This and That
Newsletter
A Weekly Publication
Vol 15 Issue 751 Circulation 5,000 June 16, 2011
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
email address: [email protected]
580-657-8616
We went on a road trip last Saturday about 50 miles over into eastern Oklahoma to see the town of Caddo and then on to Atoka. Most will remember Caddo as the town where one Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper was killed (2 other Troopers were killed a few miles west at Kenefic, OK), and another Trooper wounded, by 2 prison escapees in 1978. Just a few miles west of Caddo is Kenefic, Oklahoma and near that town we saw a historical marker designated where Fort McCulloh was located during the Civil War.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/FortMcCullochMarker.jpg
In the little town of Kenefic the First Baptist Church had a nice big bell in front.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/KeneficOKbell061111a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/KeneficOKbell061111b.jpg
On the west side Kenefic we saw a sign that read: Fried Pies We were all ready to eat one too, and the neon sign said OPEN. But to our disappointment Country Cakes and Pies was closed on Saturday, so we travelled on into Caddo without a fried pie.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CountryCakes061111a.jpg
One of the first things I saw upon entering Caddo was this beautiful bell in front of the Presbyterian Church.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoBell061111a.jpg
Arriving in downtown Caddo we visited the museum. It is a beautifully kept museum with tons of Caddo and Bryan county history inside. Of course I took my camera inside the museum, and after taking one photo, the lady said they didn't allow pictures. What a let down. I did get the pic below when first entering the front door of the OHP Trooper memorial marker.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoMuseum061111a.jpg
After leaving the museum we went across the street to the Caddo Cafe to try a hamburger. The lady at the museum was right, it was a delicious burger!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoCafe061111a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoCafeInside061111a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoCafeInside061111b.jpg
Here is a pic I took of that delicious (but overpriced at $4.69) burger. I'm thankful to live in Carter county where we can still buy a great burger for less then $3.00 at many places.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CaddoCafeBurger061111.jpg
After leaving the Caddo Cafe we walked on west to the Craighead's General Store. They have a lot of neat stuff from bygone years inside.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/Craigheads061111a.jpg
The thing that really caught my eye at Craighead's Store in Caddo was the old 1920's tin ceiling. The owner had painted in detail each square, and it was beautiful. Who knows, those tin ceiling tiles may have came from Berryhill Sheetmetal right here in Ardmore.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/CraigheadsCeiling061111.jpg
Traveling on north from Caddo up Highway 75 we came to where that deadly, terrible tornado went through Tushka, Oklahoma April 14th. There is so much destruction in that town, it will be years before it's all cleared away. I found this website with lots of photos of the destruction. When we drove around Tushka last Saturday, it still looks like it does in the pictures below.
https://www.wickedwindmedia.com/photos/viewalbum/21/tornadoes/414-tushka-ok-tornado
Leaving Tushka we travelled on to Atoka and stopped at Boggy Bottom Antiques in Atoka where I saw some interesting 'old timey' candy for sale in that store.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/OldTimeyCandy061111.jpg
This next pic is a well bucket (called a torpedo bucket or bullet bucket) for bringing well water up from a water well. I used one many times at my great grandmother's at 6th and H Street NE back in the 50s and 60s. In October 2004 when Stolfa Brothers Hardware in Ardmore closed it's doors after 70 years of business, they sold these brand new for $15. Today the torpedo bucket sells for $50 if you can find one. I took a pic of this one at Boggy Bottom Antiques in Atoka was selling for $30 bucks, and in great condition too.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/WellBucket061111a.jpg
You can really tell it's dry in southern Oklahoma. Here's a pic I took about 10 years ago of Elephant Rock at Lake Murray. You can see the water level was way up that year.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/lakemurray/elephantrock2.jpg
And here's a pic taken this week by a friend at Lake Murray's Elephant Rock. By the way, Elephant Rock was named by Jack Richards back when Lake Murray was being built. Jack was working at Lake Murray at the time and when he was asked, he said it looks like an elephant. So, elephant rock it was.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/ElephantRock061211.jpg
Ardmoreite Jerry Landrum now has his Southern Maid Donut shop up and running on 12th Street NW just west of North Commerce a couple blocks, south side of 12th. I can't wait to stop in and try an apple fritter!
http://www.cableonetexoma.com/ardprod/smd611.html
From This and
That newsletter archives of June 20, 1998:
I received a most interesting email this week. It was from the grandson of Dr.
J.J. Boyd. Dr. Boyd (01/29/1875 - 02/02/1974) was a local homeopathic doctor. He
was renown all over the country. I remember my mother taking me to see him when
I was a child. Dr. Boyd was the only person we knew of who had a medication for
poison ivy. People always went to him for that, plus any other thing that ailed
them. I remember when I was about 16 years old, on a Sunday evening, I was
hanging out at the Number 2 Fire Station on east main street. A pickup with a
camper on it drove up. The man and woman asked if they could park their pickup
next to the fire station for the night. They had driven all the way from
California to get some of Dr. Boyd's sugar pills. They would buy a six month
supply. We called them "sugar pills" because they were little bitty white pills,
kinda looked like today's saccharin tabs. He kept them in a great big bottle,
and would put them in a little, long glass pill bottle. Then Dr. Boyd would take
a vial of solution (he had dozens) and pour a little over the pills, then place
a cork on the bottle. I guess what amazed me about Dr. Boyd is how he would
evalulate you. You would sit in this big waiting room, with the others, and with
all of his horse paintings and statues. The nurse would call your name, and
you'd go in and sit in front of him. Of course he'd ask what was the problem and
all. Then he'd ask you several questions, like what do you eat for breakfast,
etc. He'd then tell you, "I dont want you to eat any more eggs for 2 weeks", or
something like that. Then he'd fix you up with a couple bottles of pills. They
were $1 each! Wish I had one of them as a momento. Anyway, Dr. Boyd's grandson
lives in Nashville, Tennessee now, and he sent me this photo of his grandfather.
Dr. Boyd was a remarkable man...... and a legend. I doubt there are any more
like him in the country. Here's a pic of Dr. Boyd's office I took in 1966.
Before it burned in
December 2001 it was located at 127 "F" Street N.E. here in Ardmore.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/boydhse.jpg
and here's the pic Dr.
Boyd's grandson sent me in the mail.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/boyd2.jpg
Dr. J. J. Boyd is buried at Ardmore's Rosehill cemetery, just a few feet south of my mother, Louise Carmon Bridges, her parents and family members.
Q. When and where was the
first parking meter in the nation installed?
A. July 16, 1936. It was on the southeast corner of NW 1st
(now called Park Ave.) and Robinson in Oklahoma City, just outside what was then
the First National Bank Building in Oklahoma City. For many years, and maybe to
this day, there was a cast plaque affixed to the bank building commemorating the
event. The parking meter was invented by Carl Magee, who had been editor of the
Oklahoma Journal, a Scripps-Howard paper, before it went under during the Great
Depression.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_meter
Q. Ft Sill is the
home of one branch of the U.S. Army. Which branch is that?
A. (answer in next week's newsletter)
Gas prices today in the Ardmore area......
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/gasprices.html
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG....."Hey Butch, I recently visited the
National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, TX. Anyone interested in
WWII should visit this place. Fantastic community and museum. While browsing the
exhibits I saw a book in one of the displays about the Aleutian Islands. I found
it interesting that the name stamped on it was JIMMIE C. THOMAS Ada, Oklahoma. I
snapped this pic to send you. I wasn’t sure if he has relatives or friends that
read your newsletter or that they were even aware this was on display there. He
may have donated it himself for all I know but being from Davis, I thought it was
interesting. Photo of the book and display enclosed. The book is in the upper
right of photo."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/JimmyThomasAdaOK2.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/JimmyThomasAdaOK.jpg
Bryan Pullen
Davis, Oklahoma
"Butch, did you know that the idea of Mother-In-Law Day was promoted by Eleanor Roosevelt on a train trip to Amarillo, Texas in 1938. They turned out school so all the kids could walk to the train station in Stinnett with the hopes that it would stop and Eleanor could make a speech. I mentioned the event in my graduation speech." -Jim Foreman
http://www.jimforeman.com/Stories/graduation.htm
Here's the story:
"A correction to last weeks newsletter: "Butch, I hate to dispute what you said about the city that is proclaimed to be the Deer Capital of the World, it is Antlers, Oklahoma, and we have signs outside of each entrance to the city that says so. Keep up the good work of reporting all our ramblings and newsworthy items." Madge Gentry, Vice-Mayor, Antlers, Oklahoma
NOTE: I don't know what I was thinking when I typed Atoka. I know Antlers is the Deer Capital of the World. -butch
"The Daily Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City contacted me a few months ago regarding a story that the paper was doing on Dr. Ellsworth Collings, a long-time professor and one-time Dean of the College of Education at the University of Oklahoma, and the summer home castle that he built at Turner Falls Park in my hometown of Davis, OK. When I was only 4-5 years old, my family lived in the first house located immediately north of the park entrance and the Bar-C Dude Ranch on Hwy. 77 just south of Davis in the Arbuckle Mountains. Dr. Collings died while I was in high school so I never had him as a professor at OU, but had met him and knew his family in Davis while growing up there and yes, I spent a lot of time at Turner Falls Park.
The story made the front page of NewsOk.com today with some nice photos and videos as well as being in the print version of today's Sunday Oklahoman. I put them in contact with Betty Geis who married the grandson of Dr. Collings so they could get a better story, never thinking that they were going to use some of the stuff that I had discussed with them on the phone. I even suggested that they try to contact Gary Clemons (the artist) and the park manager for more information as well as giving them a couple of other names of people that knew more about the castle, the park and even Dr. Collings than me, so I guess I did help in some way, even though I am not really sure that I said some of the things that I was quoted as saying, but you know how some stories go." -Mickey Shackelford
Here's the URL to the website: http://ndepth.newsok.com/collings-castle
"Hi Butch, This is Bob Farrington's daughter. I noticed a message in your last newsletter from a grandchild of Macs Minit Mart owner. That was one of the "rival" grocery stores when my dad had his store. I decided to check out your listing of small grocery stores and didn't see my dad's store listed. Maybe I missed it but it was Hilltop Grocery at Chickasaw Blvd and Northwest Ave. We moved from Ohio to Ardmore because he had wanted to have his own grocery store and he bought Hilltop. I am not sure of the exact address but it was within walking distance of Circle Drive & Charles Evans Elementary. In looking at the current Google maps I have pictured in my mind that it was located where the current EZ Shop store is that has an address of Wallace Street in between Chickasaw and Robinson. Just thought I'd like to see his store added to the list. I am sure somewhere in our vast collection of photographs we have one of it someplace and if I come across it will send it along. I was actually friends with one of the daughters (Sandra) of Delbert McGuire (Macs Minit Mart) while I attended 5th and 6th grade at Charles Evans." -Marilyn (Farrington) Roder
"Hey Butch, bull nettles have burrs kinda like the castor bean, but when the burr turns brown the kernels inside can have the hard outer shell peels off and are very tasty either raw or roasted. I used to eat them a lot as a kid. I live in central Texas now but have a friend whose pasture has a lot of bull nettles in it. A few years back I gathered some of the burrs and tried the kernels to see if they still tasted as I remembered. They did and I will be getting some more of them." -Wayne Mitchell, Georgetown, TX
http://coastalbend.tamu.edu/NLO/Images/BullNettle.jpg
"Regarding the comments on the DeWitt home in your 5/12/11 issue, I saw "Happy DeWitt" shoot pool numerous times. I was only 9 or 10 years old but my dad managed " The Smoker" for 2 ladies that later owned the florist on W. Broadway thus allowing me to watch. There was usually a pretty good gathering to watch when Mr. DeWitt was involved in a game. If memory serves me (and it fails me sometimes) Mr. DeWitt shot left handed and could apply unbelievable "English" to the cue-ball. He was an incredible "Snooker" player, a far more difficult game than regular pool. Also remember well the ice house on D street N.W. Worked there one summer with Mr. Thomas on his ice truck. Started at 5:30 every morning .Remember well the DeWitt house since we lived in the 700 block of E Street N.W. and I attended Franklin School.Great memories!" -Joe Gilliam
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos11a/DeWittHomeOnWolverton1.jpg
"Hey Butch, Michael Beach here, the guy who did the rose rock thing with the Oklahoma soldiers. I was wondering if anyone knows from the Ardmore/Lone Grove, a family member of the following soldier: Printer Benjamin Arnold? He was a WWI solider and is buried in Aisne-Marne cemetery in France. I received a little information from a lady who did some research on him, but I would like to find some more info if possible.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55949735
Also there is a Maurice Galoob that I was told by my Aunt
might be related to the Galoob family in Ardmore. On a page I found he is from
Carter county and I remember seeing a company with the Galoob name on it in
Carter county, but I am not sure if they are related."
[email protected]
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56061375
"Butch I am about to wrap up the WWII albums for the Wilson Historical Museum. These albums will be for sale and have bios, pics and newspaper articles about Wilson's service men and women who served during World War II. I am still searching for a few pictures. These are mostly of those who were killed in action. I am hoping you will put this list on your T&T so that the loved ones of these men might see it and send me a picture of them. The picture can be in or out of military uniform. Please DO NOT send originals as they may be lost or destroyed in the mail. Please send a copy or scan and email me a pic at:
Melinda Taylor
723 Hewitt Rd
Wilson, OK 73463
or [email protected]
DEADLINE - JUNE 30, 2011
PICTURES NEEDED OF WILSONITES:
Billie Joe Dukes, son of H. H. Dukes
Bob Ivan Hodges, son of Henry Hodges
Clifford Otto Wood
Darell L. Stevens, son of ??? Born 2-12-1920 - KIA 6-18-1944
Halley L. Bahner, son of Ralph Waldo Bahner
Harold D. Fulton, son of ?? Born 5-11-1917 - KIA 6-12-1944
James Harris, son of Charles and Zoe Harris
Richard Harris, son of Charles and Zoe Harris
James M. Isham, son of James Isham
Jesse C. Holloway, son of Wallace Holloway
Jay Holloway, may be the same person as Jesse or a brother
John W. Lofton, son of William Lofton
Leonard Walker, brother of Roy Walker
Luey Haines, so of Otis Haines
R. P. Holt, son of David Holt died 6-9-1945 at sea
Roy Elmo Barrett, father of Ken Barrett
Rufus G. Hale, son of William Hale
Virgil P. Sexton, son of James Sexton
Woodrow Bryan Carroll, son of James and Maggie Carroll
Woodrow Wilson Idleman, son of George and Mary Idleman
Ballad of the Green Berets by Sgt
Barry Sadler 1966
Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret.
Silver Wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret.
Trained to live off nature's land
Trained in combat, hand to hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage picked from the Green Beret.
Silver Wings upon their chest
These are men, America's best
One hundred men will test today
But only three win the Green Beret.
Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her his last request.
Put Silver Wings on my son's chest
Make him one of America's best
He'll be a man they'll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret.
http://www.sizemoremusic.com/sadler_history.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH4-tOqLH94
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y5GDvN9_OE
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Nashobish Ikana
PO Box 11
Ardmore, Oklahoma 73402
Save on long distance calls, just a couple cents a
minute!
http://www.CheapLongDistance.org
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ardmorecriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
American Flyers Memorial Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official
American Flyers Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County Government Website
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/
Ardmore School Criterions
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com
All previous issues of This & That can be found on my Website.
Feel free to forward this free newsletter. Mailouts: over 1,600.
To be removed from my T&T mailings, just send me an email.
I do not sell, trade or give my mailing list to anyone for any reason.