00:00:00Interviewer: Georgia Smith (GS)
Interviewee: Jim Hurt (JH)
Other Persons: Gerald Henshaw (GH)
Date of Interview: June 30th 2021
Location: Bristow, Creek County Oklahoma
Transcriber: Macy Shields
Organization: Bristow Historical Society, Inc.
Original Cassette Tape Location:
Abstract:
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 June 30th, 2021, and I'm sitting here with Jim Hurt
and Gerald Henshaw who are going to tell me a little bit about their history in
Bristow. Now, Jim could you give me your full name?
JH: Jimmy Allen Hurt.
GS: Thank you, and Gerald?
GH: Gerald Guy Henshaw.
GS: Thank you. We're going to begin mainly with Jim, but Gerald might chime in
occasionally if he has something to add to the information that we're doing. So
Jim, what was your name at birth?
JH: Jimmy Allen Hurt.
GS: And where were you born?
JH: Two miles east-- or west of Bristow. Just south of the Deep Rock Oil Camp
there at-- near where the old farm used to be.
GS: And what old farm is that?
00:01:00
JH: Poor Farm.
GS: Your--
JH: Poor Farm.
GH: Poor Farm
JH: The Old Poor Farm
GS: Okay.
JH: Out by the cemetery--
GS: Yeah.
JH: Poor Cemetery out on 66.
GS: Yes.
JH: My dad used to keep-- keep that up.
GS: Oh he did?
JH: Yeah.
GS: How long ago was that?
JH: Oh it was probably when I was in high school.
GS: Okay so in the early 50's?
JH: 50's, yes. Yeah.
GS: That's-- that's interesting. Were you born in the home or in the hospital?
JH: In the house.
GS: In the house? Was it a midwife or doctor? Do you know?
JH: I do not know.
GS: Have no idea. What were your parent's names? Oh, let me back up. What day
were you born?
JH: October the 4th 1934.
GS: Thank you. And what were your parents' names? Let's start with your mother's
maiden name.
JH: Amy Hannah Higginbotham.
GS: Okay (Chuckling).
JH: Evert Hurt. H-U-R-T.
GS: Okay, and thank you for spelling that. Do you happen to know about when they
were married?
JH: No.
GS: That's okay. Or where they were married? Were they living here?
00:02:00
JH: I don't know.
GS: Have no idea. Do you know when they might have come to this area?
JH: Well, my grandpa Higginbotham brought his whole family here in-- from
Kentucky and because he had a sister that married Mr. Meadows (ph) that lived
out south of town so that's why he came here. Because she said, "Come here Andy.
You need to come here and get rich in the white cotton fields of Oklahoma."
GS: Oh.
JH: And he did come, but he didn't get rich, but--
GS: Ah.
JH: --he did lose an eye. Was farming with the corn when a corn stock hit 'em in
the eye and he was blind in one eye. H.A. Higginbotham.
GS: H.A. Higg-- and it's Higginbotham, could you spell that?
JH: H-i-g-g-i-n-b-o-t-h-a-m.
GS: Thank you very much. I'm glad you ask it, 'cause I would've spelled it differently.
(Laughter)
GS: Alright, how many children did your parents have?
JH: Oh, I don't know. (Chuckling) Eight or nine? I don't ever--
00:03:00
GS: Okay. Are your-- are your siblings, and of them still here?
JH: No.
GS: Okay. What did your father do?
JH: He was a tank builder with Deep Rock Oil Company.
GS: Okay. Do you happen to know who owned Deep Rock Oil Company back then?
JH: No.
GS: Yeah, that's okay.
JH: Mm-hmm.
GS: And what about your mother, was she a stay at home mom?
JH: Yes.
GS: Very good. Are you married, Jim.
JH: No, I'm single.
GS: Okay. Have you been married?
JH: Yes.
GS: What was your spouse's name?
JH: My children's mothers name was Patricia Marie Hurt, or Jackson from Depew,
Oklahoma where Gerald went to find his wife also.
GS: Oh cool!
JH: And some of us got--
GH: Prettiest girls in the country.
GS: Prettiest girls in the country. Well my parents were from there, so I won't disagree.
(Laughter)
JH: Who was the other guy that friend of yours that lived out there?
GH: Stiner.
JH: Oh (Chuckling) Joe Stiner.
GH: Joe Stiner. Yeah, he married a Depew girl.
GS: Well.
(Laughter)
GS: And how many children did you have?
00:04:00
JH: I have three.
GS: Three children. What are their names?
JH: Teresa Gayle Hurt Bowls (ph) and Bruce Allen Hurt (ph), and Brian Kelly
Hurt, (ph).
GS: Okay. Now, tell me a little bit about what life was like for you at home
when you were young growing up.
JH: My mother left my dad when I was three years old--
GS: Oh.
JH: --and I was the youngest of five children and we moved out by Lovett (ph)
School. Five miles out Highway 16, toward Slick and we had like forty acres out
there. And my grandpa Higginbotham, my mother's dad and his-- my grandmother
lived across the road. And so he cut the wood, chopped the wood for us to do and
he plowed-- made and raised the corn and fixed our garden and so forth some. So
he was the help there, but I have many memories of living there. And then I
00:05:00started school there at Lovett (ph) School and they-- a two room school house
for first through the eighth grades and we lived there until 1942 when the World
War II started. The oldest brother Jack went to the army. My sister, Norma was
named Wieberdink, now is deceased, but she quit school and went to work in Tulsa
and so it just left me and mom and the three older brothers and the middle
brother, Harry who we call Buddy died of-- his appendix burst and had Gangrene
and died at the age of fifteen--
GS: Aww.
JH: --which is pretty hard on mom.
GS: Well yes.
JH: So that-- then that left Donnie, older brother just older than me, and
myself and then Don was killed in Korea in 1952, so it was just me and mom and I
00:06:00worked. You talked-- asked what my childhood life was like. I worked at O.D
Thorpe's Grocery Store. I delivered groceries for him.
GS: Alright.
JH: And so-- but she made twenty-five dollars a week and she walked to-- to work
every day and back home every day. And then--
GS: And what is it she did again?
JH: She was a clerk at O.D. Thorpe's grocery store.
GS: Okay.
JH: And one of the guys that worked there also said she was strong as any man he
had ever seen. So--
GS: Wow.
JH: --I had no trouble with discipline. I knew how to behave and how she took
care of things. But she was a very strong spiritually, mentally, and physically
woman and all. So I had a great life. I've been blessed.
GS: So when she left your father, you went with your mother?
JH: Oh yes--
GS: Yes.
JH: --all five. All five of us did.
GS: All five of you did.
JH: Yeah.
GS: Okay. Okay, I was a little confused on that part.
00:07:00
JH. K.
GS: Did you have-- did each of the kids have a bedroom? Did you have to share
bedrooms growing up?
JH: Well like I said, about the time I was eight, we did until then. And I don't
remember a whole lot about that-- before that-- but after that it was just mom
and I. So--
GS: Yeah.
JH: When we were out in the country, I don't remember that much.
GS: So were you the youngest?
JH: Yes, I was the baby as they call it.
GS: Aww, he was the baby.
(Laughter)
GS: Okay. Was your mom a good cook?
JH: Oh. No she didn't cook. She fried everything. Steaks she fried--
(Laughter)
JH: Whatever it was, we fried. And yes, she was a good enough cook and all that,
but yeah.
GS: Alright.
(Laughter)
GS: Where did she shop for groceries?
JH: At O.D. Thorpe's. Where she--
GS: At O.D. Thorpe's.
(Laughter)
JH: Yes.
GS: What all did O.D. Thorpe's sell?
00:08:00
JH: Everything. He had-- he bought the wholesale was-- I forget the wholesalers
name here but we-- we had their own shelves. And O.D. was his own butcher. He
had his own butchers back in the back and then everything was mostly on credit,
and you'd just come in and bought and he wrote it down on the ticket and
whatever they bought you put that in a file. Then at the end of the month when
the people got their poor checks, or people got money, they come in and pay off
that bill and everything. But it's the same old thing with the green beans and
corn and whatever and you had pop in the icebox that you raised up the lid and
there was water in there with ice in it and you got your bottle of pop out and
you drank your bottle of pop. But memories of the grocery store, people used to
come and even sit on the ledge out beside there on Saturdays and whatever. And
there's some things, I won't tell you about all that went on when people got drunk--
00:09:00
GS: Oh yeah.
GH: (Chuckling)
JH: Somebody would get drunk and the police would come get 'em and put 'em--
wouldn't want to get in the car, and they'd kind of push 'em in the car and
they'd hold on like this and they'd throw-- just slam the door on its fingers.
GS: Oh my word.
JH: Lets don't go through all that. My memories--
GH: I don't know--
(Laughter)
GS: Talk about police brutality, huh?
(Laughter)
GS: Okay, well now tell me about the peanuts in this area. I know that Bristow
was supposedly the peanut--
JH: Peanut Capitol of the world.
GS: Yes.
JH: And had the big building down there, and a guy named Sweet Potato Johnson
(ph) that lived down south about fifteen miles I believe. South of Bristow
between Bristow and Okemah.
GS: Uh-huh.
JH: And one day several of us boys-- four or five of us young guys, they took us
in the back of a truck and took us down there and they'd already plowed up the
peanuts and they were laying over and dried in the sun. And then they had poles
that they had cut down trees and trimmed it off and stuck the poles upright in
00:10:00the ground, and we would then go by and pick up those peanuts that were laying
there that were drying and we'd go and stick 'em-- stack 'em around that pole
and where they would dry more and more until they were ready to take 'em into
the peanut mill and have 'em harvested or--
GS: Okay.
JH: --so forth.
GS: And where was that peanut mill?
JH: That's Second--
GS: Between Second--
JH: --Second
GS: --and Third.
JH: No, well it was actually at the corner of Second and-- or no, Third and Main.
GH: Fourth, third, yeah.
GS: Yes. Yes.
JH: Second--
GS: Third and Main.
GH: Third and Main.
JH: That's the one that Bill Bethel bought later on. Right.
GS: Okay.
JH: But then the woman sat at it and they had the big belt where the peanuts
come down through there and they would pick out the little rocks and things like
that and all. And then after they were shelled and running down through there.
So, yeah--
GS: Okay.
JH: --It employed several women and for many years.
GS: Okay.
JH: Yeah.
GS: I didn't realize that women worked in the peanut factory.
(Laughter)
GS: That's-- that's pretty good to know. Okay, let me go back over here. Tell me
about where the school was that you attended first. Where was that located.
JH: Lovett (ph) was about five miles out east of Bristow on Highway 16 on the
00:11:00south side. The Fraidy hole-- the tornado thing is still there, but the
building-- there's a house there now. But it was there and I went. My first
friend was an Indian guy named Jerry--
GH: Yeah.
JH: Oh, come on.
GH: Big boy. Jerry--
JH: Riley.
GH: Riley.
GS: Oh! I knew Jerry Riley.
GH: Yeah.
JH: He was my very first friend and he was a year behind me so whenever I went
to the first grade, and then I got to the second grade and then he come to first
grade, so I think there was two teachers. One through sixth or something, then
seven through eighth in the other room. But when we'd go out to exercise and all
I'd say, "Well ask 'em if I can go with ya." I was in second grade, so they did.
So then come December of my second grade we was ready to move to town after I
said my brother had went to the army. To the war and Norma Lee had went, my
00:12:00sister had gone to Tulsa, so we moved to town and they told Amy, "You better put
Jimmy back in the first grade" So I've lost a year.
GS: Aww.
JH: But my birthday is in October the 4th and that year that I'd started, you
had to be six on or before the day it started. So I was-- so I was two years
behind school. That's why Gerald was only seventeen and I was almost nineteen by
the time I graduated.
(Laughter)
GH: They put me in before I got-- my birthday's October the 11th and my sister
brought me up and put me in Edison School before I was supposed to because I was
the only boy left at the house.
JH: You didn't-- may I interject? He didn't have a mother, she had passed.
GH: Yeah, my mother passed.
GS: Aww.
GH: Yeah.
JH: He was raised--
GS: So you were raised by your sister?
GH: Sister and dad.
JH: A whole bunch of 'em.
GH: Yeah.
(Laughter)
GH: Had four sisters, yeah.
GS: Oh.
GH: Twins and younger and older.
GS: Okay.
GH: Older, Oldest sister pretty well looked after us. You know as far as--
GS: Very good. Yeah.
JH: But anyway, go ahead.
GH: Where was I?
JH: (Laughter)
GH: Oh I was telling you about Edison school. My first-- they took me and I was
00:13:00so young, I guess. I cried the whole day.
(Laughter)
GH: And Mrs. Liss (ph) which was the teacher--
GS: Yes.
GH: --she took me under her arm and kinda took care of me for that day.
JH: (Chuckling)
GS: Aww.
GH: And the next day I was fine, and everything went on--
GS: Well sure. You were probably only four or five.
(Laughter)
GH: Well I was five.
GS: That's pretty young.
GH: Coming in off the farm, you know--
GS: Yeah.
GH: --by yourself out there.
GS: Sure.
GH: Got all these people running around there. Man it was-- it was scary.
GS: I bet it was for a little guy.
GH: It was scary. I still remember it, that's how scary it was.
(Laughter)
GS: So, when you went to grade school here in Bristow, was it one of Washington
or Edison--
JH: Edison. I went to Edison--
GS: Edison.
JH: --Mrs. Farbro (ph) was one of my first teachers and all and she was pretty
tough on ya. She kept things straight and all--
GS: Alright.
JH: --yeah.
GH: I went to both of 'em, Washington and Edison.
GS: Okay. Okay.
GH: I remember the castle-- little castle store down there at the end of the
Washington playground.
00:14:00
GS: Uh-huh.
GH: We'd go down there and get lunch.
GS: Oh okay.
JH: (Laughter)
GS: Did they not have the cafeteria then?
GH: I don't know man--
JH: I think you brought lunch if--
GH: Well we brought lunch if you could, but--
GS: Yeah.
GH: You could go down there and buy a soda pop from Mr. Castle.
JH: (Laughter)
GS: Okay, so after you finished grade-- do you have any memories of grade
school? Were you active in any kind of--
JH: No--
GS: --activities?
JH: --one memory I had, the Cakes (ph) were teachers there. And Mrs. Cake (ph)
but then there is another teacher, Mrs. Bean (ph) that couldn't hear very well
and all. So one of the guys brought a-- in the sixth grade brought a water
pistol and he was shooting it like that and hiding it and you know, it's on the
black board when it hit, [indecipherable] and she'd turn around and do like this
and turn like this and try to figure out who was doing it.
GS: Oh!
JH: That's one of the memories, other than that no. It's just school and on the
00:15:00playground where you'd learn how to--
GH: Survive.
JH: --defend yourself or whatever.
GS: What kind of games did you play on the playground?
JH: Well the boys played football against the--
GH: We played-- we played that "Red Rover, Red Rover--
GS: Yes!
GH: "Let somebody come over." Yeah!
GS: Yes!
JH: Oh! (Chuckling) I forgot about that.
(Laughter)
GH: Oh I'll tell ya, they try to break the-- break the deal. Yeah.
GS: Yep (Chuckling) and it really hurt when you couldn't break through.
GH: Oh it hit you hard, yes.
(Laughter)
GS: Okay. Okay, I'm gonna skip now to church life. Did you go to church as a child?
JH: My whole life. They always talked about-- I'm still a believer. Thank God,
Gerald and I are both believers, but a lot of the-- well what day and what time
did you believe-- well I've always believed in Jesus Christ because that's what
I was brought up in the Freewill Baptist Church. And-- right down-- well it's
not there anymore. But yeah, and we had friends coming in from Slick and down on
00:16:00Deep Fork with the Dobson's (ph), and Dobson's and on and on and on and so I've
always been a Christian. So-- and I was raised at Freewill Baptist Church and I
grew up and become a Southern Baptist and finally I got even grown up more than
that and now I'm just a Christian going into an independent church and have a
great church life in Edmond, Oklahoma. Faith Bible Church.
GS: Very good. Very Good!
(Laughter)
GS: Get a plug in for Faith Bible Church there. (Laughter) When were you
baptized? Can you tell me, were you baptized in a pond--
JH: When I was about in the--
GS: --a river?
JH: No, I was in First Baptist Church of Lawton, Oklahoma when I was in the
military there and I was kind of convicted. In fact, when I finally decided
before that I was married and living in Tulsa after I got out of high school.
And I was a smoker and I decided that I wanted to live for Christ and all, so on
00:17:00a Sunday morning we're sitting there and reading the newspaper before we went to
church and all and I said, "Did you notice anything, Pat?" And she said, "Well
no. What?" I said, "Well I quit smoking!" Well she didn't know it.
(Laughter)
JH: I thought that was gonna make me alright, but I-- I've grown a lot in the
Lord since then--
GS: Right.
JH: --and all. And had a great life.
GS: Discovered you didn't have to quit that smoking to become a Christian.
JH: (Chuckling) No, but I did.
GS: (Chuckling) Probably the best.
JH: Yeah.
GS: So it says here you were baptized at Kelly's Pond (ph)?
JH: No not me--
GS: No. Oh.
JH: That's where Freewill Baptist-- that's where-- that's [Indecipherable]--
right there's the pond. Right out there. Do you know where Kelly's Pond (ph) is?
GS: I do not unless-- wait a minute. West of Bristow on Highway 66?
JH: Do you know where the green-- meadow green-- what's it called?
GS: Meadow Hill
JH: Meadow Hill is?
GS: Mm-hmm.
JH: Well just past there. You go up like that and there's a pond right off over
there. There's another--
00:18:00
GS: Glenn Acres. Glenn Acres is what you're thinking of.
JH: Okay, so past the--
GS: My mother was baptized in that same pond.
JH: You're kidding me! What church did she go to?
GS: I think it was Assembly of God at the time in Depew.
JH: Really?
GS: Uh-huh. And I did not learn that until recently.
JH: (Chuckling)
GS: Yeah, after she passed.
GH: Right across the street from that, there was a pool hall-- not a pool hall,
but a joint.
GS: Oh.
GH: On the south side of that.
GS: Yes, now when I was growing up it was like a little café.
GH: Yeah, same.
GS: I think I ate there once.
JH: Gerald Lee and I use to take our girlfriends back over to Depew and then
comin' home we'd--
GH: Yeah.
JH: --stop and get a hamburger. She'd find out later, "Why can't you stop and
get a hamburger taking us home?" (Laughter)
GS: Yeah! I agree. I agree! Savin' a little bit money, weren't you there?
(Laughter)
GS: Well alright, can you tell me anything about holiday events at the church or
any special memories you have at the church?
00:19:00
JH: Christmas time especially, you always had your little chocolate thing with
this white sugar inside of it, and all. And we also had coconut that they give
us. Coconut--
GS: Coconuts?
JH: --and things that-- your little Christmas things at Christmas time that I
don't think they do that stuff anymore. But yeah, Christmas--
GS: Like a bag of apples--
JH: And also--
GS: --and oranges and--
GH: Ribbon candy.
GS: Yes, ribbon candy.
JH: And more funnier-- fun than that, was Pie Suppers.
GS: Yes.
JH: We had the Pie Supper at the Lovett (ph) School and one of the girls that
was probably fourteen or so [Indecipherable] with my grandpa who was quite, you
know. He was old. He was probably in his sixties-- bought her pie and she had to
eat with him. And I remember how it hurt her feelings, she had to eat with this
old man.
GS: (Laughter)
JH: That was at the Lovett (ph) Schoolhouse and all. And Merdel Henry (ph) and--
Merdel Henry and Lucille Lott (ph) was the first girls that I kind of liked out
00:20:00there and--
GS: Aww.
JH: --there's memories of those things.
GS: Yes. What was medical care like when you were a child? Do you remember
anything about the doctors or going to the doctors--
JH: Wash it off and get outside.
(Laughter)
GH: Old Doc King, I don't know if you knew who Doc king was. He--
GS: I went to Doc King--
GH: Oh man I--
GS: A time or two.
JH: Oh you must be old! Or mature.
GS: I'm getting there!
GH: Yeah, he was pretty tough. And then--
GS: He was--
GH: The dentist-- I can't remember his name--
GS: Your-- Yourman ?
GH: Yourman.
GS: Dr. Yourman.
GH: That guy, he pulled my teeth. Pulled my wisdom teeth. That's the reason I'm
so dumb.
GS: (Laughter).
GH: He pulled those wisdom teeth and he got up on my chest--
GS: Oh my goodness.
GH: And-- and-- oh yeah. And pulled 'em. There wasn't anything wrong with 'em.
He just pulled 'em out. Pulled all of 'em out of there.
JH: He needed the money.
GH: Yeah, I guess.
(Laughter)
GH: Couldn't have got much money at that time. You know, but-- yeah.
GS: Oh my goodness.
00:21:00
GH: Last time I seen ole Doc King, he was going down middle of Main Street and
everybody was getting out of his way.
GS: Oh.
GH: I think he had a Cadillac or--
JH: No, it was a big ole Buick--
GH: Buick. Buick, yeah right. Yeah.
JH: Great big--
GH: He'd drive right down the middle of the street. That's the last time I saw him.
GS: Did you ever get any of that black powder from Dr. King?
GH: No.
JH: No.
GS: Oh, every time we went, he'd give us this black powder in a paper. I think
it was a laxative, but I mean you did not go to the doctor--
GH: Oh yeah.
GS: --without getting that black powder.
(Laughter)
GH: I used to have [indecipherable].
GS: Oh.
GH: That's what they gave me every Saturday.
GS: Oh my goodness. Yucky.
GH: [Indecipherable]
(Laughter)
GS: Alright. What do you remember about the city of Bristow growing up?
JH: Oh.
GS: Just any-- any kind of-- Let me back up a little bit.
JH: Okay.
GS: Let me, you've got written down here Deep Rock Camp?
JH: Mm-hmm?
GS: What can you tell me about Deep Rock Camp?
JH: That was the Oil camp that's just right across the road. You know, they--
GH: From the cemetery.
JH: The Poor Farm Cemetery and across the road's Deep Rock Camp, which there's
still some houses there.
GS: Okay.
JH: And you're supposed to be able to get from there down to the hundred and--
whatever it's called-- 41st street now, which the Jones's own all of that.
00:22:00
GS: Yes.
JH: I drove down through there the other day and they own forever and ever and
ever and ever down through there. She lives near where the-- your Poor Farm was.
And she said there's actually a few rocks or monument things out there today and all.
GS: Okay.
JH: Anyway, Deep Rock Camp's just a place where that the people lived and they
had-- you know, you had all the oil wells--
GH: Well oil--
JH: and [Indecipherable]
GH: Yeah, the oil camp.
GS: So the men that worked for the company lived in that camp?
GH: Yes.
JH: Yes, well and-- yeah.
GS: And their families.
JH: Right. Yes.
GS: Yeah.
GH: Yeah. They still out there. Some of the kids still live there.
GS: Okay.
JH: Yeah there's still houses down there.
GH: Yeah.
GS: Yeah. Okay, and you've got written down that you went swimming at Catfish Creek?
JH: And we didn't always have a bathing suit.
GS: Skinny dipping, did ya?
JH: And we did that with Lester and Earl Hill and I and I don't remember who
else and all, but yeah. When you're out and it's hot and there's a pool-- a
00:23:00little pool of water there, you take advantage of it. And people going from
California or New York or Chicago back that other way, we didn't care. Cause you
know, they could see you but they can't do anything about it. So--
GS: Well and they couldn't see under the water either.
(Laughter)
JH: Well, [Indecipherable] we had to come out some time.
GS: Uh-Oh
(Laughter)
JH: Along that line, another memory speaking of California, they always had to
stop if you were in the crosswalk or you-- it wasn't crosswalk. If you wanted to
cross the street, they had to stop in California and let the pedestrians go by.
GS: Yes.
JH: So, us young boys then twelve or thirteen was standing on the edge and we'd
see a California tag and we'd step out like that so they'd have to stop and we
would walk across it and we'd do the same thing coming back the other way. Boys
were ornery then. (Laughter)
GS: (Chuckling) Yeah! I think some of them were. Alright now, this Pat Dillard?
00:24:00
JH: That was a colored man that-- that thing is the other day I was talking
about-- I don't know how you're offended with the word "nigger" today, but that
was not a negative term growing up, that was an identity. Because I had a-- I
worked with a negro man in the oil business and an Indian that I worked with
also asked him, "Well are you black or what?" He said, "Black's a color." Black
is not-- you know--
GS: A race. It's not a race.
JH: Right, so there's nothing wrong with me with Negro, and a lot of it's on
your birth certificates. But now, Nigger was just a common term back then and we
had an old-- Pat Dillard (ph) was as you call them today, a black man. My older
brother's opossum hunted with him at night and all.
GS: Uh-huh.
JH: In fact, I used the word Nigger and my older brother said, "Oh Pat, I'm
sorry." He said, "That's alright, he's just a little boy." or whatever. So you
know, it's not-- to me it was never a derogatory term it was an identification
00:25:00term of who this person was. Because we had another guy that was retarded called
Nigger Jim, and he wore pitiful old sewn together clothes and--
GS: Aww.
GH: He'd be at Main Street all the time, yeah.
JH: And even his shoes and things were sometimes sewn together with this old
rubber boots or whatever he could find. The Gold Eagle Café was there at Sixth
and Main and they always threw some foods and things away, and he would dig
through the barrels for food--
GS: Aww.
JH: --and things and he just lived out what? Two or three miles out east of town
and he just lived with one group and wanted another and all you know.
GS: Right. Right.
JH: Yeah, so--
GS: It's a shame.
JH: Yeah.
GS: Yeah, I think the word became offensive--
JH: She's [Indecipherable]
(Laughter)
GS: --I can't. I can't.
JH: That's okay.
GS: But you know my parents, they said it. You know, but no. I can't say it. I'm sorry.
00:26:00
JH: No you're not. That's fine.
GS: Okay.
JH: Just in case you don't make me go to hell 'cause I say it.
GS: No. No, because you're not using it as a derogatory term.
JH: No, no, no, no, no, no.
GS: You're not, and it was not originally used that way. Okay, you've got
written down here about business Thorpe Grocery. Did you work for Thorpe Grocery?
JH: I delivered groceries for them and had many memories of those with the
colored people also, because a lot of them were on welfare.
GS: Yes.
JH: And so on-- at the end of the month they always got their money and they'd
come to town and some of 'em didn't have wagons and all. A lot of 'em rode their
wagons in around behind the alley behind Gold Eagle Café and Thorpe's Grocery
and Cash's Junk Store and whatever
GH: [Indecipherable]
JH: Anyway, I would take 'em home because they had a panel truck, O.D. had a
panel truck and I'd deliver 'em home down south of Bristow and then there's a
00:27:00couple of colored women one time that we had to squash together in the front
seat, but I took them home out by where our high school is now. They lived there.
GS: Yes.
JH: And so I've got memories of that, going in their house. And their-- their--
everything about them smells different just a different odor. What they cook and
collard greens or whatever and all, but anyway.
GS: Right.
JH: I delivered groceries for that and so and just learned how people-- a little
bit then how people are you know.
GS: Right.
JH: Nothing like what they are today.
GS: No.
JH: But anyway, yeah I have some memories of that. And watching O.D. butcher the
things and make hamburger meat and watch all that--
GS: Oh.
JH: --and how that was done, and things. And so, yeah. O.D. and Oneyta-- or
Oneyta were good people and their oldest daughter just passed recently and I
left a thing in here because I don't know where you--
GS: I saw that in there and I didn't know what that was about.
00:28:00
JH: Well I don't know whether you have the newspaper in Bristow anymore or not?
GS: Yes, we do.
JH: Well I tried to get that thing to Sherian through the electronics, and I
never could, but I left that here. I think people need to know that, that their
oldest daughter, that was her.
GS: Well we can put that in there.
JH: Yeah.
GS: We can put that in there.
JH: I'd like that. Well thank you.
GS: Yeah, we'll put it on our Facebook page.
JH: Okay, yeah.
GS: Okay--
JH: Now your Facebook page is which one, there's forty thousand of 'em.
GS: Okay. Bristow Historical Society. It's not History of Bristow. That is not us.
JH: Right.
GS: It's--
JH: Bristow--
GS: No.
JH: No, not that. Not Bristow--
GS: Not any of those. The Bristow His-- well no, that's different.
JH: Which-- which--
GS: Bristow Historical Society.
JH: T-O-W Historical.
GS: Now you've got written down here--
JH: Now are you-- how do I get to be a member of that?
GS: You just--
JH: I sent a check down here for something another and--
GS: That makes you a member of us. Of Bristow Historic Society--
JH: But how do I get on the-- on the internet?
00:29:00
GS: On Facebook, it's on Facebook.
JH: It's on Facebook--
GS: Uh-huh.
JH: --but don't you have to join?
GS: You know--
JH: Let's talk about that later.
GS: I don't think that you do. I don't think that you do, but we can talk about
that later.
JH: Yeah, let's talk about that later.
GS: Okay, tell me about the Cash Junk Store.
JH: Cash Junk Store was everything that somebody didn't want. Pieces of lamps,
farming equipment, hats, coats, old stuff. It was junk.
GS: Uh-huh.
JH: And he would-- you'd take-- you needed something, an old iron or whatever or
an antique type thing and take it in and he'd give you money and he either-- you
could come back and pay him more money and get it back--
(Laughter)
JH: --or, you could leave it there and he had the money and you could go in and
buy stuff.
GS: So it was just an old day--
GH: Pawn Shop.
GS: --resale-- Pawn Shop or resale, yeah.
JH: Kind of, yeah.
GS: Yeah. Now, I have heard the name Mcsude (ph). I know he was a Lebanese
immigrant here.
JH: Yes.
GS: And you've got written down here Dale Donuts. What can you tell me about
00:30:00Mcsude (ph) and Dale Donuts?
JH: Okay, if you remember who had the bakery when you were here earlier on?
GS: I don't remember.
JH: Jim--
GH: Umm. Uh--
JH: My brother in law.
GH: Yeah.
JH: Anyway he had the-- they had the Donut Shop right next to Silvers store. Jim
Cox (ph).
GS: Okay. Yes! Cox Bakery.
JH: That's it!
GS: I remember Cox Bakery.
JH: His-- his wife and my sister--my wife was sisters.
GS: Okay!
JH: Anyway, Old Man Mcsude (ph) would go up there and buy day old donuts and
take them down to this little thing he called grocery store. It was dark in
there and he had stuff that was older than whatever. I don't know who bought it
there or what else went on because a lot of people, several people in Bristow
probably loaned money just like Mrs. Bishop did that had her place up by the
00:31:00mill there and you loaned the money out and they paid back. But anyway, I
think-- I still don't know what all they did. He had an old dark grocery store
in there and he'd just sit around and had a son named Larry. I think he was a
pretty sharp guy or whatever, but--
GS: Wasn't a really going establishment.
JH: (Chuckling) Well, it was a grocery store--
GH: It was there (chuckling)
JH: --but didn't have much business--
GS: Yeah.
JH: A lot of traffic.
GS: Yeah.
JH: Because you had the Golden-- Golden Eagle, then you had a Bishop, which is
not any of these Bishops now, a grocery store, and then you had Thorpe's Grocery store.
GS: Okay.
JH: Then you had the Café I think was the--
GH: Blue--
JH: --Titus's café. [Indecipherable] Café, then anyway. Let's go ahead with whatever.
GS: Okay, well you've got now, Gold Eagle Café I think that was the one that
was run by Carolyn now Webb and I can't place her maiden name, but her parents I think--
JH: Could've been--
GS: --ran that.
00:32:00
JH: --I don't know, that's a long--
GS: You've got hamburgers, fifteen cents?
JH: Yep!
GS: Did you eat there often?
JH: Well you didn't eat there, but you bought it and ate it on walking down the
street or whatever.
(Laughter)
GS: Okay.
JH: Yes. No. Yeah, they had-- they had stools and booths and all. But no, if you
wanna talk about eating, you can go back up to-- The Lebanese pretty well was
very influential in settling Bristow and Depew--
GS: Yes, they were.
JH: --and many other places. But another Lebanese that I've been thinking about
a long time now and I can't think of his name. Had the best chili with--
GH: I've been tryna think of his--
GS: Korkames? Korkames?
JH: No. Well--
GS: Not Mr. Korkames?
GH: This-- this guy, you could buy. You got a bowl of chili for I think fifteen cents.
GS: Okay.
GH: Then went next door to the bakery shop and get a donut for ten cents and
then you'd be home [Indecipherable]
GS: Alright!
GH: But he had the-- he that chili. I was tryna think of his name the other day
00:33:00and I--
JH: I'll think of it in a few minutes because I thought of it the other day. He lived--
GH: I never thought of it.
JH: He lived across the street from Junior High School.
GH: Okay.
JH: Anyway, lets don't waste all day long on it.
GS: Alrighty, did we did the twenties was prohibition. Later on after that,
people would sell liquor that they made. Do you have any knowledge of
bootlegging in this country?
GH: White Lightening.
GS: White Lightening huh?
JH: I remember buying it. Did you buy it?
GH: Oh yeah! Yeah. There's a guy about three miles south on 48 and you could go
down there for a dollar and buy a pint-- a pint of that White Lightening.
GS: Oh.
JH: How do you know you could do that?
GH: 'Cause I went down there and bought it!
(Laughter)
GH: And-- and the reason I-- after that I never went again. There's some others
several boys together and my dad worked for the county at the night watchman
down at the county barn
JH: Oh yeah.
GH: And we didn't have any money, so I went in there to see if I could get a
dollar from him and he gave me a dollar and we went down there and bought that
liquor and from that time on I said, "I'm not buying anymore." I was so ashamed--
00:34:00
JH: Oh yeah.
GH: --spend that dollar for the liquor and he worked so hard for it.
(Laughter)
GS: Do you remember the ice plant here in Bristow?
JH: Oh that's this boys--
GH: I worked at the ice plant.
GS: Oh you worked there, Gerald?
GH: Oh yeah. I pulled ice. Mr. Teagarden (ph) was the man who was-- back up.
Hustlee (ph) was his name that run it, but at night I would pull ice. What that
means is, they'd have three hundred pounds of ice in a vat that was-- it was
down in this ammonia and all this other stuff that froze the water.
JH: Ice water.
GH: So you'd pull that up out of there, take it down at the cool storage, cut it
up into fifties, hundreds, twenty-five pounds and then it stayed in there. And
then you sold it on the dock.
GS: Okay.
GH: And then the come by-- people going to work, they bring their ice cans, we
put that ice in that twelve and a half pounds of ice for twenty cents.
00:35:00
GS: Oh my goodness.
GH: And put that ice in those buckets. I mean in those ice cans.
GS: Uh-huh.
GH: Yeah.
JH: But didn't you deliver it to houses also?
GH: Oh yes! I still got money-- well it used to be color, color town. People
still owe me money down there. Perhaps you already know this, but they put a
sign-- they had a little sign that had twenty-five, hundred pound, fifty pound,
seventy-five pound and if they wanted that, they'd-- what they wanted they'd put
it in the window.
GS: Oh!
GH: So when you drove by through the to [Indecipherable] see what sign and you
take it, fifty pound, put it on your back, take it down there, put it in the ice box.
GS: Oh my goodness
GH: And they'd leave the money on top of the ice box. Well sometimes the money
wouldn't be there.
GS: Oh!
GH: But rather than carry the ice back, put it back in--
GS: You leave the ice
GH: You just left it and then sometimes they'd pay you the next time, right?
JH: Yeah
(Laughter)
GS: Right. Sometimes they didn't, huh?
GH: Sometimes didn't. But then my other story about that is that
[Indecipherable] that I was telling you just before--
GS: Yes!
GH: That new way [Indecipherable] three thousand pounds of ice
GS: Wow
GH: With the cooler vats, that they's making that [Indecipherable] in.
GS: Oh wow!
GH: And you had to carry this hundred pounds on your back, had a little ol' step
00:36:00rine (ph) you just put up, you had to turn around and drop it off into this vat.
GS: Wow!
GH: And that was a pretty good-- pretty good task.
GS: I just imagine
GH: Yeah we delivered out in the country, deliver ice in the country. Pull the
ice, worked at the dock, and I did all that for the ice company.
GS: You must've been a strong young man.
GH: Ah, well, I [Indecipherable]
(Laughter)
GH: Would be the question, or needy, I don't know which
JH: Needy
(Laughter)
GS: Alright well let's jump to your high school years.
JH: Okay
GS: Were you active in any extracurricular activities?
JH: I went out for football, and also wresting
GS: Okay
JH: And a little funny story before that though, in the eighth grade Earl Hill
(ph) and I were going out to basketball and we really probably weren't good
enough but we got tired of that cause' he wouldn't ever let us play
GS: Oh
JH: So he and I both quit and went out for wresting, and we both got to wrestle
the first thing we beat out whatever so, but for football I went out the whole
00:37:00time for the comradery of it cause' I only got to play one play
GS: Aww
JH: And they finally sent me in and they- we punted the ball and then I run down
there and I smeared that guy good and they give a penalty and the coach called
me back over to sit down and I said "Well what's wrong" and well he signaled
safe call
GS: Oh
(Laughter)
JH: So, I did. I went ahead and stayed on with football but just cause' uh, to
be with the other people and all.
GS: Right
JH: But wrestling I was a little bit better than an average wrestler I guess.
But it was a great, great sport to-- to teach ya not dirty how to do things
dirty, but how to protect yourself and [Indecipherable], self-discipline
GH: What was that coaches name, you remember?
JH: Curt Thompson (ph)
GH: Curt Thompson (ph), boy yeah he was a nice guy
GS: Oh my goodness, he was
GH: Yeah, like he said he was more of a teacher than he was a coach
GS: He must've been pretty young when we taught you
JH: Mm, yeah he was probably-
GH: He was probably in WWII
JH: Had he?
00:38:00
GH: Yeah! Well he was Jack and he, ya know, him and his two younger sisters
were, we were family friends with them
JH: Yeah
GH: Yeah, no he'd would've been to WWII I think and come back
GS: In the late sixties he was my seventh grade, I believe
JH: Science
GS: Science teacher
JH: Yeah
GS: Seventh or eighth grade
GH: Yeah he taught science, yeah
JH: So he knew her
GS: Yeah, I knew- I love him! I just thought he was a great teacher
JH: Aw yeah
GS: I think it was seventh grade
JH: Yeah
GS: Yeah, okay any other high school shenanigans?
JH: Oh I can't tell about them
(Laughter)
JH: Were you with us when we borrowed the watermelons that night?
GH: Oh yeah, yeah, we went south of town there
JH: We were needing-- gonna have a senior trip so we needed some money for this
senior trip so Jolie Craig (ph), who was a little bit ornery and all he
00:39:00borrowed, wonder if I can't stand to think of the cowboy's name. Anyway we
borrowed his pickup truck and went down south, five or six miles south where one
of the guys knew where some watermelon patches were
GS: Uh-oh
JH: And we got down in there and we got our watermelons and started loading them
up, about that time the lights turned on
(Laughter)
JH: Car down there, he [Indecipherable] all of us but one jumped in the truck
and took off, and one we made go through the woods and all we had to go back to
Bristow, come back down later on and drive through the woods and find him 'cause
he had walked four or five miles.
GH: [Indecipherable]
JH: I don't remember which one that was, but anyway we didn't get to sell our
watermelons at the fair and make money
GH: Another time we was-- Christmas time
GS: Yes
GH: we were going up this hill over there by-- coming out of [Indecipherable],
you come up that hill. Well, we were going and these guys had these water balloons
JH: Uh-oh
GH: And they threw these balloons into this car that was coming down that hill
00:40:00
GS: Oh dear
GH: Busted that lady's windshield
GS: Oh no
GH: Ah yeah, and-- but that was not hardly the worst part of it, the worst part
of it: we had to spend our money, Christmas money, to fix that
GS: To fix the windshield
GH: the windshield
GS: Yeah, yeah. I'm guessing you guys were baptized after these events
(Laughter)
GH: No I was before that. I was baptized before that. I just didn't know it but
GS: Oh my goodness, okay. I didn't see this backside here. Okay, I think I've
got that one. You've got down here "Alcorns (ph), Bigponds (ph), and the Tigers (ph)"
JH: Well Alcorns are good memories cause they're older. There's all girls but
the two boys
GH: [Indecipherable]
JH: And they were a strong bunch of people, and they farmed twenty-four hours a
00:41:00day. He's the only guy I ever knew that, except maybe the Indian guy, had a
tractor, and it run twenty-four hours a day. And those- my older brother and
sister were friends of those, and we knew those girls like I said they'd- night
and day they kept that tractor running and all. They lived just, whatever. And there's--
[Inaudible]
JH: Open that and see if there's not some more pictures of stuff in there maybe
GS: I think we put them away
JH: Anyways, but then the Alcorns (ph) and what was the other ones?
GS: Bigponds (ph) and Tigers (ph)
JH: Yeah, the Indians have been around here forever. Like I said, Jerry Riley
(ph) was my first-- he was creek and his-- I don't remember he had some half
brothers and sisters and all, and he had that little younger sister too for, I
don't think she's alive though anymore either, probably. But anyway yeah we were
[Indecipherable] and we all went to school together and everything and all,
but-- 'cause I remember them at our pie suppers and our Christmas parties and
00:42:00things like that. So we were all a big, big big community out there.
GH: The Bigponds had it and still got a name down there in Bigpond corner.
GS: Yes, yes
GH: And had a store down there
GS: Uh-huh. I've heard of Bigpond corner from my father
GH: South of [Indecipherable], yeah
GS: Yeah
GH: They had a big
JH: I'd almost forgotten about that
GH: They had a big store down there
JH: We'll talk about that later then. Yeah okay, no I just thought about
memories that I've of there. Oh, what store is that and now, across the street
where you turn to go into the Alcorns on the other side of it is Joe Allen, this
big Indian guy, that big two story house is still there and I remember when I
was little so it had to be in the late forties.
GH: No, the thirties
JH: Anyway, the time before I was eight years old, I would carry a jug of water
in a tote sack, a feed sack from the cow feed and all with newspapers wrapped
around it all wet and all and I'd take it down to where Joe Allen's place where
my older brothers were harvesting hay, bailing hay, and take cool water to them.
00:43:00
GS: Awww
JH: So we walked barefooted in the hot sand
GH: Oh yeah
JH: And you walk kinda fast
GH: [Indecipherable] cotton than the sand
(Laughter)
GS: Okay now right here
GH: Tigers
GS: You've got written "Indian Purse"
JH: Oh
GS: Can you tell me about that?
JH: Well, I've got all that stuff somewhere is it not, look in through that folder
GS: This is my folder, it's not in here
JH: Oh your folder
GS: Yeah
JH: Hmm
JH: Uh-oh. Oh I didn't give you all of your stuff, didn't you, did you get that
GS: I just glanced at it
JH: Okay that- that's not it then. Okay. Yeah see, this Mardel Henry (ph) and
the other one I mentioned Lucy (ph) a lot gave me a little Indian purse
GS: Oh I see! There is it!
JH: There it is!
GS: Oh I wish we could take a picture of it for the interview. Oh how neat! And
I guess they handmade it?
JH: I guess
GH: Not sure
JH: Who knows
GS: Yeah I bet they did
GH: I'm sure they did
JH: And I don't know which one of them did it and all but you know, in the first
00:44:00grade you're just kinda flirting, you don't know
(Laughter)
GS: It's a cute little leather uh, like a coin purse
JH: Coin purse but you couldn't put very many coins in it
GS: No it won't hold much, it has a snap clasp
GH: Didn't have much
GS: And-- and they've put beads through wires and loops coming around the edges.
JH: Uh-huh
GS: On one side, the beads have come off, but, well that's got to be pretty old
(Laughter)
JH: My nametags from military, and I went through a memory of [Indecipherable]
GH: Oh
JH: You've got two name tags, you've got one and then
GH: Dog tags
JH: you've got the little chains on the other ones
GH: Dog Tags
JH: Dog Tags
GH: Yeah
JH: And the reason you got two is one of them you stuck the thing between your
teeth, and the other they took off [Indecipherable] for identification
GS: Oh
JH: And left that there
GS: I did not realize that
[Indecipherable]
GS: Okay what about the Gastons (ph) and the Paynes (ph) at slick?
JH: The Gastons (ph) I grew up with them and I think there's some of them still
00:45:00out there maybe the younger ones and the oil business and all, but this is just
who was in out Freewill Baptist church that's a lot of members of that and all
GS: Sure
JH: [Indecipherable]
GS: So, did you have a youth group in your church growing up?
(Laughter)
GH: I don't know
JH: What was a youth group back then?
GS: Well did you-- were there a lot of youth there that you did things together with?
JH: Uh
GS: Not really, huh?JH: Not really, didn't have core organized things like that then
GS: Okay
JH: Ya know, we just had families that had things in common and whatever
GS: Okay, well lets skips back to high school. What did you do-- What did you do
for fun in High School?
JH: Flirted
GS: You flirted, like most high school kids
(Laughter)
JH: And knocked the books out of a guy's hand, and then, it's written down here too
GS: You weren't a bully, were you
JH: He's walkin' around like this- No I was not a bully, but I [Indecipherable]
(Laughter)
GH: I remember my high school year, last year in high school, I came to town
00:46:00every night. Every night, for the high school year; even Sunday.
GS: And what brought you to town?
GH: [Indecipherable]
GS: Oh!
GH: And we drove main street
GS: Yes
GH: Called drive main street, you drive up there, turned around down there by
fourth street, and back up. Every night of my senior year, I did that.
JH: And Gerald had an old 39' ford
GH: 39' ford
JH: Coop. And one time we drove to Sapulpa in that coop
GH: Yeah
JH: And it took a gallon of gas there and back, but it took about three gallons
of oil 'cause he'd burned a lot of oil
GS: Oh goodness
(Laughter)
JH: But his brother Oscar was-
GH: Meyer
JH: Was a mechanic
GH: Meyer
JH: Not when
GH: Meyer
JH: Meyer (ph), Meyer (ph) and so he had drained the oil out of his little car
since Gerald using his car cause his car burned a lot of oil
GH: It was a ninety horse motor
GS: Oh my goodness
JH: Okay where were we?
GS: Okay well we're talking about school life
GH: Oh
00:47:00
GS: And, anything else about your high school, like maybe teachers that were
influential, or a mess or favorite, or any memories of that?
JH: We had some really good, really smart teachers. Our algebra teacher was
great, and our science teacher Mr. [Indecipherable] I can't remember
GH: I thought I just looked at it yesterday
JH: Yeah, okay but anyway yeah we had a lot of good teachers, shop teacher was
great shop teacher. And that's one that I used to, till I got older I've still
did wood work, I love wood work and all that. Had good school members and--
GH: I had a Mrs. Foster (ph), although Mr. Bow (ph) was the [Indecipherable]
JH: Oh yeah he was an agriculture
GH: Yeah, yeah, Mrs. Foster was our, what do you call it? Group leader, what do
you call it?
GS: Okay
GH: Sponsors
GS: Sponsors
GH: She went with us on a senior trip
GS: Okay
JH: Oh, Mrs. Foster
GS: Now, is that the Arthur Fosters (ph)?
00:48:00
JH: No
GH: No, it's the- what was their first name? Pauline? Pauline?
GS: Pauline Foster (ph)?
JH: No it wasn't Pauline- Samson
GH: Samson
GS: Pauline Samson (ph)
GH: No
JH: He was a
GH: No he was, he was, he was chemistry teacher. But I'm talking about Mrs.
Foster. Caroline's her name
GS: Caroline Foster (ph)
GH: Caroline Foster (ph)
JH: Oh Caroline, [Indecipherable]
GS: Uh-huh, yeah and Arthur (ph), yes
GH: Yes
GS: Did you, did you go to Tulsa or Oklahoma City much when you lived here? Did
you ever take the train there?
JH: I took the train from here in about the sixth grade up somewhere to
Claremore and where I first learned about RC
GS: And what is that?
JH: You don't know what RC is? RC Cola?
GH: Oh yeah RC Cola
JH: Would you give me one of those RCs?
GH: Yeah
JH: And a moon pie
GS: Oh yes
(Laughter)
JH: Yes that was- that's a long time ago, but yes that's-- I rode the train from
here up to Claremore or wherever it was, then came back and all.
GS: Okay
00:49:00
JH: So yeah.
GS: Did you have your own car?
JH: No, not until I was already, we were in High School I didn't, or not
GH: I don't think you'd had a car
JH: No, Donny or whoever my brothers [Indecipherable]
GH: [Indecipherable]
GS: Right
JH: He bought one before he went to Korea, and I knew it was from momma 'cause
we hadn't had a car since
GS: Oh
JH: Way back after we moved to town in '42, we had it for a year or two then she
sold it. We walked--
GS: Walked everywhere
JH: She walked every morning to Thorpe's grocery back home. We walked to the
Freewill Baptist church back home, we walked wherever we went
GS: Sure
JH: And like somebody else
GS: It's a small town
JH: Yeah, right.
GH: I'll tell ya a story about him ruining my car.
GS: Uh-oh
GH: And [Indecipherable] yeah. I didn't know what, so it had fluid drive.
[Indecipherable], we went out at the ball-- out at the football field. He went
out there in the truck and started running, making loops
00:50:00
JH: No that's not- that's not true
GH: That's true! And it stuck, and it- we couldn't get it out of gear
GS: Oh no!
GH: After that, and I had to, and never did get it out of gear
GS: Aww
GH: And I took it and had it [Indecipherable]
GS: Awww, did you make him pay for it?
GH: No, no
(Laughter)
GH: I've never forgiven him though, just kidding
GS: Okay now I think you both told me that you left Bristow when you graduated
in '54. Jim, can you tell me about when you left? What took you out of Bristow?
JH: Well, I went to [Indecipherable] college
GS: Which was where?
JH: In Stillwater, Oklahoma
GS: Okay
JH: And for one year, and I did pretty good the first semester. The second
semester I didn't [Indecipherable] and I lived in a little twenty-five-dollar
room, and did our own cooking and everything and life wasn't that easy but I did
it, I made a dollar and a half a day sweeping out one of the office buildings,
00:51:00and all so I survived but then, the second semester I just didn't do very good
at all and I was still tore up with my brother killed in Korea
GS: Sure
JH: And I had to be in a, in a military type thing there whatever you called it
GH: ROTC
JH: ROTC, and I just didn't do good at all, so I got a letter at the end of the
year that said "Don't come back Jimmy"
GS: Oh no!
(Laughter)
JH: I said okay, so I went to work then in Tulsa, it's [Indecipherable] and all,
and then but was dating my wife to be over from Depew, and I took Gerald over
and he found one too, and
GH: Still married
JH: And anyway, so I got married on June of 1956, and working for SH Crest
Variety store in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a year and a half, and then, this-- I went
out, I didn't, I left that job and was looking or another job and they said
"Well what's your classification?" and I said "Well I don't have one" and they
said "Well you have to" so I had to went to Sapulpa and-- to the board there and
00:52:00one old man that's a little bit old and irritated and all, and he said "Well why
didn't you register?" I said "Well I did but we don't have any record of it"
well the lady said "Well wait a minute, now wha--" she went through the thing
here, here's a little slip of yellow paper that says "Jimmy Hurts said I had
registered" but it was never on the thing and this old guy got irritated and
said "Well you're going in and you're going in" and I said "Well I don't have a
job right now, let's go"
(Laughter)
JH: So I went in the army, and spent my two years in then come out and got
married to Pat, and then, after I got out of-- while I was in the army then we
got-- she got pregnant, but we, I was starting to work in Rossland, New Mexico
for SunRay DX Oil Company
GS: Okay
JH: And was there and still had good Christian friends there from 1959
GS: Wonderful
JH: I was there fifteen months, transferred with SunRay DX Oil Company now
Tulsa, Oklahoma and went to Albuquerque and was there for thirteen months and
then transferred to Midland, Texas and I lived there four and a half years and
during that four and a half years, I changed jobs and went to work for Union
00:53:00Calif (ph). Ya know, putting the California, and retired with them in 1992, and
so I've had been, like I said been blessed in that area too. Just had a good
life and still got the Christian friends and Roswell (ph) and so forth some,
anyway I won't go into all that detail.
GS: Well that's good detail, I like detail. Are there any stories that we've
forgotten or any subject that I haven't brought up that you'd like to tell me
about? I ask a lot of people this question, and I often get the same answer. As
you see it, what are some of the biggest problems that face out nation and how
do you think they could be solved?
JH: First of all, every man that's born since Adam and Eve are born with this
00:54:00sin nature, in my belief, we all have sinned and all. Some of us control it and
some of us don't, but there's evil in good people, and I don't care whether
you're a Christian or whatever, all mankind has a sin nature. Well, it's sin is
becoming rampant now and self-producing greed is just-- it's whatever. And if
you don't agree with me, then we're so insecure and spoiled rotten, the kids
like the think where you can't correct your child or anything anymore, that the
government so, you know, it's just really, it would be sad if I was not
knowledgeable that the bible says, the bible says it's gonna get better and
better, oh no the bible don't say that
GS: No it doesn't
JH: It says it's gonna get worse and worse and-- so I don't like it and I'm
disappointed in it, but I accept it because it's what it spoke, it's what's
gonna happen sin and nature is always gonna take over there.
GS: Yeah, yeah
JH: So that's the way I see the world today.
00:55:00
GS: Yeah, I agree with ya.
JH: Yeah, you better
(Laughter)
GH: Then get mad
JH: right before you deny
GS: Well I could probably use that anyway, alright. We're coming out of the
pandemic. Is-- How has that affected you?
JH: It didn't affect me at all because I acknowledge the way it is, and that I'm
gonna do what I'm gonna do and then my belief in all and it's like the shots
now, I have Christian friends that you get the shots, I said no and I'm not
gonna get 'em. And I you wanna get one, go ahead, but don't tell me what-- don't
try to control me and I don't wanna try to control you
GS: Right
JH: And that's the thing is, people with that same sin and nature if I can
control you then it makes me feel better about myself, well why do I need to
control you?
GS: Right, yeah. Yeah.
JH: Got anything to add to that?
GH: Well yeah I think you need to get the shot
(Laughter)
GS: There we go
00:56:00
GH: If you're running around with me
GS: Well I think we'll end on that note with Jim
JH: Oh okay
GS: And I appreciate everything Jim, I loved your stories and thank you so much
for coming back
JH: Well thank you--
GS: And letting us do this interview
JH: for offering this for memories, is what live for today
GS: Yeah, yeah
JH: Yeah
GS: Okay, well we're gonna end it right here, and then--
