Mike Newell

RS: This is Regan Siler with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma. This interview is part of the historical society’s ongoing oral history project. The date is July 2, 2024 and I’m sitting here with Mike Newell at the Bristow Library Annex. He’s going to tell us a little bit about his life and his history living in the Bristow area, and maybe, if we’re lucky, sing us a tune. Can you please tell us your full name?

MN: Michael Newell.

RS: So, you don’t have a middle name?

MN: No middle name.

RS: No middle name. And do I have permission to record this interview?

MN: Yes, ma’am.

RS: Okay. So, can you tell me when and where you were born?

MN: I was born right here in Bristow. And we lived at Slick until I was about three-years-old, and my dad bought the farm where I’m at now.

RS: So, it’s been in your family that long?

MN: Yes.

RS: Oh, wow, okay. And what’s your date of birth? 00:01:00MN: 11/17/1942.

RS: And you told me you were just born in, you weren’t born in a hospital, right?

MN: No. I was born in a home on the dining table.

RS: Oh, my gosh! Okay, wow! And then, so you said where you’re living now, your dad bought that farm whenever you were three?

MN: Yeah, two or three-years-old.

RS: Two or three-years-old. Well, let’s talk a little bit about the people in your family. Let’s start with your parents. Can you tell me your mom and your dad’s full names?

MN: My dad’s name was Clarence Earl Newell, Sr. [7/31/1896-2/16/1974] RS: Okay.

MN: My mother’s name was Celesta Leona Goodmon [Celesta Leona Goodmon Newell 8/10/1908-10/27/1981] was her maiden name.

RS: So, is it Leona Celesta 00:02:00or Celesta Leona?

MN: To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I’ve been told both ways.

RS: You’ve been told…okay. I’ll verify that. And do you have any siblings?

MN: Like all my brothers and sisters?

RS: Yes.

MN: Oh, gosh.

RS: So, you have a bunch of brothers and sisters?

MN: I think seven.

RS: Oh, my goodness.

MN: All of them are gone.

RS: All of them are gone.

MN: But me.

RS: Wow, so where did you fall in the seven? What number were you?

MN: The youngest.

RS: You were the youngest? Okay. Do you want to try to tell me all their names? Just so we will have it on record. Start with the oldest maybe?

MN: The oldest would have been my, she was a half-sister.

RS: Okay. That’s okay! If that’s something, I can get that information later, and we can, we’ll just know that you had seven 00:03:00 siblings.

MN: My oldest brother retired from the military. He was a colonel. His name was Robert Lee Newell.

RS: Robert Lee Newell, okay. Well, let’s, what about your, can you tell me like what your parents did for a living? Tell me what your dad did for a living.

MN: Well, he started out in law enforcement.

RS: Really?

MN: Law enforcement. Oil field.

RS: Oil field, okay.

MN: And he went from that to farming. And then he got into the dairy business, had milk cows.

RS: I think I remember Bud [Louis “Bud” Peters] telling me some about that, too.

MN: Then that’s about it. He lived on the farm, milked the cows.

RS: Farmed his whole life. And, so, then, did you mom just help in that area? 00:04:00MN: Yes.

RS: And was MN: She never worked outside the home. She stayed right there and drove a team of mules just like a man.

RS: That’s awesome. So, has your family been in Bris, like has your family been in Bristow this entire time? Did they come here from somewhere or?

MN: As far as I know, it’s been right here.

RS: Always been here, okay. So, growing up did you have much of your family that lived nearby? Like your extended family?

MN: Most of them did. The oldest, of course, he was in the military. Most of them lived right here in Bristow or close by.

RS: Well, from talking to Bud, it sounded like that was the gathering place was at the Newell Ranch. That’s where the cousins, the aunts, the uncles, everybody, that was where it was at.

MN: On Sunday, everybody gathered out 00:05:00 there.

RS: I love it.

MN: Had a big dinner.

RS: Music.

MN: Music.

RS: Yes, that’s awesome.

MN: Riding horses or what have you.

RS: I wish we had more of that in today’s times. So, let’s talk a little big about your early childhood. I want to kind of get a picture of you were as a youngster, and then growing up, and then, you know, we will get into your family and your career. Do you remember any of your favorite toys or games you played as a youngster?

MN: Well, by myself, I was always a cowboy.

RS: You’ve always been a cowboy, haven’t you?

MN: And then on the Sundays, we had a game we called over and under.

RS: Over and under? What is that? I’ve never heard of that one.

MN: Well, we had the home and then we had a 00:06:00team on one side and one side. We had kind of like a basketball. We’d throw it over there and they’d throw it back. And the first one to miss, they was out of the game, you know.

RS: Oh, okay.

MN: But anyway, then kick the can down the road and just all kinds of stuff.

RS: All kinds of stuff. So, I think, probably, also, though, for you, weren’t you always like riding horses and doing that kind of thing, too?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Always involved with the farm. Did you have chores that you were expected to do as a youngster?

MN: Oh, yeah.

RS: So, tell us a little bit about that. Tell me what a day was like when you were a kid, like when you got up in the morning, what did you have to do?

MN: Well, we went to the milk barn and dad most of the milking. And I was the clean-up guy. I had to wash the milk cans and 00:07:00the milker and all that.

RS: So, about how old were you whenever you started having to do chores, would you say?

MN: Just right away, and it seemed like three or four-years-old.

RS: Really?

MN: I had things to do.

RS: That’s probably good. Teaches you a good work ethic. I think that’s what we’re missing these days.

MN: That’s right.

RS: Yeah. So, you would help do the clean-up with the milking. Did you have evening chores, too?

MN: Yes. We, like when I got into school, started to school, we done the milking and dad would take me to school. And then along about 3 o’clock, he would pick me up, be home and then the work started all over again.

RS: Started all over again. But I guess you had to, to keep the farm going, huh?

MN: Yeah.

RS: It took all of you. Did you have friends that would come over 00:08:00and play or did you mainly play with your siblings or, how did that work?

MN: Both.

RS: Both.

MN: Yeah.

RS: Cousins and siblings and stuff like that? And what kinds of things did you do or did you get into any mischief?

MN: Hunting and fishing, yeah. I won’t mention about the mischief.

RS: Oh no! You gotta tell it all! Tell me one story. Tell me one story where you got into some mischief. Can you think of anything?

MN: Well, one time, it was cold, snow and ice. And there was a creek down there and we would skate on the ice. Where I was skating, it broke through, and I couldn’t come back up.

RS: Oh, my gosh!

MN: I was under the ice and my buddy got 00:09:00a big old rock and busted the ice and pulled me out. And I like to froze to death before I got to the house.

RS: Oh, my gosh! How old do you think you think you were then, maybe?

MN: Probably seven, maybe eight-years-old.

RS: Did you get in trouble or did your mom and dad know what had happened?

MN: Well, they scolded me, you know.

RS: Just glad you were alive. Oh, my gosh! It sounds like you’ve had more than one near-death experience in your lifetime.

MN: Yes.

RS: So, did you have any favorite hobbies as a child? Was there anything you were really into?

MN: Hunting, fishing, riding. When I got big enough, I started rodeoing.

RS: Rodeoing. Did you collect anything as a youngster? Do you remember collecting anything?

MN: No, not really.

RS: Not really? Let’s talk 00:10:00a little big about your school life. Where did you first attend school?

MN: Washington.

RS: Washington Elementary?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Oh, wow. I went there, too!

MN: It don’t exist anymore.

RS: I know, I know! Did you remember having any influential teachers in your lifetime, whether it was elementary or through high school or whatever, ones that really stuck out to you?

MN: Gladys Holcomb [Alta Gladys Holcomb 4/7/1911-9/28/1995].

RS: Gladys Holcomb? Okay, and what did she teach?

MN: Art mostly and things like that. I was kind of like her pet.

RS: Were you artistic? So, like painting, drawing or more?

MN: Both.

RS: So, you’re just the whole package? You write songs, because I heard you write songs, you’re a poet, and you were artsy, too, I guess as a young person. 00:11:00Well, that’s cool. Were you a member of any clubs or organizations throughout school?

MN: No, not throughout school, because I was in band, but that’s about all. I didn’t go out for any of the sports because that’s when we had to get home and do the milking and.

RS: To work on the farm.

MN: Working on the farm.

RS: Right. Okay. How did you get to school?

MN: Dad would, he had to take the milk to town to the depot, the milk depot.

RS: Well, wait. Where was the milk depot? I don’t know if I’ve heard of that. Or what is that?

MN: Right by the old depot, the train depot.

RS: The train depot?

MN: That building that’s just right west of there, a guy 00:12:00named Carl Baker [Carl Eugene Baker 5/10/1905-11/10-1995] ran it, and we had milk cans and had our number and our name on them. And we’d deliver the milk there, and then pick up our cans that had been used and take them home and wash them all up.

RS: I didn’t know that!

MN: And get ready to milk again.

RS: Well, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know there was a milk depot. Well, that’s interesting. So, is the building still there?

MN: The building is, but now there’s another part to that. Right behind that building, right behind where the fire department is right now.

RS: Right. In, like, the Town Square area?

MN: Yes, there was a big basin. It’s what we called a creamery.

RS: Okay.

MN: And we first started milking and we sold our cream. We had a milk separator which I still have. 00:13:00RS: Wow!

MN: It would separate the cream from the milk. Well, the regular milk, it would go to the pigs to help fatten out the pigs. And then the cream, they bought it, and it was used to make butter.

RS: Do you remember around what year that would have been that you were, that you did that? I know it’s hard to remember dates.

MN: I was probably four or five-years-old, but then people that run it names was Kaup [Oral Leslie Kaup 11/19/1907-3/31/1991]. And I don’t know how to spell that.

RS: Kaup? That ran the creamery? I’m sorry, what was it? Kaup?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Okay.

MN: And I don’t know where that all went to, but then we started selling 00:14:00just the whole milk.

RS: Just the whole milk. Well, that’s interesting! I didn’t know that. I’ve learned something today! Well, that’s cool! Okay, so, kind of going back to school, I’m just curious, did you enjoy or have time, did you enjoy reading? Did you enjoy school? Did you enjoy learning? You didn’t?

MN: No. That’s being honest. I was ready to get on home.

RS: You’d rather be on the farm?

MN: And do my chores and get on my pony and ride.

RS: Hey, that’s understandable. Okay, so you primarily lived in the house that you, did you grow up in the house that you currently live in?

MN: No.

RS: No? But it’s on the same property?

MN: I grew up there, yeah, but I was grown, and my mother was still living. 00:15:00I had a house just right south of them that my dad bought. He wanted to keep me on the farm to help him. Of course, the rest of the kids all married and gone.

RS: So, the house you live in now is different than the house you grew up in?

MN: Yes.

RS: But it’s in the same general area? Okay.

MN: The first house, my mother’s house, the old farmhouse, it burned. And then first thing I knew.

RS: So, were you alive when it burned?

MN: Oh yeah.

RS: Okay, so you were a kid?

MN: Yeah. And then after I was on the police department then, no, I was on the sheriff’s department, my house caught fire and burned completely up. We was at the, up by Mannford, at the lake 00:16:00having a picnic for the sheriff’s department and they called me and told me my house was burning.

RS: Oh, no!

MN: So, got there, and sure enough it was burned plum down, and then I rebuilt right there where that one set.

RS: But it’s on the same land or whatever?

MN: Right.

RS: So, how much land is there on the Newell Farm?

MN: Started out with 160 acres and dad give all the kids, brothers and sisters and everything, a five-acre plot for them to build on or whatever they wanted to do.

RS: Right.

MN: Well, they’d sell to each other and first thing you know, it was all gone but a hundred acres. Then my oldest boy, Tim, I gave 00:17:00him, I wound up giving him 15 acres. And the rest of them sold outside the family. It was just gone.

RS: Right. So, there’s around a hundred left?

MN: Yeah, about a hundred acres left.

RS: About a hundred? Wow! Still there. And that’s out by Slick?

MN: No, that’s where we live now.

RS: Which is?

MN: When I was three-years-old, we moved up. I live a mile east and a half south.

RS: Okay. A mile east and then back south. Okay.

MN: Yeah, on Highway 16.

RS: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Well, that’s what we talk about, it seems like these big farms or tracts of land, as time has gone on, you know, it seems like they last for years and years, and then it seems like in present day all the big farms are getting busted up and sold into pieces, and it’s…I’m kind 00:18:00of old fashioned, so I kind of think it’s sad. I hate to see that happen. So, that’s something you still have the majority of your farm left.

MN: Yes.

RS: That’s good. So, in the house that you grew up in, do you have, can you tell me about it? Can you describe what the house was like that you grew up in? The farmhouse?

MN: It was just an old, what they call a single-wall house. We didn’t own them, but the land right north of us had oil wells and gas wells, and they let us have free gas.

RS: Oh, well that’s good.

MN: Raw gas, you know, it didn’t go through the cleaner or anything. We had gas lights even in the ceiling.

RS: Wow!

MN: It was quite 00:19:00a deal. And we burned wood, big wood-burning stove.

RS: Was it a pretty, there was seven of you? Seven kids?

MN: Yeah.

RS: So, it was probably a pretty packed house?

MN: Uh, no. Most of them had already moved away.

RS: Were they considerably older than you?

MN: Yes.

RS: Oh, okay. So, you’re MN: My brother was the next oldest and he was Clarence Earl, Jr. [1/17/1936-5/12/2011], and he was seven years older than I was.

RS: Okay, I remember Bud [Louis “Bud” Peters] talking about him, too. Clarence Earl, Jr., okay. So, I would imagine being a kid that liked to hunt and fish and ride, you probably didn’t spend much time in the house unless you had to, huh?

MN: No. No.

RS: That was probably punishment for you if you had to be in the house, huh?

MN: Yeah. Right.

RS: So, what 00:20:00were meal times like for your family? Did everybody sit down?

MN: Pretty well. When supper or dinner was ready and she called us to the house, we better be there.

RS: You better be there, huh? What were your meals like? I’m guessing your mom was probably, she probably was a heck of a cook if I’m remembering what Bud told me.

MN: Eggs and ham and bacon and biscuits and gravy.

RS: Oh, yeah.

MN: Fried potatoes.

RS: All the good stuff, huh?

MN: Yeah. Stuff they say that’s not healthy for ya now.

RS: And, how old are you now?

MN: 81.

RS: 81. And, I’m like, you’re still doing good! So, it must not be too unhealthy, huh? Okay. Did you have a favorite meal that your mom cooked? Like what was the BEST thing that you looked forward to?

MN: All my, even today, breakfast is my main 00:21:00 meal.

RS: You love breakfast, huh?

MN: Yes.

RS: That’s good. Did she have any particular desserts or anything that she made that was your favorite?

MN: Well, I can remember her making the homemade bread, you know, and, of course, she would make sweet rolls and stuff like that. [Indecipherable] RS: Well, that sounds good.

MN: Cobblers and berries that we’d pick on the farm.

RS: Yes! That’s one of the things that I remember my great aunt and uncle, Emmett and Opal Dykes were my great aunt and uncle, and my Aunt Opal would make some of the best cobbler, like peach cobbler, blackberry cobbler.

MN: Oh, yeah!

RS: And I don’t feel like we get that anymore these days, you know? One of the things that’s have kind of faded away it seems like.

MN: My mother would make my favorite was blackberry drop dumplings.

RS: Blackberry drop…so what would that, what did that 00:22:00consist of?

MN: She just made, well, you know how they make dumplings for chicken and dumplings?

RS: Right.

MN: She would use blackberries someway and mix it all together.

RS: Oh, man!

MN: And it was just in a big old pot with the dough and berries.

RS: Oh, gosh. Did you eat that with ice cream by chance?

MN: Yes, and regular raw milk, cream.

RS: YES!

MN: We always had cream.

RS: Yeah, see and that’s all the stuff that they say now, or for a long time, said is bad for you, but now they’re coming back around saying it’s good for you. So, I think you guys probably had it figured out back then. Okay, well, thinking back to your town life and growing up, did you have any favorite community activities? Say, like, I know you were involved with Western Heritage Days, but day camps, parades, county fairs? Can you tell me anything about any of those types 00:23:00of things?

MN: I was always in rodeoing, but we had organization that I founded. It was the Coalition of Christian Cowboys.

RS: So, you founded that?

MN: And I was the president until about, I was the president for about 22 or three years. And I was getting to where I just couldn’t handle it no more. It finally just went away.

RS: Dissolved?

MN: We put on a lot of, just like the picture I was showing you here of the Texas Playboys, and stuff like that. We had trail rides. One of the biggest parades we ever had was the same time as the Texas Playboys were here.

RS: So, what was your, being the Coalition of Christian Cowboys, what was your mission? 00:24:00What were you guys all about?

MN: We were fund raising and all our projects where we made money just went right back out to people who really needed it.

RS: Who needed it.

MN: Thanksgiving and Christmas, we would wind up with four or five baskets, you know, and take it to different families.

RS: Well, that’s awesome! So, that lasted for about twenty-some-odd years?

MN: Yeah, I was the president for 22 or three years, and I just couldn’t handle it no more and I couldn’t get anybody else to take it.

RS: To take it over.

MN: Yeah, so.

RS: Yeah, volunteers seem to be in shorter supply as time has gone on. I think people are over-busy and they don’t want to give of their time when, I think that’s super important. It sounds like you guys did a lot 00:25:00of good over that time span.

MN: We did.

RS: I didn’t know that. So, you would do, you said you would organize, what types of things?

MN: Trail rides, just all kinds of cowboy things.

RS: Right. So, did you do rodeos, too? Did you organize any rodeos?

MN: Well, what we called jackpots. They wouldn’t be a full rodeo.

RS: But would have events?

MN: Bull riding or steer roping or team roping. Things like that.

RS: Well, that’s interesting. So, did you do, did you have anything to do, I know, I’ve been told that the county fair used to be a pretty big deal around here.

MN: Oh yeah. Of course, we all went through the 4H and FFA, and at that time, 00:26:00where all the old farm or city buildings are out at the park.

RS: The city, uh-huh.

MN: That’s where they rodeo grounds was.

RS: Right.

MN: And we had things like that.

RS: Okay. Growing up, what were some of the biggest and most popular businesses around town? Like, did you have a favorite place to eat out or hang out or?

MN: Well, I can’t think of anything right now.

RS: Nothing that stood out to you? Did you eat out much as a young person or did you usually eat at home?

MN: Well, mom would cook.

RS: Yeah, you always ate at home.

MN: My wife cooked.

RS: Right, right. So, then I guess growing up as a teenager, you didn’t have any particular hang-outs around town or things that you would do?

MN: No. 00:27:00Usually when I got to town, the first thing I’d do was go to Red Bird.

RS: Well, so see, Red Bird was your favorite store then.

MN: I just loved the smell of leather.

RS: Yes.

MN: And looking at the saddles and the bridles and everything, you know, that I liked.

RS: Everything that you loved. Yeah, right. So, see you did have a favorite store. It was Red Bird.

MN: Right, yeah.

RS: Okay. Do you remember, and this might be kind of an odd question, but like your family’s first car?

MN: Dad had several Model-T’s and Model-A’s and when we grew up, he would buy a new pick up every once in a while. And back then you could buy a brand new pick up for 00:28:00 $1500.

RS: And, boy, those days are LONG GONE!

MN: Then, of course, you know, as time went on, we got better cars and stuff like that.

RS: Do you remember what YOUR first car was?

MN: A ’49 Ford pickup with a windshield that would raise up, and we used that to hunt rabbits at night time, and we’d raise that up and we’d go out spotlight the rabbits and shoot through the open window.

RS: So, that worked out good for you, didn’t it?!

MN: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

RS: Oh, my gosh. Well, that’s interesting. Who taught you how to drive?

MN: Actually, no one. 00:29:00The only time my dad would let me drive his pick up, he would come to town and get a load of feed and brought it back home. He’d let me drive from the house to the barn and unload the feed.

RS: That’s all you got, huh?

MN: And that’s the only thing I got to do.

RS: So, did you just pretty much teach yourself how to drive?

MN: Yeah, I was 18 or 19 before I ever got a driver’s license.

RS: Oh, my goodness. Okay. But did you drive anyway before you got your license? Like, I mean?

MN: Just on the farm there.

RS: Just on the farm. Okay. Well, so, I know it sounds like you were probably more of an outside person, but do you remember, did you get to watch any TV or anything like that growing up?

MN: Our first TV, I can remember, I was probably seven or eight-years-old, 00:30:00and we had a black and white and it was just real small. And it had rabbit ears back then and that’s what I got to watch.

RS: So, do you remember any particular program that you liked?

MN: Ohhhh, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Johnny Mack Brown and all them. I would hurry when I got home from school to watch Roy Rogers and Gene Autry before I had to go out and start doing chores.

RS: So, you did catch a little TV then?

MN: Yes!

RS: Do you think that was, I don’t know, kind of instrumental in you, like your singing and you’re desire to want sing and play instruments?

MN: Yeah. They was always Roy Rogers and Gene Autry 00:31:00was always singing, and this is not practical, but in the movies, they would be riding down the trail and playing their guitar while they was riding their horses. That don’t work.

RS: Have you tried it?

MN: Yes! I busted a couple guitars getting bucked off.

RS: Oh, no! Oh, that’s funny! Do you remember, I guess with TV, do you remember any pivotal moments in history when you were watching TV? Like anything that stuck out to you as a youngster that happened that you saw on TV?

MN: No, I can’t recall.

RS: You were too busy trying sing with your guitar on your horse?

MN: Right! I taught myself to play the guitar. I never had a lesson in my life.

RS: Well, 00:32:00I was told that what all instruments you play that you’re, pretty much, self-taught on all of them, which I think is amazing.

MN: Still learning.

RS: You’re still learning, huh? Well, that’s good. So, what was medical care like for your family? If you were born on the dining room table, I’m thinking they probably told you to just rub some dirt on it and walk it off.

MN: No, our old doctor, Dr. King [E.W. King].

RS: Dr. King. I’ve heard a lot about him.

MN: And he was still practicing way up in his 90’s. He also was a farmer, so he would always want to, when we had to call the doctor, of course, they made house calls.

RS: Right.

MN: When we needed the doctor, well, he’d come out and 00:33:00do whatever he needed to do and mostly for mom. Then he’d want to look at my dad’s, they called him Earl, he wanted to go out and see his milk cows, his bull and his pigs and a lot of bills were paid with chickens and pigs.

RS: See, I think that’s, I think that’s neat.

MN: You didn’t have money.

RS: Right. So, did you, were times, I guess, pretty tight growing up, poor?

MN: Oh, yeah. In fact, I wrote a song called “That Old Barn” and my dad that’s where he would go and pray. Bible says go into your own closet and pray. And, so, that’s what he done. Us 00:34:00kids would be playing in the hay, and all of the sudden, we didn’t even know he was down there. So, he would pray, and boy, it was loud. I mean, he really, really got into it.

RS: Is that where you, I guess, learned your faith?

MN: Oh, yeah.

RS: And became rooted in your MN: Yes. I was in church every time the door opened.

RS: Where did you attend church?

MN: First was First Church of God down here. It was a building that was completely different, you know. It was small.

RS: Like at the same location but a different building?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Okay.

MN: They bought the houses all around there for parking lots and new church and everything. And then we started, my uncle, Wilbert Goodmon [Wilbert Harrison Goodmon 11/4/1923-1/6/2017], he was a pastor 00:35:00over at Depew, Valley View Church I think, Valley View. We went to church over there quite a lot. And it sort of dwindled away. Didn’t have anybody to pastor it too long, and so we started going to Freewill Baptist.

RS: And is it at the same location that the Freewill is now?

MN: No, now it’s the Nazarene Church bought the Freewill building.

RS: Okay. Oh, yeah, yeah! I gotcha.

MN: I just loved the preacher there.

RS: Yes.

MN: Then we started RS: So, who was the preacher there at that time?

MN: I can’t even remember names. But he was a singer. 00:36:00I mean him and his wife and another man, I mean, they could, they could really sing.

RS: So, what was a Sunday service like for you? Did you, I guess, you, obviously, appreciated the music.

MN: Oh, yeah.

RS: Do you have a favorite hymn or song from church that is a favorite?

MN: A lot of them.

RS: A lot of them.

MN: Yeah.

RS: Hard to pick one?

MN: Yeah, the old, the old hymns.

RS: Right. And, so, did you sing in church?

MN: Later on I did, yes, and still do. Every Sunday.

RS: Every Sunday.

MN: Yeah. We started going to church. It wasn’t even a church. The Baptist church down at Slick kind of split up. And, so, part of them started going to church down at the Community Center, right north of Slick. 00:37:00We started from that and to where we are now. We’ve got a new church.

RS: Yes.

MN: And a rodeo grounds, pond. We have our own youth camp for kids. We don’t send them off, you know, and give $2000 a kid, you know to send them off to bible school.

RS: You just do it there.

MN: Yeah. We do it. In fact, we had a, we just got through having ours, and I think we had 77 kids.

RS: Wow! That’s good.

MN: We had the old-fashioned baptizing in the water down at the pond.

RS: In the pond.

MN: And I think there was 37 kids.

RS: Praise the Lord! That’s awesome!

MN: Yeah. And we just have all kinds of things going on all the time.

RS: Right. I like the idea of 00:38:00what you guys have going on there.

MN: We stay busy.

RS: Yeah, yeah. That’s good. We already talked about the Coalition of Christian Cowboys that you were in. Let’s um, so what were, because Bud [Louis Peters] had actually brought this up a little bit. What were, tell me, from your perspective what were holidays like at your house growing up, like Christmas and stuff like that. Was it family-oriented?

MN: Yes.

RS: And a lot going on there.

MN: Yeah, yeah. We’d go out and cut an old cedar tree down. We didn’t have very many pine trees. We’d dig it up and put in a five-gallon bucket, you know, and we would make our own, when I was little, we would make our own Christmas decorations and stuff like that. 00:39:00You know, just graduate on up.

RS: What was gift-giving like at your house?

MN: Everybody, we was always buying for each other.

RS: Was it mainly bought stuff or did you make stuff or?

MN: Both.

RS: Both.

MN: Both. I can remember I got my first .22 rifle.

RS: Oh, boy!

MN: Other stuff was just kid stuff.

RS: Right, right. Were other holidays a big deal around your house, like Fourth of July, Easter?

MN: Yeah, all of them.

RS: All of them. So, it was just a place where everybody came to gather.

MN: Everybody gathered at the farm.

RS: Yeah, that’s fun. So, as a child, do you remember, did you ever have…what 00:40:00did you want to be when you grew up? Do you remember?

MN: A cowboy.

RS: You wanted to be a cowboy. Well, I think you succeeded!

MN: I didn’t have any inkling or desire to or anything to be in law enforcement.

RS: You didn’t?!

MN: No.

RS: So, how did that happen?

MN: It just kind of…I was working in Tulsa and we worked so many hours that everybody was just tired and everything. And, so, I would meet with a bunch of other guys on north main, there, and we would leave our cars there and carpool. And then I had a friend that was on the police department, and I told him I was tired of this job I was going to. He said, I can get you a job. And I said, no, I couldn’t 00:41:00be a police officer. Never. NEVER. And about two weeks later, I finally asked him what’s it like? What do you get paid? He said I can get you a job and you get paid once a month, $247 a month.

RS: Oh, my goodness!

MN: And I was making that in a week where I was. But, I was just tired of it!

RS: Right.

MN: So, I finally give in and they put me to work.

RS: And that was at Bristow?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Bristow Police Department? So, then did you have to go to like an academy or anything?

MN: Yes, but not then.

RS: But not then.

MN: Yeah, it was about, I had been.

RS: So, then how did they train you?

MN: Trial and error.

RS: Oh, my goodness!

MN: We tried to do what was right, you know.

RS: Right.

MN: And 00:42:00about three years in, me and another younger officer, by that time, I had worked up to, they changed hands real often down there. You might hire somebody and they’d stay a week. The next one would stay six months. You just never knew.

RS: Right.

MN: But anyway, we went down to Norman to, that’s where they had the first school. It was three weeks. And that seemed like a long time, and nowadays, it’s six or seven months.

RS: Months, yeah.

MN: Yeah, to go. And it should be longer even than that.

RS: And, so, was that like, I don’t know, like what they call CLEET now? Was it something like that?

MN: Yeah, it’s Council on Law Enforcement [Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training]. Then, 00:43:00as it went on, of course, they always had different seminars and classes where you can go.

RS: Classes for like continuing education?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Yeah.

MN: And then in 1984, I had become the assistant chief and then the chief.

RS: And this is still at Bristow?

MN: Right.

RS: Okay.

MN: Down on 8th Street. Just a hole in the ground, we’d call it. Then we were right over here. I don’t know how it came about, but I went to as seminar on homicide and others were learning how to administer to your department and everything, and this FBI agent 00:44:00was there, and he was one of the teachers. And he asked me if I would be interested in going to the FBI academy. I said, well, of course, but my city would never let me do that. Well, it turned out that he said we’ll pay your way and it won’t cost the city anything.

RS: Wow!

MN: And we’ll pay his salary while he’s gone, and, so, there I went to.

RS: And where was it?

MN: It was at Quantico in Virginia.

RS: Really?

MN: At the FBI Academy.

RS: Okay. How long did it last?

MN: Eight months, I believe it is.

RS: So, were you gone the entire eight months, or did you?

MN: I got to come back a couple times in between because my youngest baby 00:45:00was born.

RS: Oh, my goodness!

MN: So, I got to come back and be with him.

RS: Right.

MN: And then go back until time for me to come home.

RS: So, what did you think about that experience? Were you glad that you went? What was it like?

MN: Oh yes, yes. It really helped me out. Because when I retired from Bristow Police Department, I went to the sheriff’s department. Doug and I, the sheriff, Doug Nichols. I was the Chief Criminal Deputy for him and that lasted about four years. I got aggravated and quit. I was just staying at home doing nothing. The 00:46:00U.S. Marshal in Tulsa called me and wanted to know why didn’t I come to work for him, so I wound up spending another 22 or three years for the U.S. Marshals.

RS: The U.S. Marshal. So, what do you do as a U.S. Marshal?

MN: My job for them was guarding the judge and administering the court, you know, all about it.

RS: Interesting. Well, so can I, okay, so you were at Bristow for, you said like 22-1/2 years?

MN: I worked, yeah, I retired with 22-1/2 years.

RS: And then you were with the Creek County Sheriff’s Department for about four years?

MN: About four years.

RS: And then you worked for the 00:47:00U.S. Marshal for MN: All the rest of the time I was in law enforcement.

RS: Oh, my goodness. Okay. Did you have in that period of time, and probably maybe specifically early on, any influential mentors? I think, especially, since you were kind of sounds like thrown in to being in law enforcement and not having a lot of experience. Did you have anybody that mentored you during that time?

MN: When I first went to work, there was a man, I can’t remember anymore, but he was an older gentleman. He lives at Depew [Oklahoma]. His daddy had been a police officer, and he kind of mentored me, give 00:48:00me advice and things like that.

RS: So, how old were you when you whenever you started at Bristow? Do you remember, roughly?

MN: I guess about 24 or 25 maybe.

RS: So, you probably learned a lot of life lessons throughout your time in law enforcement.

MN: I didn’t intend to be a police officer. I figured I would just stay at the police department and rest a while and then find me another job.

RS: Find something else. But, I mean, honestly, you ended up liking it to stay with it for as long as what you did. And it sounded like you did amazing job, too.

MN: I just found out that I liked it. I stayed.

RS: And you stayed. So, your kids had told me several stories from when you were in law enforcement, and I understand 00:49:00that you were featured in the magazine True Detective for solving a murder. Can you tell me when, like where were you and can you tell me a little bit about that?

MN: Well here, the first one was an old lady name Nattie Jo Price [12/5/1907-2/19/1988]. Her husband had been the mayor here for quite some time.

RS: So, this was while you were on at Bristow?

MN: Yes.

RS: Okay.

MN: I called in the OSBI to help me on it. We found out who the guy was [indecipherable]. And then there was two or three, then, after that. Then when I was a deputy, we had a lot of them. 00:50:00RS: So, the Nattie Jo Price was that the one you were featured for in the magazine, in the True Detective magazine?

MN: I think so. I think that’s the one that they wrote up.

RS: So, like how long of an investigation was, how long did it take to solve that murder?

MN: About four days.

RS: Four days?! That’s fast!

MN: Yeah, we caught him! He’s in the penitentiary now.

RS: Still? Wow! So, there was another story, and I’m just giving a general, you can give me the details about you capturing two gunmen, robbers, because you hit one over the head with your gun and then you shot through the back window of a car wounded the other one. So, basically you took them out, two out by yourself.

MN: Yes. Yeah. 00:51:00RS: Can you tell me what happened? Can you give me some more details on that?

MN: Well, first our police department was down here on 8th Street. Just me and the dispatcher, I don’t remember who was on duty at the time besides the dispatcher, anyways, the phone rings, when they hung up RS: So, were you just an officer at this time or were you a?

MN: Yes.

RS: You were just an officer? Okay.

MN: I had a little bit of seniority but I was just a police officer.

RS: Okay.

MN: It was right there at Kemp’s Drug Store. So, when I ran out, there was a guy running, jumped into an old car and he was parked where our assistant district attorney was wanting to park. 00:52:00And he watched it all, but anyway, they took off. We got in a big chase right north of town. They wouldn’t pull over for me. So, these two semis noticed what was going on and they pulled in and wouldn’t let this car go by.

RS: Blocked him in.

MN: So, they had to pull over. I wound up getting the first guy out, and he was, you know, hollering that he didn’t do anything. And I was handcuffing him and he was trying to jerk away. When I looked up through the back window, this guy was there with a double-barrel shot gun, short, you know, sawed off shotgun. And I knew that I had to do something quick.

RS: Right, right!

MN: So, I held him 00:53:00until I snapped the other handcuff on and then I knew that he’d run off if I didn’t do something. Well, I just drawed my gun out and hit him over the head, and when he went down, then I shot the guy through the back glass.

RS: Oh, my gosh.

MN: Then, after that, all the other highway patrols and deputies and all that come there, but it was all over by that time, you know.

RS: You’d already handled it.

MN: Yeah. And so, that’s how that went.

RS: So, do you have, I guess, I’m sure you have adrenaline in a situation like that, but I guess, you didn’t even have time to have any fear or anything, did you? You just did what you had to do.

MN: No, when you get in that situation, you gotta do what you gotta do.

RS: To survive.

MN: Yeah.

RS: So, how long do you think you had been on at 00:54:00Bristow at that time?

MN: Well, I went to work as a part-time officer in 1966. And I think that was in about ’74 if I, it might be in this, one of these pictures. It was probably about 1974. It was quite a deal.

RS: Yeah, because I mean, honestly, I don’t think of, I mean I think about something like that maybe happening now, but it just doesn’t seem like that kind of stuff happened back then, but I guess it did. What had they done?

MN: Well, they robbed the drugstore, but two nights before 00:55:00that, going back and investigating things, they had stayed all night in Thurman’s Motel down on 10th Street.

RS: Yep, I remember.

MN: And when they didn’t check out. They went out through the back window and stole the air conditioners and a bunch of things like that. They had been in shoot outs in Tulsa and Oklahoma City already.

RS: So, they were known criminals, I guess?

MN: Yes, it’s a funny thing, I can remember the tag number on the car.

RS: Are you serious?!

MN: It was Zebra David, ZD7274. I’ll never forget that! So, when I got behind them chasing them, I knew it was the right deal because they had already checked it out before investigating 00:56:00the Thurman’s Motel, so they knew RS: That was the car.

MN: Yeah. That was the right car.

RS: And you still remember the tag number.

MN: And there were already bullet holes from Oklahoma City.

RS: Oh, my gosh. And they ended up landing in Bristow.

MN: Yes. Funny thing about it, I’ll mention this. When I hit the guy over the head with my gun, I didn’t think about it. I actually hit him twice because he was trying to get up and go. I shot the guy in the back seat, and I come back around and he just, the other guy, trying to get up, and I knew he’d run off. And it looked like he bled all over the highway. I drawed back my gun and hit him hard again. And didn’t even 00:57:00think about it, but when we were back at the police department and it was all over with, we had an investigator, Jack McKenzie [Jack Franz McKenzie 12/4/1921-7/30/2016], he was a retired trooper. He said, can I see your gun? And I said, sure. I handed him the gun and he looked at it and said, Mike have you tried to shoot this gun? I said, no. You know, not since the incident. He said, come here, look at this. I had bent the trigger guard down into the trigger and it wouldn’t even shoot.

RS: Oh, no!

MN: And, so, the mayor went around and took up a collection and bought me a new gun. Because the city didn’t provide anything.

RS: Are you serious?

MN: Yeah, we had to buy our own weapons.

RS: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh.

MN: But, anyway, that was kind 00:58:00of funny.

RS: That you broke your gun.

MN: Put it back in my holster and the thing wouldn’t even fire.

RS: Okay, so then I have to ask you about, Tim had told a story, and I don’t know the details of what happened, but that basically, somebody had put a gun to your stomach and pulled the trigger and it didn’t go off. What happened with that? That’s why I was saying it seems like you’ve, you’ve skirted death more than once in your life.

MN: Oh, yeah. I did. It was up at the Anchor Drive-In. His name, well, I don’t know what his name is but he’s dead and gone now. But I’ll mention it, well dog-gone-it. I can’t even remember his name now. Jim Camp.

RS: Jim Camp, okay.

MN: He’d been kind of, I had known him when he was a nice guy, 00:59:00and then he just got into drugs and everything. He had beat this guy up in the Anchor, and they called me. Of course, I was the one on duty. I went out, and when I walked in the back door, the south door of the Anchor, this gal was trying to tell me, you know, he had put his gun in his shirt. And when I walked up behind him, I knew what was going on already. He whirled around in his seat and stuck it in my gut. Really what happened RS: So, for no reason? He just turned around and stuck it in your MN: Yeah, he hated me. I had arrested him a bunch of times.

RS: Oh.

MN: And, so, 01:00:00that wasn’t correct. On that incident, he didn’t have time to pull the trigger, because I had already smacked him and knocked him off the stool down in there, and the gun slid out and went over and this truck driver had come in there to eat and didn’t know what was going on. And he ducked under the table to keep from getting shot.

RS: Oh, my gosh!

MN: He got the gun and took it to the guy that owned the Anchor at the time. And then he handed it to me. I took him to jail.

RS: So, what do you feel, because I mean, I guess I didn’t realize, I’ve been here probably since the 80’s. I moved here in the third grade. It sounds like there was quite a bit of…how 01:01:00would you compare crime throughout the time you were a cop here versus, say, how it is now? Do you think it’s better or worse?

MN: I don’t know how to answer that.

RS: Or is it just different, maybe?

MN: Yeah, it would be different now, because they’ve changed law enforcement so much. We had nine or ten officers. And another thing, all the officers that I’ve worked with, they’re all gone. All of ‘ems dead.

RS: Right.

MN: I’m the only one left.

RS: Only one left.

MN: I don’t even [indecipherable].

RS: Right.

MN: The chief.

RS: Right.

MN: The chief. I never thought I’d see a woman chief of police, but we’ve got it.

RS: Right.

MN: But anyway, it’s just different. 01:02:00It’s better, I mean, they got more to do with. It’s just, you gotta be watched careful what you say and what you do. Everybody got a camera anymore.

RS: Right, right. Do you feel like there was, but do you feel like there was more crime or less crime whenever you were an officer?

MN: Oh, probably more.

RS: Or just different? Really? You think so? I mean, honestly, the stories that I’ve heard that happened right here in Bristow, I was like, man! I haven’t heard really of anything like that happening since, I mean, it sounded like it was there was a lot going on!

MN: I don’t even keep up with it anymore. I haven’t been back in the police department. But I hear about 01:03:00things. And you wonder why they do this. And why they done that. And why didn’t they do it.

RS: Right. So, were drugs a prevalent then or was it mainly just like robberies?

MN: We were still down in the old police department and my first experience with drugs. We caught this guy, and his name was, last name was Pinson. I had never even seen marijuana. Never heard of it, you know, other than some place in California.

RS: Yeah. Right.

MN: But this guy had a whole jar of marijuana seed and come to find out it had been going on. We just didn’t know it. We had, but it was marijuana only. 01:04:00We didn’t have any of this other stuff.

RS: Other stuff.

MN: At the time. But we took down quite a lot of marijuana growers and stuff like that.

RS: And now it’s legal.

MN: Yeah.

RS: Can you recall or do you have, I don’t know, maybe, well let’s start with your most proud moments of being in law enforcement?

MN: Well, not any one particular deal. I was always proud, but I guess you could call it proud. Shouldn’t even say that.

RS: No, I think that’s okay to say.

MN: An incident like a murder or armed robbery or something, 01:05:00and I felt proud that we got them caught, you know.

RS: Brought to justice, yeah.

MN: And everything turned out without anybody getting hurt.

RS: Right, right. Do you have a, do you have an experience that sticks out to you as, maybe, being your most harrowing experience, or did you have multiple…it sounded like you had multiple ones, honestly.

MN: Yes, some of with the same guy. Some of them, Jim Camp, you know.

RS: Really?

MN: Yeah.

RS: So, you had multiple run-ins with him?

MN: Yeah, I put him in several times. And then we had, well, a family, I won’t mention their name. They was always getting in trouble. They was over on 10th Street. 01:06:00I’m probably not supposed to mention but they were black. But anyway, we had a couple of shoot-outs with them.

RS: Wow!

MN: I shot one of them in the butt. I was chasing him. I was after him, you know. He’d done RS: Like a foot chase or like a car chase.

MN: Yeah, it wound up in a foot chase.

RS: Oh, man!

MN: I finally run as far as I could, and I hollered at him to stop and he didn’t stop, so I stopped him.

RS: So, you stopped him?

MN: He had committed a murder, and was after him for that, so, and his brother is the one that killed Mrs. Price, and I mentioned that.

RS: So, it was his brother that killed…so the family was MN: The whole family was like that. 01:07:00Anyway, when you get somebody that you’ve been after, why, you feel pretty good that you done your job.

RS: Right, right. So, you’re experiences between Bristow and the sheriff’s office and the U.S. Marshal, and working with the U.S. Marshal, do you have a favorite? Did one stand out more to you than the other as being a place that you enjoyed more?

MN: Yes, I liked the Marshal Service. They had a good deal. They furnished our clothes and our guns.

RS: They took care of you?

MN: Yeah, they took care of us. And we made a lot more money.

RS: Right.

MN: Than I ever started to make with Bristow or sheriff’s office.

RS: I 01:08:00think that’s the thing that is very disappointing, sometimes, the positions you are put in as public servant, like for instance, my husband being a fireman, and you just don’t get paid what I think you’re worth for what you do.

MN: I don’t think they will ever pay police officers in this town like they should. Now they getting paid a whole lot more than when I first went to work.

RS: Right.

MN: $247 a month. I wasn’t making but about $1800 a month when I went to the Marshal Service and come back.

RS: Oh, my goodness.

MN: They had taught me up there how to get more raises for the men and all that stuff. 01:09:00They just never will pay [indecipherable]. I’ve heard since I’ve left, you know, they’ve come on up and they’re making more money.

RS: Right.

MN: Now, I hope they are.

RS: Right. Can I back up just a little bit to the FBI academy? Can you tell me anymore details about that and what that was like, because that’s an insight that not very many people have as to what something like that is about.

MN: As far as I know, I’m the only one from Bristow that’s been up there. We learned not only, we just learned how to administrate, you know, and take care of the financial part of the police department. More about 01:10:00investigating homicides and a lot of stuff like that. Plus, it was the physical part. We had to run and exercise. It was quite a deal.

RS: And you were in your, how old were you when you went to, around how old were you when you went to the academy?

MN: Gosh, I guess probably in my 50’s. I’d have to think about it.

RS: Are you serious?

MN: Yeah.

RS: And you were having to go through all the physical aspects of that. Oh, man!

MN: I didn’t enjoy that part.

RS: Oh, my gosh. Well, that’s interesting. Okay, well let’s, unless you have any other particular stories you would like to share, because I just had a few that your kids had shared with me. Is there any other stories you would like to share about being 01:11:00in law enforcement?

MN: Well, one of them, kind of funny when I look back on it. I was patrolling and I had an auxiliary officer with me. We drove down what used to be the Bob Webb’s Grocery. And when we come down the street, I pulled in there, and it was a late night, so I shined the spotlight on this door, like the loading dock. And it was up about that far and I noticed that wasn’t right. So, I got out, walked over there and it was frozen chicken laying there. I said, uh, something’s going on here. So, I told this auxiliary, you take the police 01:12:00car and get it out of here, and go up to the police department and get all the guys surround this place, but don’t do a siren.

RS: Right.

MN: I said, stay hid. So, I told him, what I’m gonna do is get inside and wait for them to come back because they’re gonna try to make another load here. And sure enough, I heard them coming, and they slid it up and come inside like that and then they shut it back down. When they done that, I waited until they got away from the door, and I flipped the lights on and held my gun on them. This one guy, he peed in his britches. They already 01:13:00knew I would shoot, you know.

RS: Yeah, you were known for shooting, huh?!

MN: This guy kept saying, don’t shoot me Mr. Newell, don’t shoot me! Well, the other guy was a big, big heavy guy, and he run back to the meat department and come back out, and he had a butcher knife. I shot at him and missed, and he run to the front door where the other officers knew what was going on by that time. They run to the front, and this guy jumped through the glass door.

RS: Oh, my gosh!

MN: That was Bobby Nichols. He was an officer then. Doug Nichols’ brother. He hit this guy and knocked him 01:14:00plum back inside and handcuffed him. The next day we called, well, we called Bob out, Bob Webb, who owned the grocery store, that night. And the next day, he was laughing. He said, come here and look. When I had shot at this guy, I had shot a hole in his beer case.

RS: Oh, no!

MN: He wasn’t mad. He was laughing about it. And, so, that was a funny one.

RS: So, they were just there stealing groceries?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Oh, my gosh!

MN: And they’d already got away with no telling how much.

RS: Oh, my goodness!

MN: And we tracked it down. The kid that give up. He was crying, and like I said, wet his britches, and he told us where they’d taken it. 01:15:00And right down there at Cape Drive area, they had, they wasn’t but about a block and a half from the store, where they had taken it.

RS: Where they’d taken it.

MN: Yeah.

RS: Well, my goodness! And then you shot beer, you shot the beer cooler.

MN: Yeah, the bullet went in…I missed him and shot the beer.

RS: Well, I’m going to ask you a little bit about your family. Now, I know that you were married to, you said Bernice Newell, which that’s Stacie and Shannon and Thad’s mom, right? And then, and then your current wife is Barbara.

MN: Barbara Ann Beistle [Barbara “Bobbi” Ann Beistle Newell] was her maiden name.

RS: Okay. And then your kids, can you tell me your kid’s 01:16:00 names?

MN: My own?

RS: Yes, all of them.

MN: Tim [Timothy Michael Newell] and Tom [Thomas Ray Newell 12/4/1968] and Thad [Thaddeus Paul Newell 1/24/1985] were mine.

RS: Okay, and then you also had, your step-children were Stacie [Stacie Freitas 3/27/1976] and Shannon [Shannon Martin 7/20/1980]? Okay, alright. And then, do you have, I guess, I’m sure you have grandchildren.

MN: Yeah.

RS: Do you have a whole lot of grandchildren?

MN: Well, not just a bunch, they were all boys.

RS: All boys!

MN: Except just here a while back about three or four months ago, my grandsons by Tom, him and his wife had a little girl.

RS: Finally had a little girl, huh? Well, my goodness.

MN: That’s the first little girl, and of course, everybody is doting over her.

RS: Well, I bet.

MN: Quite a deal. 01:17:00RS: Okay, so I wanted to also talk to you about rodeoing. I know that’s been a big part of your life, and obviously, you’ve wanted to be a cowboy and have been a cowboy your whole entire life. Now, when I talked to you, you said whenever you competed in rodeos, you did bull dogging? Is that right?

MN: First, my first entry was bareback bronc riding. I done that and was making money. I broke my collar bone, and so, my mother, I hadn’t gotten married yet.

RS: How old were you, do you think you were around that time when you were?

MN: About 17, 18 01:18:00something like that.

RS: So, you’re bareback riding. You’re making money and you break your collar bone and your mom.

MN: She talked me into, she begged me not to ride no more. So, I quit that, and I had a good friend, Harley Bethel. We rode together a lot just having a lot of fun. And he was a bulldogger. And he taught me all about bulldogging.

RS: So, then you got into that.

MN: Yeah, and I went professional. I joined the RCA, Rodeo Cowboy Association, and went into bulldogging. And I’d still do it today if I was able. I loved it.

RS: You loved it.

MN: Yeah.

RS: So, how long would you say you competed doing that? 01:19:00How many years?

MN: About six or seven years, something like that.

RS: So, was that MN: I was on the police department.

RS: And still doing it?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Oh, wow!

MN: I had a guy that would fly me when I entered somewhere and knew I couldn’t get back to do my shift, well, they’d hop in a plane and we’d fly out there and I’d ride somebody else’s bulldogging horse.

RS: Right.

MN: I’d compete and then I’d come back on the plane and RS: Oh, my goodness.

MN: I’d work my shift.

RS: So, you were all in, weren’t you?

MN: Right.

RS: So, did you have any particularly harrowing times rodeoing? Where maybe you got hurt or had any crazy things happen?

MN: Well, I broke my ribs a few times. When you’re bulldogging, that left horn comes in there 01:20:00like that, it will whack your ribs, you know.

RS: Right.

MN: If you’re riding the horse right. I never did get hurt.

RS: Doesn’t sound like you had any fear in any aspect of your life.

MN: No.

RS: You were ninety to nothing in all things you did.

MN: I don’t know.

RS: And then I also understand you were involved in the Round Up Club and that you played an integral role in restarting the ag and the FFA program here at Bristow. Can you tell me about that?

MN: Well, at that time, we didn’t have the FFA. They had, they had done away with it. And, so, we got a 01:21:00petition going and it wound up being FFA again [indecipherable] Vo-Ag.

RS: And is that when Mrs. Stephens [Joe Stephens] was hired?

MN: Yeah, yeah he was the first teacher.

RS: Do you remember around what year that would have been?

MN: No, I know my oldest boy, Tim, he just got to compete one year. And then, Tom, then Tom was in it for several years until he graduated. And then Thad, he was in it. It was a good deal. 01:22:00RS: Right. And then what did you do with the Round Up Club?

MN: Well, I was still a member, I guess. I don’t go to the meetings. They call it, I’m a member by proxy or something.

RS: Right.

MN: Yeah, you know I don’t have to pay my dues no more.

RS: Right, right. Okay, well now I want to talk about your band, and it’s called Prairie Grass?

MN: The first one, I’ve had two or three, but the one just before this we called, well doggone it. We were a cowboy band, and we went all over playing cowboy music, 01:23:00like the Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry and all of them.

RS: Right.

MN: I went by myself a lot of the time when we was out of state, but Lubbock, Texas they had the National Cowboy Symposium, and we got invited to go down to that. That was kind of like Grand Ol’ Opry.

RS: Right. It was a big deal.

MN: Yeah. So, we played that, well, we played just about everywhere. Several states.

RS: And, so, how long would you say you’ve been in a band?

MN: Oh, gosh. 01:24:00RS: Pretty much off and on your whole life?

MN: Yeah. Really joined up and started a band when I was on the police department. I don’t even know what we called ourselves then, but we played at the Elks Lodge.

RS: Just enjoyed playing.

MN: Yeah.

RS: And, so, your latest band is the Prairie Grass?

MN: Prairie Grass.

RS: Okay.

MN: That name come up, we was up at Owasso [Oklahoma], and it come our turn to play, and we were just a bunch of guys getting together having a good time and kind of jammin’.

RS: Right.

MN: And they come back there about three minutes before time for us to go on stage and said, what’s the band name? And I looked around and said, my gosh, bluegrass 01:25:00and all that. I said, how about Prairie Grass? I said ‘cause we do a little bit of cowboy music and a little bit of bluegrass. So, that stuck.

RS: Well, that was quick thinking, wasn’t it?

MN: It had to be.

RS: And, so are you still actively playing with them?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Do you play frequently?

MN: Yeah, we don’t make a lot of money doing it, but we have fun. We played just a couple weeks ago at the Rainbow Nursing Home. About wherever they ask us to come. We played out the Freeland.

RS: The Freeland Center?

MN: Several times, yeah.

RS: So, you’ve played pretty much everywhere then, haven’t you?

MN: Right.

RS: Well, like 01:26:00I had mentioned before, I hear that you like a poet, a song writer, sounds like just a writer in general. How do you, did anything inspire you to be that or where did that come from would you say?

MN: Well, I’ve always like the cowboy music like Sons of the Pioneers, [indecipherable]. I went to a couple of the cowboy poet deals, and I didn’t pay that much attention but I got interested in it and was doing it, so.

RS: So, do you have quite a few poems and songs and stuff that you’ve written? Do you have a collection?

MN: Yeah.

RS: Is that something you are going to save for your family?

MN: Yeah, most of it. I’ve done a few of them, you know 01:27:00 [indecipherable].

RS: Right. And I’ve even asked if you would play a song for us maybe at the end of the interview. We are about to wrap up the interview, but I would love it if you would play a song at the end if you wouldn’t mind.

MN: I will.

RS: Okay, okay. Well, I’m going to ask you a couple more questions and then you can play us a song. These might make you think a little bit. I’m wondering what you would consider to be the most important invention of your lifetime. 01:28:00MN: Invention?

RS: Yeah, like what, so like a lot of people, you know, this wouldn’t apply to you, but some people would say the automobile or the radio or electronics or what would be, can you think of what would be the most?

MN: That would be a broad area, because everything, you know, is changed.

RS: So much.

MN: So much.

RS: Right.

MN: It probably would be automobile, cars, pickups.

RS: So, how do you feel that things have changed in the world since, say, you were a kid growing up? What’s the biggest difference?

MN: Oh, gosh. I don’t know how to answer that one. Things have just changed so much. When I look back, you know, everything, everything has changed.

RS: Do you wish that there were some things, that were maybe have carried over more 01:29:00from when you were growing up that maybe we have lost as a society now?

MN: I guess you could say computer.

RS: Right.

MN: I’m not a computer person. I hate it. And cell phones.

RS: Right.

MN: I mean everybody texts. They don’t even call anybody anymore. They just text. I don’t like that at all.

RS: So, you wished it was more like it was back in MN: I just refuse to do it.

RS: You still got the flip phone, don’t ya?!

MN: Yeah, I still got the flip phone, you know I just if somebody texts me, I just don’t answer it.

RS: Well, I knew to call you and not text you. So, and this might be another hard question for you, but I’d be interested to see what you have to say. 01:30:00What do you feel is our nation’s biggest problem right now, and how do you think we can solve it?

MN: Well, that gets into politics, mostly. If we don’t, if we don’t get a new president, whether it’s Biden, well, it wouldn’t be Biden, probably Trump. It’s changed a lot in four years since Trump got beat the first time. We’re right on the verge of third world war. And open borders. Millions pouring into the United States, and there’s no way that we can support 01:31:00all that, you know. It’s just bad, really bad.

RS: So, then you feel like our biggest problem right now is lack of leadership?

MN: Right.

RS: Okay, alright. I can’t say that I disagree with you. And, then, I also wanted to ask, thinking about historic events, such as the Oklahoma City Bombing, 9/11, natural disasters, even covid, have any types of those things directly affected your life that you can remember?

MN: Probably be covid. My wife and I both got the covid because we didn’t take the shots. But 01:32:00I guess that’s, I was in the hospital but my wife didn’t go, but I had to go.

RS: So, you ended up in the hospital with it?

MN: Yeah.

RS: And was that like when it first happened in ’20?

MN: Yeah.

RS: So, you were pretty sick, then.

MN: Yes, and it was just bad. They put me in Hillcrest Hospital and they didn’t even have a room for me. I laid on a gurney outside in the hallway, you know, for days and days. Finally, got a room, and then they put me in a regular room. By that time, I was feeling pretty good and I checked myself out.

RS: You were ready to go.

MN: Yeah, I came home.

RS: Have you had any after ill-effects from, having it? 01:33:00Or did you recovery fully?

MN: Pretty well. I haven’t had [indecipherable].

RS: Well, good.

MN: Had a lot of broken bones.

RS: Well, you’re not supposed to have broken bones, either!

MN: And they all came from rodeoing and just home, stuff around the farm.

RS: Right. Yeah, because, yeah I can imagine. Well, is there anything else you would like to tell us or any wisdom you would like to share for future generations?

MN: Well, I think the most important thing anybody can do is accept the Lord, Jesus Christ.

RS: Amen! I love that answer.

MN: I think that’s the most important thing they can do. 01:34:00We are in a bad situation right now.

RS: I agree. I agree. Well, I think I like that answer. Well, I just want to tell you thank you. Your interview will become an important part of our oral history archives for the museum. I really appreciate you taking the time to visit with me. Now I’m wondering if we can get you to play us a song.

MN: Yeah, I can do that.

RS: I’m hoping that this microphone cord doesn’t get in your way. If you need to, you can unclip and set it on the table.

MN: I’ll have to scoot back a little bit.

RS: Yeah, you can scoot back.

MN: Okay, this 01:35:00is just an old. [Sings] RS: Oh, that was awesome! I’m going to have to get you to come play at my house! Thank you so much, Mr. Newell!

MN: Well, I’ve enjoyed it. I hope it helps you out in some way.

RS: Absolutely! Well, thank you so much for your time and thank you for singing for us.

MN: Okay, thank you.