I needed some scrubs so they happened to have scrubs and gave me them. I worked in that office for Dr. McCullough and later for Dr. McCullough and Dr. Corwin who came to the practice for 30 years, I worked in that office and they were very good to me and very nice people and I got to learn about almost everybody in Bristow. Of course today when I see them at Walmart or somewhere, I look at their faces and know I remember them but I can’t remember their names American National Bank ; Dental Association of Oklahoma ; Dr. Corwin ; Dr. McCullough ; Independence, Kansas ; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ; Oklahoma Dental Assistants ; Reed McCullough ; Sinclair ; Sinclair Gas Station ; Tulsa, Oklahoma 938 Jean Anns School of Dance MF: One thing I remember about that station is on Fourth of July, you know everybody’s wanting to buy fireworks. Well John sat up, got a firecracker stand and my kids ran the firecracker stand and of course all of their friends were down there all day long and Jean Ann, my daughter, would even sunbath on top of it and they had more fun doing that DB: On top of the station? MF: On top of the stand, on top of the stand DB: On top of the firework stand? MF: Yes, yeah you could go by and she’d be laying up there sunbathing. DB: Well later on, didn’t she do the swimming pool? Bristow High School ; Jean Ann Fadely Wilson ; John Fadely ; Presbyterian Church ; Rolland Building ; UCO https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25182641/jean-ann-wilson Jean Ann Fadely Wilson 1168 Jean Ann MF: It’s still there today. You want me to tell about Jean Ann? DB: Sure MF: Okay, Jean Ann, she was probably the best known person for miles around and everybody loved her and she would do anything you asked her to do. A lot of the times, people would hire her to go embarrass people when they were having their birthdays when they were having their birthday dinner out somewhere, and she would go and sing and dance and embarrass them to death. Anyway, she had a really nice place to have her dancing now then, and she had lots of students every year more would sign up. At that time, she also had dancers in Depew and later on in Stroud, she owned a building in Stroud and at Depew the school, they let her use the school property. Depew, Oklahoma ; Jean Ann ; Jean Ann Fadely Wilson ; Jennifer Kemp ; Makayla Wilson ; Stroud, Oklahoma https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25182641/jean-ann-wilson Jean Ann Fadely Wilson 1597 Freeland Center DB: Well I think it’s interesting at the—when we built the Freeland center MF: Oh yes, yeah. DB: Tell about that and what they put in the stage and— MF: Of course in Bristow, there was really no good place to have dance recitals, and we had one or two over at, what is that building there? DB: Oh at the— MF: Parking lot behind the— DB: American Legion MF: American Legion building, yeah. DB: And we had some in Depew, in the auditorium at Depew Alisha ; American Legion ; Chip Cooper ; Consolidated Turbine Specialist ; Freeland Center ; Grand Ole Opry ; Home Alone ; Jean Ann Fadely Wilson ; Makayla Wilson ; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ; Ryan Wilson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/25182641/jean-ann-wilson Jean Ann Fadely Wilson 2130 Strongs DB: Now we talked a little bit before we started the recording about how Bristow has changed in the 50 years you’ve been here and the 40 years I’ve been here, and you were telling me about Strongs, you might tell what kind of store that was and tell your story that goes with. MF: Okay, it was a store on main street that was—we called it Strongs because Mr. Strong owned it and he had a lot of clothing in there and maybe some housewares, I can’t remember for sure. I remember the clothing and the shoes, he had shoe department. Well I bought a pair, this has been a hundred years ago DB: It feels like it MF: I bought a pair of snow boots, they’re all furry and they’ve got the thick rubber sole on them and lace up, you know and they’re really cute I think. Because when I wear them nowadays, and yes I do still wear them, you couldn’t tell that they’ve ever been worn. DB: And I’ll take a picture so that it can be attached Mr. Strong ; Strongs 2239 Church MF: Oh and speaking of church, I’m a member of the Presbyterian church that is a hundred and five years now old. It is the most beautiful church, has windows by Tiffany and I love everybody there DB: It’s on the historic MF: It’s on the national historical societies register DB: Mhm MF: Yeah, anyway we have good people at that church and right now we do not have a regular minister, but we have some members, one of them Debbie’s daughter-in-law. Cara (ph) is one of those members that fills in for the pulpit every Sunday DB: She’s a good little preacher Cara ; Presbyterian Church 2322 Businesses MF: I’ll tell you about something else we used to have in Bristow was a skating rink DB: Yes MF: You remember that? DB: I do MF: Were you here? DB: I do remember two skating rinks MF: Oh really? And there was a bowling ally DB: One was underground MF: That’s the one I remember DB: And it had a wooden floor and it was on sixth, it was on sixth street—east sixth and then where the casino is, there was another skating rink and it was, I mean for 1980’s it was pretty stylish. It wasn’t a wood floor American National Bank ; bowling ally ; Carrie K ; Krummes ; Paddens Place ; Paula Womack ; Pauline Padden ; skating rink ; Spirit Bank ; Taxi service 2504 Gum Story DB: But it’s been interesting to see Bristow change through the years and I appreciate your time today and telling us about what you remember about Bristow and some of your life stories. Before we go, is there anything else? I see here in WWII you had a gum story, did you wanna share a gum story? MF: Gum? DB: You don’t remember? It says “Gum story” next to rations MF: Yes,yes DB: Did you wanna share? Independence, Kansas ; Leslie, Arkansas ; WWII In this 2021 interview, Myra Fadely shares her experience in the Bristow area. She discusses the Freeland Center and the different businesses. Interviewer: Debbie Blansett Interviewee: Myra Fadely Other Persons: Date of Interview: March 17, 2021 Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2021-15 at 00:00 to 47:02 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. DB: Alright I think we' ; re going, let' ; s start. This is Debbie Blansett with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow Oklahoma, and this interview is part of the Historical Societies ongoing oral history project. The date is March 17th, 2021 and I' ; m sitting here with Myra Fadely who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about their history in the Bristow area. Okay, so now we just talk. MF: Okay, well I' ; m happy to be able to give you a little bit about my life in Bristow, Oklahoma. To start with, I did not move to Bristow until December, 1971--71' ; ? Yes, yes. And the funny thing about it was that it was just like two days before Christmas and I told my children that we weren' ; t going to have a Christmas tree because it was too much trouble and we didn' ; t know where our decorations were or anything. Well, my husband took the kids and went out and somewhere, I think it was Kemps drug store that had Christmas trees, but they only had one left and it was the most pitiful looking thing you have ever seen. So they just gave it--they gave it to him. DB: Well there' ; s a deal MF: Yeah. Anyway, I am happy to tell you that I have three children. My first was my son Scott Fadely who was born in Topeka, Kansas, and I have my next son is Brett Fadely who was born in Dallas, Texas, and then there' ; s my daughter Jean Ann who was born in Houston, Texas. So we kind of moved around a little bit, but we' ; ve been in Bristow for a long time now and I' ; m proud to say that I love it here and my kids have grown up to be very good people. I can tell you something about my grand--my parents. DB: I' ; d love to hear some about your early life MF: Okay DB: Even if it wasn' ; t in Bristow, let' ; s hear a little bit about your early life MF: Okay, I can tell you I was born in a little Podunk town in Arkansas named West Point. There was a school, there was a little store that also served as the post office, and there was a gas station and that was it. And my dad worked at a plant that employed people in that area. He worked there for several years and he also bought a farm down there and he raised cotton and strawberries and watermelons. If you want to hear a good story about watermelons ; one night, my dad snuck down to the watermelon patch and hid in the bushes because he had heard that some boys were taking his watermelons. He had his gun with him, so he hid in those bushes and when those guys came over and started picking his watermelons up, he shot up in the air and they ran so fast and he turned on the little electric wire that he had strung around and boy did they get out of there in a hurry. He was something else. DB: That' ; s a good story, that' ; s a good story. MF: Let' ; s see, we moved to Marion, Ohio when I was in the fourth grade. Oh let me tell you, while we were in West Point, we went to this little Baptist church and my sister Polly and I were always singing in the Baptist church and my sister played the piano, and we had a little old Baptist minister who--minister who thought we were hot stuff singing, and he would take us around to funerals, weddings, or any place that he thought we needed to sing. And Polly was so short that one time we had to sing for a--you' ; ve probably heard of the Stamps Baxter Boys (ph), anyway they were a men' ; s quartet that were very famous back in those days, and they sung on the radio. Well this little minister got us on the show and we were going to sing, and Polly had to stand on the stand because she was a little bit too short to reach the microphone, and we started singing and we got to one point and Polly forgot the words and I got down off of that and I said " ; I' ; m not singing with you anymore, you can' ; t remember the words" ; and I walked off. DB: Do you remember about how old you all were? MF: Oh, probably--oh well I was, when we moved away I was in the fourth grade. It was probably, I don' ; t know we were-- DB: Second or third grade? MF: Yeah DB: Seven or eight. And-- MF: We' ; ve always-- DB: Your sister is Polly Kelly, correct? MF: Polly Kelly, mhm Polly Kelly. She' ; s married--was married to Tracey Kelly (ph) and-- DB: I forget that, but when you said Polly I was--I remembered. MF: Yeah she' ; s my buddy, that girl is. Anyway DB: So then you moved to Ohio MF: We moved to Ohio and we stayed there until we moved to Independence, Kansas and I entered the seventh grade in Independence, Kansas and I don' ; t know how it happened, but every year that I was in seventh grade, high school, junior in college, college, I got chosen as a cheerleader every year. And that' ; s why I hate going to football, basketball games because then I had to go to every one of them. And anyway I had a good, good life as a high school student and was involved in a bunch of things. And then on the first day that I went to visit the college up in Topeka, Kansas, a friend of mine and I drove up there and we saw some guys playing football out on one of the lawns so we parked the car and watched and I said " ; Hey Margie Lou (ph), look at that guy over" ; I said " ; That is the most handsome man I have ever seen" ; well somebody told him that he--and a day or so later he called me and asked me for a date and I thought " ; Oh this is just wonderful" ; you know, and he was. He was gorgeous! Now those of you who have seen him, who saw him in later years may not think so, because he let himself go and got a big tummy and all of that, but he was beautiful when he was in college. John. DB: And that was your husband? MF: That was my husband John Fadely DB: And you were a little cheerleader MF: I was a cheerleader DB: He probably thought you were as cute as he was handsome MF: Well when I went off to college up in Topeka, I thought I don' ; t think I' ; ll try for cheerleader because nobody knows me. Well, they did! They chose me. So I know all about cheerleading and dancing, I love to dance. When I was in high school, there was one boy that was a good dancer and we would actually do performances where we would do, you know like Fredistare (ph) and Ginger Rogers (ph) type things, so loved dancing. Anyway, you want to hear about more about Bristow probably. DB: Well I' ; m ready whenever you' ; re ready MF: Well, we had only been here maybe a year and one day Doctor Reed McCullough (ph) who is a dentist called and asked if I would like to work in his dental office, and the kids were all in school and I thought hmm I' ; ve got time, I need to be doing something so I said sure. So I went, like the next day, and didn' ; t know what to wear but I thought okay it' ; s a doctor' ; s office, everything' ; s always white. So I had this cute little white dress so I sashayed down there and they laughed at me. Anyway I found out that I needed some scrubs so they happened to have scrubs and gave me them. I worked in that office for Dr. McCullough and later for Dr. McCullough and Dr. Corwin who came to the practice for 30 years, I worked in that office and they were very good to me and very nice people and I got to learn about almost everybody in Bristow. Of course today when I see them at Walmart or somewhere, I look at their faces and know I remember them but I can' ; t remember their names DB: Well people change MF: People change DB: Mhm. And when you worked for Dr. McCullough and Corwin, you--what did you do in the office? MF: Oh well when I first started out, I watched, you know, for a few days as they did surgery and stuff and then I worked as a chair side assistant and I did that for several years and I would go to classes in Tulsa or somewhere and learn more and belonged to the dental association of Oklahoma and they had also a part of that was for dental assistants assisting. And at one point, I was the president of that organization for Oklahoma Dental Assistants and finally after 30 years, I decided to retire and the very next year, Dr. Corwin built this fancy new office and somebody said " ; Man they must have paid you really good" ; because now they had enough money to build a new building DB: Now that you were retired MF: That ain' ; t so DB: No, during your time when you were the--when you sat next to the patient, did you see things change? The practice change, what you--? MF: Oh yes, it' ; s--it is so much easier now. Way back then, we had the one thing that really changed is taking x-rays. We took them the same way, but then we had to go in this dark room where we had to dip them in different solutions, you know, and then hang them up to dry, it was a mess. Now, they take them and they can see them right then, no mess. And I can tell by the way Dr. Corwin does surgeries and fillings and things that it' ; s all improved. He can do like a--like he did a root canal on me a couple of months ago, it didn' ; t take probably 15 minutes. DB: And they still did root canals when you went to work there, but it was hours long procedure. MF: Oh yes it was, it was. It' ; s so much easier now. DB: And when you started working, where was the office? MF: Right behind that building on seventh and main. At that time, it was--was it a business or was it somebody office? I can' ; t remember but it was the office right behind the building on seventh and main DB: On west seventh? MF: West seventh, uh-huh, and it was not very big DB: Kind of near what used to be American National Bank, which is now the library? MF: It was between the corner, yeah and the library, mhm. Yeah it, like I say it was--anything like Dr. Corwin has today, his office is really up to date and they can do just about anything there. DB: Well when you moved here in 1971, what did your husband do? MF: He worked for a company that--where he dealt with customers in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and the reason we ended up in Bristow is because my parents had moved here from Independence, Kansas, my dad was working for Sinclair and they moved here and so when we found out that we were moving from Houston, Texas to Bristow--or to Oklahoma, my sister Polly says " ; Well you' ; ve got to come to Bristow because it' ; s kind of in between and he can be close to either city" ; so we moved here, and I' ; ve been here a long time it seems like. DB: And at one time he had a Sinclair gas station MF: He had a gas station down on main street on the way to the turnpike DB: Yes MF: Yeah DB: Was it near the Pizza Hut? MF: Uh-huh, right next door yeah. DB: And how long did he do that? MF: I can' ; t remember, for several years yeah. I was trying to think, we got divorced, I can' ; t even remember when that was, but he--I think he may have even been divorced then when he ran that station DB: Well I know in 1981 when I came here, it was still in operation MF: Yeah DB: And I remember when--I don' ; t remember when it left though MF: One thing I remember about that station is on Fourth of July, you know everybody' ; s wanting to buy fireworks. Well John sat up, got a firecracker stand and my kids ran the firecracker stand and of course all of their friends were down there all day long and Jean Ann, my daughter, would even sunbath on top of it and they had more fun doing that DB: On top of the station? MF: On top of the stand, on top of the stand DB: On top of the firework stand? MF: Yes, yeah you could go by and she' ; d be laying up there sunbathing. DB: Well later on, didn' ; t she do the swimming pool? MF: She did the swimming pool, that girl she--want me to tell you about her dance studio? DB: Sure, sure MF: Okay when she graduated from Bristow High School, I wanted her to go to college. She said " ; I don' ; t really want to go to college" ; she said " ; All I want to do is to teach little kids out to dance' ; and I said, well you know you need to go to college, so to please her own mother she went to college in Edmond and I can' ; t even think of the name of it DB: UCO MF: UCO, and she got in the phys-ed part of it over there because she was an acrobat too, and even one she was won the student of the year in that category at the college. Anyway after one year she said " ; Mom" ; she said " ; I don' ; t want to go back to college" ; she said " ; I want to teach kids how to dance" ; because she had taken dance, gosh almost all of her life, and I said " ; Okay, you figure it all out then" ; . Well the first place that we could find for her to teach was at our Presbyterian church and they have a big fellowship hall and they said that she could teach down there. Well of course starting off you didn' ; t have too many kids, so she had her classes down there then she got, I don' ; t know that she even filled out a whole year that year because she found out that there was a big old ball room up in the top of the old hotel and I-- DB: At the Rolland building? MF: Rolland building DB: MhmMF: There was a big old ball room up there and nobody was using it, so she talked with whoever was managing it and rented it and of course we' ; ve had lots of work to get it in shape but it had a wooden floor and lots of room, so she taught up there a year, maybe two, and then she wanted somewhere else. It was better, nicer, cooler in the summer, and she bought the building where the dance studio is today, and that was the one owned by a little lady, I can' ; t remember-- DB: But it' ; s on--it' ; s between ninth and tenth, eighth and ninth? On main street. Ninth and tenth? Eighth and Ninth? MF: Eight and tenth isn' ; t it? DB: Hm, but it' ; s on main street MF: Yes, it' ; s on main street DB: And it' ; s still there today MF: It' ; s still there today. You want me to tell about Jean Ann? DB: Sure MF: Okay, Jean Ann, she was probably the best known person for miles around and everybody loved her and she would do anything you asked her to do. A lot of the times, people would hire her to go embarrass people when they were having their birthdays when they were having their birthday dinner out somewhere, and she would go and sing and dance and embarrass them to death. Anyway, she had a really nice place to have her dancing now then, and she had lots of students every year more would sign up. At that time, she also had dancers in Depew and later on in Stroud, she owned a building in Stroud and at Depew the school, they let her use the school property. DB: And these kids would be from three or four years old? MF: Three DB: Until high school? MF: Uh-huh, yup they would do that. And she, well it' ; s kind of hard to talk about, but Jean Ann after years of teaching and everything, she lived next door to me and one day early in the morning, somebody was banging on my door and I go and it' ; s Jean Ann and she can' ; t talk, she' ; s--can hardly walk and she kept saying " ; Makayla, Makayla" ; well at that time, she had the little child named Makayla along with her son also. But anyway I said " ; I' ; ve got to call Chip" ; who' ; s our doctor in town and he lives just down the street from us. Well he was here in five minutes, and he said " ; She' ; s had a stroke" ; and so-- DB: And she wasn' ; t very old MF: Nuh-uh, I don' ; t remember, I have to figure things out DB: It' ; s alright, I remember her not being very old MF: Yeah, anyway we went to the hospital and it was decided that she had a stroke and somehow they figured out that it was in her brain, that she had cancer in her brain. And we went to the--Chip sent us to a specialist the next day in Tulsa, and we didn' ; t like him, for some reason we didn' ; t like him, and I have a niece who had had some problem with her brain and they had gone to this doctor that they really liked, so we got an appointment with him, and he told us that he could do surgery but that he wasn' ; t sure that he could get it all. And anyway, so she had the surgery and did fairly well, she at the time that this happened, she was still gonna be running the swimming pool also, and so she had to quit that and then it was in the summer time and she wasn' ; t having dance lessons and anyway, she lived fairly well just almost exactly one year. DB: From her stroke? MF: Yeah, and then of course she had that brain surgery DB: Mhm, mhm. MF: And we took her to Texas, we' ; d go down there for treatments, and finally Chip says " ; Myra" ; he says " ; She' ; s not gonna get well" ; and he said " ; I would, if she was my child, I would quit running her all over everywhere" ; . Anyway, so she did get to the point where she could hardly talk, but she was worried because it was time to sign kids up for dancing, " ; What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?" ; and I said " ; Well, you can' ; t do it, you can' ; t do the classes" ; . One day I was over there, of course I was there all the time, somebody knocked on the door and it was Jennifer Kemp. DB: A miracle MF: A miracle, and Jennifer was like Jean Ann, she was a good dancer and she had been going taking dance in college and she traveled in different shows and things. Anyway, she said " ; Is there any way that I can help with the dance school?" ; And I said " ; Can you take over the dance school?" ; And she said " ; If that' ; s what you want" ; she says " ; That' ; s what I can do" ; and oh it just saved our lives, I mean Jean Ann was so worried about it. And ever since then, Jennifer is still doing dance lessons. DB: How long has that been? How long has Jean Ann been gone? MF: Well Jean Ann died in, oh when did she die? I have it somewhere. These dates just [Indecipherable] DB: Well see Makayla is-- MF: [Indecipherable] DB: How old is Makayla? MF: Makayla is 20, and she was 6 when she died DB: So 14 years ago MF: Yeah DB: 2007? So Jennifer' ; s been doing the dance studio for 14 years, no 15 MF: Yeah DB: For a while MF: Yeah she' ; s always--she' ; s done it since that-- DB: Jean Ann couldn' ; t do it anymore MF: do it anymore, mhm. DB: That' ; s just amazing. MF: It is, and Jennifer does a good job DB: Well I think it' ; s interesting at the--when we built the Freeland center MF: Oh yes, yeah. DB: Tell about that and what they put in the stage and-- MF: Of course in Bristow, there was really no good place to have dance recitals, and we had one or two over at, what is that building there? DB: Oh at the-- MF: Parking lot behind the-- DB: American Legion MF: American Legion building, yeah. DB: And we had some in Depew, in the auditorium at Depew MF: Yeah, and we did some in Stroud at their high school, and anyway she was a busy busy girl, I can tell you that. And when Jennifer took over, she did not do the other cities, towns. But I had a granddaughter who also took lessons from Jean Ann and she had graduated High School and was a good dancer and so she took over and taught some of the kids in Depew and Stroud DB: Ms. Mallory? MF: No, and that' ; s Alisha DB: Oh MF: A. L. I. S. H. A. She' ; s Scotts daughter DB: Oh MF: And that' ; s a sad story that I don' ; t want to go into, but Alisha died a horrible death, she was in the hospital for three months in Oklahoma City, in intensive care, she had two kidney transplants and one liver transplant DB: Oh my MF: They never really knew what was wrong with her or what was causing all her problems. Anyway, that' ; s that. DB: Well, what I thought was neat was when they build the auditorium and they put the stage in that they put a box in the floor MF: Yes, well Chip Cooper was kind of the instigator for getting the Freeland Center, which is a wonderful auditorium for Bristow and Jean Ann always wanted to have an auditorium, and when they were trying to get people to donate money for the building, a lot of money was given in her honor, which was fantastic. And Chip wanted some way to remember Jean Ann in the auditorium, and we kept trying to think of something and finally he came--he says " ; I know what we can do" ; he said " ; We' ; ll cut a hole in the stage and put her shoes in this hole and cover it with plastic so that the kids can dance on it and everything" ; and you know, but it' ; ll have her shoes in there with a little plaque on it. DB: And it' ; s still there MF: And it' ; s still there DB: Anybody that goes on that stage can see Jean Ann' ; s spot MF: They can DB: Which I think is just really neat because like even in Nashville when they had the Grand Ole Opry, they saved that circle and moved it to their new place and people stand in that circle so that kind of gives me warm fuzzies thinking about it, but I know when I stand on that stage right there Jean Ann is there with me, and that' ; s just kind of a neat thing for all of the generations to come. MF: Sometimes people who are performing there from out of town will ask about it and Chip will come and get me and say " ; go back there and tell them about that" ; and people are interested who don' ; t know the story, you know. DB: I think it' ; s a really good story. MF: But, another miracle was when Jean Ann, well she had a son named Ryan who is a very smart young man and he--he works for, he went to college for I think one year and, or longer than that, he only needed a few hours to get some kind of degree but he didn' ; t do it. Anyway, he works for, what is that company out there, I can' ; t ever remember the name, let me get it. Consolidated Turbine Specialist DB: Oh, uh-huh MF: I can' ; t ever remember that. He has a good job out there, he' ; s probably number three man out there. Has a good job, plus Ryan buys old houses in Bristow and remodels them and works on them and usually rents them, some of them he has sold, and he' ; s also built three houses in Bristow. So he' ; s a busy boy, and I' ; m very proud of him. And then Jean Anns other child is Makayla. Makayla is now 20 years old, and she was born with down syndrome. And everyone--when she was born, everybody, we had all these people out in the waiting room, it was wild. They had to come in and tell everybody to be quiet all the time. Anyway, we all wanted a girl and they let me go in the operating room actually and see her be born. And as soon as this baby girl came out, I was on the phone telling them " ; It' ; s a girl" ; and we were so thrilled, and anyway they took baby out to clean her up and another doctor came in and he said " ; I have news about baby, she has down syndrome" ; . We didn' ; t care what she had, she was our special little bundle and she has been a marvel DB: Absolutely a marvel MF: Everybody everywhere we go, everybody knows Makayla. She has accomplished so much, and-- DB: And touches every life she come in contact with, I mean nobody' ; s the same after they meet her. MF: I know, it' ; s amazing. And she' ; s 20 now and she' ; s graduated from High School, she was the prom queen, she' ; s been cheerleaders and-- DB: She went through dance MF: Oh yeah DB: Since she was little until she graduated and-- MF: She started at three years old and went every year, yup. DB: And she works at the swim pool in the summer, and does she do Home Alone? MF: Yeah DB: For the children? MF: Yes, she worked when she was in high school DB: Oh MF: She would work in the office, you know do things for the office in high school and then when she graduated, she has a job where she works at the kindergarten and home alone, which is-- DB: Oh, I didn' ; t know she worked at the kindergarten MF: --Where parents who work, home alone is a place where parents who work can leave their children and she kind of goes back and forth between home alone and the kindergarten and she loves it and they all love her, you can' ; t help but love Makayla. DB: Now we talked a little bit before we started the recording about how Bristow has changed in the 50 years you' ; ve been here and the 40 years I' ; ve been here, and you were telling me about Strongs, you might tell what kind of store that was and tell your story that goes with. MF: Okay, it was a store on main street that was--we called it Strongs because Mr. Strong owned it and he had a lot of clothing in there and maybe some housewares, I can' ; t remember for sure. I remember the clothing and the shoes, he had shoe department. Well I bought a pair, this has been a hundred years ago DB: It feels like it MF: I bought a pair of snow boots, they' ; re all furry and they' ; ve got the thick rubber sole on them and lace up, you know and they' ; re really cute I think. Because when I wear them nowadays, and yes I do still wear them, you couldn' ; t tell that they' ; ve ever been worn. DB: And I' ; ll take a picture so that it can be attached MF: Okay DB: To this story so-- MF: Okay DB: So we' ; ll all have a picture of Strongs snow boots MF: Yeah, people ask me " ; Where did you get those cute boots?" ; and I say " ; Way long time ago, Mr. Strongs" ; DB: Any other favorite stores you remember in Bristow that aren' ; t there anymore? MF: I remember the furniture, the big furniture store across the street, the--I know [Indecipherable] kind of ran it for a while, and they went to our church. Oh and speaking of church, I' ; m a member of the Presbyterian church that is a hundred and five years now old. It is the most beautiful church, has windows by Tiffany and I love everybody there DB: It' ; s on the historic MF: It' ; s on the national historical societies register DB: Mhm MF: Yeah, anyway we have good people at that church and right now we do not have a regular minister, but we have some members, one of them Debbie' ; s daughter-in-law. Cara (ph) is one of those members that fills in for the pulpit every Sunday DB: She' ; s a good little preacher MF: She is wonderful, and she had good news for us Sunday DB: Don' ; t talk about that yet MF: Okay, okay. Yeah Cara and your son are a big addition to our church and we just love them to death DB: Well they love the church, they do love their church. Well I see it on your-- MF: I' ; ll tell you about something else we used to have in Bristow was a skating rink DB: Yes MF: You remember that? DB: I do MF: Were you here? DB: I do remember two skating rinks MF: Oh really? And there was a bowling ally DB: One was underground MF: That' ; s the one I remember DB: And it had a wooden floor and it was on sixth, it was on sixth street--east sixth and then where the casino is, there was another skating rink and it was, I mean for 1980' ; s it was pretty stylish. It wasn' ; t a wood floor MF: See I don' ; t remember that DB: And it was--it was pretty fancy MF: And there was a bowling ally DB: That was before me, or I didn' ; t know about it MF: Seems like it was up there by KrummesDB: Oh, yes. In fact, I think it used to be in KrummesMF: Well that' ; s what I was thinking but I wasn' ; t for sure DB: Yes. There were dress stores MF: Uh-huh DB: There was Paddens Place (ph) and [Indecipherable] to dress store over there where Carrie K (ph) used to have a radio station MF: Oh radio station DB: And then [Indecipherable] MF: Oh yeah next door DB: Right there and she sold real high end fashion clothes for women, and then Paddens Place (ph) which was put in by Pauline Padden (ph) and then run later by her daughter Paula Womack (ph) MF: Yeah DB: Sold very nice women' ; s wear MF: Yup, and of course the bank has moved DB: The American National Bank that which became Spirit Bank, it was where the library is now and I think that was its second move when it went there, that was all before-- MF: Yeah it was on main street, wasn' ; t it? The beginning? DB: Yes, I believe the [Indecipherable] like across the street from where community bank is now is where it used--started out MF: Used to be DB: And then it moved to where the library is then they built a new building. So a lot of changes in 40 or 50 years in Bristow MF: Oh yeah DB: We were also talking about there used to be a taxi service MF: Oh yes DB: In Bristow MF: One little man DB: MhmMF: Yes DB: And he would come and pick people up and take them where they needed to go and--so those were some pretty good memories MF: Of course nowadays they have that bus DB: Yes MF: That they, you know, older people-- DB: A senior bus MF: Uh-huh DB: That takes people around where they need to go MF: Take people around, yeah DB: But it' ; s been interesting to see Bristow change through the years and I appreciate your time today and telling us about what you remember about Bristow and some of your life stories. Before we go, is there anything else? I see here in WWII you had a gum story, did you wanna share a gum story? MF: Gum? DB: You don' ; t remember? It says " ; Gum story" ; next to rations MF: Yes,yesDB: Did you wanna share? MF: When I was a kid, we went--we probably stayed at my grandfather' ; s house in Arkansas, we lived on little teeny town in Arkansas and he lived I don' ; t know how far away, it wasn' ; t too far because we could drive our car there in half a day. Anyway, he was a doctor in this little town up in the mountains in Arkansas called Leslie, Arkansas and it seemed like--my mother had two sisters and they were really close knit family with their dad, who was the doctor, and it seemed like that every summer we spent most of the summer at grandpa' ; s house. And upstairs there were three bedrooms and each daughter had their own bedroom and the kids slept on the floor or little beds in that room. Anyway, we spent a lot of time up there and in the town, there was a drug store and we could get a dime and go have a coke, you know at the drug store, or we could go to a little movie house for a dime DB: For a dime MF: And anyway, one thing that we always wanted was bubblegum. Well they never had bubblegum, and finally when the war was over or some celebration that I remember, we' ; ve heard that they got gum at the drug store. Well, one of my mothers had--sister had a son and they had quite a bit of money. Well that son had money and the rest of us were lucky to have a dime. So we go running down to the store and he beat us there and bought every piece of candy DB: Oh no! MF: Of gum that they had and wouldn' ; t let us have any. If he did, we had to give him something or something, but he was so stingy with that gum and I' ; ll never forget it. DB: That' ; s so funny, the things we remember. And I was also noticing here, probably because I told you my mother was born around the same time about when you were a girl and you were talking about your home life and that you had two sisters and you all shared the same bed? MF: Uh-huh DB: And you had feather pillows, that' ; s interesting. MF: My older sister was quite a bit older than we--than Polly and I were, but we all slept in the bed and I, somehow always got in the middle. And if you would cough, well for some reason I would cough during the night and my older sister would get up and check me and she' ; d say " ; shut up that coughing" ; and so we did that DB: I wonder, you come from a small place in Arkansas and then you went to Ohio, was it still a small town in Ohio? MF: Actually-- DB: Larger than-- MF: it was [Indecipherable], it was much larger DB: Much bigger MF: Yeah but we lived in out kind of in what you call the country, and we had our own school out there, it was a nice school. DB: And then you went to college in a small college MF: Independence DB: So when you did finally come and then Houston, that was huge MF: Oh yeah DB: And then you came to Bristow MF: That was-- DB: I mean, was it--it was a lot smaller than Houston, did it remind you of where you come from in Arkansas but it wasn' ; t quite that small? MF: Yeah, it, well yeah it was more like Independence, Kansas. A lot of people are familiar with Independence, Kansas, and yeah it was about the same as Independence I would say because we had good schools there and-- DB: And we had good [Indecipherable] MF: We have wonderful schools DB: And the people are close knit MF: Mhm, yup. DB: Well again I thank you for all your time today, I appreciate it. MF: Well, I hope that it' ; ll help some for-- DB: I know it-- MF: and people will get a thrill out of it maybe DB: I know they will, thank you Myra MF: You' ; re welcome audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-15_Fadely,_Myra.xml OHP-2021-15_Fadely,_Myra.xml
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Myra Fadely
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In this 2021 interview, Myra Fadely shares her experience in the Bristow area. She discusses the Freeland Center and the different businesses.
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OHP-2021-15
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2021-03-17
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audio
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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English
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sound, oral history
dance studio
dentistry
Freeland Center
Presbyterian Church
stores
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Family Histories
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Oral History
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Oral accounts of various family histories
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Bristow Historical Society, oral history collection
Oral History
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Georgia Smith
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J C Hutson
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5.4 July 19, 2021 OHP-2021-19 J C Hutson OHP-2021-19 0:00-40:33 'Bristow Historical Society - Oral History Archive' Bristow Historical Society, Inc. J C Hutson Georgia Smith MP3 1:|55(5)|83(9)|110(7)|140(5)|161(13)|186(1)|225(7)|248(2)|278(8)|319(3)|361(8)|389(5)|426(8)|455(2)|493(6)|519(10)|536(10)|583(3)|616(10)|638(2)|665(2)|698(12)|717(8)|731(11)|742(17)|762(5)|796(9)|822(13)|848(4)|869(2)|885(9)|910(3)|938(5)|970(3)|989(3)|1006(11)|1031(1)|1047(8)|1076(4)|1116(3) 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/interviews/J C Hutson.mp3 Other audio 0 Introduction and Family History GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is July 19, 2021 and I am sitting here at the Rainbow Assisted Living Center with J C Hutson who’s going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow Area. Now, since J C can’t see, I am going to be filling out his paperwork as I answer—ask some of these questions so there may be a little bit of a pause with the questions. Okay, once again J C what was your full name at birth? JH: Johnny Cleo Hutson (ph) GS: And where were you born? JH: I was born in three miles north of Tuskegee, Oklahoma GS: And what was your father’s name? JH: Wesley Monroe Hutson GS: And your mother’s name? JH: Lily—her married name? GS: Her maiden name Bristow Historical Society ; Bristow Oklahoma ; Bristow Tire Service ; Candace Lou Hutson ; Central Gas and Oil Company ; Georgia Smith ; J C Hutson ; Jacqueline June Hutson ; Johnny Clea Hutson ; Lily A Hutson ; Rainbow Assisted Living Center ; Tuskegee, Oklahoma ; Wesley Monroe Hutson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/160089441/wesley-monroe-hutson Wesley Monroe Hutson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/47291617/lillie-a-falconer Lillie A Falconer https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/130518979/jacqueline-june-hutson Jacqueline June Hutson 245 Childhood GS: Okay. Tell me a little bit about your life as a child growing up JH: Oh gosh, well we were living in the country and of course we didn’t have running water, we didn’t have electricity, we did have natural gas, we had gas lights and gas stove for heating and I went to school at Mountain Home, which was just across the street, across the road actually from us. GS: So it was five miles north of Bristow? JH: Yes GS: Okay, Mountain Home school district JH: There were several little—every little school district had a couple of schools GS: Okay Barrel Grocery ; Bishops ; Mountain Home ; Mountain Home School Disctrict ; Safeway 584 Grandparents and Transportation GS: Do you remember your grandparents? JH: Yes, my grandparents? GS: Yes JH: Yes, they were, their name was Carter, W. H. Carter, he was a Freewill Baptist preacher GS: Oh, how wonderful! I did not know that JH: What? GS: Was that your dads—no that would’ve been your moms JH: My mothers, my mothers GS: Okay, any other older people that you remember besides your grandparents Carters? JH: You mean in the family? GS: Uh-huh JH: No, not really model-a Ford ; W. H. Carter 695 High School GS: Okay, what about high school? Were you active in any activities when you were in high school? JH: Yes, I played basketball and I was in the junior play GS: Oh, do you remember the play? JH: Something in King Arthurs Court GS: Oh how fun JH: You know about that? GS: Yes, yes JH: Okay, and Ms. Borris (ph) was the director of it GS: Oh okay, and I guess she was the speech or drama teacher? JH: Yes Ms. Borris 770 Church GS: When you were growing up at home, did you attend church with your family? JH: Yes GS: Where was that? JH: Cleveland First Freewill Baptist Church, my granddad was the preacher. Not the preacher but then, but he was a preacher in the denomination [Indecipherable] GS: Had he retired or was he in a different church? Had he retired or was he in a different church? JH: He was in a different church GS: Okay. You—do you remember any of the songs that they sang? JH: Oh my gosh, I do but I’m [Indecipherable] GS: That’s okay, that’s okay. Did they do special things for Christmas or holidays? Cleveland, Oklahoma ; First Freewill Baptist Church 899 Medical Care GS: Okay we’re gonna switch gears and go with what was medical care like when you were a child? Did you ever have to go to the doctor? JH: Not very often, no. Unless you had a bad case of poison ivy or something like this that’s, you know, the only way that you ever went to the doctor. GS: Do you remember your family doctor? JH: Doctor Sisler (ph) GS: Dr. Sisler from Sisler Clinic. Did your mother give birth at home to all of you? JH: Yes GS: And did Doctor Sisler or one of the doctors—no, one of the—a doctor came out JH: [Indecipherable] GS: Okay Doctor Sisler ; Sisler Clinic 952 Recollections of Bristow GS: What are your recollections of Bristow when you were young? Your earliest recollections of Bristow? JH: Oh gosh, it was all—we had so many nice stores, you could buy about anything you wanted to buy in Bristow and usually on Sunday evening, everybody had their bath and we went to town and we had lots of the oil field people GS: Yes JH: I mean a lot of them GS: Yes Anthonys ; J C Pennys ; Safeway ; Warehouse Market 1131 Military GS: Did you serve in the military in WWII? JH: Yes GS: What branch? JH: I was in the air force GS: In the air force. What were your duties there? JH: I was a tail gunner on a B-17 flying fortress GS: Oh my goodness, did you have some pretty scary moments— JH: Yes GS: --During that time? B-17 Flying Fortress 1312 Trips GS: Oh that’s wonderful, that’s good. And where did you meet Jackie? JH: Well of course I’ve known her all—I met her in high school GS: Okay, so you met in high school and did you date in high school? JH: No GS: No, waited until after you got out? JH: What? GS: What brought you together? JH: I don’t know, we—she went to the Baptist church and I did too and of course we were in the same classes in school in high school and, I don’t know we just had—we were in the same circles, we had the same friends and it’s, you know, it just grew better and better all the time J. D. Dobson ; New York Harbor ; San Francisco 1624 Bristow Tire GS: Well dates are hard for everyone to remember, dates always have been. Tell me a little bit about your Bristow Tire business. JH: I was selling bread for Bottom Bread company at that time for quite a while, and my father-in-law was getting old, he owned Bristow Tire GS: Oh, your father-in-law owned it! JH: Yes GS: And his last name was Carter, right? JH: No his last name was Moore GS: No Moore, Moore. What was his first name? JH: P. M. we called him Bristow Tire ; Goodyear Tires ; OBU ; P. M. Moore ; Rotary Club ; Western Heritage Days 2000 Main Street GS: Yes, any other memories of main street? JH: No, just the memories of back in the 30’s and 40’s when all the oil fields here GS: Did you ever see Bob Wills when he came through town? JH: Oh yeah, uh-huh GS: At the J& ; J Café? JH: No, it was in—Bob Wills was at Hamburger King GS: I meant Hamburger King, I said J& ; J but I knew it was Hamburger King JH: Well he—he was a Hamburger King man Bob Wills ; Hamburger King ; J& ; J Cafe 2044 Communication GS: How did you get information about the war when you were in the 40’s? JH: How did I get information? GS: Uh-huh, like over the radio, television? JH: [Indecipherable] well all we got was—on the radio, of course until we went into the army, and we got very little even when we were in the army just on what we were doing and maybe what we were gonna do. GS: Yes, they wouldn’t give you any more information, would they? JH: No, no. Not lots of information 2088 Closing Thoughts GS: What would you consider to be the most important change that has happened in your lifetime? JH: A what? GS: An invention or maybe an invention—an important invention? JH: No I can’t remember one, there were so many little—you know, when you were raised, when you’re a little country boy, everything is new and kind of nice kind of to you GS: True JH: So everything was very interesting then. GS: Yes, it was JH: Lots of changes taking place GS: There were, how is the world different today than it was back then? JH: One thing I think we were much friendlier back then, and of course the—we get so much information now so easily and they didn’t back then Bristow Record ; Tulsa World In this 2021 interview, J C Hutson talks about growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses his time in the military and owning the Bristow Tire Shop. Interviewer: Georgia Smith Interviewee: J C Hutson Other Persons: Date of Interview: Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma Transcriber: Abby Thompson Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc. Original Cassette Tape Location: OHP-2021-19 at 00:00 to 40:33 Abstract: Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.' ; s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & ; Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc. The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account. To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible. GS: This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the historical societies ongoing oral history project. The date is July 19, 2021 and I am sitting here at the Rainbow Assisted Living Center with J C Hutson who' ; s going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow Area. Now, since J C can' ; t see, I am going to be filling out his paperwork as I answer--ask some of these questions so there may be a little bit of a pause with the questions. Okay, once again J C what was your full name at birth? JH: Johnny Cleo Hutson (ph) GS: And where were you born? JH: I was born in three miles north of Tuskegee, Oklahoma GS: And what was your father' ; s name? JH: Wesley Monroe HutsonGS: And your mother' ; s name? JH: Lily--her married name? GS: Her maiden name JH: Lily A Hutson (ph) GS: What was her maiden name? JH: Carter GS: And what was your spouse' ; s name? JH: Jacqueline June Hutson, Moore was her maiden name GS: Do you remember how to spell Jacqueline? JH: J. A. C. Q. U. E. L. I. N. E. GS: Moore? JH: Yes GS: Okay. Do you remember when you got married? JH: No I really don' ; t GS: That' ; s okay, I' ; ve noticed most men don' ; t. Okay, do you remember where you got married? JH: Yes, out in Bristow GS: Okay JH: At her mother and dads home. GS: Did you have any children JH: Yes, we have one child GS: And what is her name? JH: Candace Lou Hutson (ph) GS: And what education level did you achieve? JH: One year of college GS: And what about occupations? What have you done in your life work wise? JH: The most lucrative, the best employment I ever did was with the tire shop, Bristow Tire Service. GS: And you were the owner of that, weren' ; t you? JH: Yes, right. GS: What years did you do that J C? JH: Oh my gosh, I can' ; t remember but it was probably about 20 to 25 years GS: You were there a long time, my parents went to you then I did when I got grown, so you were there a long time. You were born by Tuskegee, when did your parents move to Bristow? Or when did you move to Bristow? JH: Well we didn' ; t move to Bristow, we moved five miles north east of Bristow. GS: Okay JH: And my dad was working for Central Oil and Gas Company GS: Ah that' ; s wonderful, my father worked for them also JH: I think [Indecipherable] GS: Yeah, yeah. And do you remember about what year you moved north of Bristow? Were you pretty small? JH: Oh yes, I was small child. GS: Okay, and your mother, was she a stay at home mom? JH: Yes GS: Okay. Tell me a little bit about your life as a child growing up JH: Oh gosh, well we were living in the country and of course we didn' ; t have running water, we didn' ; t have electricity, we did have natural gas, we had gas lights and gas stove for heating and I went to school at Mountain Home, which was just across the street, across the road actually from us. GS: So it was five miles north of Bristow? JH: Yes GS: Okay, Mountain Home school district JH: There were several little--every little school district had a couple of schools GS: Okay JH: And that' ; s where I went to school until I was in the junior high in Bristow, then my dad and mother, and of course we had--also some people who lived in the area that were working for Central. There was three houses in the area we lived and we--our families would take turns hauling us to school in Bristow. GS: All right, you did some carpooling back then JH: Uh-huh GS: So you went--you started going to Bristow in Junior High, right? JH: Yes GS: In--growing up-- JH: Probably not until--not until I was in high school GS: Oh, in high school, okay. At home, did you have chores that you had to do? JH: At home? Yes. Yeah we always had chickens and cows and of course we had to--we' ; d clean up, keep the yard clean GS: Sure JH: And there was just lots of new projects, you know, when you live in the country [Indecipherable]. Of course she always had a big garden, which I hated to work in it but I loved to-- GS: Eat the fresh veggies? JH: Yes, we lived right across the street, it' ; s not the street, the road from mountain road school GS: Okay, were you the only child? JH: Oh no GS: How many children did-- JH: Four and four GS: Four and-- JH: Eight children GS: Oh my goodness JH: Four boys and four girls GS: Are any of them living today? JH: No GS: Aw, did you have to share your beds with your siblings? JH: Yes, always yes. GS: What kind of toys did you have as a child? JH: What? GS: What games or toys did you have as a child? JH: Oh my gosh, we played with rubber guns and [Indecipherable] flips and we dug caves and we built tree houses and of course we played cowboy and Indian and we had a beautiful big croquet court GS: Yes JH: We seemed to always have a lot of fun GS: I' ; m sure you did, sounds like my husband' ; s upbringing. JH: Yeah GS: Now your mom, it sounds like your house was pretty self-sufficient. You grew your vegetables, you grew your own meat, did she come into town to shop at any of the local grocery stores? JH: I' ; m not sure, usually over the weekend on Saturday GS: Okay okay, and what--do you remember what markets were open then? JH: [Indecipherable] GS: What ones she traded with? JH: There was a store named Barrel, Barrel Grocery (ph), and I think Bishops might' ; ve sold stuff, them too. GS: Okay JH: And of course Safeway was here and there were several--we had a beautiful town, we had several grocery stores. GS: We did have a nice town back then. Since you grew some vegetables and meat, did your mom can the vegetables? JH: She always, all the vegetables in the garden, she usually canned several of them GS: Did you get in on helping with that? JH: Oh yeah, we always had to get in on all the peeling and corn and all the stuff that you knew you had to do when you' ; re canning GS: Did she make any jelly? JH: Oh yes, yes. GS: Did she grow the-- JH: We didn' ; t grow any grapes or any kind of fruit, we always had to buy that GS: Okay, what about blackberries? Did you go out and pick the wild blackberries? JH: Yes, we did GS: Did your family employ any household help? With all those kids probably not. JH: No GS: What kind of clothes did you wear as a child? JH: What kind of clothes? GS: Uh-huh JH: I can give you a picture of it right here GS: Oh alright! I' ; m going to pause for just a minute JH: That' ; s striped GS: Yes JH: Stripe and overalls GS: I love it, I love it. Before I leave, can I take a screenshot of that with my phone? JH: Sure, yes uh-huh GS: Oh thank you so much J C, we' ; ll lay it right here and don' ; t let me forget that. Do you remember your grandparents? JH: Yes, my grandparents? GS: Yes JH: Yes, they were, their name was Carter, W. H. Carter, he was a Freewill Baptist preacher GS: Oh, how wonderful! I did not know that JH: What? GS: Was that your dads--no that would' ; ve been your moms JH: My mothers, my mothers GS: Okay, any other older people that you remember besides your grandparents Carters? JH: You mean in the family? GS: Uh-huh JH: No, not really GS: Okay, did you ever see your Hutson grandparents? Did you ever see your Hutson grandparents? JH: Yes, my--not my grandmother, she passed away before I came along. But yeah he came to visit us, his name was Jim GS: Okay JH: And he lived out in Lawton, Oklahoma, he came once a year to visit us GS: That' ; s a ways, especially back then JH: Yes GS: Travel took a lot longer, didn' ; t it? JH: Yeah GS: How did they travel to come and see you? JH: Well usually he--he usually took the bus GS: Okay, and we had bus service here then, didn' ; t we? JH: Yes. Uh-huh GS: Grey Hound Bus service JH: Uh-huh GS: Do you remember going to pick him up from the bus station? JH: Yes, I probably was out playing somewhere and someone else would drive in and pick him up GS: Sure, yeah. JH: In a Model-A Ford GS: Oh how wonderful, how--a model-a Ford. I didn' ; t ask you about your first teacher, do you remember your first teacher? It' ; s okay if you don' ; t JH: No, I--my mom, I was thinking maybe it was [Indecipherable] was her name, well I' ; m not sure GS: Okay, what about high school? Were you active in any activities when you were in high school? JH: Yes, I played basketball and I was in the junior play GS: Oh, do you remember the play? JH: Something in King Arthurs Court GS: Oh how fun JH: You know about that? GS: Yes, yes JH: Okay, and Ms. Borris (ph) was the director of it GS: Oh okay, and I guess she was the speech or drama teacher? JH: Yes GS: Any--were you in any sports? JH: Yeah basketball GS: Basketball. Did they have women' ; s basketball also back then in Bristow? JH: No I don' ; t think so ; I don' ; t think so. GS: Don' ; t think so. Did you pack your food? Did you have a sack lunch that you took to school every day? A sack lunch? JH: No, we usually had just the cafeteria GS: Okay, was the food-- JH: Or downtown bought a meal GS: How was the food in the cafeteria? JH: Pretty good GS: Pretty good food, of course back then they made it all by hand, didn' ; t they? JH: Yes GS: When you were growing up at home, did you attend church with your family? JH: Yes GS: Where was that? JH: Cleveland First Freewill Baptist Church, my granddad was the preacher. Not the preacher but then, but he was a preacher in the denomination [Indecipherable] GS: Had he retired or was he in a different church? Had he retired or was he in a different church? JH: He was in a different church GS: Okay. You--do you remember any of the songs that they sang? JH: Oh my gosh, I do but I' ; m [Indecipherable] GS: That' ; s okay, that' ; s okay. Did they do special things for Christmas or holidays? JH: Yes, usually yes GS: What did they do? JH: You mean the church? GS: Uh-huh JH: They usually had a little skit, you know, the manger and all this stuff and then we sang Christmas songs. GS: Did-- JH: [Indecipherable] GS: Did the children do that or adults? JH: Both GS: Both? JH: MhmGS: Very good. Did you or your mother or your dad sing in the choir? JH: No, but I did GS: Okay JH: And two of my sisters did and a brother did. GS: Did you keep singing as you grew older, did you keep singing? JH: Did I teach it? GS: Did you keep on singing? JH: Yes, I really did GS: Well good, good. We need more singers. JH: I was in the choir at First Baptist church GS: Okay, for a long time? JH: Yes, it' ; s been a long time. GS: When did you start going to First Baptist? JH: I guess probably when I married, started going with Jaqueline. GS: Is that where she went? JH: Yes GS: Okay we' ; re gonna switch gears and go with what was medical care like when you were a child? Did you ever have to go to the doctor? JH: Not very often, no. Unless you had a bad case of poison ivy or something like this that' ; s, you know, the only way that you ever went to the doctor. GS: Do you remember your family doctor? JH: Doctor Sisler (ph) GS: Dr. Sisler from Sisler Clinic. Did your mother give birth at home to all of you? JH: Yes GS: And did Doctor Sisler or one of the doctors--no, one of the--a doctor came out JH: [Indecipherable] GS: Okay JH: And that' ; s something all four--all eight of us GS: All eight delivered at home, that' ; s marvelous. She didn' ; t have any still births that you know of or miscarriages? What are your recollections of Bristow when you were young? Your earliest recollections of Bristow? JH: Oh gosh, it was all--we had so many nice stores, you could buy about anything you wanted to buy in Bristow and usually on Sunday evening, everybody had their bath and we went to town and we had lots of the oil field people GS: Yes JH: I mean a lot of them GS: Yes JH: And they would kind of gang up on the street and talk and you just tell one lie, but they--everybody was so friendly and they were--we were happy to see each other and it was just a gathering place of, oh I don' ; t know what the word I want to use, but it was happy occasions that everybody--the streets would be full of people and full of cars and all the stores will be open and doing business and it was just a wonderful time GS: It sounds like it, sounds like something we need now JH: And you looked forward to meeting some new friends GS: Sure, it was a big social event wasn' ; t it? JH: Yes, it sure was GS: Did they ever have entertainment during these times? JH: You mean a street entertainer or something? GS: MhmJH: No, not that I remember GS: Just everybody just visited and told stories JH: Yes, uh-huh GS: Okay, that sounds really nice. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were a child? JH: You know [Indecipherable] GS: Oh, that' ; s okay. And your first job, what was your first good paying job? JH: I guess working at a grocery store GS: Okay. Do you remember the name of that store? JH: I think it was the Warehouse Market GS: Oh okay JH: We had a Warehouse Market here GS: How old were you? JH: Oh I was probably 18, 17 or 18 GS: Still in high school? JH: What? GS: Were you still in high school JH: Yes, uh-huh. And also I worked JC Penny (ph) GS: Okay, we had one of those back then too JH: Yeah we had Anthonys, we had Pennys, we had Safeway, we' ; s just--all the good stores we had here. GS: Now I know you were pretty young during the depression, what are your memories of the depression? JH: I really don' ; t have any GS: Don' ; t have any, it didn' ; t affect your family much did it? JH: No, not at all. GS: With being self-sufficient on the farm JH: All we did, people worried all the time you know, about their family and about their job GS: Sure JH: Excuse me, what did you ask? GS: No that' ; s fine, yeah that' ; s good. Did you serve in the military in WWII? JH: Yes GS: What branch? JH: I was in the air force GS: In the air force. What were your duties there? JH: I was a tail gunner on a B-17 flying fortress GS: Oh my goodness, did you have some pretty scary moments-- JH: Yes GS: --During that time? JH: We did have ; I only flew six missions. We went to, we would always get up real early, probably about 3 o' ; clock in the morning and we would go to the sergeant cafeteria but they called it the mess hall GS: Yes JH: And before I even got into the mess hall, I started having pains in my stomach. And anyway, as I sat there before everything started, I started vomiting GS: Oh myJH: And I went to the, what do you call it? Doctor, same as doctors. You remember what they called the doctors in the-- GS: In the service? I don' ; t JH: Infirmary probably GS: Oh yes JH: Anyway they took me down there and said that I had appendicitis GS: Oh myJH: But I didn' ; t--wasn' ; t operated on at that time. Anyway, they got another young man from the area and he flew in my place and that plane was shot down that day GS: Oh my, J C JH: Yeah, the only people who got out was the pilot and co-pilot and the side gunner and I have been--felt kind of guilt, they called in for a replacement for me, but I have felt guilty ever since then that I didn' ; t--I wasn' ; t doing really what I needed to do, but I couldn' ; t help it. I felt like-- GS: Like it should' ; ve been you up there JH: Yes GS: Did your replacement, did he pass away? JH: What? GS: Did your replacement live? JH: He got killed GS: He got killed JH: MhmGS: Yeah but-- JH: Everybody was killed except the pilot, co-pilot, and the side gunner GS: Well, God knew that you were needed for-- JH: They were shot down, what? GS: God knew you were needed for something later on JH: Well evidently I don' ; t know what it would be GS: Isn' ; t it odd how appendicitis could save you JH: Yes GS: But it did JH: I' ; m sure it was for some reason GS: I' ; m sure it was. Did you see--after, I' ; m sorry I apologize. After that, did you see any active combat up there? JH: No, nothing, the war was over in just about a week or two GS: Oh that' ; s wonderful, that' ; s good. And where did you meet Jackie? JH: Well of course I' ; ve known her all--I met her in high school GS: Okay, so you met in high school and did you date in high school? JH: No GS: No, waited until after you got out? JH: What? GS: What brought you together? JH: I don' ; t know, we--she went to the Baptist church and I did too and of course we were in the same classes in school in high school and, I don' ; t know we just had--we were in the same circles, we had the same friends and it' ; s, you know, it just grew better and better all the time GS: Sure, sure. Tell me about traveling back then. Travel, after you were a young man did you have a vehicle or did you take buses, trains? JH: No we took short trips in [Indecipherable] or a car, but we had several nice trips. We went to--we had, go on two or three cruises, we went to San Francisco and all the California areas. Drove down [Indecipherable] and drove down highway [Indecipherable] to the Hurst, went through the Hurst mansion. And the funny thing happened, we went into the, what' ; s the capital of California? GS: Is it Sacramento? JH: Sacramento, and we was just, it was almost time to eat so we went into a place not too far from the capital and as you were sitting there eating, and we were looking out the window and I said " ; Jackie, there is J.D. Dobson" ; , he graduated with us in high school GS: Oh my word, what a coincidence JH: And Jackie said " ; No that' ; s not J" ; I said " ; Yeah hunny, it' ; s J.D." ; so I went to the front of the door that they were entering and walked in behind him and said " ; J.D." ; , he turned around and quickly recognized me. And Jackie, he was real sweet on Jackie in high school GS: Oh myJH: But we had a very interesting talk and then we also, we took two or three cruises and we were on, we were in New York Harbor, [Indecipherable] ready to sail after midnight on 9/11 GS: Oh my word JH: So we went ahead and took our little cruise and I guess it was about three days later, it was about time to come home, and we couldn' ; t get a plane, just about everything was grounded GS: Yes JH: But we did finally get a plane into [Indecipherable] Georgia and then flew back home from there GS: Wow JH: But that was a wonderful trip, but we had a lot of, like--we took two or three cruises and we went up to--after that, we went to, back to New York and then we got a car and drove way up into Maine and then back down then we, they called us [Indecipherable] and they called the little people that came in, they called them leaf peepers. You know, the pretty leaves? GS: Yes JH: And we drove from Maine all the way back down to [Indecipherable]. Anyway, as we were driving along one evening about supper time, there was a big sign on the church that said " ; leaf peepers welcome, dinner tonight at so-and-so" ; GS: Wow JH: I said " ; Jackie, you wanna try that" ; she said " ; sure" ; so we went and had dinner with them GS: Well how nice is that JH: And they were very nice, we really enjoyed it. But we had a lot of nice trips like that, and of course we went to the cruise, went to England, Ireland, Scotland, so we had a really nice life, Jackie and I did. GS: That' ; s wonderful JH: Even though we were kind of poor GS: I don' ; t think you were kind of poor JH: But anyway, we both were working and we had fun GS: When did you lose Jackie? When did Jackie pass away? JH: 8 years ago, I believe it is GS: 8 years ago JH: Yes, I can' ; t remember the date GS: I' ; m sorry JH: [Indecipherable] I' ; m getting to where I can' ; t remember anything GS: Well dates are hard for everyone to remember, dates always have been. Tell me a little bit about your Bristow Tire business. JH: I was selling bread for Bottom Bread company at that time for quite a while, and my father-in-law was getting old, he owned Bristow Tire GS: Oh, your father-in-law owned it! JH: Yes GS: And his last name was Carter, right? JH: No his last name was Moore GS: No Moore, Moore. What was his first name? JH: P. M. we called him GS: P. M. Moore owned Bristow tire before you did JH: Yeah GS: Okay JH: And he was getting old and wasn' ; t able to just do things, you know, like he should so he and his wife came to me and asked me if I' ; d like to, you know, be in the tire business and I said sure. So I went to work for him, and worked for quite some time GS: Sure JH: And then he decided to sell it to me, so he did, I don' ; t know what year it was but I was down there for thirty years GS: Oh my goodness JH: But anyway, I took over the tire business GS: Was it the 50' ; s? Was it in the 50' ; s? Was it in the 1950' ; s do you think? JH: It could be, yes GS: Okay JH: I don' ; t really remember. But anyway the Lord has been good to me, has blessed us with a real nice business, I couldn' ; t have asked for anything any better, and of course I got to work right here at home, and my customers were, you know, I don' ; t know the word I want to use but they were always happy that they could do business with someone that was honest. GS: Yes, I think that' ; s why my parents did business with you. JH: Right, but anyway as I said the Lord was good to us, he gave us enough money to get a new home and take care of our child that went to college, so everything--I' ; ve had a pretty good life [Indecipherable] GS: Where did Candy go to college? JH: She went down to OBU for a while, and then to Edmond GS: And where does she live now? JH: She lives in Tulsa GS: In Tulsa, for some reason I thought she lived in New York JH: No, uh-uh GS: Okay, well I sure didn' ; t know that. Let' ; s see here, what memories do you have of Bristow when you had the tire shop? You know, like maybe businesses you did business with or events that they had, like Western Heritage Days, they had the Western Heritage Days. JH: Yeah, my father-in-law had horses and I decided that I' ; d like to be a cowboy, so I started riding one of his horses and he said Well [Indecipherable] guy try to teach you, you know, to be a [Indecipherable]. I tried that for a while, but you don' ; t just decide [Indecipherable] GS: Yes JH: And I kind of hurt my back one evening riding the horse, and Jackie said " ; I think that' ; s the end of your cowboying" ; . And of course Candy was little. GS: Uh-huh JH: But anyway, we had lots of fun GS: Good, did you belong to any organizations in Bristow? JH: Yeah, I belonged to the Rotary Club and of course was a member of First Baptist church GS: Right, were there any project you were active--were there any projects that you were active in in those two organizations? JH: Yes, Rotary Club usually had some kind of fundraisers or I was cleaning up the city or doing something like this about all the time. Of course it depended on what kind of a President we had, whether he wanted to do projects or not. GS: Right, right. What kind of tires did you sell at Bristow Tire? JH: Goodyear was my main tire and I used some, I bought some cheaper tires-- GS: For people to afford, yeah JH: What Hun? GS: If they couldn' ; t afford the Goodyear tires? JH: Yes, right GS: Yes. Did you have good business dealings with your--did you have good business with your suppliers? JH: Oh yes, you bet GS: Good, good, good. Any big thoughts stand out while you had Bristow Tire? Anything stand out while you owned that? I take-- JH: Well I have one, there was a lady that came in one day and she said, and I thought it was pretty nice, she said " ; You' ; re a Christian, aren' ; t you?" ; I said " ; Yes ma' ; am, I am" ; . I said " ; How' ; d you know?" ; , she said " ; Because you always have a smile on your face" ; GS: Aw how wonderful JH: And that meant a lot to me GS: Well you better believe it, that was a good witness too JH: Yeah GS: That' ; s wonderful, do you-- JH: Of course we had lots of people who weren' ; t smiling also GS: Yes, there always are JH: Yeah GS: When did you sell your Bristow Tire? JH: Oh my gosh, let' ; s see. I' ; d guess it' ; s been probably 15 years ago or so GS: And you sold to Jack Smith? JH: Jack Smith, uh-huh GS: Okay. And now his son is running it, Elliot Smith JH: Yes GS: Yes, any other memories of main street? JH: No, just the memories of back in the 30' ; s and 40' ; s when all the oil fields here GS: Did you ever see Bob Wills when he came through town? JH: Oh yeah, uh-huh GS: At the J& ; J Café? JH: No, it was in--Bob Wills was at Hamburger King GS: I meant Hamburger King, I said J& ; J but I knew it was Hamburger King JH: Well he--he was a Hamburger King man GS: That' ; s right JH: No I never did go to any of the performances GS: But you got to see him here in town JH: Yes, mhm: How did you get information about the war when you were in the 40' ; s? JH: How did I get information? GS: Uh-huh, like over the radio, television? JH: [Indecipherable] well all we got was--on the radio, of course until we went into the army, and we got very little even when we were in the army just on what we were doing and maybe what we were gonna do. GS: Yes, they wouldn' ; t give you any more information, would they? JH: No, no. Not lots of information GS: What would you consider to be the most important change that has happened in your lifetime? JH: A what? GS: An invention or maybe an invention--an important invention? JH: No I can' ; t remember one, there were so many little--you know, when you were raised, when you' ; re a little country boy, everything is new and kind of nice kind of to you GS: True JH: So everything was very interesting then. GS: Yes, it was JH: Lots of changes taking place GS: There were, how is the world different today than it was back then? JH: One thing I think we were much friendlier back then, and of course the--we get so much information now so easily and they didn' ; t back then GS: Right JH: We had to depend on the radio or the newspaper, sometimes that was a little bit late coming out GS: Right, what newspaper did you read? JH: Tulsa World, and the Bristow News--Bristow Record GS: Bristow Record, yes. Have you been affected any by the pandemic that we' ; re going through? The COVID pandemic? JH: Not really GS: That' ; s good, that' ; s good. Did you get lonesome here when it was in lockdown? JH: Oh yes, sure GS: Is there anything I haven' ; t thought to ask you J C that you would like to tell me? JH: No, I can' ; t think of anything, I just--I' ; ve had a [Indecipherable]. There is one thing back when I was a kid, we lived out in the country, we didn' ; t have electricity, and it--my mother did have a washing machine, it was gasoline operated. And one--on wash day one day, she did the washer, and of course we didn' ; t have a dryer, and we had everything on the clothes line. GS: Uh-huh JH: Usually all of our clothes had to be washed. But anyway we hung them all on the clothes line, and it came time to get them in, we thought we went out and checked them and my mother said that they' ; re still a little damp, let' ; s just leave them out tonight and we' ; ll bring them in tomorrow. Well the next morning we woke up, we didn' ; t have any clothes or clothes pin, we had nothing. Someone had stolen all of our clothes GS: Oh my goodness, the [Indecipherable] JH: And another time, just listen to this. Another time we went out and we always had a few chickens so we had eggs. And we' ; d went out to turn the chickens out the next morning, there wasn' ; t any chickens [Indecipherable] GS: Oh myJH: And I' ; m not through yet. We all--we had a garage, and the car was in it, and we always had a pretty nice car. But anyway, dad opened the garage door and the car was sitting on blocks. Somebody had stolen all the tires and wheels. GS: Wow JH: And we thought we were in a nice neighborhood GS: Was that in the 30' ; s? JH: Yes GS: Yeah, during the depression time JJ: And we were sure disappointed, you know, when your--you say that you might be poor folks. My dad had a job but they didn' ; t pay a lot back then. But anyway we lived through all of it. GS: I think you were one of the fortunate ones, you didn' ; t have to get up and move JH: That' ; s right GS: You always had food on the table JH: Right GS: So I think your family was rich JH: We surely were GS: And you had each other JH: Uh-huh GS: And did all of your siblings grow into adulthood? JH: Yes GS: That' ; s wonderful, it is wonderful JH: They' ; re all gone now, but they were adults. GS: One thing I forgot to ask you, when you first took over Bristow tire, was it in the same location that it is now? JH: Yes, right. GS: Do you remember that address? It' ; s on West 4th, I know. JH: Yes GS: Probably the 100 block of West 4th JH: It' ; s one something, I can' ; t remember exactly GS: Yeah, okay but it was in the same location? JH: Yes, uh-huh GS: Was it ever in a different location? JH: Yes, my father-in-law had it--it was up on main at, let' ; s see what' ; s that on that corner? Where Bolin Ford is? GS: Okay, so maybe 11th street? JH: [Indecipherable], that' ; s where he had his tire shop GS: Okay JH: It' ; s a very small place GS: Did he move it ; I guess he moved it to 4th street before you took it over JH: Yes, yeah. GS: Okay, alright. J C, I just appreciate you so much for letting me interview you JH: Thank you GS: And next time you see Candy, tell her I said hi. JH: Thank you for coming by GS: I really, really appreciate it and we really appreciate it at the museum JH: Yeah, I' ; ve had a long life, I' ; ve had a good life, and I praise God for it. GS: Amen audio 0 https://bristoworalhistory.org/ohms/viewer.php?cachefile=OHP-2021-19,_Hutson,_J_C.xml OHP-2021-19,_Hutson,_J_C.xml
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Title
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J C Hutson
Description
An account of the resource
In this 2021 interview, J C Hutson talks about growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses his time in the military and owning the Bristow Tire Shop.
Identifier
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OHP-2021-19
Date
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2021-07-19
Format
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audio
Creator
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Publisher
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
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Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Language
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English
Type
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sound, oral history
Bob Wills
Bristow Tire
First Baptist Church
Great Depression
Greyhound bus
Mountain Home School
Rotary Club
stores
World War II