Milly Thompson

EC: July the 12th, 1979. Well, first of all, if you would just tell me about your family, what you know, your parents, where they came from, how they had to come to Bristow, anything like that.

MT: My father came to Bristow from Texas. My mother came from Kansas.

EC: And his name was what now?

MT: Ed Wyatt.

EC: And her name?

MT: Josie Wyatt, Josie Hill before she married him.

And they lived out east of Bristow in the community that is now known as a Wyatt school, eight miles east of Bristow.

EC: When did they come here? Do you know about?

MT: I don't know. I can't tell you the date. Well and then later, we moved north of town, lived 12 miles north of town. Moved there when I was eight years old.

EC: Okay. And what did your father do?

MT: Farmer.

EC: Farmer.

MT: Cattleman.

EC: Okay. And you went to school where?

MT: Well, I originally went to what is known as the Wyatt School, east Bristow, and then later on to Victor Chapel, which is north of Bristow, later on to Bristow High School.

EC: Okay. Did you ever, did your father happen to, let's see, you were born here after they, they got married.

MT: 1903. I was born February 21st, 1903 in Indian territory.

EC: Okay. Did you ever hear either one of them have anything to say about the earliest days of Bristow that you can recall?

MT: Oh, except that they were here before there was a Bristow here.

EC: Okay. You know, there's, there are two names that sometimes get credit for starting Bristow and you may or may not know something about it. There was a man who's the first postmaster, a man named Crane who actually set up the post 00:02:00office out here, here to the railroad. There was a Dr. Bland who apparently had some property here and sometimes is given credit for starting Bristow. Have you ever heard anything about that?

MT: That I know nothing of either one.

EC: Okay. Well, tell me about your own earliest memories of Bristow as a child, I guess. Before you moved into town even?

MT: Well, I called farmers. We went to town on Saturday, met other farmers, did our shopping, went home and Saturday was a big day. And cotton of course, lots of cotton grown in those days. That was what I remember of childhood days.

EC: Mm-hmm. Did you have any particular close friends who lived in Bristow as a child?

MT: No. No.

EC: Come out around where you were living, I imagine.

MT: No. Not in town. We traded the Jackson Lee store. It was years ago. It was a 00:03:00general store. We bought, we bought everything there.

EC: That was of course in the days before pavement on, I've heard that the streets were muddy and on bad days and so forth.

MT: Right.

EC: I don't imagine it was too different from other similar towns at that time in bad weather. But I've also seen the pictures of all the cotton wagons that you've probably seen.

MT: Yeah.

EC: Was that a, did you ever see anything like that or have you just seen the pictures?

MT: Oh, no, we, my father grew cotton and sold it. I used to go town [indecipherable] little cotton. That was the very height of enjoyment for a kid to get to go with Dad to town, right?

EC: Since Bristow really wasn't wild West there was no such thing truly as Wild 00:04:00Indians. But I've run into a few people who seemed to have fear of them at that age. Do you remember anything about the Indians?

MT: No, we had no fear of them. I went to school with them. I went to school with the Beavers and they had strange names, Indians, and we were always friends. But I can remember my mother when she was would used to tell when she lived east of town of the Indians that would come and they would knock the people in the windows, and she was afraid of them. And they, they didn't talk much. They would hang around all day, but if they said something, you'd have to go out and, and ask them what they wanted because...

EC: Let's see. Did you, you say you went to Bristow High School? That would've been about 19, I'm guessing 20 along in there.

MT: 1919, finished in 22, I believe.

EC: Mm-hmm. Do you have any recollections of the effect of World War I?

MT: Yes, we had I remember we all high school children, girls and boys went in the military training. I remember that part of it. Mm-hmm. And, yes, we were all very conscious of World War II.

EC: Did

MT: World I, I mean.

EC: Yeah, of course. Now, when did you move into Bristow itself?

MT: Well, my family never moved in. I came in and boarded in town and went to high school.

EC: Okay.

MT: And but my father lived in country until he died.

EC: Right.

MT: And then later I moved into town.

EC: But you were here and then. You married here, I suppose.

MT: Yes. Yes.

EC: Was your husband, where did he come from?

MT: He came from Kansas. He worked in American National Bank, and that's when I worked for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. That's where we met.

EC: You were here then during the oil boom days?

MT: Yes, yes.

EC: Do you have any particular memories of what Bristow was like at that time?

MT: Oh, yes, of course the oil industry was a big industry. It was, I remember there were a lot of men killed on the rigs, and first it was, they used horses teams, you know, so much to pull the pipe and things like that. But there was not a lot of activity in, it was a real industry.

EC: Did, oh, I, I know I, I've heard this during the oil days, as you suggest, it was crowded. And a lot of transient people who were living here, of course, and working and some, especially women, have told me and complained because they said they weren't even allowed to go downtown. It was too dangerous.

Did you have any...

MT: Oh, I don't think it was as dangerous as is now. Really, I don't. Our crime rate is greater now than it was in those days.

EC: Well, moving ahead from the oil days were there any particular effects of the depression on Bristow that you recall?

MT: Except we all felt it. It was a reality.

EC: Did you have such things as old soup lines or soup kitchens or anything like that that you can remember?

MT: Yes. They had soup kitchens. Had soup kitchens. Oh, I don't remember how many, many men I fed at the back door. Men that, you know, just passing through. They had to have something to eat.

EC: Right. Now, World War II, did it have any dramatic effect on Bristow? Obviously, the town was affected like every town, but do you think particular that stands out about World War II?

MT: No, my son was 14 when World War II begun, of course my first thoughts were of him, would he be in the fighting. All mothers had those thoughts and he was in the Navy, but he never had saw any action. And I was a volunteer having communications right across communication on air bases, often world during World War II. And it was a reality to me. It made it more real because I worked with military families and--

EC: Well, going, let's go back and dredge up some of your memories. Were there any particular, I don't know how to put this, well, what did a, a girl your age in high school, what was, what was social life like? What kind of things did you do for fun?

MT: No. Well, I didn't have very much social life because mother and daddy wanted me to go home every weekend and almost every weekend I went home and I studied hard and, and oh, there were a few parties and a few picnics and things like that, but I didn't have a great deal of social life during high school days.

EC: Mm-hmm. And when did you get married? What year?

MT: 1925.

EC: Okay. Well, in your early married days, what did young couples do besides, you know, try to get along and survive? What was, what was life like?

MT: Oh, at the church we used to all have activities for the young people. In the evening, we met Sunday evenings and we had a lot of picnics and things like that. And later on we had a swimming pool and people went swimming.

EC: Do you recall, I don't know how long or when they had the 4th of July 00:10:00picnics, Christmas parades. Do you recall these kind of events?

MT: I remember 4th of July celebrations when I was a little girl. We lived north of town and and we came daddy, mother and the children in the wagon into town of 4th of July. We wouldn't miss it. Everybody came.

EC: Mm-hmm. Where did they hold it, there, do you remember?

MT: We used to have what they call Coles Park, south of town. That's where you usually had it before we had the City Park.

EC: They also used to have, apparently, Christmas I don't know whether they had parades or what they did. Do you remember anything special about the town on Christmas?

MT: I can't remember Christmas, the way that day when I was a child in town. In fact, I think I was usually at home in the country Christmas time and didn't participate in the oil [indecipherable].

EC: You think it was, were there, this is a hard question, I guess to maybe, if 00:11:00you'd even remember exactly, were there people who were considered rich in Bristow before the oil?

MT: But I can't answer that. All I remember is [indecipherable] oil, who there are quite a few of them.

EC: Who are some of the names that come to mind most easily when you talk about the people who made money off of oil?

MT: Oh, Eddie Rollestone and Albert Kelly and the Jones. There was BB and M Jones. And they're supposed to have been 13 millionaires, I think, in this little town.

EC: Okay. 13 millionaires. I don't think I've ever heard that figure. What church do you belong to?

MT: First Christian.

EC: As you may know, I've been trying to get churches to put together some little written histories of themselves, you know, so we can collect that too. 00:12:00And I think I, I'm not sure I may have one already. You know, we sometimes forget, I think, but I do at least that really even the events of say the last 30 years and our history now.

MT: Right.

EC: What particular changes have occurred in Bristow? Just you know, in your adult life that stand out?

MT: Well, Bristow is not nearly as large as it used to be. You know that Bristow is perhaps a third, but the size it used to be.

EC: Has there been, do you feel there's been an exodus of young people from Bristow?

MT: I think so. I think young people who grow up here have to go away from Bristow, find good jobs, and most of them leave Bristow. When my children come 00:13:00back here, they, they seldom see their old friends because they have left Bristow.

EC: Seems to be the pattern of an awful lot of small towns. Maybe it's gonna be reversed with the energy problems.

MT: It might be.

EC: Have there been any particular events that you witnessed or maybe heard about in, in Bristow that stand out. I mean, they don't have to be important. Just things that were either funny or exciting or no particular characters.

MT: A lot of interesting characters. I remember when American National Bank was robbed, was rather exciting.

EC: You weren't in town at the time.

MT: I was in town. I was working for the telephone company. The telephone company was just back, the American National Bank, and after the robbers left, 00:14:00they exchanged shots and it was quite an exciting time. I remember the first airplane I ever saw it landed out at RL Jones's. And I was in high school and they dismissed high school and we went out to see it.

EC: That's the first time anybody's mentioned the airplane to--

MT: Would have heard of it. We never seen them.

EC: You say there were some interesting characters. When I, when I say that, who comes to your mind?

MT: Oh, I better not the main characters. There were a lot of interesting characters though.

EC: Well, I've heard of, I guess the most frequently mentioned ones, been a town marshal by the name of Freshour.

MT: Yes. He killed lots of people.

EC: And I've heard some everybody seems to have known Dr. King.

MT: Yes. He practiced when he's, after he's 90 years old, he was still, and older people didn't have anyone else. They swore by it.

EC: Who were some of the more prominent Lawyers.

MT: Oh, Cheatem and Beaver were, I suppose, most prominent lawyers at that time.

EC: Did your husband work in the bank?

MT: He worked as a teller at the bank. Yes.

EC: And worked there until he retired?

MT: Yes.

EC: Which bank? You?

MT: American National.

EC: American National. All right. And who was, let's see, that's the one that the Kelly's now have? And who had it before the Kelly's? Trying to is that the Jones Bank?

MT: No, the Jones never owned it. It was Albert Kelly owned it even before his boys took over. He owned it most of the Stockton bank. [Inaudible] broadcasting 00:16:00session. Radio broadcasting station.

EC: Yes, it was.

MT: It was really something, you know, I think we had all probably about first in the nation, and people from Bristow would travel. They said if someone asked where they from, Bristow, they'd always respond, oh, that's the place that has that big broadcasting station. And I remember the opening night, grand opening. It was really something. And then it was moved to Tulsa. You know, KFRU became KVOO. And then Mr. Rollestone, of course, killed himself in Tulsa.

EC: I've also heard about, and I think maybe I've had two different places identified for this purpose, but the thing about KFRU, there was apparently some, presumably, very famous hamburger place here in town.

MT: Oh yeah. Hamburger John.

EC: Hamburger John. Mm-hmm. What was his name? Do you know?

MT: John Lambeth. L A M B E T H. I think.

EC: And where was it located? Do you recall?

MT: South Main, I think.

EC: Yeah. And this was supposed to be where the entertainers dropped in when they were in the neighborhood or something.

MT: He got new Hamburger John.

EC: Yeah.

MT: Oh, I dunno if he's taught at Bristow School. In Bristow well now he taught in the country, as I remember, JH was the country, but most of the time in the rural areas.

EC: Oh, I see. Well, you do find Lucy West?

MT: Yes, I remember her.

EC: About as the first teacher remember her and other places you'll find JH Dumas and two teachers at the first school.

MT: Maybe it's possible.

EC: And it's hard to believe they would need two schools given them the, you know, the size of the town in 1898. But you, you do think that Dumas was in the 00:18:00neighborhood at least.

MT: Oh, yes. I knew them. Knew them well, yes. He worked for school all his life. Mm-hmm.

EC: Did you know Mrs.West?

MT: Oh, yes. Ms. West.

EC: Was she still teaching by the time you got into town?

MT: She taught in the country. She taught at the chapel after I had gone away to high school. Mm-hmm. And she taught various places in the country later on after she died down. Yes. She was very centric and I remember her quite well.

EC: What did, what were, what were the schools like, I guess the high school particularly. Is it, that was Bristow of, did you feel it was a good? You had nothing to compair it with, but did it, did you think it was a good school?

MT: I, I think we had a good school. We had Mr. Hutton was superintendent, Charlie Hutton, for years, and his wife was the math teacher, and I think they had a good school. I think he had qualified teachers and I really do think they 00:19:00had good school in those days. Think teachers were dedicated.

EC: Like so many small towns and high schools, athletics was always a big thing.

MT: Yes.

EC: Do you recall excitement about things like that?

MT: Yes. I remember football before they even had a stadium. They always had football and Coach Hafer, everyone in the school remembers Coach Hafer. Because he did some marvelous job at working with the boys. He was truly dedicated.

EC: By the way you, I should have asked you this earlier. You named where you grew up was, was that named after your father, the community?

MT: Yes. He gave them the land out East town for school district and they named the school for him, Wyatt School.

EC: Well, now did he buy the land here since most of this was allotment land?

MT: Yes, he bought the land.

EC: Because I, I don't know the legal details of how the exchanges were made in Indian territory today is, and the, I was guessing that was probably allotment land that he acquired. Are there any particular stories that you can remember your father or your mother telling you maybe about things about the Bristow or the area that, that were interesting to you, stuck in your mind all these days?

MT: No, not particularly. Of course, and I remember the days, of course, before there were cars. And I was a child even in high school there were very few cars, you know, coming to town from 12 miles was all days journey, you know, to town and back.

EC: And were there roads along the section lines back then?

MT: Yes, yes.

EC: I've heard that the boys in growing up in Bristow, of course most of 'em had ponies and I guess they rode, played or whatever. It just occurred to me, did girls ride ponies a lot too?

MT: Oh yes. Yes. I always had a pony when I was a child.

EC: Well, is there anything that you can think of that I ought to ask you that I haven't thought of to ask you?

MT: No, I can't think of anything.

EC: Well, were there any were you ever involved in politics in Bristow?

MT: No. Not at all.

EC: Or your husband?

MT: No.

EC: As best I can tell, Bristow had its, you know, city elections and that sort of thing, but I can't tell whether they were ever very hotly contested or not. 00:22:00Do you recall, well, division between Republicans and Democrats, or was it personal? More than,

MT: I can't recall anything regarding that.

EC: Okay.