Mary Franks

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 June 11, 2025 and I'm sitting here with Mary Franks at the Bristow Library Annex. She is 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?

00:00:24Mary Franks: My name is Mary Evelyn Franks.

00:00:27Regan Siler: Okay, and do I have permission to do this interview?

00:00:29Mary Franks: Yes, ma'am.

00:00:30Regan Siler: Okay. So, can you tell me when and where you were born?

00:00:34Mary Franks: I was born in Bristow, Oklahoma, in 1943 two mile about two and a half miles south of Bristow.

00:00:43Regan Siler: So, were you born at home?

00:00:45Mary Franks: I was born at home.

00:00:46Regan Siler: Okay.

00:00:47Mary Franks: And I had one sibling. My sister was, like, a year and a half older than me.

00:00:53Regan Siler: Okay, and, so, do you know who delivered you?

00:00:56Mary Franks: Dr. Coppedge.

00:00:59Regan Siler: Okay.

00:00:59Mary Franks: Medical doctor.

00:01:00Regan Siler: I've actually heard of him through some of my interviews. So, he came to your house and delivered you, then.

00:01:05Mary Franks: He did.

00:01:05Regan Siler: Okay. And what was your actual date of birth?

00:01:08Mary Franks: August 6, 1943.

00:01:10Regan Siler: Okay, um, and let's talk about the people in your family. Let's start with your parents. What are your parents full names, and I have their dates of birth, I think. But we can, we can, I can verify that with you.

00:01:25Mary Franks: Alright. At the time I was born, I had one older sister. I am one of eight children. All eight of which are still living.

00:01:28Regan Siler: My goodness.

00:01:32Mary Franks: And I knew early on, I did not want a large family.

00:01:44Regan Siler: After growing up in one?

00:01:46Mary Franks: I loved growing up in one, and had lots of playmates, lots and lots of friends.

00:01:50Regan Siler: Right.

00:01:51Mary Franks: Always a house full of people. But my parents' names, William Eliga Gramm - G R A M M.

00:02:00Regan Siler: Okay.

00:02:01Mary Franks: My mother's name was Norma Mae Henderson Gramm.

00:02:05Regan Siler: And did your dad go by Eliga?

00:02:10Mary Franks: That was his given name, but most people called him Lige or Ligie.

00:02:14Regan Siler: Okay, and I have his birthday as 12/18/1918?

00:02:20Mary Franks: That's correct.

00:02:20Regan Siler: Okay, and then I have your mom's birthday as 8/20/1920?

00:02:27Mary Franks: Yes, '21.

00:02:29Regan Siler: 8/20/1921? Okay, I'll correct that.

00:02:34Mary Franks: You did call me about that. I had originally told you.

00:02:38Regan Siler: Okay, oh, maybe, yeah, maybe I didn't change it. Okay, can you tell me what type of work your parents did?

00:02:45Mary Franks: My mother, of course, with eight children, was a homemaker. She did everything. My dad worked in the oil field. At the time I was born, he worked at a box factory, and the box factory was in Bristow on South Main. It was later known as the peanut mill.

00:03:04Regan Siler: Oh, okay.

00:03:05Mary Franks: It was on the corner of Main, and I believe that was Third Street. And so as a child growing up, people would always comment about my brown eyes, and where did you, you get those pretty brown eyes? And I'd always say my dad got them. My daddy got them at the peanut mill.

00:03:25Mary Franks: Yeah. So, that was always kind of a joke around the house.

00:03:25Regan Siler: Oh, funny!

00:03:29Regan Siler: So, did your, did your parents always live here? Or did something, did something bring them to Bristow? Were they always from around this area? Do you know?

00:03:40Mary Franks: They lived here since they were children. My mother, actually, lived between Bristow and Kellyville on the old Kellyville road going towards Slick. She went to high school at Slick. Graduated high school there. My dad grew up between Bristow and the outskirts of Bristow. His dad was a farmer, and he moved here from Missouri when he was probably 12, 13-years-old.

00:04:11Regan Siler: Okay.

00:04:12Mary Franks: No, 10, probably more like nine and 10 years old from Lebanon, Missouri.

00:04:20Regan Siler: You know, a lot of people, I've realized, during a lot of these interviews that there was a lot of people that came from Missouri to Bristow, and I'm not sure if it was because of the oil or farming or what it was, but there was a lot of families that moved here from Missouri.

00:04:39Mary Franks: For work, I think.

00:04:40Regan Siler: Yeah, yeah. And then, so, you said your dad was in the oil business, too?

00:04:45Mary Franks: Yes, yeah. He worked in the oil field business as a pumper and a truck driver.

00:04:52Regan Siler: Okay.

00:04:53Mary Franks: He worked many years. 50 years? [Indecipherable] for his Krumme Oil Company.

00:04:59Regan Siler: Oh! Okay, okay, another Bristow icon.

00:05:02Mary Franks: Right.

00:05:03Regan Siler: Yeah, okay, um.

00:05:06Mary Franks: My mother, like I said, grew up around between Kellyville and Slick, so Bristow was kind of home.

00:05:15Regan Siler: Okay.

00:05:15Mary Franks: They met when they were in their early 20s.

00:05:20Regan Siler: And, then, you said you were number two of eight siblings or of eight children?

00:05:26Mary Franks: Number two of eight children.

00:05:27Regan Siler: Okay.

00:05:28Mary Franks: All eight of us are still alive.

00:05:29Regan Siler: That's amazing.

00:05:30Mary Franks: Active, healthy, we've been blessed. I loved growing up in a large family. But I didn't want a large family.

00:05:39Regan Siler: Right, well, you always had built in playmates, I'm sure.

00:05:42Mary Franks: Oh, I did.

00:05:43Regan Siler: Yeah, yeah.

00:05:43Mary Franks: And I always got to be the mother. It's kind of fun. I'll just mention it. I know you can delete what you don't want to use.

00:05:54Mary Franks: My sister, like I said, was a year and a half older than me, and then two years later, after I was born, we had a brother, and then two years after, I had another brother. So, there was four of us, and two years after that brother, had a sister, and then a second sister, and then two years, they were two years apart. And then after the girls and had, two years later, brother Steven, and then my youngest brother, Brice. So, within a short time, we had eight children in our family. So, they each had a playmate. I had a sister to play with. My brothers had two boys to play with, you know, and two sisters and two boys. Almost like it was planned. It was part of God'splan. I guess. My mother never lost any children. She carried all of us full term. We were all healthy. vision problems, but mentally and physically active.

00:06:58Regan Siler: That's good. Did you, did you get to grow up around any other family, like extended family?

00:07:04Mary Franks: I told you I was born at home, two and a half miles south of Bristow. We moved to, I don't remember that. I was to young. I was a toddler. We moved half a mile down on the corner, right the corner of two mile corner. There was a big barn there and a frame house. And the property was owned by a Mr. Abraham, another Bristow person and Abraham Family. So, over the years, got to know who those folks were, especially back in time for rental payment, and, anyway, we lived there until I was in the eighth grade. Lived on that corner, two miles south of town. And went to school at a little country school.

00:07:53Regan Siler: I think, did you say

00:07:57Mary Franks: Two and a half miles is called Central School. It was known before that as 48 School.

00:08:02Regan Siler: Forty-Eight School. I knew you had mentioned 48 School to me, and I hadn't heard it referred to as that.

00:08:07Mary Franks: It was like other little country schools at that time, it was like two and a half miles from town, two miles from town to south and two back west, so four miles from town out by the airport, the hill just up from the airport.

00:08:25Regan Siler: Okay.

00:08:25Mary Franks: That's where I grew up.

00:08:26Regan Siler: Oh, okay.

00:08:28Mary Franks: So, we lived two miles back toward the Highway 66, went to school at that little school, and it was a country school with one teacher. Probably about 22 students, 20, 25 students, and the older kids kind of took care of the younger kids. So, we'd had like three or four people in the grade, and then there were eight of us. So, there were probably six of us.

00:08:55Regan Siler: You made up half the school, didn't you?

00:08:58Mary Franks: Other families did the same thing.

00:08:59Regan Siler: Right.

00:08:59Mary Franks: So, you know, we were like one big, happy family. Everything that went on at school was kind of like at home, and those kids would come home with us, we'd go home with them.

00:09:00Mary Franks: It's just one big happy family.

00:09:04Regan Siler: Tell me again what the actual name of the school was.

00:09:13Mary Franks: It was called 48, District, 48 School. It's called Central School.l

00:09:20Regan Siler: Central School, okay, okay. Well, let's talk a little

00:09:23Mary Franks: And JL Darnell, who also had deep roots in Bristow, was the superintendent for all these little country schools, like at Gypsy and Newby and Tuskegee and Wyatt and Iron Post. My mother went school at Wyatt School, which was out around there actually people that lived out there, his name was Wyatt. Again, my dad didn't he went to school. When they moved here from Missouri, he did not go to school, maybe through the third, fourth grade. I don't know if he thought he was too smart for school or if wasn't important for him to go to school or just why he didn't go to school, but he wanted us to go to school. Of course, we never missed anything going on with school. If it didn't happen two miles down the road, you know, it's going to happen at school.

00:10:18Regan Siler: Right, right. Well, let's talk a little bit about your early childhood and home life. Do you happen to remember any of your favorite toys or games that you played when you were young?

00:10:29Mary Franks: We played tin cans. We had jump ropes. We jump ropes, jacks. We did a lot of outdoor games. Being the older siblings, we took care of the smaller children. Played games with them, so one person was learning. I mean, our favorite thing to play was school. We loved our teacher. We played school. We were church going family, who played church. We had more church services in our backyard.

00:11:05Regan Siler: That's awesome.

00:11:07Mary Franks: The teacher, I was going to be the teacher. One of the older ones, I speak up and say, I want to be the teacher. So, I was kind of hard out of those, so they had school at home as well as the school sometimes.

00:11:20Regan Siler: So, did you have chores that you were expected to do as a youngster?

00:11:24Mary Franks: Everything. You know, we lived in a four room house, and there were eight children.

00:11:31Regan Siler: So, you just were expected to help out where needed. at home.

00:11:34Mary Franks: All born at hom, so I knew early on all about pregnancies and babies and stuff like that, except the two younger boys, and they were both born in the hospital.

00:11:42Regan Siler: Okay.

00:11:43Mary Franks: Here in Bristow. Everybody was healthy. We we shared everything, like sniffles and colds, measles.

00:11:55Regan Siler: So, as far as healthcare, then, did the did you did the doctor come to your house if you were ever sick, or did you guys handle that at home, usually?

00:12:03Mary Franks: Dr. Coppedge was the doctor that delivered me. He was our family doctor. And then Dr Harrs, another lifetime physician here in town. Moms had their babies at home. Doctors would make house calls at that time, and we were in the house, and the babies were being born, you know, they were in the other room.

00:12:07Mary Franks: We learned more about the bird from the bees.

00:12:33Regan Siler: Okay, okay, so you told me you first attended school at the 48 School, um, from there, where did you go after, after you left that school?

00:12:48Mary Franks: Seventh grade, when we moved, just out of the edge of Bristow here, going out by the the cemetery, out on the highway, you turned on that dirt road now by the cemetery and two miles west, we moved a larger house that had indoor, partial indoor plumbing. Still didn't have indoor plumbing. We had a well on our back porch. We had a big front porch and a big back porch, plus we had more living space. So, from a family living in a four room house for many years, well, seven years of my life, then we finally lived in a place where we could have more bedrooms. More things to do, a big barn and a, bigger barn. Had a place for us to have animals.

00:13:51Regan Siler: So, whenever you lived out there, what school, did you attend Bristow schools?

00:13:55Mary Franks: Yes, moved into Bristow School and going from a country school with all ages into a classroom, let me see, I graduated class of '61 and went to school from part of the eighth, ninth, tenth grade. Well, we're all, I graduated high school, so that's the only school I went to.

00:14:17Regan Siler: Okay, so you graduated from Bristow?

00:14:20Mary Franks: Yes, 1961. All of us graduated from Bristow.

00:14:26Regan Siler: Okay, okay, um, do you remember having any influential teachers that really stuck out to you or made a difference in your life?

00:14:36Mary Franks: Every one of them did. I, like I said, I my dream was to be a teacher. I played school with my siblings. My teacher at 48 School or Central School, Evalee Smith (ph) was my mentor. She, well, the daughter my age.

00:14:54Regan Siler: Say her name again. What was her name?

00:14:56Mary Franks: Evalee Smith (ph).

00:14:58Mary Franks: [undecipherable] Yes, folks living out, by where you live, out that direction. You lived out five mile corner and back out through "VanOrsdol Ville".

00:14:59Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:15:01Mary Franks: Where you grew up with your best friend.

00:15:14Regan Siler: Right. See, you have a great memory. You, you remember a lot about me, even.

00:15:21Mary Franks: I'm watching people grow up.

00:15:22Regan Siler: Right.

00:15:23Mary Franks: And then I worked in Bristow my whole life.

00:15:26Regan Siler: Well, did you enjoy school? Did you have a favorite subject?

00:15:29Mary Franks: I loved school. Anything reading.

00:15:32Regan Siler: You love to read.

00:15:34Mary Franks: But being an older student, I started first grade there, and then my siblings would go to school. And you know, when you live in a family with eight kids, it's fun to get to go to school before you go to school. My sister and I kind of paved the way, and then she was a year ahead of me, and then the others were, like, two years apart, and so we're supposed to have the older kids help with the reading programs, help with the math, of course, my dream was to be a teacher, and so if I fit right in, of course, we had our meals at school, our playground school, blackboard time, all that stuff. A lot of people coming and going within the school. Families moving in and out.

00:16:26Regan Siler: So, can you tell me what it was like at your house during meal times? What were meal times like at your house?

00:16:31Mary Franks: We all sat down to the table at the same time. We had one meal. It was family style, and we always said grace before meals. We passed the food around or reached and, you know, you had to take turn, but, normally, we had to pass it around. Being one of the older ones, I helped prepare the meal, helped put it on the table, through the setting of the places and cleaned up afterwards. You know, whatever needed to be done. I helped cook it. I helped wash, I mean, we all did.

00:16:53Regan Siler: any favorite recipes or dishes that your mom fixed when you were young? Do you remember?

00:17:23Mary Franks: She didn't really need a cookbook. She just knew how to how to cook. She we did get her cookbooks that was kind of a fun thing to give, get around birthday, or make her one. Just learned to cook the way my mother did.And she let us help with you know, we'd peel the potatoes. We had gardens.

00:17:49Regan Siler: So, was there a favorite meal that you had? Do you remember?

00:17:52Mary Franks: Probably beans and cornbread? Because we sure had them a lot.

00:17:57Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:17:57Mary Franks: A lot of potatoes, all the starchy foods. I'm not a meat eater today. We didn't have an awful lot. We had meat flavoring, and we had roast, pot roast. We had, used a lot of hamburger, and a lot of you can make a lot of dishes.

00:18:19Regan Siler: I'm sure you had to be frugal with, they had to be frugal with eight kids.

00:18:24Mary Franks: Right.

00:18:24Regan Siler: Yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, thinking back to town life and growing up in the Bristow area, do you remember any of your favorite community activities? Say, for instance, like Western Heritage Days, or maybe day camp, parades, county fairs? Is there anything like that that you can tell us about?

00:18:43Mary Franks: Well, school and all the activities involved with school, including distributive education, which is one of the things that led me to my first job.

00:18:54Regan Siler: Okay.

00:18:55Mary Franks: But yes, I loved everything going on in Bristow as a child. I uh, my dad always had a car, and we went to church. That was big part of our life. Wednesdays, Sundays, Sunday evening.

00:19:13Mary Franks: Where did you attend church? Free Holiness Church on First Street.

00:19:17Regan Siler: Oh, okay, so the the same church, but that's been kind of renovated now, right?

00:19:22Mary Franks: Oh, yes, through many, many I went to church there until I married, and then Larry and I were older when we married, then we chose Church of God, because he knew the folks there. He'd attended that church. It was a small church. It's a little different and it, it's where we made our commitment together to to be Christians and to do what we could and raising our family, living a lifestyle that we thought would be acceptable to God.

00:19:56Regan Siler: Right. Well, do you remember any of the particular popular businesses or restaurants around town? Do you have any memory of that? Things that places you shopped, or places you ate that were, stick out to you and your memories?

00:20:13Mary Franks: We didn't eat out a lot. There were eight of us.

00:20:16Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:20:17Mary Franks: Ten people, and I learned to cook for ten people. So, the things that we did as kids, we did a lot of family gatherings, picnics, and we always had lots of cousins and friends. So, our house always had at least two or other people that came to visit. Of course, when they came to visit with my sister, they were there with all of us. When they came for the boys, well, we were all together, so and then we were at home, the neighbors would come to our house. We'd go to their house.

00:20:56Regan Siler: So, as far as shopping, and, say, new clothes for a family of eight, did your mom make them? Did you get to shop? Did you only get them once a year? How did that work?

00:21:09Mary Franks: My mom made a lot. She taught us to sew when we were young, and we helped make clothing for the younger kids in school at 48 [indecipherable]. In grade school, 4h was a big part of it ,so we learned to sew on the sewing machine there, and learned to do aprons and skirts. And, you know, there was always a challenge. Had cousins that would give us clothing that, sometimes, needed to be redone, and we would do that so, But yeah, our teacher would, I loved to read, and she would bring us into Bristow to the library. So, early on, going to the Bristow Library was a really fun thing for me, and we would all check out books and take them home. I was a bookworm, and we'd each have two or three books, and I'd read mine and then read everybody else's. And they would read ours before time to take our books back and then.

00:22:19Regan Siler: So, it was almost like you got to check out eight books, huh?

00:22:23Mary Franks: It was, and then read to the kids.

00:22:25Regan Siler: Right.

00:22:25Mary Franks: It was kind of fun, so.

00:22:27Regan Siler: So, you said your dad always had a car. Did you guys ever get to go on any type of vacations? I'm sure that was probably difficult having that many children in your family.

00:22:36Mary Franks: Weekends, like I said, we'd would always go to church and we would like go to Mowhawk Park as a family, go to Tulsa.

00:22:45Regan Siler: Okay, okay.

00:22:46Mary Franks: Vacation, I remember, we went to Kansas to visit some family, and that's little car.

00:22:55Regan Siler: Oh, I bet, I bet. So, did you ever, did you have a TV in your house growing up?

00:23:02Mary Franks: Not early on. I was probably 11-years-old.

00:23:10Regan Siler: Okay. Do you remember any favorite programs you watched?

00:23:14Mary Franks: Well, they were when we'd visit relatives, they had TV. So, I loved watching TV in their homes. The story lines, I loved the family stories, and also the family shows, game shows. We had a telephone, so we were able to visit.

00:23:39Regan Siler: Right. What, excuse me, what were family holidays like at your house? For instance, say Christmas. Tell me what a typical Christmas was like in your house, growing up.

00:23:54Mary Franks: Chaotic. We always had plenty to eat. We, of course, our lives centered around school. So, we had our school programs and our, where we all had chances to be on the stage and do those kind of things to get our bags of candy to go home. So, we had those candies, apples and oranges, and in church, we did similar programs, you know, with youth activities, and we have parties and treats and things there. But it took like at home, we would didn't have much money to do with but we did get a little bit of an allowance, and we would buy for each other. So, we had really interesting Christmas gifts that we wrapped up.

00:24:40Regan Siler: Well, that's fun.

00:24:41Mary Franks: Under the Christmas tree, but we, we learned to give from the time we were small.

00:24:45Regan Siler: That's good.

00:24:46Mary Franks: And yes, we, we each got gifts. My mother and dad managed somehow for us to have gifts. Sometimes it was clothing, sometimes it was a game, but

00:24:56Regan Siler: Did you have a favorite holiday growing up?

00:24:59Mary Franks: Birthdays.

00:25:00Regan Siler: Birthdays were your favorite?

00:25:02Mary Franks: Everybody's birthday was always a party.

00:25:04Regan Siler: Well, I bet, I bet. Um, so, and I was going to ask if

00:25:09Regan Siler: Easter was probably my favorite.

00:25:11Regan Siler: Your favorite.

00:25:12Mary Franks: Like a new beginning. The easter eggs and the family gathering and it'd all be outside.

00:25:21Regan Siler: Right. So, I was going to ask if you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up. But I'm guessing it was a teacher.

00:25:27Mary Franks: Always a teacher.

00:25:28Regan Siler: Okay, um, so did you attend college?

00:25:33Mary Franks: No, I'm just lucky to get through high school, Regan. We moved when I was in the, I finished the seventh grade. I was in the eighth grade. Came to Bristow High School, that was junior high, which was really different. You know, there were more people in my home room than there were in the whole school at 48, so I met lots of people, many I knew from church, but not, not everyone. And, then, was introduced to new things to do as as a junior high student. And then,

00:26:16Regan Siler: So, was it kind of a culture shock for you to go from a country school to, say, like Bristow Public Schools?

00:26:23Mary Franks: But a welcome, too, because I was with kids my own age, and was really always taking care of other people.

00:26:29Regan Siler: That's understandable.

00:26:30Mary Franks: I made a lot of friends. I, scholastically, I was probably as smart as any other kids in the classroom, so I would be able to keep up with what they were doing, and think is this all we're going to do? And then you would go to another class, and you're more assignments. I liked being able to finish my work at school, so I didn't have to do it at home. And then I, you know, it cost money, a lot of money, and it was hard to keep a family involed. I needed to go to work, and in order to stay in school. We all graduated high school. And I did that.

00:27:20Regan Siler: Now you told me you start, did you start working at Ben Franklin? Is that where you started working?

00:27:25Mary Franks: Yes.

00:27:25Regan Siler: Okay.

00:27:26Mary Franks: I worked three years while I was in high school.

00:27:29Regan Siler: Oh, okay.

00:27:30Mary Franks: Three years, and I worked part time after school and on Saturdays. And then I, after I graduated high school, there was no many to go to school. No scholarships. You know, really, I was thankful to get through school. My sister graduated a year before me, and she went to work at the garment factory, was there for a short time and married her sweetheart and moved away. I finished high school, but I worked three years part time, and then I worked three years full time after I graduated high school.

00:28:08Regan Siler: At Ben Franklin?

00:28:10Mary Franks: At Ben Franklin.

00:28:11Regan Siler: Okay, okay.

00:28:12Mary Franks: And then after those three years, had the opportunity to go to work at the bank.

00:28:19Regan Siler: And at the time it was, it was American National Bank.

00:28:22Mary Franks: It was America National Bank.

00:28:25Regan Siler: Which then turned into Spirit Bank, so

00:28:27Mary Franks: That job wasn't available, though. I mean, I didn't even dream I'd ever go to work at the bank. I loved working at Ben Franklin. And like I said, after after high school, I worked for full years. I was cashier. I learned to manage the store.

00:28:45Regan Siler: And tell me who owned Ben Franklin at that time?

00:28:47Mary Franks: Travis and Pauline Patton.

00:28:49Regan Siler: Okay, okay. And you, so you felt like you learned a lot from them?

00:28:53Mary Franks: Oh yes, even part time and working on Saturdays, they gave opportunities to learn things. You know, being from a poor family, I loved to shop at Ben Franklin. That's what we would do. We moved around a lot. We didn't have much money to spend. And yeah, when, when I was growing up, it was just a treat to get to come town. We did that on Saturdays. We never went to movies that cost money. We didn't go skating. That cost money.

00:29:16Regan Siler: So, whenever you

00:29:16Mary Franks: It was fun just going to the park.

00:29:23Regan Siler: Whenever you worked at Ben Franklin, and you earned money there, was that your money or did you help your family with that?

00:29:29Mary Franks: It was my money, but I worked at Ben Franklin, and they had everything the family would need. I would normally spend all of it right there buying things for my siblings, who are still in school, helping them so they could take part in the clubs and things that I didn't get to take part in because I was working. But then they, too, had a responsibility. We learned to work, and if a job became available, or they knew of a job, then they, too, always went to work.

00:29:34Regan Siler: then you retired there in 2019?

00:30:17Mary Franks: I did.

00:30:18Regan Siler: So, tell me, tell us about your experience working at Spirit bank and what all that entailed.

00:30:23Mary Franks: Well, like I said, I had six years working on Main Street with Ben Franklin before I went to work at the bank, and then was at the bank at the time this building next door was being built. So, I went to work in May of '64 and the ground was part of the groundbreaking for the new building on Seventh Street. Bu,t I went to work at the bank, I went to work in bookkeeping department, and they had this machine, a huge machine. It's called just a bookkeeping machine. And I didn't like machines at all. It was boring. But my first job when I went in was checking signatures on people's checks with signature cards. And signatures were very, very important back in those days,

00:31:18Regan Siler: Before all the technology that we have now, right?

00:31:21Mary Franks: I worked on that darn machine, and I did it okay. There's no problem, but sitting there looking at a wall, doing all this stuff was boring. I went to work and then finished work, and there was nothing to do, so I'd go upstairs, and what can I do, you know. When I went to work at the bank, I also kept my job at Ben Franklin.

00:31:46Regan Siler: You liked it so much you kept both of them.

00:31:50Mary Franks: The bank was open until, well, when I left Ben Franklin, one of the things that Travis Patton, he ordered all the workbooks for all the schools in town, and so I was in charge of helping order those books during those three years that I worked full time. And having done it part time, I kind of learned how to do a lot of things, and I loved working at Ben Franklin. I never would have left the job. I didn't have any good college, and I was just working just to keep going. But anyway, of course, I was a teenager. I dated, met a lot of people, did a lot of fun things, but still lived at home with my parents. I never lived alone, and then I worked several years before Larry and I married.

00:32:44Regan Siler: So, what were, can you tell me before we move on from Spirit Bank, can you tell me what different positions you held there at Spirit Bank?

00:32:52Mary Franks: Sure, I was working the bookkeeping department then I worked, I wanted more to do. I moved into the loan department and did a lot of filing and clerical work. And the lady who was working as a secretary moved away. I had shorthand, bookkeeping in high school, and I'd do all those things. And, immediately, I was asked to fill that position. I didn't ask for it. They asked me if I would like to, and I moved into it as a receptionist, and then Tracy Kelly, the vice president of the bank, before I went there in '64. And I guess they were just looking out for me. One of the things that they did tell me when I went to work there was that I'd have a chance to go to college.

00:33:45Regan Siler: Awesome.

00:33:46Mary Franks: Yeah, in banking classes and that sort of thing.

00:33:49Regan Siler: So, they were believers in continuing education and supportive of that?

00:33:54Mary Franks: Aways. And every time I took a class and successfully completed it, my salary was increased, but anyway, back to my job. I didn't know I'd worked there forever, but I did. I loved it. I liked being with the people. Many of the people that came in and out of the bank were people that I had met through Ben Franklin, because I worked as a cashier and then also Travis's office [indecipherable].

00:34:24Regan Siler: So, how long did you work for, were you Tracy's administrative assistant?

00:34:30Mary Franks: I was.

00:34:31Regan Siler: And how long did you work for for Tracy? So how many years would you say that was?

00:34:38Mary Franks: Oh my gosh. Primarily, most of my baking career.

00:34:49Regan Siler: Oh, okay, okay. Well, I remember coming in there as a little kid and seeing you.

00:34:56Mary Franks: Hopefully I was smiling.

00:34:58Regan Siler: You were always, always very sweet.

00:35:00Mary Franks: Well, thank you.

00:35:01Regan Siler: So, tell me, you had when we had visited on the phone, you mentioned an interesting tidbit about meeting Sam and Helen Walton through the bank. Can you tell me about that?

00:35:12Mary Franks: Actually, not through the bank.

00:35:14Regan Siler: Oh, not through the bank.

00:35:14Mary Franks: Travis Patton.

00:35:15Regan Siler: Oh, okay, okay.

00:35:16Mary Franks: Mr. Walton was a Ben Franklin owner. I was a high school student, and, of course, through the Ben Franklin chain, they were, they were friends. And, you know, he would send in Bill and his, he had just had this big idea, of a discount store. He had the Ben Franklin store, but he and Travis were friends. I met him as a young person when he visited and knew that he had the store, and he and his wife were both there, first time that I met them. Then later on, when Larry and I married, we went Arkansas for our honeymoon. And there's always need something from so we went to Ben Franklin store, which was still operating at that time, and I remember seeing this the store, the wall, Walmart, yeah, of course, Mr.

00:36:31Regan Siler: So what was your impression of them?

00:36:35Mary Franks: I looked up to him, and he was a businessman, and he was very knowledgeable. He treated me like a person.

00:36:43Regan Siler: Well, that's good.

00:36:44Mary Franks: And then an opportunity to go visit the store. He wasn't there at the time, but then seeing the groundwork as they were starting the store. I just remember his theme was he was going to keep everything American. It didn't happen.

00:37:05Regan Siler: That it didn't work out quite like that, did it?

00:37:09Mary Franks: And then years later, they actually came to Oklahoma with their Walmart stores.

00:37:15Regan Siler: Well, let's talk about

00:37:17Mary Franks: It was interesting visiting him and other people. And then same way with the bank. You know, every new people would come to town they'd come to the bank looking for information, asking questions, and a lot of it, a lot of people, especially in the Kelly family with the leadership, and not only of Bristow, but Tracy served in a lot of Oklahoma departments, like the Chamber of Commerce, Bristow Chamber of Commerce, the State Chamber of Commerce, the National Chamber of Commerce. Over the years, like different levels, working as an assistant secretary. I've got to meet a lot of people, and lot of names, and put those connections together,

00:38:04Regan Siler: Right, right. I bet you did.

00:38:06Mary Franks: Bristow was operated totally different back in those early days. We had the Chamber of Commerce, which did a whole lot of the things that people, and then we had a businessmen that would team up together, work through the chamber of commerce and go out looking for businesses to come Town, so there was always a lot of research and stuff behind the scenes before people would make a decision actually.

00:38:35Regan Siler: To come to Bristow. Well, let's talk about your immediate family. Let's start with your spouse. Can you tell me his full name?

00:38:45Mary Franks: Lawrence Wayne Franks, and he grew up two miles north of Bristow.

00:38:50Regan Siler: And he goes by Larry?

00:38:52Mary Franks: I call him Larry.

00:38:53Regan Siler: Larry, okay. And what, do you know his date of birth?

00:38:56Mary Franks: Sure. 12/19/1941.

00:39:02Regan Siler: Okay, what was your first impression of him when you saw him?

00:39:06Mary Franks: We were in high school together. He was just a classmate, and we had some of the same friends. We did not date in high school. I didn't date a lot. I was busy working. And he was same way he had worked from [indecipherable] while he was in high school, and did that during the summer, and then went into the military. And we didn't actually date until after he returned from his military career.

00:39:41Regan Siler: So, when did you get married?

00:39:44Mary Franks: We got married in 1967.

00:39:49Regan Siler: 1967 and

00:39:51Mary Franks: I was, I was older when we got married.

00:39:54Regan Siler: So, where did you, where did you get, where did you have your wedding?

00:39:57Mary Franks: At the Church of God.

00:39:59Regan Siler: Church of God. Okay, and then where did you end up living after you and Larry married?

00:40:08Mary Franks: North Main Street.

00:40:08Regan Siler: Oh, okay, so you were still in Bristow.

00:40:10Mary Franks: Across the street from where the bank building is now, you're right. Let's see, where was the little house? It's right there on the corner. Really cute little house set back off, off of Main Street, and then he worked at Serro Scotty and I worked at the bank.

00:40:11Regan Siler: He worked where?

00:40:22Mary Franks: Serro Scotty. They built the travel trailers at a factory here.

00:40:37Regan Siler: Okay.

00:40:38Mary Franks: Way back when.

00:40:39Regan Siler: Okay. Um, can you tell me how many children you have?

00:40:42Mary Franks: We have two.

00:40:44Regan Siler: Two children, and can you tell me their names and give me their dates of birth, please?

00:40:48Mary Franks: Yes, our children were our chosen children. We, like I shared earlier, I told you I didn't ever want to have kids. I grew up in a large family. I was next to the oldest. I loved kids and wanted to be a teacher, but I didn't really think I wanted to have children after we were married. We were married six years before we got our daughter, and she was adopted. She was chosen. She'd been in foster care. We don't know a lot about her background. Chose not to know. We got her out of through the state.

00:41:30Regan Siler: And what is her name?

00:41:32Mary Franks: Her name, we got to name her. Her name is Missy Maree [Collins].

00:41:40Regan Siler: Okay, and her last name?

00:41:42Mary Franks: Franks, of course, and then Collins. She married Collins, John T. Collins.

00:41:48Regan Siler: And her date of birth?

00:41:50Mary Franks: Her date of birth is October 25, 1966 that would been the year before we were married.

00:41:58Regan Siler: Okay.

00:42:01Mary Franks: Like I said, she was school age when we got her so after we married, we were without children in intentionally for several years. We had been married six years. We probably after we've been married about four years, we decided that we've got God's calling. There are lots of kids that didn't have homes. And I had read lots of books when I was growing up about people that needed homes, and it's something that Larry and I chose to do. We knew we were going to go the adoption route.

00:42:40Regan Siler: And then you also have a son. What is his name?

00:42:43Mary Franks: She was with us for five years before we adopted David. David Wayne Franks, we gave him that name.

00:42:49Regan Siler: Okay, and his date of birth?

00:42:52Mary Franks: His date of birth.

00:42:55Regan Siler: I have April 7, 1970 Is that correct?

00:42:57Mary Franks: That's correct.

00:42:58Regan Siler: Okay, do you remember, what, if you had any particular challenges being a mother, especially a working mother?

00:43:08Mary Franks: No, I was a very good aunt. My siblings all had children.

00:43:14Regan Siler: So, you knew how to manage all of it.

00:43:17Mary Franks: Yeah, and we were a close knit family, you know, I was there with them from the beginning of the time that they're they were expecting their babies and being a part of it. And loved being around lots of kids. Larry, on the other hand, only had one sister and her children at the time we married were already, let's see, 10 and 14, maybe, 10 and 13. So, yeah, we were ready for children, and they fit right in, because our friends had children who were about the same age as the kids that we were adopting our kids records that we were told by DHS and then they had been in foster care and never known a stable life.

00:44:18Regan Siler: So, you were able to provide that for them.

00:44:20Mary Franks: We were, yeah.

00:44:20Regan Siler: That's good.

00:44:21Mary Franks: With God's help.

00:44:22Regan Siler: It's awesome. Do you have any grandchildren?

00:44:25Mary Franks: When they came to us, we had cousins that came. When Missy came to our home after we'd been married six years. She already had probably eight to ten cousins. Three of which were her age, so she immediately had playmates.

00:44:47Regan Siler: That's awesome.

00:44:47Mary Franks: That lived close by along with the kids, the children that our friends had and people that I worked with had, so we suddenly became involved in kids activities.

00:45:00Regan Siler: Right.

00:45:00Mary Franks: Because we had done that before, like I said, I didn't want kids, but I wanted to teach kids. And I taught in Sunday School and Bible School, and Larry worked with Boy Scouts and activities. So, we were around children always, we had just chosen not to have children.

00:45:16Regan Siler: Right, right. Do you have any grandchildren at this time?

00:45:18Mary Franks: Yes, we do have. We have, Missy and John T had two boys, and they adopted a daughter, so they have a high school daughter who is our, she's our seventh grandchild.

00:45:36Regan Siler: My goodness, okay.

00:45:37Mary Franks: And then we have great grandchildren.

00:45:40Regan Siler: Okay, okay. Well, have you enjoyed being retired? I know you left the bank. you said you left the bank in 2019, so you've been retired for a little while. Do you enjoy retirement?

00:45:51Mary Franks: I do enjoy retirement. I enjoy life and travel and banking and all of that. So, Larry and I love vacations and getaways, and we did that all the years before kids and with kids and after kids.

00:46:06Regan Siler: Right, right.

00:46:06Mary Franks: We still like to travel. So yes, I do enjoy it.

00:46:12Regan Siler: Well, I'm going to ask you kind of a fun question. What would you consider to be the most important invention during your lifetime?

00:46:24Mary Franks: The most important? Oh, they've all been wonderful. [Indecipherable]

00:46:36Regan Siler: Well, now that's pretty important in my book.

00:46:40Mary Franks: I'm just been silly. Probably, I don't know, radio is pretty important. I remember radio being my one of my fondest things.

00:46:51Regan Siler: Did you have any particular music you enjoyed listening to?

00:46:55Mary Franks: Gospel.

00:46:55Regan Siler: Gospel, okay, and then how do you feel the world is different now than when you were a child?

00:47:07Mary Franks: People have access to a lot more information and opportunities than I ever knew about as a child. Maybe those things were available, but I loved growing up in a large family. I love being a part of business. I love being a part of all the church activities and social parts of, I like people. I like being out. One of the hardest things for me since retirement has not been the daily contact.

00:47:40Regan Siler: Your contact.

00:47:41Mary Franks: But after I retired, course we had COVID, and everybody was afraid to even get out.

00:47:46Regan Siler: Right.

00:47:47Mary Franks: So the whole lifestyle sort of changed. Back to your question, what the most important invention, probably was the telephone, where people had more contact with others.

00:47:58Regan Siler: Right, okay, um, well, is there anything else that you would like to tell us about, or any wisdom that you would like to share for future generations?

00:48:07Mary Franks: The most important thing, I think, is your relationship with God and then with each other and your family and children, and we are blessed. Everybody's been healthy. We, one my one of the biggest challenges as a grandparent has been having, I love all of our kids and grandkids, but we, we do have a handicap granddaughter who has been a big part of my life. And I think it's so sad that children have handicaps, and, you know, sometimes having the access and capabilities of getting the care they need.

00:48:52Regan Siler: Right, right, I can understand that.

00:48:55Mary Franks: She's now 29-years-old, and when she was born, she weighed less than two pounds. So, she's kind of a miracle baby, even though she has her disabilities, she's a quite joyful person. I love all my grandkids.

00:49:12Regan Siler: Oh, absolutely!

00:49:13Mary Franks: She's just different.

00:49:14Regan Siler: Yes, yes. Um, so is there any final thoughts you would like to leave, aside from to love God and love your family.

00:49:23Mary Franks: Oh yeah, and you're where you are. We love Bristow. You know, Bristow is home,

00:49:29Regan Siler: You always seem like a very appreciative person, to me, a very kind and appreciative person. And I think that's a very good quality to have and we can, we can

00:49:41Mary Franks: I hope people see Christ in me.

00:49:43Regan Siler: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Well, your interview will become an important part of the oral hstory archives for the museum. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. We really appreciate it.

00:49:54Mary Franks: Thank you.