David Barnett

00:00:00Regan Siler: 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 September 5, 2024 and I'm sitting here with David Barnett 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. Can you please state your full name?

00:00:24David Barnett: David Leroy Barnett.

00:00:26Regan Siler: And do I have permission to record this interview?

00:00:28David Barnett: Yes.

00:00:29Regan Siler: Okay. Can you tell me when and where you were born?

00:00:34David Barnett: I was born in Bristow, I believe, at the Sisler Clinic in April 15, 1950.

00:00:42Regan Siler: 1950, okay. Can you tell me about the people in your family? Um, let's start with your parents. Can you tell me their full names?

00:00:53David Barnett: William Dotson Barnett, born in November of 1920. Syble Marie Horn Barnett, born in January of 1920. I said on Dotson, did I say '20?

00:01:08Regan Siler: Is it 1914?

00:01:10David Barnett: Yes.

00:01:10Regan Siler: Because I have, I have for your dad.

00:01:12David Barnett: I was thinking '14 and said '20.

00:01:14Regan Siler: I have your dad as 11/12/1914 and then I have your mom as 1/15/1920.

00:01:21David Barnett: Right.

00:01:22Regan Siler: Does that sound right?

00:01:23David Barnett: Yes.

00:01:23Regan Siler: Okay. And what type of work did your parents do?

00:01:28David Barnett: Well, most of their life, they were sharecroppers with my grandparents. My dad and all of his brothers and sisters started out as sharecroppers with their parents, and my dad was the last of the siblings to drop out of the sharecropping in 1947.

00:01:50Regan Siler: Okay. So, has your family always been here? Or do you know when they came?

00:01:55David Barnett: They came around the time I was born. I was last of seven children, and the only one born in Bristow. They lived down south of Holdenville. The last place was south of Holdenville, actually south of Spalding, across the south Canadian River, and my brothers and sisters had to walk across the swinging bridge to get to the school bus.

00:02:22Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness. So, how many and you have, how many siblings?

00:02:26David Barnett: Have three brothers and three sisters.

00:02:27Regan Siler: And you're the baby.

00:02:29David Barnett: I'm the baby.

00:02:29Regan Siler: You're the baby. Okay, well, can you tell me, can you tell me all their names, just so we'll have that on record?

00:02:36David Barnett: Yes. Charlene Fairchild is the oldest. Evelyn Cheatwood is the second child. Darryl Dotson Barnett was the third child. Ralph Barnett was the fourth child and Jimmy Dale Barnett was the fifth child. And then Marilyn Hight, it was my baby sister, but she's still older than me.

00:03:01Regan Siler: Right, right, and then there and then there was you.

00:03:03David Barnett: And then there was me.

00:03:04Regan Siler: Okay, um, so when you were growing up, did you have much family that lived nearby you?

00:03:12David Barnett: Yeah, a lot of the family lived around here, but primarily our my Grandma Horn and her and Grandpa Ben were separated, so she lived with us till she passed when I was about 10-years-old.

00:03:28Regan Siler: Okay. And that would have been your mom's parents?

00:03:31David Barnett: My mom's mom.

00:03:32Regan Siler: Okay, okay. Um, well, let's talk about your childhood a little bit. Um, do you remember having any favorite toys or games that you played as a youngster?

00:03:47David Barnett: No. There was not a lot to the family was dying, living in a 2-1/2 room house, was you played outside with whatever you could find.

00:03:57Regan Siler: Right, right. Well, I had talked to Stacey [Stacey Barnett Shields] a little bit, and she said that it was like you were a teenager before you had, like, indoor plumbing?

00:04:09David Barnett: Yes. When my, actually, we got running water at the house in the early 60s. My brother in law, Conrad Fairchild, came back, and Ralph was on leave, and they put a pump and a well house on the well. Up to that point, you pulled it with a rope.

00:04:31Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness. So, there was nine people living in...how big would you say your house was?

00:04:38David Barnett: Well, when, when granddad died in '64, in '65 mom added on two rooms. And after taking out closets, those two rooms that were the living room and the bedroom in the shotgun house, were not huge bedrooms./

00:04:57Regan Siler: Right.

00:04:58David Barnett: So, I would say 15x15 or 16x16 size rooms. In the kitchen, I remember is it had a the dining room table. When we sit down to eat, you slid into the seats. There wasn't, the kitchen was not big enough.

00:05:18Regan Siler: So, was it like a bench that you sat on?

00:05:20David Barnett: Well, no, it was chairs, but

00:05:22Regan Siler: You just had to scoot in?

00:05:23David Barnett: Yes, it wasn't a huge.

00:05:26Regan Siler: Right.

00:05:27David Barnett: It became the bathroom and the laundry room when she added on, and that's when we got indoor plumbing in '65.

00:05:35Regan Siler: In '65. And then Stacey also mentioned that whenever you had company, you had to sleep outside?

00:05:42David Barnett: Well, we slept outside a majority of the summer because we didn't have air conditioning and yeah, so I don't remember what year it was, but my aunt and uncle, who also had seven kids, moved back from California and stayed with us most of one summer. And, so, it was just about 10 years ago, Ralph laughed and said it was a good night when you got to sleep in the back seat of a car.

00:06:15Regan Siler: Oh, my gosh!

00:06:17David Barnett: So, yes.

00:06:18Regan Siler: So, what was your bedding? I mean, like, what did you sleep on when you had to sleep outside?

00:06:22David Barnett: Rollaways. We had a couple of rollaways that, you know, would fold up and be in the house.

00:06:27Regan Siler: Did you get eat up by mosquitoes?

00:06:29David Barnett: Probably. I don't remember them being as bad as now, but, yeah.

00:06:35Regan Siler: Oh my gosh. And you, I guess, you didn't worry about, like, animals or?

00:06:38David Barnett: Well, yeah, I wasn't a fraidy cat, so, yes, I did. One of the most, most memorable night is the cow got out and I felt something up over my face, breathing about three inches away from my face. Needless to say, I was scared to death.

00:06:57Regan Siler: Oh, and it was a cow?

00:06:59David Barnett: It was the cow, yeah, but it was so close I couldn't tell what it was. It was big and scary.

00:07:05Regan Siler: Oh my gosh, that's crazy. Um, well, did you have chores that you were expected to do as a youngster?

00:07:12David Barnett: Well, yeah, a lot, not a lot, but we did have a milk cow, and I got up before we went to school and milked. And mom sometimes milked in the evening, because she worked like five until one or something.

00:07:30Regan Siler: And, so, you said you were

00:07:32David Barnett: Mom worked in a restaurant cooking, or cafes around Bristow, cooking.

00:07:36Regan Siler: Okay.

00:07:37David Barnett: Until she retired.

00:07:38Regan Siler: Okay. So, have you lived in Bristow your entire life?

00:07:43David Barnett: Yes.

00:07:43Regan Siler: Okay.

00:07:44David Barnett: Except for the time that we lived in Stillwater for a year after I graduated from OSU from 1970 until '74.

00:07:53Regan Siler: Okay.

00:07:53David Barnett: Lived in actually '71 to '74.

00:07:57Regan Siler: So, whenever you were a kid, did you have like friends that came over and played, or did you mainly just play with your siblings and cousins?

00:08:05David Barnett: Well, there was typically kids lived down in the bottom of a hill.

00:08:11Regan Siler: So, where was your house at?

00:08:13David Barnett: Out on the path, on the road, at the dead end road past the old Assembly of God church. You go over there and go all the way to the dead end. It was the next to the last house.

00:08:26Regan Siler: Oh, okay. And how and so, how long was that like your family home for how long?

00:08:31David Barnett: Well, Mom bought it off the Blackwells. The Blackwells moved to town, and she purchased it when they moved to Bristow. Would assume that it was probably in late '49.

00:08:46Regan Siler: Okay.

00:08:50David Barnett: Blackwells moved over on Seventh Street, and Ruby Ritchie, her parents, that's where Ruby and Ruby

00:08:59Regan Siler: Oh, okay! I didn't know that.

00:09:00David Barnett: Yeah, Ruby Ritchie, there the Blackwells were pretty close. We were more like cousins.

00:09:07Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:09:08David Barnett: So, yeah.

00:09:09Regan Siler: So, was the, was the refinery and everything out there at that time.

00:09:13David Barnett: The refinery finally closed in 1958.

00:09:16Regan Siler: So, it was out there for part of the time you were there.

00:09:19David Barnett: There was the tank farm was there for a few years past that, the big tanks like over at Cushing, but there was, I think, seven big tanks out there, directly south, across from us.

00:09:33Regan Siler: Okay, um, did you have any favorite activities or hobbies as a child that you can remember?

00:09:41David Barnett: Not in particular.

00:09:43Regan Siler: So, like, what did you like, what were some things that you did as kids? Like, I knew you had to play outside. So,what, what were some things that you would do?

00:09:50David Barnett: Well, you tried to build toys out of scraps the best you could. You know, I remember making little hay bales to go on the truck.

00:10:05Regan Siler: You had to use your imagination is what you're saying.

00:10:08David Barnett: That and the scrap the down on the tank farm, as we called it, there was a dump, and people dumped stuff in there.

00:10:16Regan Siler: You found treasures.

00:10:17David Barnett: So, we found some scraps that worked. My first bicycle was built out of scraps from, from down there, and rode it to town a lot of times. No fenders. So, when it was raining, you know, you didn't want to ride too much.

00:10:40Regan Siler: Okay, do you remember collecting anything as a child?

00:10:46David Barnett: No, not really.

00:10:47Regan Siler: Not really? Okay, well, let's talk a little bit about your school life. I guess you attended Bristow for grades one through twelve?

00:10:54David Barnett: Yes.

00:10:55Regan Siler: Okay, um, do you remember having any influential teachers?

00:11:01David Barnett: Oh, I had a lot, you know, probably in the most influential was Carolyn Foster.

00:11:08Regan Siler: A lot of people mention her.

00:11:10David Barnett: Well, hers was more direct influence than others.

00:11:13Regan Siler: Right.

00:11:16David Barnett: I went to work in the seventh, eighth grade, an hour a day for List Motors across where the south end of Bolin, Mainer Ford is now, and worked for him for an hour a day. And then my last three years in high school, I worked for Mancel Murphy. Most of the time, I worked 40 hours a week.

00:11:42Regan Siler: Wow!

00:11:44David Barnett: Five hours a day, Monday through Friday, and then 10 hours Saturday and Sunday.

00:11:50Regan Siler: So, what did you do that young working for List Motors?

00:11:54David Barnett: Just sweeping the floor and cleaning up.

00:11:56Regan Siler: Stuff like that and then, so, what did you do at the other job?

00:12:00David Barnett: For Mancel? It was the gas station down on Fifth Street, Champlain gas station, where Fifth and Main.

00:12:09Regan Siler: Okay.

00:12:09David Barnett: For the repair shop, or, you know, it's been a golf cart.

00:12:15Regan Siler: Okay, yeah, right, right. Okay. So, that was a, that was a gas station?

00:12:20David Barnett: Yes.

00:12:21Regan Siler: Okay.

00:12:23David Barnett: Noel [Noel Propst] had the gas station at Fourth and Main.

00:12:25Regan Siler: Right.

00:12:26David Barnett: It was a Phillips 66.

00:12:27Regan Siler: Right.

00:12:28David Barnett: He had, originally, had with Bill Farha, Sr. had the location the Champion Sation.

00:12:35Regan Siler: Okay, so, you work there for 40 hours a week as a young person, plus went to school?

00:12:44David Barnett: Yes.

00:12:44Regan Siler: Wow, that's impressive!

00:12:47David Barnett: But, I don't know if it was impressive, but it was reality.

00:12:51Regan Siler: Well, yeah, I guess you do what you have to do, huh?

00:12:54David Barnett: Yes. And still got up and milk the cow. Mom didn't sell the milk cow until we went off to college. That's my favorite story. I still got up before school to milk the cow or work every day.

00:13:08Regan Siler: It's kind of like my dad never got a riding lawn mower until after we left home. We always had two push mowers. Well, do you remember how you got to school?

00:13:21David Barnett: Walked most of the time.

00:13:22Regan Siler: Walked? Okay.

00:13:24David Barnett: That's kind of like selling the milk cow. The school bus started coming up to the end of the road the very week that I got my car, and I was sixteen. So, up to that time all of the kids walked.

00:13:38Regan Siler: Always had to walk.

00:13:39David Barnett: Well, we could go down and catch the bus down there. There was an old freight dock down there, where the road that goes up to McDonald's, right behind the road that goes back right behind the where they're building the new Casey's.

00:13:53Regan Siler: Uh huh.

00:13:54Regan Siler: Oh!

00:13:54David Barnett: Right on the east side of that there was a freight dock. And we could go down and catch the bus right there.

00:14:00David Barnett: But, you know, we could start later and get there quicker by walking up the railroad track.

00:14:07David Barnett: Yeah, I can't remember which ones, but yes, a couple of them, yes. And then last couple of years, I was on, I was a treasurer, or whatever, for the, I don't remember what it's called now.

00:14:07Regan Siler: Right. Okay. Um, were you a member of any clubs or organizations when you were in school?

00:14:32Regan Siler: Well, so I mean, did you like school? Did you enjoy school?

00:14:35David Barnett: Mostly, yeah.

00:14:36Regan Siler: Did you have a favorite subject?

00:14:39David Barnett: Well, probably math because it was easiest for me.

00:14:44Regan Siler: Right.

00:14:46David Barnett: My best math teacher was in middle school, Tom Miller. He was the best math teacher including college whoI ever had.

00:14:55Regan Siler: Really?

00:14:55David Barnett: And he was the hardest, by far, of any teacher, math teacher I ever had. Had a lot of good math teachers, but Tom Miller was the, was the best math teacher.

00:15:08Regan Siler: I probably could have used Tom Miller.

00:15:10David Barnett: Well, you might not have. Maybe it was a tie on hard between him and Neva Gurley.

00:15:18Regan Siler: Okay.

00:15:19David Barnett: She was tough.

00:15:20Regan Siler: She was tough also?

00:15:21David Barnett: Yeah, but he was, I think, a better teacher, but she was a really strong math teacher. That was in elementary school.

00:15:31Regan Siler: Right, okay.

00:15:32David Barnett: And then Carolyn [Carolyn Foster] asked me when I got in high school if I thought about a career in banking. And at that time, I didn't. I didn't even have a checking account until I got my car. I had to, you know, a car loan. But

00:15:46Regan Siler: So, did you have any idea what you wanted to do at that time? Or was that kind of like, what in the world, whenever she asked you that?

00:15:51David Barnett: No, I, for some reason, I decided that I wanted to get a college education. None of my brothers spent much time in high school. Most of them dropped out.

00:16:05Regan Siler: Really?

00:16:05David Barnett: Early years of high school.

00:16:08Regan Siler: And just, like, went to work or?

00:16:11David Barnett: Work and/or goofing around.

00:16:15Regan Siler: Okay.

00:16:18David Barnett: All three of my sisters graduated from high school, but none went to college,

00:16:24Regan Siler: So, you just felt driven to do that? That was something you wanted?

00:16:27David Barnett: Yeah, for whatever, I have no idea why.

00:16:29Regan Siler: You're not sure why. Okay.

00:16:30David Barnett: And I went to OSU, so.

00:16:32Regan Siler: Yeah, okay, do you did you enjoy reading? And if so, like, what types of books did you like to read?

00:16:39David Barnett: No, there wasn't much time for reading, and I really wasn't much into reading.

00:16:40Regan Siler: Okay.

00:16:44David Barnett: Learning other ways, but yeah, not reading.

00:16:46Regan Siler: You were more into mathing.

00:16:49David Barnett: No, I just, math because it was easier.

00:16:52Regan Siler: Easier, okay.

00:16:53David Barnett: You know, it was one thing you could accomplish, so.

00:16:55Regan Siler: Right, okay, um, well, we've talked a little bit about the house you grew up in. I would like to kind of circle back to that. Um, obviously, if there was at least nine people living there, you probably had to share a room with a lot of siblings, I'm guessing.

00:17:12David Barnett: Yes.

00:17:12Regan Siler: Okay.

00:17:13David Barnett: Yeah, well, there was a bed in the living room. That was one of the pieces of furniture in the living room.

00:17:17Regan Siler: Was a bed.

00:17:18David Barnett: Mom and grandma slept in it.

00:17:20Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness.

00:17:21David Barnett: Then, generally, I think they put a, at night, put one of the rollaway beds in, in the living room.

00:17:29Regan Siler: I don't even see how, in which, I know, you know, probably back then, just probably didn't have as much stuff as what we have these days, of, like, where you'd even put anything with that many people.

00:17:37David Barnett: We didn't even really have clothes. There wasn't much stuff.

00:17:47Regan Siler: Yeah, there just wasn't much stuff. Okay, well, what were meal times like for your family?

00:17:54David Barnett: Well, I don't know. My oldest sister got married when I was five. She had her first child by the time, I was an uncle, by the time I was six.

00:18:04Regan Siler: Oh, wow!

00:18:05David Barnett: My sister, Evelyn, is the one and Grandma Horn, pretty much, took care of me, you know. And then mom was there of an evening, so meals were usually simple, you know.

00:18:20Regan Siler: But did everybody like sit down at the table, or were you guys kind of scattered?

00:18:23David Barnett: Well, by the time, you know, meals were a big deal, then, to get one was great. I mean, we didn't go hungry, but I'm just saying, it was a big deal.

00:18:36Regan Siler: Times were tight.

00:18:37David Barnett: Yes, and yeah, I think when we're younger, we sit down at the table pretty much in order to get your share.

00:18:49Regan Siler: So, did you have to help with meals? Did you have to do the cleanup? Did your mom teach you how to cook?

00:18:55David Barnett: I don't remember doing much of the cooking or cleaning when I was younger.

00:19:00Regan Siler: Is it because you were the baby?

00:19:03David Barnett: So others said. Not my opinion, siblings opinion.

00:19:09Regan Siler: Right. Well, do you remember having, like a favorite meal that your mom cooked?

00:19:14David Barnett: Probably fried chicken.

00:19:16Regan Siler: Fried chicken.

00:19:17David Barnett: We, typically, only got meat on Sundays,

00:19:20Regan Siler: So, that was a treat.

00:19:21David Barnett: Oh, yeah.

00:19:23Regan Siler: And then what about did you have any sort of favorite desserts or anything that she fixed?

00:19:28David Barnett: Yeah, apricot pie, probably. I like chocolate cake, but it was too sweet. It I did, unfortunately, I grew out of it, but I couldn't eat a lot of sweets when I was young. Well, I mean, I would eat dill pickles with the chocolate cake because I liked it so much, but to kill the sweetness.

00:19:47Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness.

00:19:48David Barnett: So, that sounds really, really weird, but it was, you know, I remember I could only eat, I liked pecan pie, but two bites and I was done.

00:19:55Regan Siler: So, I know that you're kind of known for cooking. Did you inherit that from your mom, you think?

00:20:01David Barnett: Well, I think so. I really didn't start cooking a lot until after Ellen and I got married in 1970, so I was 20 years old and stuff.

00:20:12Regan Siler: And your mom worked in cafes around town, different cafes. Was she known at any I mean?

00:20:18David Barnett: Oh, yes.

00:20:19Regan Siler: Okay.

00:20:19David Barnett: Yeah, it was, she was one of the real good cooks. Fact is, I don't know whether she invented the recipe, but the recipe for the Lions Club pancake batter.

00:20:32Regan Siler: I was going to ask you about that.

00:20:33David Barnett: Passed from me to her or that's from her to me. But unlike today, I had to apprentice 10 years before she would let me do the pancake batter on my own.

00:20:47Regan Siler: She had to make sure you were worthy.

00:20:49David Barnett: Well, and that, yes, that came in handy years later, because we were still doing it at the Highway Cafe, and the Highway Cafe burned.

00:20:59Regan Siler: Okay.

00:21:00David Barnett: Well, the recipe was four heaping sifters of flour. Alright, as you know, there's different sized sifters. It turns out, it was probably a three cup sifter, heaping made it four cups. Turns out four cup there's exactly 16 cups of flour and five pounds of flour. So it's basically five pounds of flour and a gallon of milk. But we did, that wasn't the way you put it together from her.

00:21:30Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

00:21:32David Barnett: But I knew enough about the recipe that I could convert it, and so we've still been carrying on with the recipe.

00:21:39Regan Siler: That's cool. That's neat! Stacey had told me to ask you about the Lions pancake recipe and how that, how that came about. So, she worked at the Highway Cafe, and then

00:21:53David Barnett: I worked lunches at the Highway Cafe for my lunch in eighth grade.

00:21:58Regan Siler: So, you worked there to get your lunch?

00:22:00David Barnett: Yeah, they fed the students, and I work, fed, I took the students orders and then, then got my lunch for serving the orders for the students. So, the last 15 years or so she worked was at the Highway Cafe. Might have been a little longer than that. Probably the last 20. Before that, she worked for Thelma Groom (ph) at the Harvey House, which is the part of the building where Dr Schafer's office is.

00:22:27Regan Siler: Okay, okay, at the Harvey House.

00:22:30David Barnett: His, his office was where Ford Hardware used to be.

00:22:33Regan Siler: Well, it seems like there was a lot more, so I moved here in the early 80s, and it seems like Bristow has seen a lot of change in from then to now, but it seems like back prior to that, that there was a lot of really neat stores and the places to eat, and

00:22:57David Barnett: There was a lot of cafes. There wasn't really restaurants. They were, you know, 25 foot wide cafes.

00:23:04Regan Siler: Right.

00:23:06David Barnett: Yeah, the Highway Cafe was owned by the Bush's, and they owned the locker plant right next door to it.

00:23:16Regan Siler: So, is that where, because my husband's grandpa was Duan Stiner, is that?

00:23:22David Barnett: Yes.

00:23:23Regan Siler: Where he

00:23:23David Barnett: He bought it.

00:23:24Regan Siler: Okay.

00:23:24David Barnett: He bought it from, he didn't bought it from the Bush's.

00:23:27Regan Siler: Okay, well, that's interesting.

00:23:29David Barnett: Yes.

00:23:30Regan Siler: Okay, um, let's see.

00:23:34David Barnett: But back in the day, the, we would get a whole hog, and they would grind the sausage. We had fresh sausage for, for pancake breakfast. Where now we use the FFA sausage.

00:23:48Regan Siler: Right.

00:23:50David Barnett: Because we actually moved the date up and before the FFA hogs sale from after the premium sale.

00:24:01Regan Siler: To where you can use the sausage.

00:24:02David Barnett: Could buy one and use it.

00:24:04Regan Siler: Oh, well, that's good.

00:24:05David Barnett: And after the Highway Cafe went out, the Stubblefields grounded for us for a few years. It's like Jimmy Dean sausage, whole hog!

00:24:16Regan Siler: Right. Um, well, thinking back to like town life growing up, what were some of your favorite community activities, as like, you know, say, during your school age, probably more like teenage years. Like, I'm thinking like Western Heritage Days, or day camp, parades, county fairs, like, can you tell me about any of that?

00:24:36David Barnett: Western Heritage Days. I never attended day camp.

00:24:39Regan Siler: Okay, so tell me about Western Heritage Days. What was that like for you?

00:24:44David Barnett: Well, it was a big deal. I mean, you know, it was a lot more people in town, and lasted a lot longer.

00:24:49Regan Siler: Right.

00:24:50David Barnett: And it was a big deal even after I moved back and went to work at the bank, you know, there was, it was a lot bigger.

00:25:00Regan Siler: Right.

00:25:01David Barnett: Well, and many is there wasn't as many people had air conditioners, so the hot August didn't bother them like it does now.

00:25:07Regan Siler: Right. We're soft now!

00:25:11David Barnett: Yeah, exactly!

00:25:13Regan Siler: Okay, um, well, what were some of the biggest and most popular businesses around town that you remember?

00:25:20David Barnett: Well, Strong's Hardware had been here for Eddie Strong had Strong's Hardware.

00:25:25Regan Siler: Okay.

00:25:27David Barnett: Didn't really walk up and down Main Street a lot. We went to the Holiness Church when I was younger, so we walked all the way down to railroad track and then to church.

00:25:40Regan Siler: So, was it located at the same location that it is now? Okay.

00:25:45David Barnett: Generally, somebody gave us a ride home, but we, typically, walked.

00:25:49Regan Siler: Had to walk there. Okay, I was going to ask if you had a favorite place to eat out, but I'm thinking maybe that didn't happen a lot, or it was your mom cooking for you.

00:25:59David Barnett: Well, we didn't eat a lot. Probably, when I'd go to the doctor in Tulsa, we'd sometimes get a hamburger at the, it was over 20 near 21st and Riverside on 21st near Riverside, this big hamburger place.

00:26:18Regan Siler: I almost think someone else in a recent interview told me about the same place.

00:26:22David Barnett: Yeah, can't remember what.

00:26:23Regan Siler: Oh, shoot.

00:26:25David Barnett: I don't, you know, Burger King was popular back when in when I was younger or not, Burger King, that down on the

00:26:33Regan Siler: Hamburger King?

00:26:34David Barnett: Hamburger King was popular, but I never ate a hamburger there. And, then, Jack Abraham had there on Fifth Street, where the, basically, the empty lot is next to Shooter Shop.

00:26:49Regan Siler: Yes.

00:26:50David Barnett: Jack Abraham had a diner that served a lot of coffee, you know, that was more my teenage years. But I don't know how long he'd been there.

00:27:04Regan Siler: Okay.

00:27:05David Barnett: But

00:27:06Regan Siler: Well, did you have any favorite places to hang out as a teenager? Like, say, when you started driving and you were hanging out with your friends. Like, where were some of places you would go?

00:27:15David Barnett: Well, we went to Teen Town on Saturday night.

00:27:17Regan Siler: So, what is teen town?

00:27:19David Barnett: It was down there, probably where the empty lot is, is it on Ninth Street, on the north side of the street, across from

00:27:34Regan Siler: So, where the where the Historical Society's lot is?

00:27:38David Barnett: Yeah, but it was on past the alley between Historical Society's lot and where the housing is there on Ninth Street, there was a building, Teen Town.

00:27:49Regan Siler: Teen Town, tell me about that?

00:27:51David Barnett: Well, some of the local kids had bands that played in there sometimes, and there was music. Lester Brace's wife was one of the, she was there every time the doors opened, and kind of kept it going, so.

00:28:07Regan Siler: Well, in all the interviews I've had, no one has mentioned that. I find that odd. So, it was just a place for kids to hang out. And it, and it worked, I guess, there wasn't mischief or?

00:28:20David Barnett: Well, I don't remember there being any unusual mischief, because it was Teen Town, but you had to have somebody like Mrs. Brace over it. And there was another lady, but I can't, for whatever reason I can't remember.

00:28:33Regan Siler: So, so there was actually people like kids bands there that would play?

00:28:38David Barnett: Yes, one of the bands, the two Abraham brothers, Jack and Bobby, Mike Bishop and Buddy, Buddy. His dad had the garage there on Fifth. It was before

00:29:07Regan Siler: Farris?

00:29:08David Barnett: Farris, Buddy Farris.

00:29:09Regan Siler: Okay.

00:29:10David Barnett: Yes.

00:29:12Regan Siler: And, so, they had a band?

00:29:13David Barnett: They had a band, and they tried to revive it years later.

00:29:19Regan Siler: It didn't work?

00:29:20David Barnett: Well, you may want to cut this out. Kattie's mother was a waitress at the old Hamburger King, and The King of Swing.

00:29:42Regan Siler: Oh, gosh.

00:29:43David Barnett: Anyway, came through a lot of times. A lot of the big bands and stuff came through because it was on Route 66.

00:29:48Regan Siler: Right.

00:29:50David Barnett: And, supposedly, on her death bed, she told Kattie that, that he was her father.

00:29:58Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

00:29:58David Barnett: And, so, then, Buddy being the grandchild, and then I remember going out to the Elks Lodge when the Abrahams and Buddy, and I don't know whether Mike was in on that group, but they, you know, tried to rekindle their heritage from what they thought was their heritage.

00:30:19Regan Siler: So, well, that's cool.

00:30:20David Barnett: I mean, I don't know that any of that as a fact. The reason I said you might want to cut that out.

00:30:24Regan Siler: Right, right. No. I mean, that's fine. Um, well, do you remember where you got most of your clothes? Did your did your family make it? Did make your clothes? Did you buy your clothes?

00:30:36David Barnett: No, most of mine if I remember right were hand me downs.

00:30:40Regan Siler: Hand me downs.

00:30:41David Barnett: Yes.

00:30:42Regan Siler: So, did your older siblings get clothes? Or did someone in your family make those?

00:30:46David Barnett: I don't remember. Yeah, I think in the younger days, some of them were made, especially the girls. But you'd wear what was available. Don't really remember much how we got them other than

00:31:01Regan Siler: You just had them. Okay. Well, do you remember your family's first car, what it was?

00:31:11David Barnett: Yes, it's a '54 Chevrolet.

00:31:13Regan Siler: '54 Chevrolet. Did you ever get to take any vacations or anything in it?

00:31:17David Barnett: Oh, no.

00:31:18Regan Siler: No.

00:31:18David Barnett: See, mom worked 365 days a year. Was rarely off at all.

00:31:25Regan Siler: So, she just worked all the time.

00:31:27David Barnett: Yes.

00:31:27Regan Siler: Okay, um, do you remember what your first car was?

00:31:31David Barnett: A '62 Ford Fairlane. Actually, it was probably the '54 Chevy, but that was driving it messed up the front end of it. And that's when I got to '62 Ford Fairlane. And turns out my brother in law fixed the '54 Chevy, and my sister drove it for 20 years. It was, it was a good car.

00:31:55Regan Siler: It was a good car.

00:31:56David Barnett: Well, Bill Shattuck's dad, Mama told him to be looking for her car, and he took us on a test drive, and he said,you'll think this is salesman's talk, but you'll have to, actually have to, probably, if you stop at a stop sign, you'll have to roll down the window to tell if the car is still running. And I remember doing that in front of the Baptist Church at Sixth and Chestnut. Is that old six cylinder was just so quiet.

00:32:29Regan Siler: It was so quiet.

00:32:30David Barnett: Yeah, there wasn't a lot of stuff on it. I mean, back in the day, you can't open the hood. You could see a lot of empty space.

00:32:37Regan Siler: It was, yeah, right. It was pretty basic. Well, do you remember how you purchased it, or, by chance, how much it cost?

00:32:45David Barnett: I don't. I remember my car was $800.

00:32:51Regan Siler: The Ford, the Ford.

00:32:53David Barnett: The Ford

00:32:53Regan Siler: Fairlane. And how did you did you have to, I guess, work to make those payemtns?

00:32:59David Barnett: I was working at Champlin's (ph) so I made the payments, and it was forth-some-dollars a month.

00:33:04Regan Siler: That's crazy. And then you look at what cars cost now, and it's like, oh my goodness.

00:33:09David Barnett: Well, and then when Ellen I got married, I remember buying a second car. We bought a '61 Chevy, big, biggerChevy. It wasn't an Empala, but it was the next one down, and we gave $100 for it and drove it, like, four or five years.

00:33:26Regan Siler: Oh, my gosh!

00:33:28David Barnett: So, yeah, it was a fine car.

00:33:31Regan Siler: Uh yeah, it sounds like it!

00:33:33David Barnett: Until we bought a '67 Toyota and and that replaced the Ford Fairlane.

00:33:41Regan Siler: So, you went with a foreign car, huh?

00:33:44David Barnett: Well, it was, it was a good car, good mileage, and, basically, it was built just like the old 50s Chevy underneath. I knew that from servicing so many vehicles down at Champlin, so

00:33:59Regan Siler: Do you remember who taught you how to drive?

00:34:02David Barnett: I don't. I remember when granddad passed away, of course, I was 14, and we had his, we inherited his old pickup, but the battery was bad, so we kept it parked on the hill and would let it roll down and start it. And I took mom to work in in that until we bought the '54 Chevy.

00:34:26Regan Siler: And did you do that before you were actually able to drive?

00:34:29David Barnett: I was 14.

00:34:31David Barnett: And the police met us at the, well, they met her at the Highway Cafe every morning to open up. And, you know, I was nervous they was gonna find out about me. I'm sure they knew!

00:34:45Regan Siler: They probably did know. So did you guys, what sort of entertainment did you enjoy growing up? Did you have a TV or?

00:34:55David Barnett: No, I bought the first TV from somebody that came by when, when I was at Champlin, so that would have been '66.

00:35:06Regan Siler: Oh, man, um, and that was for your family or for

00:35:11David Barnett: Everybody was out of the house, basically but me.

00:35:13Regan Siler: But you.

00:35:14David Barnett: Yes.

00:35:14Regan Siler: And you bought it? So, do you remember any of your favorite programs that you watched on it? Anything stick out to you?

00:35:25David Barnett: Again, I wasn't there that much, so there wasn't a lot of wasn't a lot of time TV watching.

00:35:31Regan Siler: Right, right. Um. So, what was medical care like for you growing up? Did you guys have a family doctor? Did you usually just try to handle stuff at home or?

00:35:41David Barnett: We had a family doctor, but mostly, if we had something, we went to Dr. Czeskleba (Clayton Czeskleba) in Tulsa.

00:35:48Regan Siler: Czeskleba.

00:35:49David Barnett: Yes.

00:35:50Regan Siler: Do you know how to spell that?

00:35:53David Barnett: Cz something.

00:35:54Regan Siler: Okay.

00:35:57David Barnett: He was at

00:35:57Regan Siler: So, you went all the way to Tulsa?

00:35:59Regan Siler: Oh, wow. Okay.

00:35:59David Barnett: He was at the Sisler Clinic, yeah, yes.

00:36:05David Barnett: I had a major medical emergency when I was three. I fell off of the gate and shattered my hip.

00:36:16Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

00:36:17David Barnett: And they wouldn't take me at the Sisler Clinic.

00:36:22Regan Siler: Because it was too serious?

00:36:24David Barnett: Well, we didn't have any money. I don't know why, why. I mean at three I don't know why.

00:36:28Regan Siler: Yeah, okay.

00:36:29David Barnett: But the county commissioner took me in his car to the Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City, and I was in there and in traction for six or eight weeks.

00:36:42Regan Siler: And as a three-year-old, that had to have been horrible. Do you have much memory of it?

00:36:48David Barnett: No, the only memories I had, there was two nurses, white nurse was mean and snake, and there was a black nurse that was my angel.

00:36:57Regan Siler: Oh, that would have been, I mean, that had to have been hard on you and your family to have to be away for so long, too.

00:37:06David Barnett: Oh, yeah.

00:37:07Regan Siler: Did you, so did your, if your mom had to work all the time, who stayed with you at the hospital?

00:37:12David Barnett: Uh, probably nobody.

00:37:14Regan Siler: Are you serious?

00:37:14David Barnett: Um, I don't remember, but probably nobody, yeah.

00:37:18Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness! So, then did you have to have follow ups after that I'm guessing?

00:37:22David Barnett: Yeah, she would, I don't remember exactly what was a follow up or my dad was institutionalized before I was born. He had his last mental breakdown before I was born. So, I remember going on the train, just vaguely, we would go to Shawnee, and she had a cousin down there that had family wealth, only family people in my family that ever had any kind of wealth.

00:37:41Regan Siler: Right.

00:37:43David Barnett: And one of the memories when I, you know, 3, 4, 5-years-old, was getting store bought donuts and dunking them in coffee at his house. So that was

00:38:11Regan Siler: That's one of those core memories that sticks out to you, because that was a big deal, I'm guessing.

00:38:15David Barnett: Yes, yeah, it was really a big deal. Mom made the cinnamon rolls and stuff. She was famous for, and donuts. I need to make my grandkids some donuts, because I've never made them the donuts out of the cinnamon roll dough. Well, but I've made a few cinnamon rolls.

00:38:30Regan Siler: You've made a few cinnamon rolls. Well, if you ever need anybody to try one, I'm game.

00:38:36David Barnett: Well, you need, you need to be available on Christmas. I usually do have about 16 or 18 batches.

00:38:43Regan Siler: Oh my gosh!

00:38:44David Barnett: Including the ones, sometimes, for the bank open house, so.

00:38:48Regan Siler: Okay, well, I'm going to mark that on the calendar, though.

00:38:52David Barnett: But you need to come and get it fresh, because that's when it's best.

00:38:54Regan Siler: Right out the oven. Um, well, I was going to ask if you had any serious illnesses or epidemics or anything like that that you remember growing up, but obviously breaking, shattering your hip was pretty major. Can you think of anything else that was rough on you or your family during growing up?

00:38:59David Barnett: Not a lot. I got sick every few months, the you know, and kind of grew out of that. I don't know what caused it.

00:39:26Regan Siler: Sick, like, how?

00:39:27David Barnett: Sick at my stomach, and be real, really, really sick for a day or two, and then

00:39:32Regan Siler: Then you'd be okay. So, what made you guys end up traveling to Tulsa to see the doctor that I can't say his name?

00:39:39David Barnett: Well, Czeskleba, he was the doctor at the clinic here.

00:39:47Regan Siler: But you would go to Tulsa to see him?

00:39:49David Barnett: Yeah. Probably wasn't a lot of doctors here.

00:39:53Regan Siler: Right. And, so, that's who you remember seeing. Um, so then you you mentioned that growing up, you attended the Holiness Church. Do you have much memory of like, what a service was like, or maybe what was your favorite part of church?

00:40:12David Barnett: Well, I think we traveled with others. They had youth nights. You know, you'd go to other churches like Burnett Wick Mission (ph) and Highway Mission and Paden, and a few churches around here.

00:40:27Regan Siler: Okay.

00:40:28David Barnett: And they had the camp meeting out here, north of town.

00:40:31Regan Siler: Right.

00:40:32David Barnett: That was always a big, big deal where

00:40:36Regan Siler: So, a lot of that's been going on for a long time then.

00:40:38David Barnett: Mm-hmm, well, but you know, it used to be the different location than it is now.

00:40:43Regan Siler: Right, right. Um, so what were holidays like with with your family, for instance, tell me, what a typical Christmas was like for your family when you were younger? Do you remember?

00:41:01David Barnett: Yeah, it would evolve around food. Mom made sure we had food, and, usually, a big spread, and

00:41:07Regan Siler: That was the big

00:41:08David Barnett: Multiple desserts.

00:41:09David Barnett: No, gifts were not

00:41:09Regan Siler: Right. So, was there very many gifts? Or did you guys make each other things?

00:41:17Regan Siler: It was mainly around the food.

00:41:21David Barnett: One of the things that my sister got me, the only gift that I remember, and she was mad at me till she passed, is she got me some underwear that had the heroes, you know, the comic book heroes, and I was so proud of them. So, when Connie came over, her to be husband came over, the first time I had to show him my underwear. Embarrassed her to death.

00:41:55Regan Siler: That's great. What were those called, like Underoos or something, maybe?

00:42:04David Barnett: That was 70 years ago. It was before Underoos.

00:42:08Regan Siler: Oh, that's funny!

00:42:09David Barnett: Really wasn't that many pairs of underwears that had anything other than white.

00:42:14Regan Siler: White, right.

00:42:16David Barnett: That's why they called them tighty whities.

00:42:17Regan Siler: Tighty whities. Okay, well, do you remember celebrating were, were any other holidays in your family a big deal, aside from Christmas and Thanksgiving?

00:42:26David Barnett: Thanksgiving? Yeah.

00:42:27Regan Siler: Okay.

00:42:27David Barnett: And seems like Easter was a big deal.

00:42:31Regan Siler: Um, do you remember as a child ever thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up?

00:42:42David Barnett: No, I really didn't spend even when I went off to college, I didn't.

00:42:46Regan Siler: You still didn't know. So, even when you were little, you didn't think, oh, I want to be a veterinarian?

00:42:52David Barnett: No, never, any of that.

00:42:53Regan Siler: Never thought of that. And you still didn't know what you wanted to do, even when you were in college?

00:42:57David Barnett: Yeah, I really didn't spend a lot of time thinking about it, you know,.

00:43:00Regan Siler: So, what did you go to college for?

00:43:02David Barnett: Well, I ended up getting personnel management was what I got my degree. They changed my degree five times while I was there. Of course, I was there for two years, and then Ellen and I got married, and I went the spring semester, and then I finished up in two years. So, took a total of five years to get through there. But my degree ended up being in organizational analysis, which was a systems approach to personnel management. And I was in college, I ran like the [indecipherable] the computer stuff was just coming out. I ran, like the you went in, wrote your programs and put them on punch cards, and then put that the punch cards ran through to build your program, so.

00:43:58Regan Siler: Wow!

00:43:58David Barnett: So, wow, yeah!

00:43:59Regan Siler: Wow! And it's funny talking to you that I think Stacey inherited, Stacey is a lot like you, isn't she, in her the way she thinks. She's like my Excel spreadsheet go-to person when I need help with math or Excel or anything like that, she always helps me.

00:44:18David Barnett: Well, it was kind of interesting. Didn't really talk about family history and dad's issues, other than mom took us to see him when she could, until around 1985 when we was in the 80 in her early 80s, she talked about it.

00:44:38Regan Siler: So, you didn't know?

00:44:39David Barnett: I didn't know a lot. I mean

00:44:41Regan Siler: Is that something you want to talk about in this interview, I mean?

00:44:44David Barnett: It doesn't matter.

00:44:45Regan Siler: Okay.

00:44:45David Barnett: It's, you know, I've talked about a lot more lately.

00:44:48Regan Siler: Right. So, what so, feel free to tell me about that.

00:44:52David Barnett: Well, then when he passed, my aunt brought the, she had the tickets for when they sold out, they had $2,500 peanut crop and $2,800 worth of sales on their farm equipment, or vice versa. In '47 is when they sold out. So that's what mom used to buy the house with her portion of it.

00:45:21Regan Siler: And, so, was your dad just not around for the time that you grew up?

00:45:26David Barnett: Yeah, he was institutionalized. He was a ward of the state. He was, he had a mental breakdown and ran off to California, and they brought him back.

00:45:36Regan Siler: And, so, he wasn't around at all when you grew up?

00:45:38David Barnett: Not at all.

00:45:39Regan Siler: So, it was your mom and your sisters then.

00:45:42David Barnett: Right.

00:45:42Regan Siler: And grandma that that helped to raise you.

00:45:45David Barnett: Right.

00:45:45Regan Siler: And so did you it? You said it wasn't until later on that you actually would go and see him or visit him?

00:45:51David Barnett: No, we went to see him multiple times. I mean, once or twice a year. But, that was about all, you know, because he was typically

00:46:00Regan Siler: Did you understand that as a kid, or was that confusing for you?

00:46:03David Barnett: I, you know, one of the things that I always felt grateful for is I never felt like I missed anything.

00:46:12Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:46:14David Barnett: You know, it was just, it's just the way it was.

00:46:17Regan Siler: Well, I think, you know, it's when that's how you grow up and you don't really have anything to compare it to,that was your normal.

00:46:26David Barnett: Right.

00:46:27Regan Siler: And, so, did it ever get to where you had much of a relationship with him as you, as time went on?

00:46:34David Barnett: No, that history, they moved him a couple of times without even notifying where they moved him to. And one year, one time, they moved him out to Elk City or somewhere, and it took a year for mom to locate him.

00:46:49Regan Siler: Are you serious?

00:46:51David Barnett: But, then, in the 80s, or late 80s, or whatever, I got a call in the middle of night, and they said, I need your permission to do surgery on your dad.

00:47:06Regan Siler: So, you would have been in your 30s?

00:47:09David Barnett: Yes.

00:47:09Regan Siler: Okay.

00:47:10David Barnett: And, well, I might have been older than that. Yeah, would have been in my late 30s. And I said, well, you've never even asked before, but yeah, go ahead and do surgery. Well, just so happened, I had a relationship with Dale Dickens, who worked for DHS. This was back for before you had to have all the paperwork to, you know, he came in if somebody applied for DHS, he came in to get their bank information. Anyway, I called him and asked him what my options were, and he said, well, if they'll take him down here at the nursing home, just when they check him out of the hospital in Ada, have the ambulance bring him here, and then we'll do the paperwork. So, we got him up here to Bristow at that point, and

00:47:58Regan Siler: So, he went to Rainbow or?

00:48:00David Barnett: Yes.

00:48:00Regan Siler: Okay.

00:48:01David Barnett: And as luck would have it, my father in law's significant other, Bonita Bishop, was over the head of nursing at Rainbow. And she said, yeah, well, we can handle it. So, we had him up here until then. He knew all of his brothers and sisters names, but he didn't know any of the children by face, even though we went to see him. The best way I could describe it, he knew me as somebody he knew he should know. That sounds like double talk.

00:48:35Regan Siler: No, no, I get what you're saying. You were familiar to him, but he didn't really know why you were familiar to him.

00:48:43David Barnett: An additional piece of history came from Goldie Stice, was a nurse, and she went down and gave him shots, and he could name all seven of his children. And, so, that's how we learned that from him. We had very little. I mean, even when you asked him questions, it was usually about two questions, and you got no more responses when they're there.

00:49:12Regan Siler: Do you mind if I ask what, like, what was his diagnosis, or what what was?

00:49:14Regan Siler: Well, mental health was not good diagnosis.

00:49:15Regan Siler: Right.

00:49:15David Barnett: The only

00:49:16Regan Siler: So, in later years was it more like dementia that was maybe?

00:49:21David Barnett: No.

00:49:24Regan Siler: It wasn't that.

00:49:29David Barnett: When he got up here, Vanita said, well, he's over medicated. Well, it turns out they've only given him, in a quarter, quarter of an adult doses of medication. But, it, it caused him the ticks like the other over medicated, where people over medicate themselves, but he got to where he could play dominoes and keep score.

00:49:52Regan Siler: So, do you feel like he got maybe a little better when he came to Bristow?

00:49:56David Barnett: Yes, definitely.

00:49:56Regan Siler: Clearer, maybe?

00:49:57David Barnett: Well, clearer, just none of the that 40 years in there was gone, basically. But he could still if his brothers and sisters came to see him, he knew them. Of course, they were adults. When, you know, he had a an internist, it one of the medical deals that he went to. He had an internist that said he's had three major traumas to the brain, and that any one of them could have caused this. Well, he was a surveyor for the government and had a heat stroke out in the corn field.

00:50:35Regan Siler: Oh, my gosh!

00:50:36David Barnett: That one of the other ones, he fell off the tractor and hit his head on the plow that we knew about. And the third one was back in the day. The hay baling equipment was stationary, so you pitch forked it in, and the pitchfork hit the belt came back and hit him in the head. So, that would account for the three major traumas, but that's the sum of what we know. We took him over to Creoks once and Creoks, when he walked across the room, said he's schizophrenic. Well, if you know anything about schizophrenia, it doesn't manifest itself. He may have very well been schizophrenic, but it doesn't manifest itself outwardly, typically,

00:51:18Regan Siler: Right. So, so remind me then, now that I have a little more history, at what age so was he never at home for or like at what age do you ever remember him being at home?

00:51:30David Barnett: No, he was institutionalized by the April of 1950 before that, probably late.

00:51:36Regan Siler: And you were born in '50?

00:51:37David Barnett: Probably late '49.

00:51:39Regan Siler: So, you never had him. You never had him. Oh, my gosh. So, I bet that was, like, extremely hard on your mother too, trying to raise a family, a big family.

00:51:49David Barnett: Well, it was. And some of his family, not all, but some of his family blamed her for it. But the one part of the story that doesn't get told often, and it may cause, but the judge, when he was going to make him a ward of the state, asked him, Mr. Barnett, what do you think? And he said, I don't know, this woman's been beside me.Whatever she decides, I need. It's the way it will be.

00:52:26Regan Siler: And, so, was it her decision then?

00:52:30David Barnett: Well, they concurred, but I'm just saying, they had that much belief in each other.

00:52:37Regan Siler: Right, and you don't feel like maybe that was expressed enough to the other side of the family?

00:52:42David Barnett: Oh, I don't think it was ever expressed.

00:52:44Regan Siler: Right.

00:52:45David Barnett: In later years, some of the other cousins started a family reunion, and, you know, we had great family reunions with the family. But, I mean, but, or in those early years, other than my Uncle Herbert, dad's brother, I don't ever recall any of the other family coming to see her.

00:53:09Regan Siler: Right, right. So, do you feel like, then, it was a good thing that you were able to get him back here for his, I'm guessing, did he pass away at Rainbow?

00:53:18David Barnett: Well, mom is already in the nursing home at that point. So, yes, it was a good thing for both.

00:53:23Regan Siler: Oh, so they were together?

00:53:25David Barnett: Well, they weren't in the same room, but they was together, and she could check on him everyday. So yes, it was

00:53:30Regan Siler: So, they were, basically, reunited then?

00:53:32David Barnett: That's correct.

00:53:33Regan Siler: Well, that's good. That's good. Um, that was a long, a long journey, though, to get there. Yeah, and so did they both pass away at Rainbow?

00:53:43David Barnett: Yes, she passed away first, and then he had, probably, four or five, what I call panic attacks, and I would go down and take him to the hospital, and by the time the doctor got there, but I mean, like I said, when I said he's somebody, he knew he should know.

00:54:02Regan Siler: Right.

00:54:03David Barnett: By the time the doctor got there, the panic attack would be over, and he, you know, the diagnosis always well, he's got good

00:54:12Regan Siler: He's fine.

00:54:13David Barnett: Vitals for person his age.

00:54:15Regan Siler: Right. Well, it probably was, and then you being there probably comforted him.

00:54:21David Barnett: Yeah.

00:54:22Regan Siler: Um, was there any other parts of that story that you want to share? Because that wasn't anything that you know, I really knew to ask about, but that's, it sounds like a, obviously, a very important part of your history.

00:54:34David Barnett: Well, I don't know how much, yeah, one of those times we took him out there, there was young, well, not young, but the lady intern doctor that looked after him and, and she said, she's asking me, said, well, you know, some questions. And I said, I don't know. You know, kind of like when they moved him up here they were, what kind of foods he like? I said, I don't know, other than hamburgers, because we always took him to get a hamburger. He would eat a hamburger, but she asked him, you know, because he could answer some questions, what day it was and all that. She looked at me like, fine son you are to care much about your dad.

00:55:18Regan Siler: But you didn't know, because he wasn't there.

00:55:20David Barnett: Well, but then she asked him, so Mr. Barnett, who's this guy? And he said, I don't know. And she could have crawled under that gurney.

00:55:29Regan Siler: Then she realized.

00:55:30David Barnett: Well, I don't know she ever realized, but she, she kind of got part of the story that he had no clue who I was.

00:55:38Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:55:39David Barnett: And I didn't know that much about him, other than I looked after him, so.

00:55:44Regan Siler: So, was that tough on you to go back and take care of him in later, later life, when he wasn't somebody that, you know, had ever been in your life?

00:55:53David Barnett: No, really wasn't.

00:55:54Regan Siler: Or do you feel like that helped you?

00:55:56David Barnett: Well, I don't. I can't say either one.

00:56:00Regan Siler: Just something you felt you needed to do?

00:56:02David Barnett: Okay. It's kind of one of those things that when he passed, there was not a big loss. And the thing that I gained from that is, if you know, if you ever lose somebody, and you feel a big loss, then be grateful.

00:56:02David Barnett: Right.

00:56:21Regan Siler: That's a good point. That's a really good point. Yeah.

00:56:25David Barnett: Is, you know, that you had a relationship that causes you

00:56:29Regan Siler: To feel the loss.

00:56:30David Barnett: Yes.

00:56:31Regan Siler: Yes, I understand. Well, well, is it alright if we circle back a little bit to your college life? Because we, we kind of skipped past that a little bit, too. Um, so you decided to go to OSU?

00:56:46David Barnett: Yes.

00:56:47Regan Siler: That took about five years, you said, to get, get through that. Um, did you enjoy your experience at OSU?

00:56:54David Barnett: Yeah, I attended as many athletic events as I could. You know, of course, back then, it came with the you didn't have to pay extra,

00:57:01Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:57:02David Barnett: It was a freebie.

00:57:04Regan Siler: Yeah, right.

00:57:05David Barnett: And they even had freshmen football, so the freshmen weren't on the team, so.

00:57:10Regan Siler: Oh! So you enjoyed your experience there then?

00:57:14David Barnett: Yes, I worked at a Champlain Station up there for the first or second year. I worked, you know, from four to midnight and then

00:57:25Regan Siler: So, did you pay for your college? Or did you have scholarships or?

00:57:29David Barnett: Well, I got a scholarship from eighth grade. I think it was history teacher. I can't remember the name of that, but it was $100 scholarship.

00:57:46Regan Siler: Oh, my gosh!

00:57:48David Barnett: But then I had, in generally, I paid for my own scholarship, or I had two thousand dollar student loans when I got out.

00:58:04Regan Siler: That you had to pay.

00:58:05David Barnett: So, you know, basically the extra I paid for everything besides the $1,000.

00:58:10Regan Siler: Right. Okay, well, and then whenever we had visited on the phone, I didn't realize that you, you know, I know you as somebody that's always been at Community Bank. I didn't realize, I didn't realize you had, like, an oil field business. So, can you tell us about that?

00:58:26David Barnett: Okay, yeah. Do you want to go back with all my other jobs first? Or you want to go straight to the oil business?

00:58:33Regan Siler: You just, you just tell us, you can start from, from all your jobs if you want to.

00:58:38David Barnett: Well, I worked down there during the winter I worked, but then the summer, I worked for the Turnpike Authority.

00:58:48David Barnett: Where they was resurfacing a quarter of each of the Turner Turnpike. And, the first two summers I worked in the scale house, weighing out trucks for the Turnpike Authority, and then the summer, the fall, but when we got married, I worked on the maintenance crew until December, I mean, [indecipherable]. And then in the spring, I went to work and I laid carpet with Mr. McKay. I went to school, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and we laid carpet Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. And that was about the time the carpet mill went out. So, there was people that bought a lot of there was some three different colors of shag carpet.

00:58:48Regan Siler: Okay.

00:59:44Regan Siler: And you installed a lot of it?

00:59:46David Barnett: Beige, two-tone pink and lime green.

00:59:49Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!

00:59:51David Barnett: So yes, and then, but I went back, and then I worked for Cummings Construction then still

01:00:03Regan Siler: Still on the Turnpike?

01:00:04David Barnett: Yeah. And then the summer after I graduated from college, I actually drove a lay down machine on the turnpike resurfacing.

01:00:11Regan Siler: Oh, you have you're jack of all trades, then, aren't you?

01:00:14David Barnett: Well

01:00:15Regan Siler: You can do a little bit of everything. But didn't you say that was it Mrs. Foster that called you?

01:00:22David Barnett: Well, yes. And then that fall, I interviewed with UPS and out of 60 applicants, I got the UPS job out of Stillwater, so.

01:00:34Regan Siler: Driving a truck?

01:00:35David Barnett: Driving a UPS truck. We actually, you the trailer came in when you got to work, you loaded your package car. I averaged 65 stops in 160 miles a day, and then you came in and always washed your package car in eight hours. Well

01:00:57Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

01:00:58David Barnett: Well, sometimes you had a little more than eight hours, but it, you know, generally that was

01:01:05Regan Siler: That was a heck of a work day!

01:01:06David Barnett: You was moving.

01:01:07Regan Siler: Yeah. And you only, you said you worked there about a year?

01:01:13David Barnett: Almost, well, and then about May of '74 I got a call from Arthur Foster, and he said, Lewis and I are getting older, and we need to add a trainee down here. And I was talking to Carolyn, and Carolyn said, what about that David Barnett? He ought to be out of school by now. So said, would you be interested in coming down and talking to us? So, I came down and talked to him, and, basically, took a 50% pay cut from UPS to go to work at the bank.

01:01:46Regan Siler: Oh, gosh!

01:01:47David Barnett: I did get a raise within the first couple of months, but don't ever regret that.

01:01:54Regan Siler: Right.

01:01:54David Barnett: And then I worked there from '74 till 1980 and got out. My brothers had started a oil field service business, and

01:02:08Regan Siler: And you said that was called Barnett Operations?

01:02:11David Barnett: Barnertt Operating, yeah. They had under that Barnett Power Tongs. And then they had, they bought out a cement and acidizing company and, and had a pump truck, and then we built two pump trucks, or had one built and built another one. So, we had three, three pump trucks and all related equipment. And by April of 1982 we had 52 employees.

01:02:46Regan Siler: That's quite a

01:02:47David Barnett: So, yeah, and then then Penn Square (ph) happened, and oilfield started south, and we couldn't pay off people. When we was down, by early '85, it was down to 14 employees, and so Doy Holderfield, one of the partners, took over the operation, and I went back to work for the bank. When I left the bank, I was cashier in marketing, and they split that out while I was gone. They had two people, both of them left, and I got my old job back which was both of their jobs.

01:03:34Regan Siler: Which was both of theirs.

01:03:36Regan Siler: Well, that is quite a, I don't know, going from oil field type management to, you know, back to the bank. That's, did you have a preference of, did you like one better than the other? Or was there they're just different, or?

01:03:36David Barnett: Yes.

01:03:54David Barnett: They were just different, the highs were higher and the lows were lower in the oil field.

01:03:58Regan Siler: In the oil field. I bet, I bet. And, so, then he went back to the bank, so tell me about the bank, since that's definitely kind of a Bristow icon. Tell me about your time at the bank and what that was like.

01:04:12David Barnett: Well, I became cashier, and then I was trained to be a loan officer, and and the cashier left that was there and, and I took the cashier position back, because cashiers were harder to find than loan officers so, so I was actually a cashier with three different times.

01:04:40Regan Siler: And you were there a total of 30 years? Is that right?

01:04:43David Barnett: Yes, I was there from '85 until the end of '20.

01:04:45Regan Siler: So, you saw a lot of changes during that time.

01:04:46David Barnett: Yes, well, you stop and think, when I came there the first time in 1974 the bank was 50 years old, and I thought it was had been there forever.

01:04:58Regan Siler: Forever.

01:04:59David Barnett: And so now, they are getting ready October 4th to celebrate their 100th birthday.

01:05:04Regan Siler: And I was fortunate enough back in May to interview Mr. Krumme before he passed away. And that was such an honor, because I've never met him, I, you know. And he was such a, just a, just a neat person, you know, and so full of he, my gosh, he's lived through so much life and had so much to talk about. It was a really I was I felt very honored that I got to talk to him before he passed away. So, did you have much involvement with Mr. Krumme over the years?

01:05:35David Barnett: Well, just he was on the board, and then the last 10 or 15 years, I was on the board, so I served with him. And, you know, he had a nice sense humor, and wisdom, as you found out.

01:05:54Regan Siler: Yes, yes. And can could recall dates, unlike any, I mean, I've kind of joked with him, and I said, I have the time. I can't remember how old I am, and you're rattling off dates like, I mean, he's just so was so sharp.

01:06:08David Barnett: Well, I have a couple of stories that he told at board meeting that you're free to cut out if you want to. They're not bad. But, one of them was talking about a number of people had purchased stock of the old Williams Company at 20 some dollars when they split out and did Williams Communication. And then it went down to less than $1 and, and, and then he was telling the story that he had bought back, well, it's actually more than that. But anyway, he had bought back some shares of Williams Company when it and when it went below $1 and then at that time it was back up to $25. So, there was an old television commercial, it was when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen. So, all the board members kind of leaned up listening. He said, you know, there's another company out there just like that today, and everybody's just listening intently. He said, If we only knew who it was!

01:07:20Regan Siler: That's funny!

01:07:21David Barnett: Well, and then you put it with the E.F. Hutton commerical that for years when E. F. Hutton talks, people listen. We was exactly that!

01:07:30Regan Siler: Oh, I bet that was funny!

01:07:33David Barnett: Funny to me. And the other one is that it was, you know, he was about 90 at the time. He said, beware of a man that tells you that he runs things in his family, because if he, if he says that, he'll lie to you about other stuff too.

01:07:50Regan Siler: Yeah, that's a good one, too.

01:07:57David Barnett: Beautiful thing about stories that they were so simple.

01:07:59Regan Siler: Yes!

01:08:00David Barnett: But, you know, the I love the logic.

01:08:03Regan Siler: Tes, oh, absolutely! And, and he just, I think the thing that I got from him, the the little bit that I got to talk to him, was just just such a kind gentleman. I mean, he was just such a, and just because I was kind of nervous to visit with him and, but absolutely put you at ease. And just a regular, just a regular guy.

01:08:28David Barnett: Oh yes. Well, he'd seen and done so much as I told you, you know, the state Democratic headquarters is the George Krumme building.

01:08:38Regan Siler: Yeah, yeah.

01:08:39David Barnett: You know, so it's not like he was

01:08:41Regan Siler: Well, I saw during the DNC that he was acknowledged. You know, so, I mean, you you have to be somebody to to be to be acknowledged on that stage.

01:08:52David Barnett: The DNC and the Democratic National he was kind of like Dorcas Kelly was acknowledged. Dorcas Kelly was from Bristow, and she was well known and international circle, too, in the Republican side.

01:09:04Regan Siler: Right. Okay, so back on, back on the bank, is there, do you miss it? I mean, do you were there a long time. Like people don't it doesn't seem like people really stay with companies that long anymore.

01:09:18David Barnett: No, I don't say I miss it, because I still have a lot of banking to do.

01:09:24Regan Siler: Right, right.

01:09:25David Barnett: And a lot of friendships there.

01:09:27Regan Siler: Right.

01:09:29David Barnett: You know, still connected. I still have the minority ownership in the bank, so it keeps me connected.

01:09:39David Barnett: Not completely out of it. And while I was there, I got to serve for a year or two on the other bank boards that the Sooner Southwest is the ownership now, and they own.

01:09:39Regan Siler: So, you're not completely out of there.

01:09:54Regan Siler: That's what he had mentioned.

01:09:55David Barnett: Yeah, they own three other banks. So, but I've got to serve on Security First National in Hugo, and so developed a good relationship with the people there. And then the same way with First National in Heavner and Poteau, so.

01:10:13Regan Siler: And then I think, haven't you served on some other boards in town? Was it the, oh no, I've lost.

01:10:22David Barnett: I was chairman of the United Way, is probably still United Fund at that point, and chairman of their, president of the Bristow Chamber. Both of those within a year after I came back to the bank.

01:10:39Regan Siler: And then on some other authority, weren't you?

01:10:41David Barnett: I've been on the Park Board since 1985.

01:10:44Regan Siler: Okay, maybe that's what it was that Stacey had mentioned. Okay, so you're, it's obvious that you're very community involved, and especially like through church. Which you attend First Church of God now? Right?

01:10:57David Barnett: Correct.

01:10:58Regan Siler: And how long have you been, how long have you been there?

01:11:01David Barnett: Basically, since it came in '74.

01:11:03Regan Siler: Since you came, oh, wow. So, you've been there a long time.

01:11:07David Barnett: We were married in the Nazarene Church.

01:11:10Regan Siler: I know you'd mentioned, and, and while we're, we can't get out of this without talking about your family, because I know your family is a super important to you. So, can you tell me what your spouse's full name is, and where did you meet her?

01:11:28David Barnett: Ellen Louise Propst [Barnett] and met her at school.

01:11:33Regan Siler: At OSU?

01:11:34David Barnett: No at Bristow.

01:11:34Regan Siler: Oh at Bristow. Okay.

01:11:37David Barnett: Her dad was Noel Propst, who had the service stations here. He had the Phillips down where Subway was, and then around 1970 he bought the station down where the donut shop is, and he had it until he closed it.

01:11:55Regan Siler: That's the one that I remember.

01:11:57David Barnett: Yeah.

01:11:58Regan Siler: So, what was your first impression of her when you first met her?

01:12:01David Barnett: That she was shy.

01:12:03Regan Siler: That she was shy?

01:12:04David Barnett: Yes.

01:12:05Regan Siler: Did you have to work to get her attention?

01:12:08David Barnett: No, I think she spotted me first.

01:12:10Regan Siler: Oh, is that how it was?

01:12:12David Barnett: Yeah, she tells a story of her dad had an old Jeep, and she, she and one of her cousins came to get fuel in the jeep so she could an get up close. Turns out, none of us could find the gas tank in the Jeep, and it embarrassed her to death. Well, I don't know anything about it, obviously.

01:12:38Regan Siler: Oh, that's funny. So, did you have, like, a long engagement? Did you have a

01:12:45David Barnett: Two, two plus years. I mean, it was, we was not engaged, but we went together for, yeah, by the time I went to OSU.

01:12:55Regan Siler: Did she go to OSU also?

01:12:56David Barnett: She went for a year.

01:12:57Regan Siler: Went for a year.

01:12:58David Barnett: The second year I was there.

01:12:59Regan Siler: Okay.

01:13:00David Barnett: And then we got married in August of that of '70.

01:13:03Regan Siler: So, August, what was the date? August?

01:13:06David Barnett: August 22nd.

01:13:07Regan Siler: Okay.

01:13:07David Barnett: You kinda tricked me.

01:13:08Regan Siler: I'm going to get you in trouble, aren't I? Um, so what was your did you have just like a normal wedding, or did,?

01:13:15David Barnett: Yeah.

01:13:16Regan Siler: And it was at the Nazarene church?

01:13:18David Barnett: Right. And it was a day that was one of the hottest days of the year.

01:13:22Regan Siler: Oh, gosh!

01:13:23David Barnett: Well, it rained that morning and it was only 88 but it felt like 120.

01:13:27Regan Siler: So, it was probably 120% humidity.

01:13:30David Barnett: Yes, yes, and no air conditioning.

01:13:35Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness! I didn't even think about that.

01:13:38David Barnett: And she just tells a story that one of the ladies after the deal said, well, honey, there was a fan down in the nursery you could have had when you were getting ready.

01:13:48Regan Siler: Oh, my gosh! So, you guys were probably about to die then?

01:13:50David Barnett: Well, yeah, well, I went to Stillwater and got my hair cut that morning, and so got the old fashioned razor cut. Lookin' good!

01:13:59Regan Siler: You were ready to go, weren't ya?

01:14:01David Barnett: Yeah, well, that was about all that was ready to go.

01:14:04Regan Siler: Well, so can you tell me, like, what your early years of marriage was like? Was it? Tell me about it.

01:14:12David Barnett: Just enjoyable. I mean, you know.

01:14:14Regan Siler: Did you struggle? Was it?

01:14:16David Barnett: Yeah, wasn't any, you know, I, like I said, I worked on the turnpike maintenance, and she didn't work that fall, and then worked on laying carpet, you know. So, we didn't have a lot.

01:14:35Regan Siler: Didn't have a lot?

01:14:36David Barnett: Didn't know we didn't have a lot.

01:14:36Regan Siler: But I think sometimes in the beginning, like that, when you don't know any different, I mean, it's, it's just how it is, and it's, I don't know, you're figuring it all out and having fun, you know?

01:14:37David Barnett: Mm-hmm.

01:14:49Regan Siler: So, you lived, did you live in Stillwater together for?

01:14:53David Barnett: Well, when we first got married, we had lived in the Corey's (ph) little rent house behind their house up at 10th and something just before you go in the new edition. Last little place for you go into the new edition.

01:15:09Regan Siler: Okay.

01:15:10David Barnett: Cute little house. She still talks about it, but the Judge Corey (ph) and his wife kept it up nice and and then Noel helped us, or bought a trailer for us, and we moved when we moved to Stillwater the following year. And, so, we lived in it, and then when we moved back to Bristow, three years later, the trailer is still sitting out there on the five mile road south of Kathy's [Kathy Bacon] house.

01:15:50Regan Siler: Is it really?

01:15:51David Barnett: Yes.

01:15:53Regan Siler: Oh, wow! Okay, and is that where you lived there?

01:15:56David Barnett: We lived there till we built a house in 1970, well, seven or eight, because Stacey [Stacey Shields] was about a year old.

01:16:08Regan Siler: And was that in town?

01:16:10David Barnett: 1228 South Hickory.

01:16:11Regan Siler: South Hickory, huh? Um, well, and since you mentioned your kids, tell me, tell me how many children you have and what their full names are.

01:16:21David Barnett: Stacey Lynn Shields and David Blake Barnett.

01:16:28Regan Siler: David Blake Barnett. Okay, and I have Stacey's birth date as 11/1/76 and Blake's as 8/18/79.

01:16:36David Barnett: Correct.

01:16:37Regan Siler: Is that correct? Okay. Can you think back to what the challenges were of being a dad, say, when they were little, or when you were a new dad?

01:16:49David Barnett: No, I, well, one of the things that I remember, you know, it was Stacey was probably six months old before, I mean, I enjoyed it immensely, but before I got over the nervousness of being a new dad.

01:17:03Regan Siler: Exactly. Of having a little baby that you had to be in charge of and take care of.

01:17:07Regan Siler: Yeah.

01:17:08David Barnett: Yes.

01:17:08Regan Siler: So, it took her till she's about six months before you could fully enjoy her?

01:17:12David Barnett: Well, I think I fully enjoyed her, but I still was nervous, yes.

01:17:17Regan Siler: Okay, um, it, but you can't think of any other challenges you just enjoyed, enjoyed being a dad?

01:17:22David Barnett: Yeah, well, you know, we talked about part of the raising is you just, mom, if she worried about what all she couldn't or didn't have or couldn't do, she just did what was necessary and kept, kept plugging.

01:17:36Regan Siler: Right, right.

01:17:37David Barnett: You know, and, so, that was very useful, you know, we, while I worked for UPS, we, you know, I paid off my student loans first year I was out of college. So, we lived and that was probably the best time we had money. She worked for a freight company there. They work from five in the morning until ten at night.

01:18:06Regan Siler: Oh, wow!

01:18:07David Barnett: Six days a week, except they take off early on Saturday, and they would drive over to, it was Joseph's before it was Freddie's at that time, and then it was later on, Freddie's. But anyway, back then, I started, that's kind of when I started cooking. I started making tabbouleh, because they like tabbouleh and I would share it with them. So, that was really one of the first things that I got proficient at.

01:18:37Regan Siler: So, now you're on the hook for tabbouleh and cinnamon rolls with me, because I love tabbouleh, too.

01:18:41David Barnett: Oh, you do?

01:18:42Regan Siler: Yes, I do.

01:18:44David Barnett: Well, if anything else you need.

01:18:46Regan Siler: I'm just going to go ahead and write my order out for whenever this is over.

01:18:50David Barnett: Do you like cabbage rolls, too?

01:18:51Regan Siler: Yes, I do. I love cabbage rolls.

01:18:54David Barnett: Well, I got the real thing there.

01:18:56Regan Siler: Oh, you do.?

01:18:57David Barnett: That's a story in its own.

01:18:59Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness, okay, well, and, so, while we're still on your your family, I know you have grandkids, so tell me how many grandkids you have and what their names are.

01:19:10David Barnett: I have six grandkids. Chapman Shields, Cooper Shields, Cyler Shields, Bryson Barnett, Carver, Barnett and Talus Barnett. And I have a bonus Riley Walker, grandson.

01:19:29Regan Siler: Okay.

01:19:29David Barnett: He has lived with the Shields since his junior year in high school, and he's the same age as Chapman, so. ages chat

01:19:36Regan Siler: Well, and now I also hear, that since you've retired, you've become quite the cattleman, and that you you're doing that some with your grandkids, with your grandsons?

01:19:46David Barnett: I'm an inadvertent cattleman. Noel left the cattle to the three kids, and Tony [Tony Bacon] kind of looked at the cattle, and Lowell [Lowell Propst], and they both passed away, so, that's why I say, I didn't mean to be a cattleman, but I am.

01:20:05Regan Siler: But you're liking it, aren't you?

01:20:07David Barnett: I like it. I like it because I get to spend time with my grandkids.

01:20:09Regan Siler: With your grandsons. And mainly, don't, don't Cooper and Cyler, aren't they the main ones that do that?

01:20:15David Barnett: Cyler is. Cooper's very helpful. All of them have helped to some degree. When we work them, most of them are there, including Riley. And, so, it's a

01:20:30Regan Siler: Family affair?

01:20:31David Barnett: Well, and very enjoyable. That's a neat time.

01:20:34Regan Siler: Well, good.

01:20:35David Barnett: You know, it's a

01:20:37Regan Siler: Because, if you remember, I took Cyler's senior pictures out there, and we were trying to herd cattle, to try to get some in the background.

01:20:44Regan Siler: Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I know that you're definitely a family man. I know that, like, you got you cook on Sundays. And you, you know, you got all the family there.

01:20:44David Barnett: [Indecipherable]

01:20:59David Barnett: We typically have most of the family there on Sundays, and maybe a few extra.

01:21:04Regan Siler: A few extras. I don't know, you might have me as an extra at some point.

01:21:09David Barnett: So, I need to invite you when I do cabbage rolls?

01:21:11Regan Siler: Yes, yes, absolutely. Um, okay, well, we've talked about the the Lions Club and the pancake recipe. Um, oh, it was the Industrial Authority. You were on the Industrial Authority.

01:21:24David Barnett: Industrial Authority and chairman of it for a number of years.

01:21:27Regan Siler: Okay, and then Stacey mentioned the old Chamber of Commerce that was on Main Street. You had mentioned that. Um, is there anything you want to add about either of those things?

01:21:41David Barnett: No, I don't know, you know it, it was just

01:21:44Regan Siler: One of the, some of the things that you were a part of.

01:21:46David Barnett: Mm-hmm.

01:21:48Regan Siler: Okay. Well, just as a fun question

01:21:51David Barnett: At some point, maybe we might go over some of the bank history that I remember.

01:21:56Regan Siler: Okay, well, go ahead, go right ahead.

01:21:59David Barnett: Well, when we came back to Bristow, Ellen worked for George Krumme's dad for a few months down at Krumme Oil Company.

01:22:11Regan Siler: Okay.

01:22:12David Barnett: And, so, she learned a lot of Krumme history from him, and so that helped, and then he was on the board when in '74, so there was a number of people, anyway, I can't remember all the people's names that was on the board back then. But then they, The Fosters, Arthur Foster and Lewis and Debbie Farha, Sr. were their primary stockholders of Community Bank, and they sold out to 92% of the stock was sold to five families, basically, board member families: George Krumme, Harlan Krumme, TP McAdams, who had McAdams Pipe and Supply, David Loeffler and the up north, the house that just burned behind Walmart.

01:23:27Regan Siler: Oh. Collins?

01:23:28David Barnett: Yeah, Roger Collins, yes. And, eventually, the stock, you know, they end up acquiring the rest of the stock. when in TP McAdams acquired one of the other interests, so he became a 40% shareholder, and when Roger Collins decided he wanted out, the Krumme brothers acquired 30% each. I think it was his stock they acquired.

01:24:09Regan Siler: Because, I was thinking, that's what George had said, that they ended up acquiring the majority of the stock?Was that correct?

01:24:15David Barnett: Well, and then, yes, and then when TP McAdams passed, basically, they acquired his share, so they basically the two Krumme brothers ended up being 100% shareholder.

01:24:29Regan Siler: Right.

01:24:30David Barnett: And they had acquired Anadarko Bank shares and Security First National, and then they did some estate planning and kind of split it out, and Harlan's family took their Anadarko Bank shares, and and George and his family took Security First National, Community Bank, and then in 1990 they acquired the two banks in Heavner. And then, five years ago, they acquired Oklahoma Capital Bank. It evolved from Community Bank shares to Sooner Southwest was the tier company and Sooner Southwest now owns four banks, so.

01:25:13Regan Siler: Yeah, okay, and I'm actually happy that I had visited with Mr. Krumme about that prior, because I kind of actually know what you're talking about. I have some, I have some background on that to understand what you're talking about. Um, was there any other history that you wanted to share about the Community Bank? Because it Community's just been such a, I mean, it's just always, it just seems like it's always been part of Bristow, you know.

01:25:42David Barnett: Correct. Yeah. No. It just, it kind of like the my life, we just, Community Bank kept plugging.

01:25:53Regan Siler: Yeah, exactly.

01:25:54David Barnett: Not making too many waves, you know?

01:25:57Regan Siler: Well, we love Community Bank. That's where, that's where we bank, and that's one thing that I told Mr. Krumme, I think the thing that I always loved about Community Bank and still do, is just the personal, the personal attention and the personal feel that you get whenever you you bank there. It's always been, it's always been, been our bank.

01:26:18David Barnett: Well, one of the things that I feel blessed, all the jobs I've ever had, I've never worked for anybody where they didn't try to do things the right way with the best of intention, you know. But didn't mean all the decisions were easy.

01:26:33Regan Siler: Right.

01:26:33David Barnett: But you never had to worry about compromising your principles to do business there. When I worked for Mancel and I worked for Noel, I never saw them put a piece of equipment or anything on a vehicle that they wouldn't have done the same thing on their own vehicle. And back in those days, gas stations were kind of like used car lots. They weren't really high up on the trust.

01:26:59Regan Siler: Right, right. You were infused with a lot of integrity throughout your life of working with the different the different jobs that you've had.

01:27:09David Barnett: Oh, yeah.

01:27:10Regan Siler: Which I feel like the world is lacking a little bit.

01:27:13David Barnett: Yes.

01:27:14Regan Siler: Now that's, that's good.

01:27:18David Barnett: Well, I mean, I never had any of them say, well, do that anyway. It may not be quite right, but, well, what's the right way to do it?

01:27:25Regan Siler: Right. Which is important. We need more of that now.

01:27:31David Barnett: Yes, well, you know, and I won't quote but I mean, I've had one of the owners says, well, we shouldn't violate the pig rule, because we can have more.

01:27:44Regan Siler: Right.

01:27:44David Barnett: Let's do the right way, right thing.

01:27:46Regan Siler: Right, right. Oh, that's yeah, I agree.

01:27:49David Barnett: I mean, that's pretty simple times, but yeah, really meaningful, I think.

01:27:52Regan Siler: Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, do you mind if I just ask you a couple of fun questions?

01:27:57David Barnett: Certainly.

01:27:58Regan Siler: Or I think they may be fun. I don't know. Um, what would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime?

01:28:11David Barnett: Probably the cell phone if I was guessing most

01:28:15Regan Siler: Good and bad.

01:28:16David Barnett: Yes, yeah, right, yes.

01:28:20Regan Siler: I can't disagree with that answer. How do you feel the world is different now than when you were a child?

01:28:29David Barnett: Well, because of the cell phone and the access to information, good information and bad information, it's completely different because, you know, some things that would not have been, you know,

01:28:47Regan Siler: Available?

01:28:48David Barnett: Right. You know, sometimes things are just better left unknown.

01:28:52Regan Siler: Well, and I mean, exactly, and I feel like now, like it's kind of a double-edged sword of you, you're, you appreciate the connection. But then sometimes you want to not be connected, you know, all the time, yeah, where I think back then, before all of that, you could just, you weren't constantly connected with everyone.But, but oddly enough, I think phones have have also disconnected us. You know, as far as in person, being able to communicate with each other.

01:29:20David Barnett: You know, I talked about when I was in college, doing the old punch card, yes, write the program. When I came back to the bank in 1985 they had acquired their first computer. It was a $20,000 computer. It took literally five to 10 minutes just to boot up.

01:29:45Regan Siler: My how things have changed.

01:29:47David Barnett: Well, and then it didn't do much.

01:29:48Regan Siler: Yeah, I know. Yeah, right.

01:29:51David Barnett: So, I'm just saying, and now what you have

01:29:54Regan Siler: Now, we have a pocket computer that we walk around with.

01:29:58David Barnett: Thousands of times of capabilities of that computer had on it.