Bob Webb

Interviewer: Bob Webb (BW)

Interviewee: Georgia Smith (GS)

Other Persons: None

Date of Interview: October 20th, 2020

Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma

Transcriber: Macy Shields

Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc.

Original Cassette Tape Location:

Abstract: In this 2020 interview, Bob Webb shares about his experience growing up in the Bristow area. He discusses attending high school, meeting his wife Carolyn, and owning his own grocery store. He also shares about his later life in Bristow as he served on many boards and was even a realtor in the Bristow area.

Preface: The following oral history testimony is the result of a cassette tape interview and is part of the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.'s collection of oral histories. The interview was transcribed and processed by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc., with financial assistance from the Montfort Jones & Allie Brown Jones Foundation. Rights to the material are held exclusively by the Bristow Historical Society, Inc.

The reader should bear in mind that he or she is reading a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. Insofar as possible, this transcript tries to represent the spoken word. Thus, it should be read as a personal memoir and not as either a researched monograph or edited account.

To the extent possible, the spelling of place names, foreign words, and personal names have been verified, either by reference resources or directly by the interviewee. In some cases, a footnote has been added to the transcript in order to provide more information and/or to clarify a statement. Some uncertainties will inevitably remain regarding some words and their spellings. In these scenarios, a (ph) follows a word or name that is spelled phonetically. The notation [indecipherable] is used when the transcriber has not been able to comprehend the word or phrase being spoken. The notation [inaudible] is used where there is more mumbling than words, or when interference on the tape has made transcription impossible.

GS: Okay. This is Georgia Smith with the Bristow Historical Society in Bristow, Oklahoma and this interview is part of the Historical Society's ongoing oral history project. The date is October 20th, 2020 and I'm sitting here with Bob Webb at his home, east of Bristow-- who is going to tell me a little bit about his history in the Bristow area. His wife, Carolyn may be in and out of the room. Now, give me your full name Bob.

BW: Robert Earl Webb.

GS: And where were you born, Bob?

BW: I was born south of Bristow in the Newby area. I was born about two and a half miles south of Newby, in the country.

GS: Okay, and your date of birth?

BW: April 2nd, 1939.

GS: Almost an April Fools baby.

BW: That's right.

(Laughter)

GS: What were your parents' names? Your mother-- We'll start with your mother's maiden name.

BW: Mary Charles Hill Webb and my dad, Charles or Charley Shelby Webb Junior.

GS: Do you know when they were married?

BW: Probably about 1933 or 4.

GS: Okay, do you know where they were married?

BW: In Bristow.

GS: Okay, do you-- were they born in Bristow or did they come here?

BW: No, they were both born in the Bristow area.

GS: Okay, how many children did your parents have?

BW: In my mother's family there was like eighteen I believe. There were two wives, the first wife past away and then Grandpa Hill married my grandmother 00:02:00Callie Hill (ph) and then they had like five children. So, anyway there was like seventeen or eighteen kids in her side of the family. On my dad's side, Charley S. Webb Sr. and my grandmother Annetta Webb sorry I-- James Webb and they were married here in Bristow also.

GS: Okay, what about siblings? Do you have brothers or sisters?

BW: Got one brother that's Gene (ph) he's about five years older. Then I got a sister, Debbie-- Debbie Charles Webb (ph) and she's about fifteen years younger than me.

GS: Wow, wow.

BW: Yeah.

GS: Okay. What did your father do for a living?

BW: He was a farmer. That's-- he always farmed out around the Newby area. That's where he went to grade school-- where me and my brother went to grade school there too. But he was a farmer and he was a good farmer. He farmed everything 00:03:00from just the edge of Newby down to the banks of Big Deep Fork.

GS: Wow, he had a big farm.

BW: He-- well a lot of leased land, rented land. And cotton, corn, and peanuts was our main crops.

GS: What did your mother do?

BW: My mother was a housewife and she worked on the farm just like me and my brother and dad. She went to the fields with us and in fact my dad, back in about-- well it was when Jimmy Weaver become County Commissioner. He helped Jim get elected, and he went to work for Jim Weaver as a timekeeper for the Creek County District Two. And my mother and my older brother, we done the farming 00:04:00from then and of course dad would-- when he came in at the evenings or night, he would take over and start plowing the corn or whatever.

GS: Wow.

BW: With the lights on the tractor.

GS: Wow.

BW: But then my mother-- when the Garment Factory opened, well she went to work there and she worked there-- oh gosh until I bought the store, and then she went to work with me in my grocery store after I was-- well on my twenty-first birthday.

GS: What was the name of that store, Bob?

BW: Bob's Grocery. We couldn't call it Webb's grocery because Johnny (ph) and Frank Webb had a month ahead of us had bought the store across the street--

GS: (Laughter)

BW: --and they called it Webb's, so we couldn't call it Webb's. (Chuckling)

GS: No.

BW: So we went to Bob's Grocery and that's what it was until I sold it.

GS: Okay. Tell me about Carolyn, your wife. When did you all get married?

BW: Oh lord.

GS: Well first, what's Carolyn's whole name?

BW: Carolyn G. Masters Webb.

GS: Okay. And what was the date of your marriage?

BW: It was on Valentine's Day in 1958 or 9.

GS: (Chuckling) Okay, I have to insert this right here, because I know-- I know it's such-- it's your favorite thing to discuss, but it was wonderful when Carolyn told me. You and your wife were married on Valentine's Day.

BW: Yes.

GS: And she gave you a card one year, and tell me about that card.

BW: Well, she always had this anniversary card and oh it's a nice, pretty, big card. Anyway, a few years ago I opened it up and looked at it and I just happened to turn it over and I saw the price on it. It was a Hallmark card; it was like thirty-five cents. And I said, "Where in the world did you get a Hallmark card this cheap?" You know, they're like two-dollars or so.

GS: Yeah.

BW: And she said, "I've been giving you the same card for fifty-some years!" I think it was.

(Laughter)

GS: That story's just too good not to pass--

BW: Yeah.

GS: --shows clearly the difference between men and women, doesn't it?

BW: Yeah. We do notice price; it just takes us years to get to it.

(Laughter)

GS: That's right. How many children did you and Carolyn have?

BW: Got three. Got Robert Junior, and then Sue Ann, and Stacy.

GS: Okay. Now, tell me a little bit about what life was like for you as a child.

BW: Well, let's see. I was born on the ole Burt Miller Farm (ph) they called it. Every farm had a name, back in those days. And it was about a mile off of Highway 48, which was a gravel road then. And about three miles southwest of Newby. Anyway, I was born in the farmhouse. My mother started having the pains, and I had an aunt and uncle there Jesse and Lucille Propst. Lucille was my dad's sister. Anyway, dad jumped in the ole car to go get Doc King or Doc Coppedge-- 00:07:00one of 'em. And anyway, I came before the doctor got there and my Uncle Jesse, was-- he's the one that delivered me.

GS: Ah.

BW: And he was a farmer and a barber.

(Laughter)

BW: So, anyway--

GS: Was he a dentist also, I think back then they were dentist too--

BW: Well, he may have. But my Uncle Jesse delivered me and when the doctor got there he said, "Jesse, you done a great job." said, "That's gonna be a good looking Naval."

(Laughter)

BW: Anyway, Uncle Jesse and I-- I don't know whether it was that reason, or not because he delivered me. He was one of the closest uncles I had. He treated me better than he did his own kids. (chuckling)

GS: Now, was it your Uncle Jesse or was it a different uncle that was in law enforcement with the-- and caught the outlaws and you didn't believe him--

BW: No, that was--

GS: Can you tell me that story?

BW: Yeah, that was my great uncle, Isaac Webb. He was my grandad's older brother; he was like two years older than my grandad. But working in the fields, he lived with us off and on for several years out on the farm and of course helped us on the farm. And he was always telling me stories and all this and he was--he was-- I was a little guy, and he was a small guy too. But, he was telling me these stories about when he was a US Marshal. And about chasing horse thieves and stuff like that. And he told me this story about getting in a gun fight out north of Bristow out around Wild Horse Prairie. And he got shot, and he showed me where he got shot. It was on his arms and--

GS: Wow.

BW: --one on his hand. And of course, you know I was seven or eight years old and I thought he was just kinda windy.

(Laughter)

BW: But anyway, later on in-- when I got into Bristow schools, in the ninth grade I went to work for Isle Cook (ph) down at the Bristow News Record Newspaper and in my spare time I'd go up to the big books that held all of their old papers. And I'd go on through 'em, they started like 1900 or something like that or 1890 something. But anyway, I was going through 'em and anytime I had spare time I'd move up to another book and I opened it up-- one of 'em and there on the front page-- on the bottom of the front page-- Deputy US Marshal Isaac Webb captures horse thieves at Wild Horse Prairie.

(Laughter)

GS: The story you had heard as a child.

BW: The old man was telling me the truth.

GS: (Laughter)

BW: Of course he didn't-- that's the only story I can remember 'cause I know it was true, it was in the paper. (Chuckling)

GS: That's right, that's right. Well tell me some more about your-- your upbringing.

BW: Well, of course on the farm and everything we had cows and hogs and all 00:10:00that. But after World War II, you know they put allotments on peanuts and cotton. And that was a big thing for us. In fact, we thrashed all the peanuts for everybody five miles south of Bristow all the way to the county line. We thrashed all the farmer's peanuts along with ours. But anyway, after the war there wasn't any demand for cotton, 'cause you know the soldiers were coming home. They didn't make uniforms like they did. So to protect the big farmers-- you know, southern, western Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia, New Mexico where the big cotton farmers at, they protected them. But we was smarter than every little ole ten, twenty, maybe a thirty-acre field, but they'd cut our allotments down maybe a twenty-acre field would get a three or four acre allotment. But it wasn't worthwhile to plant 'em, and the price of course dropped down. Just put us out 00:11:00of the business, so-- and peanuts and cotton.

GS: So in your opinion--

BW: Same way.

GS: --was that the demise of peanuts in the Bristow area?

BW: Oh yeah. Yeah, the allotments. And you know, it's understandable but we just went into planting all these fields more in corn. And we got more into cows and dad got up to about four hundred and some acres, and we'd run a hundred to a hundred-fifty head of cows. And we raised our own corn for feed and we'd mix it with other things. In fact, we used to use-- mix it with peanut hay and we made our own cow feed. We didn't have-- there was no such thing as cattle cubes back then.

GS: Oh really?

BW: So we'd made our own feed and started fighting the Bermuda grass or sodding 00:12:00Bermuda grass. We had fought it when we was raising crops and we sodded everything down in Bermuda grass-- in Bermuda grass for a pasture for our cows. So, and that's the way it lays right now, it's all in Bermuda Grass. (Chuckling)

GS: All in Bermuda, well very good.

BW: But anyway, that's what was going on and of course I went to Newby school through the eighth grade.

GS: Let me ask you this question real quick.

BW: Mm-hmm.

GS: Was any of that-- is any of that land still in the family?

BW: No--

GS: Okay.

BW: No, it's not. I had to-- my dad lived until he was ninety-three and he spent quite a few years in the nursing home.

GS: Ah.

BW: I sold it off a piece at a time as needed.

GS: Yeah.

BW: And sold the last of it about twelve years ago.

GS: Okay.

BW: So-- but anyway, I went to Newby school through the eighth grade. Got to start early when I was like barely five. I visited school quite a bit, 'cause we lived two and a half miles from the school and there was no kids to play with. And I would follow my older brother to school and J.L. Darnell was the County 00:13:00Superintendent at the time. My dad was raised up with him and Robert Darnell and his other brother. They run around together when they were kids. Anyway, J.L. was there to visit one day and he asked Geneva Scott which was my first-- was the teacher, and he said, "What's Bob doing here he's not old enough. She said, "Well he comes to visit so we have kids to play with." J.L. said, "Put him in school." So I got to start school early and I graduated out of high school. I was about a year to two years younger than my classmates my senior year.

GS: And did that bother you in anyway?

BW: It really did 'cause I was small anyway and it didn't bother me so much at Newby school, 'cause it wasn't all that many kids. But coming from Newby School there was just two of us graduating out of the eighth grade that year, me and 00:14:00Dwayne Tallent (ph). And came to Bristow school where there was twelve, fifteen hundred kids at the time probably and I was-- everybody thought I was probably in the seventh grade instead of the ninth grade, 'cause I was so small. But anyway, I enjoyed it after a year or two. Senior year I really enjoyed it--

GS: Once you got your growth spurt? (Chuckling)

BW: My senior year I came back to school after the summer and I hadn't seen most of these kids since they let out of school in May. And this one girl that came up to me first hour of class and stuck out her hand and said, "My name is Elizabeth Ferguson (ph), welcome to Bristow High School." And I said, "Elizabeth, I've been in school with you for this makes the third year."

(Laughter)

BW: But I had changed so much in that period of time I had actually got taller.

(Chuckling)

BW: But it embarrassed her and every time I'd see her from then on we'd have class reunions, I'd remind her of that.

(Laughter)

GS: "Hi, I'm Bob Webb." (Chuckling).

BW: Yeah, yeah. But you know, I graduated out of high school.

GS: What year was that?

BW: '56.

GS: '56.

BW: Carolyn graduated in '57. I got it quite well, I knew of her for years. She was a cute little blonde and anyway, I liked her but didn't think I'd ever get a go with her (chuckling). But Mrs. Cash (ph), she used to be a school teacher. In fact, she taught school at Newby before I even started school out there, but she knew the family. And her daughter and Carolyn was good friends. And they were out driving around one Sunday and they just happened to be driving out at Newby and she mentioned Carolyn-- "You ought to look up Bobby Webb", that's what she called me. And I said-- Carolyn was real small and of course what she remembered, I was small too.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And Carolyn looked me up, and that's how we got together.

GS: Ah, that's a nice story.

(Laughter)

GS: Alright, so after you graduated, what-- what did you do?

BW: Well, of course I always had a job when I was in high school. I worked at the M&P after school and after I graduated, I went--

GS: Let me interrupt you--

BW: Sure.

GS: --just a minute. Where was the M&P located then?

BW: It was on Main Street just north of the Express Personnel.

GS: Okay.

BW: Yeah I think it was one door--

GS: On the west side of the street?

BW: On the west side of the street.

GS: I'll be.

BW: And Grady Arthurs had one right next door-- a grocery store.

GS: Oh.

BW: We didn't have any big grocery stores then and Safeway was up at, what Ninth and Main then. Where the doctor's clinics at now.

GS: Oh.

BW: On the west side of the street. And I even worked at the Safeway. They were 00:17:00remodeling one weekend, they had to move everything out of the store and they took it next door to an empty building they had leased. And I helped them empty that store.

GS: Well.

BW: I worked like two days.

(Laughter)

BW: But anyway, I went to work for Lonnie Mcgall (ph) he was the manager there and--

GS: At M&P?

BW: At the M&P. But Carolyn and I got married, let's see the second year after I graduated. She had went to business school in Tulsa and graduated and she got a job at Oklahoma Natural downtown in an office. And I had went to Colorado and spent the summer up there working for a Cadillac dealer.

GS: Was that downtown Tulsa where ONG was?

BW: It was downtown, yeah. Yeah, it was Oklahoma Natural Building, they called it. It's--

GS: Okay.

BW: --an office building now of some other type. But anyway, she worked there and when we did get married in-- God '58, '59 (Laughter). Anyway, I had a job just about a block away from there. I worked for an office supply house and we lived in Tulsa one year and I got-- she had to quit her job because Oklahoma 00:18:00Natural wouldn't let a pregnant lady work--

GS: Oh my word.

BW: --after three months in the bottom three floors. They didn't let pregnant women be seen by customers. Anyway she was on the first floor.

(Laughter)

BW: But she got laid off, or had to quit. And a week later I got laid off.

GS: Oh my word.

BW: And that's how we wound up in Bristow. And I got laid off that Friday and I had to go home to our apartment and tell her that neither one of us has got a job. Anyway, I called Lonnie Mcgall (ph)-- still the manager at the M&P and they had moved where Williams is at now, except it was a different building.

GS: On East Seventh.

BW: Yeah. Anyway I called him up and asked if he had any openings. He asked me, "Can you be here Monday morning?"

GS: (Laughter)

BW: I said, "I can be there."

(Laughter)

BW: So I-- the place I worked gave me a two weeks' notice--

GS: Where was that, Bob? I don't think we mentioned that.

BW: It was Tulsa Stationery-- was the name of it.

GS: Okay.

BW: But they sold office furniture and all that. And I called the store manager and I told 'em-- I said, "I don't need your two weeks' notice, I've got a job."

(Laughter)

BW: So we loaded up and moved back to Bristow that weekend. Of course all we had was the clothes and a television's all we had.

GS: Yeah.

BW: (Chuckling) Everything was furnished with the apartment. And we called and got a place, Dick Cahill, he was an ole druggist here in town and he owned a lot of rental houses and we moved in a duplex on Sunday afternoon. An old furnished duplex, and it was not the best of situations.

GS: (Laughter)

BW: But it was one block from the M&P.

GS: Well that was helpful.

BW: So got in there and I worked at the M&P for five years. I was assistant 00:20:00manager when I resigned and bought my own grocery store. Aaron Willeford had a store on South Chestnut and anyway, he got elected as County Commissioner, so he decided he better sell it. So I made a deal with him and I bought it. It was like a fifty by fifty square building-- concrete block building and got in it, and--

GS: What year was that that you bought that store?

BW: Well let's see, that had to be '62.

GS: '62.

BW: '62. And I just turned--

GS: What was--

BW: --twenty-one on my-- on April 1st and got my store on April 2nd.

GS: Was there a store there before you bought it?

BW: Yeah, Aaron Willeford owned the store.

GS: Aaron Willeford owned the store.

BW: Yeah, used to be Siner Grocery. Siner's built the building and they sold it to Aaron and moved out in western Oklahoma some place. But Aaron had it for a few years and like I said, when he got elected County Commissioner, he worked for Jim Weaver with my dad too.

GS: Okay, yeah.

BW: And anyway, it was kind of a natural thing and I bought it. I was there for fifteen years. I more than doubled the size of the building. I had three houses on the lots behind it. It was a complete block along the lots-- or the block was. And I sold the houses off and built on the store and I made it like almost three times bigger than what it was. Put all new equipment in it and the M&P had 00:22:00sold out after I left to Hale-Halsell. It was a warehouse in Tulsa, it's why they called it Super-H--

GS: Oh.

BW: --back then. And good company, in fact I bought groceries all from 'em but I switched to Affiliated Foods. But they were number one in volume, I was number two in volume, and Safeway was a lagging number three.

GS: Wow.

BW: And of course we had a lot of other stores around too, but--

GS: Those were the three main stores.

BW: That was the three main stores then. And I was on the edge of town and I had to draw the crowd from all over town. Your mother and dad traded with me. (Laughter)

GS: See I don't--

BW: Bless their hearts.

GS: --even remember the Safeway before it was at Seventh and Main.

BW: Yeah.

GS: I thought when it was at Seventh and Main that's when it first came in.

BW: Yeah.

GS: Because my folks always shopped with you and--

BW: Yeah.

GS: I guess I just--

BW: Well you was young and you didn't pay any attention.

GS: I didn't (Laughter).

BW: You didn't pay any attention to where your candy bars came from.

(Laughter)

GS: That's right.

BW: Anyway I was there for fifteen years and the Super-H store, one Friday night 00:23:00about midnight the police call me and said, "The Super- H Store is on fire."

GS: Oh no.

BW: And said, "Yours is the newest one in town." Said, "You better go out and stay with it, somebody might be burning stores."

GS: Oh.

BW: So I went out and stayed 'til, oh I don't know one or two o'clock in the morning. And anyway Saturday morning my door bell ring about five o'clock. And I got up and answered the door.

GS: Five o'clock.

BW: And it was Hale-Halsell, a vice president and their store manager here in Bristow and, "What are you all doing out here?" he said, "Would you sell your store?"

GS: Wow.

BW: And I said, "What?"

(Laughter)

BW: He said, "Yeah." Said, "Ours is burned and we need a location." I said, "Well mine is brand new, all new equipment and new floors." Everything was brand new, you know a year old or so but--

GS: Right.

BW: And I said, "Well I just-- I just don't know." I said, "This is a shock."

GS: (Laughter)

BW: Then he said, "Well what time you close." And I said, "Nine o'clock on Saturday night." And they said, "Well have your mind made up and we'll be there at nine o'clock tonight." At nine o'clock, went over to lock the front door. Here come about fifteen people in the door.

GS: Oh my word.

BW: And they just spread out in my store.

GS: (Laughter)

BW: And anyway this vice president said, "You got a place we can go and talk?" And I said, "We can go back in my little office." It was back behind the self-service meats and all that department. Went back there and he asked me what it would take to buy it, and or give me a price and I says, "No." I said, "You make me an offer." And he kind of studied around and he made me an offer. Well I knew what it was gonna take to buy it, I just wasn't gonna tell him. The offer he made me was more than what I would've asked.

(Laughter)

BW: But I knew my inventory. I knew what I had in it and I knew that I had a million dollars' worth of the business in my hip pocket--

GS: Yeah.

BW: --too. The ones that didn't, probably go out of town or something.

GS: Right.

BW: But anyway, I just jumped the price up a little more and he stuck his hand. He said, "Is it a deal?" We shook hands.

GS: Wow.

BW: And that's how I sold my store.

GS: That's wonderful.

BW: And he told me-- he said, "Well since we're making this deal tonight, we should get the receipts for Sunday. I said, "What?"

GS: (Laughter)

BW: I said, "Well I'm not gonna run the store for you." And I said, "I'll tell you what I'll do. If you want possession of it Sunday morning, have your manager to meet me here and I'll give him the key." And they said, "Well we don't have any money." We all made night deposits back then at the bank. And he said, "What we had to open with the next morning is in a safe and it's too hot, we can't get in it."

(Laughter)

BW: So I said, "Well I tell you what, you have your manager meet me and I'll count him out enough money to last you for all three registers and cash to cash checks with. And all you need to do is just, we'll write it on a piece of paper the amount and he signs it and I sign it." So I loaned them like three or four thousand dollars the next morning (Laughter) to operate my store.

GS: Wow.

BW: Anyway, got that done and Monday morning, well I call David Leffner (ph) was of course the best lawyer in town back then. And I say the best, he was one of the lawyers. We got several good lawyers, even back then. (Laughter)

GS: Yeah.

BW: And-- but I'd done business with him. I called him up and told him what I done. First thing David says, "You made a deal Saturday night and they're running your store today?"

GS: (Laughter)

BW: He said, "Are you crazy?" I said, "No." I said, "I know the company and I did business with 'em and they know me. (Laughter) And I said, "We shook hands."

GS: Yeah.

BW: And he says, "Bob, you shoulda got something. You shoulda got a contract." I said, "If their handshake isn't any good, their signature sure ain't no good.

(Laughter)

BW: And that was my saying for years (Chuckling)

GS: Well that's a good saying.

BW: But anyway, it went over so good. It took a little while cause it was several lots there and abstract on ever one of 'em. And it took about three or four months to get it straightened out between Leffner (ph) and the company lawyer.

GS: And did you tell me what year that was?

BW: That was in '70-- what's fifteen years from '62? '77, '78--

GS: Okay.

BW: -- somewhere along in there. Anyway, I'll tell you how good a deal I had with 'em-- I didn't make any provisions or say anything about if it took very 00:28:00long and it was still my profit until it was closed. But Hale-Halsell out on their own good will, paid me several thousand dollars a month extra for the three months it took to bring everything up to date.

GS: Well good--

BW: --and closed.

GS: --they should've (Laughter).

BW: Yeah, and that's how-- you know, they were honest.

GS: Yes, they were and you knew that.

BW: Yeah! But anyway, that's what happened to me and after I sold the store-- and I gotta go back and say a few things too. The good people of Bristow were so good to me and I'm not talking about everybody up and down bank to bank and Main Street either, I'm talking about--

GS: The customers.

BW: --the ole blue collared guys that was out working every day and I said, 00:29:00"They paid me so good" and I done a lot of credit.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And when I left that store and sold it, Audrey Gillum was my number one lady that checked groceries for me. They let me put a table there and a chair for her to sit and collect what collections I had.

GS: Ah.

BW: And after fifteen years of doing business out there of credit and checks, I lost less than two-thousand dollars.

GS: That's wonderful.

BW: In fifteen years and that's very unusual.

GS: That is wonderful.

BW: And they took care of me but bless their hearts, Levan Kelly of course known the Kelly family since I was a kid.

GS: Yep.

BW: And probably knew Levan better than any of 'em 'cause we rented a lot of their land. And we-- Levan would come by our house usually at dinner time.

GS: (Laughter)

BW: And he ate lunch with us at least once a month.

GS: Oh my goodness.

BW: And when I opened that store up in '62 he was the first one on that door step to congratulate me--

GS: Ah.

BW: --on buying the store. In fact, he was the only one. (Laughter)

GS: Wow.

BW: But anyway, I'll never forget that. And of course Tracy loaned me the money to do it. And some good words about Tracy, when they had his fiftieth anniversary-- they had an anniversary thing at the bank here years ago--

GS: Yes.

BW: --and Tracy was losing his eye sight then. He couldn't see really.

GS: Right.

BW: And of course me and Carolyn went up to the celebration to the bank. Walked up to Tracy, and said. "Tracy, congratulations." And all that. And he said, "Bob Webb." And I said, "How in the world did you"-- and he said, "I know your voice."

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: Stuck out his hand, we shook hands and I said, "Tracy, you and I worked together real good. You loaned me the money and I paid you back."

(Laughter)

BW: And--

GS: With interest! (Chuckling)

BW: And he says, "Are you one of 'em that paid me back?"

(Laughter)

BW: Anyway, had good relations with them and still bank there too but, I was 00:31:00raised up at the other bank. That's-- you usually bank where your folks were.

GS: Right.

BW: But, they loaned me the money! (Chuckling)

GS: Exactly, exactly.

BW: But, anyway, after I sold the store I never had hardly any vacation at all and I took my time about finding another job. And of course grocery business was an ideal thing for me. Affiliated tried to put me in a couple of stores. In fact, before I sold out Safeway had moved out of the one at Okemah that's downtown, nice building. And moved out on I-40, close to I-40.

GS: Yes.

BW: And built a new store. Well, Bill Farha owned the building in Bristow and he 00:32:00also owned the one in Okemah,

GS: Okay.

BW: He built 'em for Safeway.

GS: I did not know that.

BW: And of course Bill traded with me at the store.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And we got together and he and I were gonna put that store in in Okemah. Beautiful building, big parking lot, and right in the middle of town. And we'd have probably put Safeway out of business earlier down there if we'd--

GS: Rival.

BW: --of done it but anyway, Affiliated tried to get me to go ahead and do that and I thought-- you know I've took a chance and here it is '77, '78. Independent stores and all the trade-- grocery magazine said that independents were on their way out. It's all gonna be chain stores.

GS: Ah.

BW: And I believed all that stuff.

GS: Mmm.

BW: Anyway, I told 'em-- I said, "No, I'm not gonna take a chance on another grocery store." Well would you believe and I'm sure you do, independents took over Oklahoma. Look at Reasor's.

GS: That's true!

BW: Independents are the big ones. Safeway, the big wholesaler in Oklahoma City, 00:33:00Fleming, (Indecipherable) and they owned a bunch of stores all over the nation too. Well it's just completely different than what I thought and I know Reasor's had a rough time. Larry Reasor, I knew him personally and he went broke.

GS: Wow.

BW: But his family, Escotts at Cushing--

GS: Escotts.

BW: --saved the day for him. Reasor put a store right here in Bristow, right behind Mazzio's.

GS: Yes, I remember that.

BW: And Larry--

GS: But it didn't stay.

BW: It didn't go over-- Escotts his mother and father in law took it over for a while just to help him out.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: But his son kind of took over the reins at Reasor's and look at 'em today.

GS: Yep.

BW: Very successful so--

GS: They are.

BW: I wondered if I made the right decision. But I went to work for Sysco Food Service and retired with them. And--

GS: I think you did fine, so--

BW: Well, you know it was a good company and I was looking for something with benefits.

GS: And there aren't as many headaches when you're working for someone else.

BW: Well, you know, (Chuckling) a lot of pressure when you're running your own business. Especially--

GS: Yes, there is.

BW: --when you're young and doing a lot of credit. I was worried, one bad month would've put me down.

GS: Yeah.

BW: It would've. But like I say, the good people of Bristow stayed with me.

GS: That's wonderful.

BW: And when I had the-- when I cut out the credit and all that, those people could've walked away from me and not even paid me 'cause they couldn't go to another store and get credit. Well, they just-- everybody went to what they call a book plan and you send a check in with your grocery order.

GS: Oh!

BW: So when the wholesaler's quit doing thirty-day credit, well the grocery stores had to quit doing--

GS: Well sure they did.

BW: --thirty-day credit, cause there's no cash flow.

GS: Exactly.

BW: But anyway, I can't say enough about Bristow being good to me.

GS: Yeah.

BW: And I've-- I enjoyed working for Sysco, worked up to-- of course started out as salesman on the road. Created my own territory and about the second or third year I went in as sales manager. Had the office in Tulsa and went on up to regional manager which was half of Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and parts of Kansas.

GS: Very good.

BW: And I had started out with about fifteen salesmen and when I retired I had like eighty-some salesmen.

GS: Wow. That's awesome, Bob.

BW: And the president of the company told me, "Just run it like you did when you 00:36:00was on your territory and train your people like that." And that's exactly what I did. And I had like a hundred and-- out of my office I did over a hundred and thirty, forty million dollars' worth of business.

GS: Wow, that's wonderful.

BW: So it was-- it was a good operation and good company, honest company too.

GS: So I know you've been busy since you retired. What have you done since you retired?

BW: Well when I retired from Sysco, a month or so before I retired I went to John Hausam Realtors and they had classes for realtors. And I got my real-estate license, passed my test the first time, and good lord that was tough. But when I retired, went to work-- put my license with a-- oh a realtor out of Okmulgee 00:37:00County. They lived on the county line, Creek County and Okmulgee County out on a ranch and its real-estate. And there a farm couple, they been in the automobile business at Bixby running a dealership over there. But they wound up out on the farm and bought, oh I think they had two or three thousand acres up and down Big Deep Fork. And I put my license with them and I was the only man selling real estate when I started this. All the rest of them were ladies.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And of course I did commercial and farm and ranch. I've sold restaurants, convenience stores, and farm and ranch. I even sold Doodle's Steakhouse.

GS: Well.

(Laughter)

BW: But anyway, it was real good. Back when I started, it was a one-page listing 00:38:00and a sales contract was maybe a one or two pages, but after about ten, twelve years. It just about had to be a lawyer to do real estate.

GS: My mother, it got to her--

BW: Yeah.

GS: --and she had to get out for that reason.

BW: But anyway, I stayed with it. I kept my license until a couple of years ago and I got-- I was appointed on the Industrial Board and about six months later they made me chairmen and the mayor put the Industrial Board in charge of all the city property.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: About to go dead (Chucking)

GS: No, I'm just double checking.

(Laughter)

BW: Anyway, the city turned that over to Industrial Board and of course they wanted to sell the Garment Factory and we had about fourteen lots that was given to The City of Bristow by a lady that was raised up in Bristow and she passed 00:39:00away out in California, and she donated them to the city of Bristow. So, they had already found a buyer for the Garment Factory but it-- nobody had closed it and they had sold it almost a year ago earlier. (Chuckling)

GS: Oh.

BW: And I got to looking at it and I said, "Hey what's the deal here?" and they said, "Well no closings every been set up." And of course me being in real estate I jumped right on it.

GS: Well sure.

BW: And I got that closed and the buyer was just waiting on somebody to do it.

GS: I would think that they would've pestered somebody to do it.

BW: Well, evidently he had it he wasn't worried about it. (Chuckling)

GS: Huh.

BW: So it wouldn't cost him any money.

GS: I see.

BW: But anyway, it was a good sale and first think I did-- I got busy and got it closed out and the fourteen lots that was donated, I sold them to a builder and 00:40:00he's already built two or three houses on some of the lots. And they're homes that probably range from a hundred and ten to a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

GS: Hmm.

BW: Anybody that's got a job can probably qualify.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And they're in an area of Bristow, Hickory and Poplar.

GS: Yes.

BW: Especially Hickory that needs to be cleaned up.

GS: Yes.

BW: She-- he's cleared off all the lots and there was a couple of the houses that belong to some out of town people and I think he has bought those now. And he's really cleaned it up and hopefully in the near future, there'll be new homes there. So I-- you know I put my real estate license on vacation.

GS: Yes.

BW: 'Cause I didn't want people to think I was making money off the city.

GS: Right.

BW: So I haven't reactivated my license.

GS: Well--

BW: I think I'm retired now from that.

(Laughter)

BW: What else Georgia Kay?

GS: Well, let me look--

BW: Oh I lived out on the farm and I've still got a horse. I don't-- I don't run 00:41:00cows anymore. My three kids all live out of state and you can't go visit and run off and leave cows. (Chuckling). So I sold all my cows and fertilized and resodded a lot of my pasture and now I bale hay and sell hay.

GS: That's good, that's good.

BW: I can run off and leave it. (Chuckling)

GS: Here's an interesting question. What would you consider to be the most important intervention during your life time? Invention, sorry not intervention. Invention.

BW: Invention. Oh God.

GS: There's been a lot of 'em.

BW: I'll tell you two things that bothered me more than anything.

GS: And that was a pager and a cell phone.

(Laughter)

GS: You sound like my husband.

BW: Well out on the road in sales and everything, sometimes-- especially when I 00:42:00become the manager, I'd get so many pages and wanting you to call 'em back and stuff like that and it was hard to do. And same way with cellphones, especially if you was working with somebody or even running somebody's territory. But that was probably an important thing and all the computers, laptops. On my laptop I had all of these salesmen's business on my laptop.

GS: Oh my.

BW: Every customer they had and had a complete warehouse inventory on it.

GS: Wow.

BW: And that laptop was absolutely a gold mine.

GS: Yes, it would be.

BW: And it has since I've retired, it's probably quadrupled what you can do with 'em.

GS: Oh yeah.

BW: And see that was in '98.

GS: Oh yeah.

BW: That they were--

GS: Lots happened--

BW: Yeah.

GS: --since then.

BW: But that was what the capability was back then.

GS: Yeah, so probably the computer?

BW: Oh yeah. Yeah.

GS: Any significant changes you've seen in Bristow since you are on the 00:43:00Industrial Board or even like as a child that you know, you think were big improvements to Bristow?

BW: Well you know--

GS: Or had a big impact to Bristow?

BW: Yeah. I kinda beat around the bush about this, but you know a kid from the farm; we came to town on Saturday. Main Street was just full; you couldn't find a parking place. And usually the farmers when they came in, they came in for the day.

GS: Yes.

BW: And you know, we'd go to the Walmur Theatre and get in there for a dime or so. Eat a hamburger at Llyon's Café, and then dad would do his visiting up and down Main Street making (indecipherable) sale, or whatever. And mom would usually go to the Princess Theatre, that was where the adults went you know.

GS: Okay, that's why I never went to the Princess I guess much.

BW: It was-- I didn't go very often until I married her-- married Carolyn. (Chuckling)

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: But anyway, and the Main Street was just so busy. But you know, I'm on a couple other boards too and when we're having general meetings or-- we've had a couple of meetings I'd hold 'em here in Bristow. And I had the Conservation District and we-- and a whole area Conservation Districts, which takes most of northeastern Oklahoma. And it was my turn to hold it here, I had it down at the Church of God where we go to church and we was gonna really impress 'em. So we ordered T-Bone steaks, we had like about a hundred people there.

GS: Wow.

BW: We ordered a hundred T-Bone steaks and had one of the farm service representatives to bring his cooker and cooked them outside the Church of God.

GS: Wow.

BW: And baked potatoes, the whole ball of wax. Anyway, of course I gave a--

GS: And this is for Conservation--

BW: Yeah, this is--

GS: --Group?

BW: --all of northeastern Oklahoma--

GS: Oh okay.

BW: --Area of Conservation Districts. And there's a district in every county. (Chuckling)

GS: Yes, yes.

BW: So we had a lot of people there.

GS: Yes.

BW: And this was board members. Anyway, I gave-- I got up and gave a little talk and a welcome to Bristow and I said, "While you're here, I want you to go out by our school system, drive around our lake, and I want you to notice when you go up and down Main Street, how busy Bristow Main Street is." And I said this a many of time. Between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Bristow's Main Street is the busiest one.

GS: I agree with you there.

BW: It is!

GS: Mm-hmm.

BW: And of course if they catch it early in the morning, or late in the evening, it's worse than anything else.

(Laughter)

GS: Yes.

BW: But it kindly reminds you-- I mean through the day. You go to Stroud, you go to Chandler, you don't see that over there.

GS: No.

BW: Only time you see it in Chandler, if its court day. (Chuckling) There'll be a little business there then.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: And you go to Sapulpa, it don't compare to ours.

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: Cause their Main Street's not as busy as the one that's going east and west, what is it Dew--

GS: Dewey, I believe.

BW: Yeah.

GS: Yeah.

BW: That's it. Our Main Street's busier than Sapulpa's.

GS: (Indecipherable)

BW: And they all-- well they even applauded.

(Laughter)

BW: And I said, "If any of yall want to move to Bristow give me a call, I'm in real estate."

(Laughter)

GS: There you go. There you go. Well, can you think of anything else that you would like to add?

BW: Yeah. And this'll give you a little project, maybe.

GS: Okay.

BW: Maybe.

GS: Okay.

BW: When they first opened it up, down at the railroad station--

GS: Uh-huh.

BW: I had a picture of my dad-- my grandad, I'm sorry. And--

GS: And what was his name?

BW: Charlie Webb Senior.

GS: Okay.

BW: And--

GS: So your dad was Charlie Webb and your grandfather was Charlie Webb?

BW: Yeah.

GS: Senior. Okay.

BW: Yeah. Anyway, when he was a young man here in Bristow Arthur Foster's dad-- what was his name, I'll be darn.

GS: Who's dad did you say?

BW: Arthur Foster's

GS: Arthur Foster's.

BW: Well, I'll be darn. Steve's (ph) son is named after him. (Chuckling)

GS: Okay. I'll find out (Chuckling).

BW: They were friends and my grandad and Tall-- Tall Foster (ph).

GS: Oh okay, that's an unusual name.

BW: And Anna Louis Foster (ph)

GS: Yes.

BW: They were on horseback and they were in the middle of Main Street where the 00:48:00Community State Bank is now.

GS: Yes.

BW: And where the stationary office supply's at.

GS: Yes.

BW: They were all three of 'em on horses and they all three had black suits. That's about the only suit a man would wear back then was a black suit.

GS: Yes.

BW: They had black suits on, black hats, and on their horses. And there's a picture of them down there in the museum. And when I was on the School Board here in Bristow, Ms. Foster (ph) after she retired, she got on the School Board and I got this picture and I made her a copy of it and gave it to her. And I said-- and Arthur was still alive at the time. And she was so proud of that picture, she took it down there and they displayed it.

GS: Ah.

BW: And anyway--

GS: At the museum?

BW: At the museum. Anyway, they change 'em around once in a while.

GS: Yes.

BW: Anyway, I've ask 'em about that picture over the last three or four years. 00:49:00And it's probably stored down there some place.

GS: The problem with-- I'll address that pretty soon.

BW: Yeah, I gotcha. Well, you know and I've ask about it, but they-- that's when they was having to move stuff around and all that. But I hope it didn't get lost.

GS: I doubt if it's lost--

BW: 'Cause they got the--

GS: We just--

BW: --they got the original.

GS: --have to locate it.

BW: Yeah. But anyway, I think I may-- I've still got the original.

GS: But that's something we're working on.

BW: Yeah, yeah. But anyway, that was a coincidence. But there's a lot of other things I could tell you about. The old times, but I had a great uncle that was a brother to this Uncle Isaac that was a Marshal.

GS: Yes, yes.

BW: His younger brother-- the youngest one in the family. They lived out on a farm out the edge of Bristow. I think it was out here on 16. Just about straight across-- well down where yall live.

GS: Okay.

BW: Anyway their neighbors, and they were good friends-- the families were. But 00:50:00something happened-- an animal got in one of 'ems garden. And I think it was one of my grandad's cow or hog or something--

GS: Got in the other one's garden?

BW: Got in the other one's garden. And right by the Community State Bank where it's at now, here come the father and the son of the family that lived next door. And they-- the boy wasn't about fifteen, sixteen years old and the old man jumped my great uncle, and they had a little scuffle and they stabbed my uncle.

GS: Oh my word!

BW: And he started across the street to where the office supply is at.

GS: Yes.

BW: And then they shot him.

GS: (Gasp) No!

BW: Shot him in the back. Anyway, since the young man was-- of course they 00:51:00didn't do anything to him. But his dad, they sent him to prison.

GS: And so I guess your great uncle died.

BW: Oh yeah, he died. Died right on the spot.

GS: Ah.

BW: Died in the middle of the street-- Main Street.

GS: Ah.

BW: And anyway, the old man-- I say old man, he was probably forty years old. Might not have even been that old. But he went to prison for a few years and when he got out of prison, he got killed.

GS: Somebody killed him.

BW: And I think I know who it was.

GS: Oh!

BW: The US Marshal. (Chuckling)

GS: Oh. (Chuckling)

BW: I mean, that story-- and the bad thing about it, or the good thing about I guess you'd say. Those families went back together and got close.

GS: Well that's good.

BW: To this day, I even sold the young man that was with his dad that killed my 00:52:00uncle? I even sold their property. I sold his brother's property.

GS: My goodness.

BW: I mean the families got so close.

GS: Huh.

BW: And my grandad lived just east of the county barn about two blocks.

GS: Now what was your uncle's name that got killed?

BW: Harrison.

GS: Harrison Webb?

BW: Yeah.

GS: And, do you have any idea about what decade that would've been?

BW: It would've been in between-- before the '20s.

GS: Before the '20s.

BW: Yeah.

GS: Bristow was still young then.

BW: Yeah, yeah.

GS: Dirt roads on Main Street and--

BW: Dirt streets, yeah. And anyway, my grand-- grandad-- a brother to the one that got killed. Lived east of the county barn and a brother to one of the people that killed my great uncle lived about two to three blocks away and they 00:53:00were good friends. Every birthday my grandmother or grandad or his wife-- and wife and husband-- they celebrated birthdays together.

GS: Wow.

BW: That's how close the family was.

GS: Yeah.

BW: And me and Carolyn thought the world of 'em.

GS: Isn't that something. Well, you know you can't hold responsibility for all your relatives.

BW: Well, you know it's just-- they would had to be good friends to get back together like that.

GS: Yes, they did.

BW: So.

GS: Well.

BW: But I know several other stories, but you might want to edit that out I don't know.

GS: No--

BW: I didn't give you any names.

GS: --I think that's a good story!

BW: (Chuckling)

GS: No you didn't, you didn't say who the other people were so that's alright.

BW: And everybody else is--

GS: (Chuckling)

BW: --passed on.

GS: Yep, yep.

BW: Except maybe-- well probably not any rest of 'em live around here now.

GS: Yeah. Okay, do your children still live around here?

BW: No. Robert JR, he lives in Phoenix. He's been there for-- oh gosh, 00:54:00twenty-five years.

GS: How old would Rob be now?

BW: He'll be about sixty-one now.

GS: Okay.

BW: He graduated-- all three kids graduated OSU. He went to work for General Foods and they moved him to southern California for about four or five years and then to Phoenix. And they was getting ready to move him again and he said, "I'm not moving again." So--

GS: (Laughter)

BW: --he resigned and went to Arizona State and got his masters and as soon as he walked out he went straight to Intel and now he does all the contracts for Intel.

GS: Good for him.

BW: This is worldwide (Chuckling).

GS: Good for him.

BW: So he's got a good job and been with them-- he'll probably be retiring in the next few years too.

GS: Okay.

BW: Sue, my daughter-- that's the middle kid. Lives in Alameda, California and she finished at OSU she got in the car and had interviews. Well she trained in 00:55:00TV and Journalism.

GS: Ah.

BW: And she got a job in Wichita Falls, Texas. The guy that owned the CBS station there also owned an advertising company and he put her to work. And Tom, her husband graduated after she did and she put his name in a pot at the TV station, and he came down and he got it and he was the director of the news and all the morning and evening news. And they were there for about a year or so and they went to Alameda, California and Tom went to work for the-- what's the big-- Federal Reserve Bank.

GS: Oh okay.

BW: And he's been with them now about thirty-three years.

GS: That's awesome.

BW: And he's probably--

GS: Gosh, it doesn't--

BW: --going to retire this year.

GS: --seem possible.

BW: Yeah, yeah.

(Laughter)

BW: And Sue, she went to work for an advertising company and she had-- in fact, 00:56:00(chuckling) when she was at OSU they put billboards all around the state with her carrying a tray and it said, "Good ole boys don't drink and drive."

GS: Ah!

BW: But these billboards were all over the state.

GS: Oh I'd loved to have seen one of 'em.

BW: Well, there was one down at Okmulgee, and of course on major highways is where--

GS: I probably wouldn't have known it was her if I saw it.

BW: A lot of people didn't realize that probably.

GS: I bet not. Ah.

BW: But anyway, she did the same thing out there. She went to work for an advertising company, and she was-- they used her as a model.

GS: Wow.

BW: But--

GS: So she was a pretty, young lady.

BW: Well, she done good and she went to work for-- after she got through with that, well she went to work for-- oh it's a food program-- food bank thing. And she'd go out and make all the contacts for different companies and send trucks by to pick up food that they donated to the food bank.

GS: Good. Good for her. And Stacy's where?

BW: Stacy, he was in Oklahoma City. He was a director at the-- at the Omniplex. He was one--

GS: Oh really!

BW: He was one of the directors down there for about four or five years and he got the hankering to go someplace else and he followed somebody all the way to Portland, Oregon.

GS: Wow.

BW: And he worked out there for two or three years. Bought a condo and anyway, the place where he worked-- hard times hit Oregon pretty bad back ten years ago.

GS: Ah.

BW: And the place where he worked, they shut it down.

GS: Ah.

BW: And he was scared to death, but he got-- heard of an opportunity in San Francisco. And the Hurst (ph) family has got a thing out there. I forget the name of it, Carolyn might've gave it to you. Where they do-- for families that 00:58:00don't have homes and--

GS: Okay.

BW: Cause a lot of people live in cars and live on the railroad tracks and--

GS: Oh my.

BW: --all of that. But he-- (Chuckling) he goes out and hits all of the businesses up for donations.

GS: Well good for him.

BW: And he's got-- he's done great out here.

GS: Oh good for him.

BW: He's done good.

GS: Good for him.

BW: So--

GS: Well Bob, I have just enjoyed our interview tremendously and I appreciate ever so much--

BW: Oh, you bet.

GS: --you taking the extra time (Chuckling).

BW: Well.

GS: For this.

BW: I hope we both got it recorded.

(Laughter)

GS: I hope so too! Thanks a lot Bob.

BW: Well, I appreciate you too and want to let everybody know. I've known this girl for years. She babysitted for us--

GS: (Laughter)

BW: --when we lived across the street from 'em.

GS: And he still calls me Eegee Kay.

BW: Yeah!

GS: Because that's what little Stacy would call me. (Chuckling)

BW: Yep.

(Laughter)

End of interview.