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 20, 2025 and I'm sitting here with Kell Kelly at the Bristow Library Annex. He's going to tell us about how he helped save the Bristow Train Depot. Can you please state your full name?
00:00:21Kell Kelly: Sure. My full name is Albert Charles Kelly, Jr.
00:00:25Regan Siler: Okay, and you go by Kell, right?
00:00:26Kell Kelly: Everyone goes, calls me Kell.
00:00:28Regan Siler: Okay. And do I have permission to record this interview?
00:00:31Kell Kelly: You do.
00:00:32Regan Siler: Okay, um, can you tell me when and where you were born?
00:00:36Kell Kelly: Yes. I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in November the 21st of 1954. I was brought back to a house out in the country that was Wild Horse Prairie, still known as Wild Horse Prairie, which is north of Bristow.
00:00:51Regan Siler: Okay, and I want to ask, I know today we mainly want to focus on saving the depot, but I would also like to touch on your family. Can you tell me their full names and dates of birth, if you have that.
00:01:04Regan Siler: How many family members would you like me to tell you about?
00:01:05Regan Siler: Well, just your parents, sorry!
00:01:08Kell Kelly: Well, I'll go back one generation before that, if possible.
00:01:11Regan Siler: Oh, sure.
00:01:11Kell Kelly: My grandfather, Albert Kelly, came to Bristow in 1902. He came in a wagon and brought two of his sisters from Kansas. He had a third grade education, and he came here to farm. He was a farmer. So, he started his his agricultural effort out near the where the airport is now, and began his farming career. Over the years, why he prospered and did pretty well. And somewhere around the early 1920s, why, a lady came to Bristow to start a hospital. And that was my grandmother, whose name was Dorcas [Dorcas B. Kelly]. And Dorcas did start a hospital and, ultimately, ended up treating my grandfather for something. And these people who had neither ever been married, but had a 25 year age difference between them, got married my grandfather at at 47 and my grandmother at 25 or 22, if I'm doing math correctly. They had five sons over 19 years, and my dad was the oldest one. So, that kind of gives you a brief background of of the family. I could go into a lot more detail than that, if you'd like. I, also, will address since you asked my name, my my name, everyone called me Albert, but then they called me Little Albert. And my mother was so concerned that I would be this age and people would be looking for Little Albert, so she came up with a nickname, Kell, and it just stuck. And as much as you try to get away from it, wherever you travel, that's where it sticks.
00:02:47Regan Siler: How interesting! And then, so tell me about your parents. What their names are.
00:02:52Kell Kelly: My mother was from western Kansas. Her name was Katherine, and she, her father, Charles, started the first hospital in Garden City, Kansas. And so she was in and around Garden City, Kansas through her teenage years. My father was a, graduated from Bristow High School and the Class of 1940, which I'll get to in a minute. And he attended Harvard College in in Boston, in Cambridge, and through, he attended that, obviously, in the fall of 1940 because World War II fell in at that time, they graduated him early. So, his class graduated in 1943 and he went into the Navy and, ultimately, into the submarines. And was very emotional for him the rest of his life, because I think he had survivor's guilt from all of his friends that never came back.
00:03:39Regan Siler: Greatest Generation.
00:03:41Kell Kelly: Oh yeah, Lots of great stories about them. And really, 1940 the Class of 1940 was pretty much the greatest class.
00:03:56Regan Siler: I read somewhere though they were the most philanthropic or generous class for the community of Bristow.
00:04:05Kell Kelly: As far as I know, there could be someone else, but as far as I know, the last member of the Class of 1940 still living is Joe Ihle. So, Joe is a pecan producer here, and he's 102 years old, and he and my father were great friends and and, so I really regard Joe highly and and amazed at him.
00:04:27Regan Siler: Yes. So, your dad's name was
00:04:29Kell Kelly: Albert Charles Kelly, Sr.
00:04:31Regan Siler: Okay, and I have his birth date as 12/28/1922. Does that sound?
00:04:35Kell Kelly: That is correct?
00:04:36Regan Siler: Okay. And then what was your mother's name?
00:04:39Kell Kelly: Katherine McGee Rewerts. R, E, W, E, R, T, S.
00:04:44Regan Siler: Okay, and I have her birth date 11/17/1918.
00:04:48Kell Kelly: That's correct.
00:04:49Regan Siler: Okay, alright, um, so then your family has been in the Bristow area for since the what the 20?
00:04:58Kell Kelly: Since 1902.
00:04:59Regan Siler: 1902.
00:05:00Kell Kelly: When my grandfather got here.
00:05:01Regan Siler: Oh yeah, okay, all right. Well, let's talk about the depot. We want to, we know you were instrumental in helping save the depot, and I would kind of like to hear your perspective on that, so you just, I guess, start from the beginning.
00:05:23Kell Kelly: Well, the beginning of the depot can't begin without involving the late Bob Chadderdon. Bob was a remarkable fellow. He'd been a fighter pilot in World War II in Europe, and had left Bristow at some point after that with $50 in his pocket that his friend Paul Joseph had loaned him, and he made his way to New York and became successful in the international trade of heavy oil and gas machinery at a time when they were discovering that the Middle East and other places had lots of stores of oil. And so Bob and his determined manner jumped right in. He was proud of the fact that he had the address on on in Washington, excuse me, in New York, that was One Carnegie Center. So, he was, he was right on the, he was right in the middle of New York and Times Square and every place else. Along about 1980, Bob and his wealth transferred back to Bristow. He wanted to always come back to Bristow, and he became almost a one man philanthropy store. However, he was never satisfied with with doing it by himself, and so he drug everybody into it that he possibly can. My father had already passed away, and so somehow he focused on on me to be his kind of his his guy, his monkey boy, to do whatever he would tell me to do. I'd come back to Bristow when I was practicing law with Joe Sam Vassar and Harry McMillan. And Bob had asked me to speak to the Class of 40 that was having its 40th reunion in 1980, and so I did. And from that point on, he would involve me in all of his many, many ventures that he wanted to give back to Bristow.
00:07:39Regan Siler: Do you know how, what, where he came up with the, I mean, like, where, where did it, how did the idea come up that he wanted to save the depot and preserve it for Bristow?
00:07:50Kell Kelly: Well, I think the idea came up that when you would drive down the streets in Bristow, why Bob would, Bob would be able to tell you who lived there in 1930. And, so, those he had the, he had the great desire to try and convey to the next generations what Bristow had been, what Bristow had evolved to, but at the same time, with an eye to what, what, who those that came before. He used to talk about one gentleman, as he said, he met every train, because his brother had gone to World War I, and he was this was a gentleman that had had some mental deficiency, but his brother had gone to World War I, and he left on the train. And Bob could Bob when the trains were running, this gentleman would meet every train, thinking that his brother would be there. This was the way that they went to Tulsa. This was the train, the train was the lifeline for towns and towns that received trains, and train access grew. Those that didn't, really, pretty well failed, or at least were minimized.
00:08:59Regan Siler: So, who owned the depot at the time?
00:09:01Kell Kelly: At the time the depot, at the time that we embarked upon this, why, the depot was owned by Burlington, Northern. And Bob had a tenacity that all of those Greatest Generation people had. My dad, Joe Ihle, Bob, really any of those people that you have ever encountered, they had already gone through the worst that they could go through. They'd already gone through watching their friends pass away. They'd already gone through loss. They'd already gone through leaving their Bristow and never thinking they'd come back. And, so, their friends images were very much in there, very much with them all the time, but also what they result, what that resulted in is nothing really scared him. They'd seen the worst of the worst, and it didn't matter what it was. Nothing scared them. They were willing to take any venture. And, so, when Bob would come tell you that he had some great idea, you would tell, you would say, tell it to yourself, well, I can't be a part of that. And while your head was was shaking, no, why, you'd go, of course, Bob, I'll do whatever you want me to do. And that happened more times than I can tell you.
00:10:11Regan Siler: Right.
00:10:11Kell Kelly: But he embarked on the park. He put it in four stages. Joe Ihle was the was the principal person on that. You know, Bob would bring in the his Class of '40 classmates as often as he could, Francis Hayhurst, he always reminded me, was president of the class, and Francis was a gracious man. But Bob built a pretty good amount of money that he put together both for the park, and we did it in four stages, and it's still remarkably beautiful. It's been remarkably well done. He had the class of 1940 Scholarship Fund, which he would interview kids and, invariably, give away a lot more money than, probably, was in the fund that day. But, he believed in in the youth, and he believed in in heritage. He looked both ways. He looked back and said, people need to know why these things happen and how this was, and people need to look ahead. And, so, one of the things that he wanted to have was not just a main street renovation, but he wanted to have the the depot as a centerpiece.
00:11:13Kell Kelly: Yes ma'am.
00:11:13Regan Siler: Was it, was it in, was there a threat of it being torn down? Do I remember that correctly?
00:11:13Regan Siler: Okay.
00:11:14Kell Kelly: Burlington Northern, there had been an appeal by
00:11:26Regan Siler: And I may be jumping ahead in the story, I don't know.
00:11:28Kell Kelly: No, you're not. There had been an appeal by some folks in the city. I don't, I don't recall exactly who, to try and preserve the depot. The Burlington Northern was tearing down depots at that time across the, across the state.
00:11:45Regan Siler: Just because they didn't want them anymore or were they in disrepair?
00:11:48Kell Kelly: They had no use for them. They weren't, they were not in the passenger train business.
00:11:55Regan Siler: Okay.
00:11:55Kell Kelly: And they had no use for those. So, Bristow's was allowed to become very dilapidated. Had a good, a good population of pigeons and other birds. It was not, it was not well taken care of at all. It wasn't taken care of period. And, so, that was their plan of letting it get to a place where it wasn't really going to be too much of a loss to lose this supposed eyesore. They, the idea was that, at one time, just as I talked about the fellow that met all the trains, why, the depot was the place you departed from. The depot was a place that you came back from, or came back to. And, so, you know, there, there were, immediately people would gravitate up to Main Street, which is a block away. And that was how a lot of commerce, a lot of citizens, a lot of people came. There were, there were some modest hotels that surrounded that area. And, so, lots of lots of memories and lots of commerce. Bob felt like you could make the depot something that would be historically very good, and so he started the Historical Society on his own and designated me as the president, which, of course, I was saying, no, Bob, I don't think I'll do that, but I couldn't get those words up. So, I said, yes, of course. And, so, that's kind of how the Historical Society was, was started. And then we had a lot of, we had a lot of ladies that were vintage 1940 Class of '40, Class of '35, Class of '44 all that really took, took to a lot of the work trying to trying to make Bob's dream a reality. So, as he worked on the park, why, he also worked on the on the depot. And the one problem we had with the depot was that we didn't own it. One day, a backhoe showed up and took out half of the half of the platform. And, so, that was, again, the idea of gradual, gradual deterioration and ultimate knocking it down. So, Bob and his in it in a way, found out, inevitable way, found out that there was a gentleman in Tulsa who somewhat ran the the depot, depot decisions or whatever. And, so, he got a got us meeting with that and with that gentleman. And, once again, I accompanied, accompanied him up there. And I learned that day of a Chadderdon strategy that I violated, which was, you stay in the room until you get your way. But, this guy was really, he was a big fellow, and he was really fairly obnoxious, saying there's no, no way you're going to get this thing. We're going to tear it down. And he would be very explicit in the fact that he wanted to, us to understand that we lost by just by being involved, we've lost. And so, you know, I eventually, in my youth, got angry and told Bob, let's get out of here. And Bob would, would, would continue to defer. And, eventually, he left with me and, and the lesson that he gave me that day, he says, you stay long enough you're going to win this argument. Which I thought was fairly absurd, but I accepted it. And, so, we were, we were faced with the only thing we could do, which was to file an injunction, or ask for an injunction so that they not tear down the depot. So, the city approved that we could file it in my, in my youth of lawyering, why, I actually filed that, I think I filed it on behalf of the city, if I'm remembering correctly. But I was the only one that, you know, I was only operative, so to speak, once again, doing what Bob had suggested. And, so, we kept that, we preserved the depot because they couldn't get around the injunction. However, that injunction was not going to ripen into a permanent injunction. It was a temporary injunction, and because it was Burlington Northern's property, and because we could not show a true interest, other than a an interest of preserving heritage, that didn't that did not counter the ownership interest that Burlington Northern had. So, we while we preserved it for quite some time, as the city attorney then told me, he said, you know, you're going to run out of time. You're, you're, you're not going to be able to do this and keep this forever.
00:16:31Regan Siler: Do you think the guy was just being obstinate? Because it seems like if there was an interested party and wanting to buy it, that they would be willing to sell it.
00:16:40Kell Kelly: His mission was to get rid of the depots that were not functional anymore, which were most of them. And he was a good company man, and that was what he is, that's what he was going to do. They didn't want the liability that they thought might attach to that. And that was a decision that, I assume, was made at the company board level. Um, so we sort of knew we were backed up against the wall, and we didn't know that we had too much leeway left. At the time, I was living on Sixth Street, and one of my neighbors was a guy by the name of Bill Farha, Sr. Bill was a was a character known far and wide by by many. I would regularly see the either the governor's car or the governor's, a governor wannabes car or the Senator's car, or Senator wannabes car sitting next door because they wanted to come, they wanted to come visit Bill and and Mary and see you know what wisdom they could could give him, and what support and this sort of thing. And, so, he was a generally wonderful man, wonderful person to live next to. Was always a character. Gave my children money for me to take him to to the ice cream store even when it was dinner time. And he enjoyed that, that sort of, that sort of jocularity. But one of the, one of the frequent stops that was there was a was Senator Boren, and when Bob heard about this, because, excuse me, when Bill heard about it from talking with Bob, why, Bill went to a little bit of back channeling and work, which, of course, worked in those days and still works in these days. But, David Boren either served on the board of Burlington Northern or was very close to the people that served on the board. I really never went back and researched that. But once Bill got Senator Boren involved, while nothing outwardly happened, I got a call from the big guy that we had met with one afternoon, and I could tell his teeth were clenched. I could tell he was, he was less than happy, and in his clenched teeth, he said, I'll sell you that depot for $1 and get the paperwork ready. And, so, we cut a check for $1 and we got the paperwork ready, and that's how we got the depot.
00:19:19Regan Siler: Wow!
00:19:20Kell Kelly: And, so, of course, Bob claimed victory because he knew we were going to win all the time. He just didn't know how. But that was how we were able to get the depot. We delayed it with the litigation. We did about everything but lay down the old fashioned logs in the road to stop the train,
00:19:40Regan Siler: Right.
00:19:40Kell Kelly: And, so, after that, why, it was no holds barred, Bob went full bore into the campaign to sell bricks with people's names on them. They and raised money in all kinds of different ways.
00:19:56Regan Siler: Do you remember what year that was that the depot the actual renovation of the depot began?
00:20:02Kell Kelly: I don't really remember, you know, it was in the early 80s.
00:20:05Regan Siler: Okay.
00:20:07Kell Kelly: But working for Bob was a full time job. Once in a while, I'd get to practice law, but he had great vision. And if you go look at it today, it's beautiful. His his idea of doing many of the things that that have been done down there are somewhat elaborate, I think, and sometimes maybe a little difficult for a little town to afford. But, through the good work of the, continued work of the Bristow Historical Society, why, they've been able to renovate that and do that as as you most people know, that there is a an area that, not sure exactly what to call it, but it comes off of Main Street and it's open. It's an area that
00:20:51Regan Siler: The town square?
00:20:52Kell Kelly: Yes, it's the town square, but you come off of Main Street, walk through what was a building, Bob had, has a very elaborate roof on that. And then you come down and overlook the, overlook the depot, and there are steps there. Bob used to call those the steps to nowhere, meaning that it was going to be up to another generation to build from the steps to the depot. And under Mayor Washington, why, that was done, and they had a ceremony that honored Bob that night, which was a night of, it was around Christmas time. And there was a nice, it was a nice tribute to the fact that his vision, and I'm sure that many others had, had become a reality. And so, today, the depot is used by the historical society. It is a place of a lot of activity and a lot of things that reflect on Bristow's history. So, were he able to communicate with us, he would be pleased about that, and he would, also, obviously say, I told you, so if you just stay in that meeting long enough, why, you're going to be just fine. So, but anyway, lots of fond memories, and lots of fond memories of of that class, especially since my dad was in that, why, working with Joe and working with Bob and Francis Hayhurst and others, really was enriching to me and gave me something that I wouldn't otherwise have. And, and those, those, all those gentlemen and ladies, became very, very dear to me. And, so, I'm glad that I was able to function a little bit to to achieve their dream.
00:22:33Regan Siler: Right.
00:22:33Kell Kelly: And leave something for the next generations to come, and certainly, the Historical Society today that's preserving that just as they tried, just as they're moving the Chrysler Tower to Main Street and other things. I mean, they're, they're well, they're very well, well administered, and just doing a super job. And other places in town, such as Bristow, I think would would do anything to have that type of an administrator over, not just the depot, but over the history of the town, and trying to continually bring that back. The Trigalets do great work. They've been, Joe's been involved in Route 66, which is the anniversary, 100th anniversary, of Highway 66, and I think that's helped Bristow greatly. I want to note that my contribution has been that my half of the class made Joe Trigalet, who went to high school with me, made his top half of the class possible.
00:23:39Regan Siler: Well, you know, I love the Trigalets, and I think they've done a fantastic job, and I've enjoyed working with them, and very thankful that they have preserved the depot and moved it forward.
00:23:51Kell Kelly: Sure. It's great.
00:23:53Regan Siler: So, I had also heard that there, and this was coming from Joe, that there was in the midst of all of this, that there was a Yale educated attorney, maybe, that said he'd gotten "hometowned". I don't know. Do you recall that?
00:24:08Kell Kelly: I really don't, but it was possible we did. We, I mean, we, we were able to take every favorable disposition that we might have, we might have encountered, as far as the depot is concerned, and when we did that in the court of law, we certainly never objected to a judge that sided with us and gave gave us more time.
00:24:38Regan Siler: Yeah.
00:24:38Kell Kelly: The problem is, we got the short term. We couldn't have gotten the long term through, the through the court. And I don't want it to seem that we, in any way, or doing anything where the judges were doing anything that was incorrect. They just have to rule one way or the other. And you know, sometimes those Tulsa attorneys don't think they should lose in small towns. Matters not if you lose. You always say you're hometowned.
00:24:59Regan Siler: Right, right, right. Well, is there anything else that you can think of that would be an interesting add to, I guess, you know, the contributions from Bob or some of the other Class of '40, or even you and your family?
00:25:17Kell Kelly: Oh, well, I mean, I think you always try to put back. And I think that the the efforts that culminated in the Class of '40, which were, which received wide support from other classes, I think that that was predicated upon generosity and also predicated upon a view of the future. If you, if you hold these folks up to be reflective of what happens historically, oftentimes that gets you in a situation where you you can understand the future, maybe, a little bit better. I know that, I know that we had, Bristow is fortunate at this time to have another, what I would call Bob Chadderdon aficionado, and in Tommy Thompson. And Tommy was a counselor at the school for a number of years, and really worked hand in glove trying to promote the same thing that Bob tried to promote, which was education. Get out of Bristow, go get your good education. If you come back, come back. And he was instrumental, I know, in pushing several kids into the service academies, one of whom, Calvin Foster is an admiral today in the Navy in charge of an enormous cadre of ships and people. They've, I think, you could go down the list of people from Bristow that have had the opportunity to go out and make something of themselves and of the world. And some of them may have have done nothing more than go be very successful welders or be very successful truck drivers. Those are everything is just as important as anything else. And it's not a matter of, it's not a matter of a particular position or affluence. It's a matter of contribution and and living a life that contributes to your to the to the good of the whole. And I think that's what that's what was recognized. That's one of the things that if you look back through those, those that 1940 class log, you'll see people that that were highly regarded, that didn't survive the war. But yet their friends did, and their friends took a special meaning in trying to take that spark that had been their friend forward in in by what's reflected in the works that they did. And I think that was part of what was trying to be passed on, hopefully, was passed on, that your work as an individual, whatever it is, do your work well and try to try to make a place better for others. And that's that's the I think that was reflected in everything that was done at that time.
00:27:59Regan Siler: Well, I know just in the time that I've been managing the oral histories, whether it's been working on old ones or the new ones that I've done, I have learned so much about Bristow's rich history, and it has a very interesting history, and it's really gotten me excited to be more involved with the Historical Society. And you know, we always hope that by doing this, and you know, getting it out to the public, that it'll get them excited and to appreciate and to give back also. And you know, we have so many people from all over the country that visit the depot, and you really just want your even your hometown people to appreciate it and love it as much as we do.
00:28:48Kell Kelly: Well, I agree with that. And any time that you lose, in this case, the depot, I mean, once it's gone, stories are gone. Once it's gone, there's not the place that has the ingrained history to to locate all of the historical documents and and items that that the Historical Society has has put in place. You know, you had so many different people that came through that depot. You know, you had Gene Autry was, was the station master for a while. And you have, you know, Woody Guthrie, just down the road in Okemah, who obviously passed through this area regularly. All of those things, I think, are, are small, small bits of heritage for this area. And you know, one of the things that I have always found to be very accurate, and that is my late uncle, Tracy had on his desk a painted rock and it said, bloom where you're planted. And you'll see that that is also a slogan that's over my desk, because I believe we never know really. Life gives you twists and turns, and you're never really quite sure where you're going to be or what you're going to be responsible for, but whatever that may be, bloom where you're planted. And I think if people can take that as a, as a, as really a watch word phrase, as opposed to just just ignoring it, I think there'll be a lot, lot better, because sometimes where you're planted is where you're supposed to prosper and where you're supposed to contribute. And that, I think, is one of the most important things we can take from, from everything here. I mean, Bristow, the center of the country. It's not New York, it's not Rockefeller Center, and and, you know, that's where, where Bob was. If I said it is Rockefeller Center. I hope I said that, but he took great pride in that address, by the way.
00:30:47Regan Siler: Well, it's funny, because I was gonna, my final question I was gonna ask you was, if you had any wisdom you would like to leave or share for future generations, but I think you've kind of just answered that. I like that.
00:30:58Kell Kelly: Yeah, I think that's what I would say, you know you you can't control, necessarily, what happens to you, and you can't control, necessarily, the environment that it happens to you in, but you can control how you respond and how you, how you try to make the most out of, out of a setback or an unexpected relocation, or things such as that. Everybody's going to have those.
00:31:24Regan Siler: Yes, well, your interview will become an important part of our oral history Archives for the museum. Thank you for your time talking with us and thank you for sharing your recollection of saving the depot.
00:31:36Kell Kelly: You're welcome. Thank you.
