Kattie Farris

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 6, 2024 and I'm sitting here with Kattie Farris at her home at Woodland Village. She's going to tell us a little bit about her life and her history living in the Bristow area. Can you please state your full name?

00:00:26Kattie Farris: Kattie Jo Russell Farris.

00:00:30Regan Siler: Okay. And do I have permission to do this interview?

00:00:33Kattie Farris: Yes.

00:00:33Regan Siler: Okay. Can you tell us when and where you were born?

00:00:39Kattie Farris: Yeah. Out of Depew. Depew, Oklahoma. It was out in the country.

00:00:45Regan Siler: So, you were born at home?

00:00:47Kattie Farris: Yes.

00:00:48Regan Siler: Okay.

00:00:49Kattie Farris: Dr. Harz was the doctor.

00:00:51Regan Siler: Harz like?

00:00:52Kattie Farris: H A R Z.

00:00:53Regan Siler: H A R Z, okay. And what was your date of what's your date of birth?

00:00:58Kattie Farris: December 13, 1934.

00:01:01Regan Siler: Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your family. Can you tell me both of your parents full names?

00:01:11Kattie Farris: My dad is Sidney Vern Russell [3/3/1893-12/2/1956] and my mother is Clara Ellen "Kate" Gross Russell [9/14/1897-1976].

00:01:18Regan Siler: Okay, now, when I looked them up, I have your father's birth date as 3/3/1893. Does that sound right?

00:01:27Kattie Farris: Yeah, mm-hmm.

00:01:27Regan Siler: And then I have your mother as September 14, 1897?

00:01:32Kattie Farris: Yes.

00:01:32Regan Siler: Does that sound right?

00:01:33Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:01:33Regan Siler: And you had told me, how do you spell her name? Gross? Is it G R O S S?

00:01:38Kattie Farris: I'm not really sure. I thought it was G R O S E.

00:01:42Regan Siler: Okay, when I looked online, it said G R O S S. I wasn't, I wasn't sure.

00:01:47Kattie Farris: Now that might be it. Going about what she said at school and stuff like that.

00:01:52Regan Siler: Well, sometimes the stuff online isn't correct, so that's why I wanted to ask. Okay, well, what type of work did your parents do?

00:02:01Kattie Farris: My dad was a pumper all of his life, and my mom was just a housewife.

00:02:06Regan Siler: Okay.

00:02:06Kattie Farris: Well, not all of her life, because when he retired, they moved to Bristow, and he was retired, but she went to work for Jack Abraham at J & J Cafe.

00:02:17Regan Siler: Okay.

00:02:18Kattie Farris: And she worked there probably for 20 years, at least.

00:02:21Regan Siler: Like as a cook or?

00:02:23Kattie Farris: No, no, she worked in the kitchen. Yeah, I think she, I don't know, in the kitchen is all that they told me.

00:02:29Regan Siler: Okay, okay. And your dad was a pumper around Bristow?

00:02:33Kattie Farris: Between Bristow and Depew. Well, and then the the last pumping job that he had when I was at home was on the old Red Bank Road. I caught a bus out there, you know, so I'll remember that as out on the old Red Bank Road.

00:02:46Regan Siler: Okay, and so, has your family always been in the Bristow area?

00:02:50Kattie Farris: Yes.

00:02:51Regan Siler: Okay, so.

00:02:51Kattie Farris: Well, between Bristow and Depew. He was pumper one time way back there between Bristow and Depew.

00:02:58Regan Siler: Okay, so your your parents have always lived here. What about your great grandparents? Did they live here as well?

00:03:05Kattie Farris: No, they lived in Arkansas, and I'm not for sure where.

00:03:09Regan Siler: Or, I guess I said great grandparents. That would be grandparents, that would be grandparents.

00:03:13Kattie Farris: Yeah, right.

00:03:13Regan Siler: Okay, okay.

00:03:15Kattie Farris: My mom was part, half Indian, so some of her way back there was on reservation out by Jay, Oklahoma. Jay and there's another little town next to Jay that it was right in between there.

00:03:26Regan Siler: Okay, and what do you remember what type, what tribe, she was?

00:03:31Kattie Farris: Cherokee.

00:03:32Kattie Farris: Because I'm part

00:03:33Regan Siler: You're part Cherokee. Okay. Do you have any siblings?

00:03:37Kattie Farris: Oh, not left, but they were seven of us.

00:03:40Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness, you had seven or six, or you had six siblings?

00:03:42Kattie Farris: Are you talking about brothers and sisters?

00:03:46Regan Siler: Yes.

00:03:46Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I had two brothers and five sisters.

00:03:51Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness, so you had a big family.

00:03:52Kattie Farris: No, four sisters, counting me was five. I told you that tape don't work all the time. Yeah, there was five girls, two boys in our family.

00:04:03Regan Siler: Five girls.

00:04:03Kattie Farris: And I was the youngest. Yeah.

00:04:05Regan Siler: So, you're the baby?

00:04:06Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

00:04:06Kattie Farris: Yeah. Mom had four kids, the four girls, and then she waited until she was in her 40s, to have us the last three.

00:04:13Kattie Farris: Yeah. And they was all gone before, you know, I got up any age.

00:04:17Regan Siler: So, it was almost like she had them in sections, didn't she?

00:04:19Kattie Farris: Yeah, she did, because my sister, that's next to me was 20 years older than me.

00:04:24Regan Siler: Oh, my goodness!

00:04:25Kattie Farris: Yeah, but then I had a brother three years older me, and a brother that's three years younger.

00:04:30Regan Siler: So, she pretty much had kids her whole life, then, didn' t she? Okay, um, growing up, did you have family that lived nearby you?

00:04:44Kattie Farris: You mean, like, what?

00:04:45Regan Siler: Like aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents.

00:04:46Regan Siler: Really?

00:04:46Kattie Farris: Yeah, oh, yeah, we did, yeah. We had no, no grandparents. they was all gone time I was born, but yeah, I had aunts and uncles. Yeah, because dad had some sisters and brothers that was one, the brother was at Dustin, Oklahoma, and his name was William Bill, William Russell, and his wife was Indian. She was geranium (ph), but I don't know her, her maiden name or anything, but geranium (ph) was her. And, then, I had Uncle Carl, and Aunt Nat (ph), and they had a cafe in in Tulsa, because I've, then you could get on the bus here in Bristow for a quarter because I was in junior high school, and I'd ride over there and work at the cafe, and they'd bring me home on Sunday night. There's a big Cafe there in Red Fork.

00:04:46Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:04:49Regan Siler: So, you would just ride a bus all the way to

00:05:05Kattie Farris: Red Fork, Tulsa.

00:05:10Regan Siler: Right.

00:05:15Kattie Farris: And get off, yeah, and then they'd bring me back to go to school the next day, because we lived out on the old Red Bank Road, which is three miles from Bristow, two miles and then a mile back in the country.

00:05:49Regan Siler: So, you when you're saying two or three, which direction is because that I'm not familiar with Red Bank Road.

00:05:54Kattie Farris: The old Red Bank Road.

00:05:55Regan Siler: I'm not familiar with that.

00:05:56Kattie Farris: Well, it's like you go out to Mid America.

00:05:59Regan Siler: Okay.

00:05:59Kattie Farris: You cut off back.

00:06:00Regan Siler: Okay, gotcha, gotcha. So, you lived out that way.

00:06:03Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:06:04Regan Siler: So, and you, do you remember the name of the cafe in Tulsa by chance?

00:06:12Kattie Farris: Well, the guy owned the whole block. He had a movie place, and he had an apartment place and everything. Fred Losi (ph).

00:06:18Regan Siler: Fred Losi (ph) was his name?

00:06:20Kattie Farris: Yeah, and he owned the whole block, and they just rented the cafe, I guess, or whatever.

00:06:26Regan Siler: So, what did was there a bus system here for quite a while?

00:06:30Kattie Farris: Yeah, there where the liquor store is, you know, where, oh, what's that place right next to it, the, oh.

00:06:38Regan Siler: The liquor store, currently?

00:06:40Kattie Farris: It's right on Main Street, right there, and the, oh, what is that cafe on the corner there right next to it?

00:06:47Regan Siler: The one that's changed names a whole lot.

00:06:49Kattie Farris: Yeah, you go around the corner there and you go Fourth Street. What is the name of that? Subway.

00:06:56Regan Siler: Oh, okay.

00:06:57Kattie Farris: Yeah, the liquor store right next to the Subway.

00:07:00Regan Siler: Oh! The old liquor store.

00:07:01Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah, that that used to be Greyhound Bus Station.

00:07:05Regan Siler: Well, I'll be darned

00:07:06Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:07:07Regan Siler: And, so, do you remember?

00:07:08Kattie Farris: I think Gus Hayes (ph) owned that, but I'm not for sure, but I think he did, because he owned all the, he put cigarette machines and stuff like that, and pop machine stuff in every place in Bristow just about.

00:07:21Regan Siler: What was his name?

00:07:22Kattie Farris: Gus Hayes (ph).

00:07:22Regan Siler: Gus Hayes. And, so, the, do you remember how long the Greyhound Bus Station was in Bristow?

00:07:30Kattie Farris: Well, it was there for a long time.

00:07:32Regan Siler: So, most of your youth then?

00:07:34Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah.

00:07:35Regan Siler: Well, okay, I guess cars, people, getting cars changed to where there wasn't a need for it, is that what it left?

00:07:43Kattie Farris: I don't know how come it left. You noticed all Bristow was really booming back that time. I bet they had probably 12 or 13 factories and everything. You know, Main Street was buzzing.

00:07:54Regan Siler: Right.

00:07:54Kattie Farris: JC Penneys, Anthony's Shamus has a great big old department store. There was everything in Bristow had something in it, cafes, you know, and everything.

00:08:05Regan Siler: So, you've seen a lot of changes in Bristow?

00:08:07Kattie Farris: Yeah, because back then they was cafes, all up and down, about three beer joints. There's all kinds of stuff all up and down Main Street, you know. And the bakeries, you know, we probably had a couple of bakeries. One of them was Cox Bakery, because that's where I got stuff all the time. There's another one. We had two jewelry stores, uh, Harvat's.

00:08:27Regan Siler: I remember Harvat's.

00:08:28Kattie Farris: Yeah, and Silvers. You know, the little guy is foreigner that was on this side, him and his wife was on.

00:08:34Regan Siler: Well, that's interesting.

00:08:39Kattie Farris: We deliver Magic Freight for, I don't know how many years, 13 years, while we was in the body shop. So that's how I got acquainted with all because we take frieght to everybody in Bristow just about.

00:08:52Regan Siler: So, you, you hauled frieght?

00:08:54Kattie Farris: Well, they brought it down from Tulsa and dropped it off of our body shop, and it was just extra income for us.

00:09:00Regan Siler: So you just, you were, like, a distributor?

00:09:02Kattie Farris: Yeah, we just distributed it.

00:09:03Regan Siler: And what was that called? What was your business called?

00:09:05Kattie Farris: Magic Freight, well, that was Magic Freight. My, our business was B&F Body Shop for 30 years.

00:09:11Regan Siler: So, Magic Freight was just something

00:09:13Kattie Farris: Yeah, right. We had, we had B&F Body Shop for like, almost 30 years. Right there on Fifth Street. It's still got the sign up.

00:09:21Regan Siler: Right. Yeah, I know that. Okay, well, let's, let's back up a little bit before we get get into that and talk about your childhood and your home life. So, do I'm going to take you way back. So, do you remember any of your favorite toys or childhood games that you played?

00:09:42Kattie Farris: Well, we didn't have TV back then, so we had an imagination, and we played outside, and I had them two brothers, we played a lot of football and stuff like that, yeah. But the most of the dolls I had, well, I had four older sisters. They brought me dolls and stuff. Yeah, I can remember I had a good life, because, you know, it's just dad being a pumper. He got a check every month, and our electric and gas and all that was free because, you know, so that for all the years I, you know.

00:10:12Regan Siler: And then you had older siblings that probably, really, took care of you, too.

00:10:14Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah, I did. Four older sisters. And they was all, of course, they was scattered. One of them lived in California forever, and we just seen her on holidays and stuff, you know. And the other one was in Galveston, Texas for a long time. So they just kind of scattered. Two of them pretty well stayed around here, but

00:10:20Regan Siler: That you would see.

00:10:20Kattie Farris: Yeah, well, Marie was the one that lived up there and worked for my Uncle Carl at that cafe I was talking about that I went up there. Well, she worked for him and lived in an apartment up over the cafe, and I'd stay with her whenever I was up there.

00:10:53Regan Siler: So, in Tulsa?

00:10:55Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:10:56Regan Siler: Okay, um, do you remember having any chores that you were expected to do whenever you were a young person?

00:11:03Kattie Farris: No, not really, because I had all them older people that done all the chores. I never done nothing.

00:11:09Regan Siler: You were the spoiled baby, weren't you?

00:11:11Kattie Farris: Yeah, I was because I didn't really have to do nothing.

00:11:14Regan Siler: So, did you have friends that would come over and play at your house? Or did you mainly play with siblings?

00:11:17Kattie Farris: Well, when I got older, I had friends. Now, then, we lived out in the country, and we didn't have, you know, that many friends, but we moved, when we moved to town, dad changed jobs for some reason or other and started working on drilling rigs. Back then, Bristow had drilling rigs all the way around, and he was a boss, so he made a lot of money doing that. So, whenever he got in between doing that out there, he moved, we moved to town, and moved up on Pecan Street, and by that time, I was probably almost in junior high school, you know. And then I had a lot of friends, because I was here forever.

00:11:53Regan Siler: Right, right. Um, did you have any favorite activities or hobbies as a child that you that you did?

00:12:01Kattie Farris: Well then we had a skating rink and stuff like that here at Bristow and and, and when I got in junior high school, they had, you know, dances and stuff back then for the school did. The teachers would sponsor them and stuff. You know, we had a lot of activities like that that they don't have now.

00:12:19Regan Siler: I know that's what I was going to say. It seems like it was a lot of, there was a lot of fun and activities.

00:12:27Kattie Farris: There was just a whole lot of stuff going on in Bristow.

00:12:30Regan Siler: Right.

00:12:30Kattie Farris: You know, they had a bowling alley, and they had a, of course, I didn't do any bowling, but I done a lot of roller skating.

00:12:38Regan Siler: And that's at the skating rink [indecipherable]

00:12:40Kattie Farris: Yeah, that was open all the time from the time I was old enough to skate on up. And then our, that was on Sixth Street, and our body shop was just right, we walked over there, my kids and us walked over there.

00:12:52Regan Siler: Yeah, that was okay. Um, well, can you tell me about your school life? Now, didn't you tell me you just went from first to 10th grade? Is that what you said?

00:13:02Regan Siler: So, you wrote to him for how many years total?

00:13:02Kattie Farris: Yeah, I quit in the 10th grade. Yeah. I started dating Blackie [James Albert "Blackie" Farris 10/11/1929-4/17/2017]. I met him one Saturday night with my brother, and they both had to go to the army that Monday, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. And we started writing. And I didn't even know him, but he asked my brother for my address, and he said he would, she won't write to [indecipherable] she said, you might as well forget it. But, we wrote it for two years. We wrote and then when he did get out, he though,t for a month, this was 1950. He had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. Well, he was at Fort Bliss, Texas, two years. And we wrote two years there at Fort Bliss. Then when we thought he was out, they called him right back two or three weeks, and he had to go to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, so I just told mom and dad. I thought I'm going with him without permission or not. I'd like to get married, if you'll sign the papers. And they did.

00:13:15Kattie Farris: Probably about two years, two years before and about two years after, because he was in the army the first two years, and I didn't get to be

00:13:57Regan Siler: So, you basically got to know each other through letters?

00:14:02Kattie Farris: That's exactly right, mostly, because he would just come in for a weekend once in a while. But you talk about love at first sight, it was that away for both of us. I guess because he was, everybody said he was a real rounder. That's how come my brother didn't even want me to write to him.

00:14:26Regan Siler: He was looking after you!

00:14:27Kattie Farris: He didn't want him to write to me either. Blackie Farris, he was known as a rounder, you know.

00:14:32Regan Siler: Well, that's kind of a neat story that you wrote letters for that long.

00:14:37Kattie Farris: We did.

00:14:38Regan Siler: To get to know each other.

00:14:40Kattie Farris: He just come in once in a while, you know, for furlough for a weekend.

00:14:44Regan Siler: Right.

00:14:45Kattie Farris: He never did get a whole vacation.

00:14:47Regan Siler: So, can you tell me about your school life? Did you attend Bristow school?

00:14:51Kattie Farris: Yeah, the whole time.

00:14:52Regan Siler: Okay, and that was grades one through ten?

00:14:54Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:14:55Regan Siler: And did you have any influential teachers during the time that you were in school?

00:14:59Kattie Farris: I had some real good teachers. All of them seem to be really good. Uh, math was one of my hardest subjects. And RC Lester was the best math teacher I had. I learned more from him than anything. It's a good thing, because I needed it, when I got up there, they opened that body shop and had to all them estimates and stuff.

00:15:16Regan Siler: Right, you had to, you had to use your math, didn't you?

00:15:18Kattie Farris: Oh, God, yeah, that was come in real handy, because they wasn't nothing like you got nowadays to help you.

00:15:24Regan Siler: To figure it out. You had to do everything by hand. Well, do you remember how you got to school as a youngster?

00:15:30Kattie Farris: On the bus.

00:15:31Regan Siler: Rode the bus, okay, yeah. And do you remember being in any clubs or organizations whenever you were in school? Were you involved in anything?

00:15:39Kattie Farris: Yeah, Pep Club was all I went to all the football. I love football. I still love football.

00:15:45Regan Siler: You still love football. Well, did you like school? Did you enjoy school?

00:15:48Kattie Farris: Oh, yeah, I loved school.

00:15:50Regan Siler: Did you have a favorite subject?

00:15:55Kattie Farris: Well, I think I liked Carolyn Foster that taught English, because that gave me the option that I want to go overseas as soon as they get [indecipherable]. Well, my oldest daughter did, too. So, we have went everywhere, overseas.

00:16:09Regan Siler: Oh, really?

00:16:10Kattie Farris: We loved it. Every two years there for about 30 years, we went overseas some place.

00:16:17Regan Siler: Well, Mrs. Foster is somebody that is brought up a lot as a favorite teacher when I've interviewed people. She sounds like a very beloved.

00:16:24Kattie Farris: We knew her husband. He was Arthur Foster at the bank, you know, President, we liked him, too.

00:16:29Regan Siler: Right.

00:16:29Kattie Farris: That's where we've always banked.

00:16:32Regan Siler: Um, well, so can you tell me about the house that you grew up in? I know you said you lived in the country, and then you moved to Pecan Street.

00:16:39Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:16:39Regan Siler: Can you tell me about the which house did you live in the longest?

00:16:46Kattie Farris: Probably out here that I remember.

00:16:48Regan Siler: In the country?

00:16:49Kattie Farris: Yeah, we've always lived in the country. Then they moved to town when dad retired, but that was after I was already married.

00:16:56Regan Siler: So, can you tell me about your house in the country? What was it like?

00:17:00Kattie Farris: It was always a big house, and all the utilities was free, so we could just do anything we wanted you. You didn't have all the stuff, like TVs and stuff like they do now, though, so I'm sure didn't, didn't hurt their pocket book that much.

00:17:14Regan Siler: Right. The utilities probably weren't too much, then?

00:17:17Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:17:18Regan Siler: And did you have your own room growing up?

00:17:21Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah, because it was always a big house. Yeah, they always furnished a big house for dad on the being a pumper.

00:17:27Regan Siler: Right, right. Sounds like that was a good living for him.

00:17:30Kattie Farris: Yeah, it was for him, because it was a steady check.

00:17:33Regan Siler: Right.

00:17:33Kattie Farris: Now, Blackie's dad was a farmer, and that was a lot different. Blackie and I got married, and I thought, I'm glad [indecipherable].

00:17:38Regan Siler: And did you spend most of your time outside as a, as a young person, or did you have, I mean, did you?

00:17:49Kattie Farris: In the summer we probably did, you know, and we went out to that, they had the swimming pool out here at Bristow, and we went out there a bunch.

00:17:56Regan Siler: So, you you enjoyed the swimming pool? So, what were meal times like for your family? Did everybody sit down together?

00:18:04Kattie Farris: Oh, yeah, dad had it to everybody in the house, no matter who it was, it would have been a salesman. He had everybody at the table. Cause mama cooked all that, her and, usually, that one older sister of mine lived with us the biggest part of her time. She she was married to a guy that was a boss of Bass Ross (ph) in Oklahoma City, but he traveled all over everywhere, and she didn't like the traveling, so she stayed with us the biggest part of time. But she loved to cook, so her mom cooked all the meals. Naturally, back then, that's all they had to do. They didn't have tv.

00:18:37Regan Siler: Right, right. So, did you have to help clean up?

00:18:42Kattie Farris: I didn't really have to, unless I wanted to, but like I said

00:18:46Regan Siler: You might have been spoiled just a little bit.

00:18:48Kattie Farris: I probably was, because I didn't have to do none of that.

00:18:50Regan Siler: Well, do you remember your mom making like a favorite recipe or meal? What was your favorite?

00:18:58Kattie Farris: Well, I like breakfast with because she made the best biscuits and gravy, and, you know, all of that, because she made a lot of stuff, you know. They we, we had so much beans, though, back then, you know, beans was that, now I don't even look at beans.

00:19:15Regan Siler: Well, so did you get, did you come away with any of her special recipes that you have today?

00:19:22Kattie Farris: No.

00:19:22Regan Siler: Not really? Okay. Did anybody teach you how to cook?

00:19:28Kattie Farris: Well, I just watched them enough to know how.

00:19:30Regan Siler: That you kind of figured it out?

00:19:31Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:19:31Regan Siler: Well, thinking about your life growing up in Bristow, do you remember, like, what were your favorite community activities? For instance, like, I know you said you were at the pool a lot. What about Western Heritage Days or day camp or fairs, or anything like that?

00:19:48Kattie Farris: Well, now they had a they had the fairs every now and then, but we didn't have any - main street, now, they had one thing every year, but they didn't have that Western Heritage Day back when I was growing up. I don't remember what it was they had. It might have been a Christmas something or something. It was a holiday thing that they had.

00:20:07Regan Siler: Okay, well, do you remember any of the biggest or most popular businesses around town when you were younger?

00:20:15Kattie Farris: Oh, yeah, every store was full. Like I said, we had JC Penney, Anthony's, you know, and a couple of banks. It was American National then. And Spirit was something else. What was that before? Spirit, whatever it was. And every town, I mean, everything up and down Main Street had something in it.

00:20:36Regan Siler: Did you have a favorite? Did you have a favorite business that you would frequent?

00:20:40Kattie Farris: Well, now I ate mostly at that little cafe that was right behind the American National Bank. It was just small mom and dad thing. Their hamburgers was 10 cents. Daddy gave me a quarter to eat on. Ten cents for that, and then I could have a pop for nickle and a candy bar for a nickle, so a quarter. But you had to get in junior high to get to go downtown, otherwise, you had eat at the cafeteria or bring your lunch.

00:21:05Regan Siler: Okay, okay.

00:21:06Kattie Farris: And it was a quarter for cafeteria back then, too, so you could have your you know.

00:21:12Regan Siler: Right. Did you have a favorite place to hang out as a teenager?

00:21:20Kattie Farris: Well, they had a Teen Town that I went to over Penneys. I can't remember the teachers, I think, is one that took turns to sponsor it up there, and they they played music, and they had games and stuff up there.

00:21:33Regan Siler: There was an interview I did yesterday, and that person was telling me about Teen Town, and I had never heard anybody talk about it. So I think that's funny

00:21:42Kattie Farris: Yeah, but, but back then, you know, they had teen dances like out at the country club and stuff like that, you know, that the like I said, there's always teachers and stuff that was there to

00:21:54Regan Siler: Chaperone.

00:21:56Kattie Farris: But I don't think they have any of that now.

00:21:58Regan Siler: I know.

00:21:59Kattie Farris: My grandkids all go to, great grandkids, all goes to school, and they, they don't go to nothing.

00:22:05Regan Siler: Well, whenever he was talking about the Teen Town, I thought, man, that would be something that would be fun to have now.

00:22:12Kattie Farris: Yeah, it was. We had a lot of fun up there, because it was kind of like a great big game room, you know.

00:22:17Regan Siler: Where was it located?

00:22:19Kattie Farris: Over Penneys. Like that one I went to was over Penneys. Now, this was 100 years ago.

00:22:25Regan Siler: So, it was Penneys on Main Street?

00:22:27Kattie Farris: Yeah, because it was right on the corner right there where, well, there's nothing in that now. That would be, this is what, Ninth? Oh, that'd be Eighth, probably, or something.

00:22:39Regan Siler: So, at Eighth and Main?

00:22:40Kattie Farris: In that empty building there that used to be, what was there? But it was that Teen Town was up over that. Now our Penneys was, maybe, that was Penneys underneath there. I believe it was.

00:22:53Regan Siler: Okay, okay. Um, so did you, as far as your clothes, your clothing that you were as a youngster did is, did you usually get to shop for your clothes? Or did your mom make your clothes? Do you remember?

00:23:08Kattie Farris: Yeah, well, if anything special came up, now, my sister bought me stuff at Stanford's, Stanford's there, I don't where you they anyway, it was a little boutique that she thought was really neat. But yeah, we had JC Penney's and everything. My older sister made sure I was dressed properly.

00:23:28Regan Siler: So, you you always wear dressed cute then, because

00:23:31Kattie Farris: Well, back then you had to wear dresses to school. You couldn't wear pants.

00:23:34Regan Siler: Right, right. Do you remember your family's first car?

00:23:40Kattie Farris: Well, it was a mile away. Daddy always had to wear, have a Model A [Ford Model A], because he had to go to the wells, and it was back then, he didn't have jeeps and stuff, you know. And we had a Model A, because it would, it was up high off the ground, and he could make it in the winter time and stuff to his wells.

00:23:57Regan Siler: Boy, I bet that was something in a Model A though. Can you imagine?

00:24:01Kattie Farris: Well, there's two great big old oil tanks that he had to make, and he had to call him every morning and sometime in the evening, too, and report what he had, you know, was a gauges.

00:24:13Regan Siler: Right.

00:24:13Kattie Farris: Had to gauge them and

00:24:15Regan Siler: Right.

00:24:15Kattie Farris: Turn it in.

00:24:16Regan Siler: So, did you get to take any vacations?

00:24:19Kattie Farris: Back when we as kids? Very few.

00:24:22Regan Siler: Very few.

00:24:22Kattie Farris: I can't remember. We might go across Oklahoma, there to one of the girls' house or something other. My sisters all married and had kids, you know, because they was so much older than I. We might go there for a couple of days or something. And no, no vacations overseas or nothing like that.

00:24:37Regan Siler: Right, right. Do you remember who taught you how to drive?

00:24:42Kattie Farris: Yeah, Mose LeForce, the the coach at Bristow, had drivers education. My dad never let you touch his car, and he's the one that I had drivers education.

00:24:55Regan Siler: And what was his name?

00:24:57Kattie Farris: Mose LeForce.

00:24:58Regan Siler: Okay, alright, and do you remember your first car?

00:25:02Kattie Farris: Well, I didn't have one till I got married.

00:25:04Regan Siler: Oh, you didn't?

00:25:05Kattie Farris: We didn't have cars back then. Dad had one car, and that was it.

00:25:09Regan Siler: You guys had to share that?

00:25:10Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:25:11Regan Siler: Yeah, or they took you places. Alright, so do you remember how old you were when you got a TV in your house?

00:25:22Kattie Farris: Well, we didn't have whenever I had then. I mean, we my folks got one later on, but, you know.

00:25:29Regan Siler: At home? No. You never did whenever you were a young person?

00:25:31Regan Siler: Okay, alright, so what type of entertainment did you have at home?

00:25:35Kattie Farris: Well, we had a radio, and we played games. We was big into just card games and stuff.

00:25:43Regan Siler: Do you remember having any particular music that you liked or any?

00:25:47Kattie Farris: Yeah, country.

00:25:48Regan Siler: You listened to country music?

00:25:50Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:25:51Regan Siler: Alright.

00:25:52Kattie Farris: Faron Young, Ernest Tubb. Well, back then it would be like Ernest Tubb and some of them older guys.

00:25:57Regan Siler: Yeah, right. Um, so what was medical care like for you growing up? Did you have a family doctor or did you mainly handle things at home?

00:26:05Kattie Farris: Well, mostly Dr. Hars (ph).

00:26:07Regan Siler: Oh, really, okay.

00:26:08Kattie Farris: Yeah, but they might have had a few more, but he we knew him almost personally, because Dr. Hars was there.

00:26:15Regan Siler: Okay, and he was a Bristow doctor?

00:26:18Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:26:18Regan Siler: Okay.

00:26:19Kattie Farris: And our dentist was, well, Johnson (ph) would will pull your teeth for $1 a tooth. But if you wanted anything else to do, mom took us to East to start with. Then me and Blackie moved on up to Petit, though, when we got married.

00:26:34Regan Siler: So, there was a Dr. East that was a dentist?

00:26:37Kattie Farris: Yeah, right down from the on Sixth Street there where the post office is. He is just right there.

00:26:45Regan Siler: Right there. Okay. Did you attend, did you attend church growing up?

00:26:49Kattie Farris: Nazarene. We usually went to the Nazarene.

00:26:50Regan Siler: Went to the Nazarene. And do you remember any, I don't know, any details about going to church there, things that stuck, stuck out to you or favorite activities at church?

00:27:03Kattie Farris: No, really is just church mostly.

00:27:06Regan Siler: Just church.

00:27:07Kattie Farris: Yeah, they had a place for smaller kids, and then we just kept getting bigger and bigger.

00:27:13Regan Siler: Just grew up in that, okay. Well, and I failed to ask, do you remember or recall any serious illnesses or epidemics that either you or your family went through?

00:27:24Kattie Farris: Just in the school we had mumps, measles and that sort of thing. No, no, we didn't have anything.

00:27:30Regan Siler: But other than that?

00:27:32Kattie Farris: Nothing, yeah.

00:27:32Regan Siler: Okay, um, so what were holidays like for your family? Can you just describe a typical Christmas at your house?

00:27:42Kattie Farris: When I was growing up?

00:27:43Regan Siler: Yeah.

00:27:43Kattie Farris: Yeah, dad would go cut a big Christmas tree and bring it in, and we decorated it. Oh, yeah, they's all into Christmas.

00:27:50Regan Siler: They loved Christmas?

00:27:51Kattie Farris: Yeah. Everybody, all of my sisters and their kids and stuff always came to mom and dad's for holidays. Yeah.

00:27:58Regan Siler: So, did you make gifts? Did you buy gifts for each other, or was it mainly about having a big dinner?

00:28:03Kattie Farris: Well, some of them probably did make stuff, because two of my sisters sewed really good and they made stuff, you know. But I think, best I can remember, Mom always just bought us toys and stuff like that.

00:28:16Regan Siler: Okay, alright. Were there any other holidays that were a big deal in your home?

00:28:20Kattie Farris: All of our holidays was big. All of those girls came back with their kids and stuff. Because Dad always had a big house. They always furnished him a big house.

00:28:29Regan Siler: Right. Well, it sounds like it was, it was pretty fun growing up there.

00:28:32Regan Siler: Well, do you remember as a kid thinking about what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you have any aspirations when you were a little kid?

00:28:32Kattie Farris: Yeah, it was. I really enjoyed it. I couldn't gripe about my growing up or my marriage with my 67 years with my husband. That was good, too. So, I had a good life. I really did.

00:28:51Kattie Farris: No, I don't think I did.

00:28:53Regan Siler: You couldn't, can't remember anything?

00:28:55Kattie Farris: Nothing that I really wanted to do.

00:28:57Regan Siler: Okay, well, so we've touched a little bit on the different jobs you've had in your life, and obviously B&F Body Shop was a big deal because you did that for 30 years. Can you, can you tell me

00:29:08Kattie Farris: Well, when he slowed down, though, the mayor called me one of oh, I worked for the city for 14 years. Let's see, what year was that? He called and wanted me to take over, because the woman that was head of the senior citizens center passed away just with a heart attack all at once. And he knew that I helped her every now and then, taking the people here and there, you know, and helping her get stuff ready. So, he asked me if I'd take that over. So, I was 14 years as head of the senior citizens center, and we had busses back then, Bristow busses. And this desk up here is my desk. And whenever they first open this in January in 2006, I was up here, senior citizen, up here.

00:29:50Regan Siler: So, do they still have the senior citizen?

00:29:52Kattie Farris: No, all of them in Creek County, just all of a sudden, six months after I retired from being well, I was also voted in as president of the Creek County Council on Aging by all the senior centers here in Creek County.

00:30:07Regan Siler: Okay.

00:30:08Kattie Farris: Creek County, I was that for two terms. They, why they did, well, they did because I think I was always opened up their meetings. At that time, every month we'd go to somebody's. Ours was September here at Bristow, but every month we'd go to different ones, like Kellyville and all around, you know, that Oilton, and all up to Drumright, all of them like that. Once a month we'd take the busses, or however they brought their people, and we had them big senior meetings where they had to have a buffet and entertainment, and then a speaker. And all of us done that every month. And then on the last month of, like November or December, we had it at where they have that Creek County, oh, barn out there, that they have all the fairs and stuff. Well, they didn't call it that. They called it something else then, that's where we had had that at is that place.

00:31:08Regan Siler: And, so, as far as circling back to your body shop days, can you tell me what a typical work day was like, working at the body shop for you?

00:31:18Kattie Farris: Well, we also had wreckers, so that was a thorn in the side, because you had to deal with that, yeah.

00:31:26Regan Siler: So, you were definitely multitasking?

00:31:28Kattie Farris: Yeah, we, yeah, yeah, I can we, it was just when they had a wreck, you know, we, we knew, that's how we knew a lot of people in Bristow, because we picked them up with the wrecker, and then we would fix their car if we could. If it totaled out, I had to make an estimate, you know. I dealt with a lot of adjusters, you know, insurance adjusters always, you know. And you'd have to have an estimate ready, and then they'd make their own, you know, and you compared it and all. But you also had a crash book that told you the price of the part and also the labor. So, you made your own thing, and then he'd come and pair it with his.

00:32:09Regan Siler: Right, and, so, you did that for 30 years, and then you sold it to James Raney? Is that?

00:32:14Kattie Farris: Yeah, yeah.

00:32:15Regan Siler: And then you, but he opened another body shop, Blackie's Body Shop, right?

00:32:19Kattie Farris: No, it was Blackie's Body Shop. Well, it was B&F Body Shop.

00:32:23Regan Siler: But I thought

00:32:24Kattie Farris: Then, when we was in the country, he'd had to change names, because I know James never did change it.

00:32:29Regan Siler: Right.

00:32:30Kattie Farris: Yeah, we was six miles right there on, well, five from Bristow, you know, right on 66, and it was Blackie's Body Shop. We had to get our book work all changed to Blackie's Body Shop. He left it B&F, so we couldn't have the same name, you know.

00:32:44Regan Siler: Right, okay, um, and, okay, so, let's talk about your husband a little bit. I I know you've told me a little bit about him, and I know you said that you wrote letters, and that's how you but how did you actually first meet him?

00:33:01Kattie Farris: Well, he went to, they signed up together. I didn't even know him. They signed up together with my brother, and that's what to say they that's how I met him. And that was Saturday night, and we wrote them letters for two years.

00:33:13Regan Siler: So, you basically just met him once?

00:33:15Regan Siler: Right. Can you tell me his full name, so we can have that on record?

00:33:15Kattie Farris: Well, yeah, he'd come in on the weekend or something. But then after two years, and he got sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. Well, he was at Fort Bliss, Texas, and we wrote, but when he got sent to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, that's when I told my dad and mom, and I wasn't quite 16, and I'd have been 16 in two months, but I went ahead and told them, I was going with him. We'd done had enough of that writing.

00:33:44Kattie Farris: James Albert Farris, Jr.

00:33:47Regan Siler: Okay, and I have his date of birth as October 11, 1929?

00:33:51Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:33:52Regan Siler: Does that sound right? Okay. Um, so whenever you decided to go with him, did you guys just decide to get married or what? How did that work?

00:34:00Kattie Farris: Yeah, we went to the justice of the peace. He didn't have no money. Had been in the army, and his dad was a farmer, and that's what we did. Just went to the justice of the peace.

00:34:01Regan Siler: So, there really wasn't an engagement or anything? You just decided to get married? Okay. And then you were married

00:34:15Kattie Farris: Well, we knew we was going to get married. We just had to wait till we could afford it.

00:34:20Regan Siler: The logistics of it?

00:34:22Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:34:24Regan Siler: So, what was early married life like for you?

00:34:28Kattie Farris: Well, we was in, like I said, Wisconsin, you know, and I had, I worked for 50 cents an hour, just like where I could eat, because he ate out of the camps. There was no problem with him, with me, though I've lived in an apartment up there. Well, he did, too.

00:34:42Regan Siler: Well, were you lonesome to move away from

00:34:44Kattie Farris: No, because I worked in a cafe all day long and

00:34:47Regan Siler: Well, it seems like coming from a big family, a big family that was family oriented, to go and move off to another state that young, it seems like you might be a little bit homesick, but I guess you rolled with it.

00:34:59Kattie Farris: There's people around, and I didn't, you know. I didn't get lonesome. I guess he was all I needed. I don't know what else?

00:35:07Regan Siler: Right. Okay, um, so how many children do you guys have?

00:35:12Kattie Farris: Four.

00:35:12Regan Siler: You have four children. Can you tell me each of their names, please?

00:35:17Kattie Farris: My oldest was Darlene Kay Farris Pierson. P I E R S O N.

00:35:24Regan Siler: And I have her birthday as October 5, 1951.

00:35:27Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:35:28Regan Siler: And then who's the next one?

00:35:30Kattie Farris: James Albert Farris, III.

00:35:33Regan Siler: I have him as January 24, 1954. Does he go by Buddy?

00:35:37Kattie Farris: No, yeah, Buddy.

00:35:38Regan Siler: Okay.

00:35:39Kattie Farris: He has that Broken Arrow brewery, you know, up there, yeah.

00:35:43Regan Siler: Okay. And, so, was that his correct birthday? January 24, 1954.

00:35:47Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:35:48Regan Siler: Okay. And then your next one?

00:35:50Kattie Farris: Sharon Rena Farris Campbell. C A M P B E L L.

00:35:58Regan Siler: Okay, and I have her as June 9, 1960.

00:36:02Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:36:02Regan Siler: Okay. And then your last one?

00:36:04Kattie Farris: Rhinda Jo Farris Knight, and what'd I say that guy's name was?

00:36:09Regan Siler: Knight.

00:36:09Regan Siler: You told me

00:36:10Kattie Farris: Okay, that was her last one. She was married by five or six times. K N I G H T.

00:36:15Regan Siler: Okay. And I have her as June 30, 1964.

00:36:18Kattie Farris: Yeah.

00:36:18Regan Siler: Okay, um, so what would you say were some challenges of being a mom of of little kids, or, you know, throughout growing up?

00:36:27Kattie Farris: Yeah, well, we tried to get them involved in stuff that we knew they'd like when they grew up. Because we, you know, knew, already knew that if they could get involved in something, and the girls was, couldn't care less, but Buddy, right off the reel, he wasn't three-years-old, wanted a guitar, and it went amplified right on up to electric guitar on up the way. And he still has [indecipherable].

00:36:52Regan Siler: So, he and he enjoys music.

00:36:53Kattie Farris: And he's 70 years old or something now, and he still likes that. But he has two businesses, Broken Arrow brewery and Tulsa auto, I mean, Tulsa Fire & Police Supply.

00:37:04Regan Siler: Okay, alright, um, do you have any grandchildren?

00:37:10Kattie Farris: Yeah, I have 11. The three of them was that last one that I told you was nuts, just about she was only one of my kids that was on the honor roll all through high school. And she made the worst decisions, so she graduated as any kid could possibly make, but the last guy that she was with, those girls come around once in a while, you know, but they're kind of like strangers, but outside that they was eight, eight that lived around here.

00:37:42Regan Siler: Around here, okay.

00:37:44Kattie Farris: Well, they don't live all around here.

00:37:47Regan Siler: They're all over. Okay, well, I'm going to ask you a hard question, and this might make you think a little bit.What would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime?

00:38:01Kattie Farris: Probably the washing machine. With that many kids, I used that thing more than I did anything that was really handy. Because I remember my mom had a rub board.

00:38:14Regan Siler: Yeah, man, I bet. Okay, well, that's a good answer. Um, so what do you feel is our nation's biggest problem right now, and how do you think it can be solved?

00:38:28Kattie Farris: Well, as long as they keep social security going, as far as I'm concerned, for older people, that's the way to go, and if they'll work till they get up social security age, they've got her made. Because you can live on that if you want to.

00:38:42Regan Siler: Rright.

00:38:42Kattie Farris: I mean, that's only thing I know, that just if you don't work, you know, my husband and I, we worked hard, but we played hard.

00:38:51Regan Siler: Well, that's good. That's a good balance.

00:38:53Kattie Farris: Yeah, we did. We we loved to ride a motor, he had a Harley all the time that we got enough money to get one. NOTE TRANSCRIPTION END