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Vol 16  Issue 831 December 27, 2012

Ardmore, Oklahoma Email:  butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net Phone: 580-490-6823

Christmas Day the snow started falling in many areas of Oklahoma including the south central part of the state. I took a picture from our front door looking out toward the road when it began right after  noon Tuesday, and then a second picture after the snow had stopped, about 4:30pm the same day. Below is a panoramic photo, so scroll from left to right to see it all.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ChristmasSnow122512Both.jpg

The Daily Ardmoreite, Dec 1928 – Declaring that he will exert his every effort to make Carter County clean and keep it that way, Walter Colbert, sheriff elect, issued a statement in which he expressed his thanks to the voters of the county. Although Mr. Colbert was a Republican candidate, he received nearly 2,000 more votes than the Democratic nominee, for which he thanks the women voters of the county. “In selecting deputies to help in his work, I will select the cleanest and most efficient men that can be found in the county”

The Daily Ardmoreite, Dec 1928 – Ed Clendenin, Carter County Tax Assessor, was already found guilty on both counts of an ouster action against him by a jury in District Court and was immediately declared out of office by Judge Ogden. He was charged with extortion and willful overcharge of fees in office. The jury deliberated only a few minutes before returning its verdict in the court.

June 14, 1956 – Jack O’Leary of Los Angeles has finally ceased his hiccups after 8 years. The spasms jolted the 26 year old man at the rate of one every second and his weight dropped from 135 pounds down to 78 pounds. O’Leary attributes his miraculous cure after receiving a statue of Pope Pius X from a Catholic Air Force chaplain who obtained it from a cardinal in Rome.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/OLearyHiccups1956.jpg

Back in the mid-sixties Bobby Collins lived about a block from me at 725 2nd NE in Ardmore. There is only a vacant lot left now where Collins was reared. He was 5 years younger than me and I remember him very well in our neighborhood. He was always getting into some kind of trouble or another, stealing things from people’s yards as a kid, and just someone you didn’t hang around as a kid growing up. I remember at about 12 years old Bobby going next door to his house to Ivan and Irene Gordon residence and using an entire box of matches trying to catch it on fire. Both Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were at work, but returned home just in time to prevent Bobby from carrying out his work of arson.  In 1974 at the age of 20 Bobby would commit the most heinous crime in modern Oklahoma times at Woodward, Oklahoma, taking the lives of an entire family, execution style. The bodies of Melvin Thrasher, 28, his wife, Sandra Thrasher, 27, and their children, Penny, 7 and Robert, 18 months, were found in the children’s bedroom in the Thrasher home about one mile north of Woodward.

https://oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos12a/ThrasherMurders1974.txt

Bobby Collins DOC record

Christmas is over, but the present I got for Jill has not arrived yet.  I ordered a Samsung Chromebook on December 14th, but it’s been out of stock until last Monday. Amazon did ship it via UPS Monday, but it stayed in Toledo, Ohio until late this morning. Finally the box has left the UPS facility in Toledo and on its way to Oklahoma. I hope the snow storm in that area does not delay its arrival to Ardmore. I’m glad I went ahead and ordered the Chromebook December 14th because I see now they have gone up from $249 (included shipping) to $330.

Samsung Chromebook details

Q. Who were the first known inhabitants of Oklahoma?

A.  ?500-1300 AD – Spiro Indians, linked to the Aztecs, thrived and left burial mounds filled with exquisite artwork and clues to their way of life. A museum displaying their artifacts is near Spiro.
      ?1012-Viking explorers visited eastern Oklahoma and left their mark near the town of Heavener.

Before the white man entered the region that is now the state of Oklahoma, several tribes of Indians lived in or ranged over the land. Plains Indians including the Kiowa, Apache, Ute, and Comanche occupied the western part of the region. They were nomadic hunters who followed the huge herds of buffalo that grazed on the grasslands.

Farther to the east, the more sedentary Wichita Indians lived in houses thatched with grass and cultivated crops such as corn, beans, pumpkins, and melons. The Wichita are descendants of a prehistoric culture known as the Earth House People.

Q. What was the first radio station in Oklahoma and also the third radio station west of the Mississippi?

A. (answer in next week’s T&T)

From This and That newsletter archives of December 26, 1998:We’ve seen so many the past year, and with the new year only days away, it’s hard to imagine the changes we will see and make during 1999. I have a poster in my house that reads in part:

“Everything is new, nothing is the way it was….”
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“I said last week, I’d tell everyone what Bob and Sue Lantrip gave me for Christmas. Well, Friday morning, I opened it up, and there was the nicest glimpse into the past I could want. It was a CD with movie clips of The Fab Four, The Beatles, along with their music from the 60s. Thanks Bob and Sue, you two are great friends!
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“Butch this is not a fancy Christmas card or an elaborate ornate Christmas gift, but is something much more wonderful and will last an eternity. The Lord sent us Jesus Christ so that we could enjoy peace & love, but most of all, eternal life. We all know the Christmas season commemorates the Birth of our Savior, but many people forget that true meaning. So I just want to say, I hope God will bless you this season & may next year bring you many more Blessings, both spiritual & material. I cherish the friendship that seems to prevail between us & I just want you to know how I feel. Merry Christmas to you and yours and may God bless you.”
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“Christmas Eve I was at the post office and an elderly lady of refinement who I have never met, walked up to me and asked, “Aren’t you Butch Bridges?” I answered, yes, and she began to unfold to me her desire to share with Ardmore 21 pieces of history she owns, and when she was through, I was in awe (to say the least) that she would ask me to help.”
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Gas prices today in the Ardmore area……

http://www.oklahomagasprices.com/index.aspx?mss=152754

Check gas prices by town or zip code anywhere in U.S.

http://www.kmov.com/traffic/gas-buddy

Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG…..“Butch, Just a side note of which I am sure you already know. County Attorney James D. Payne had a son, Robert, who was the organist and founding member of the local Rock group, The Allusions. They played a lot locally and later went on to record and perform in Dallas. Royce Hignight, Gary Lawson, Dale Smith, and Garland Scarberry were the other members. Robert has a music business in Durant and was and still is a very talented individual.” -Phil McAnally


Neon Signage and Fords, the Dingman Collection, Hampton, New Hampshire
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=6IYISQ6DVwk&vq=medium


“First of all, what a professional, great, and informative newsletter, Butch. You need to get them published in book form, sell them, and even donate them to libraries and museums. Anyway, I’ve noticed in your newsletters that people ask for information on a certain individual or family. I know nothing of my family tree, neither my dad’s or mom’s. My dad was Robert Reford (cemetery has him as Redford) Lawrence, born in Rush Springs, OK, Dec.24,1925, to Ervin “Bud” Lawrence and Mary “Mollie” nee Brooks. He died in 1977. My mother was Audrey Gladys nee Commons, born in September,1919,in Sunnyside, OK. Parents’ names are unknown. She died in the late 1990s. Anyone with info on them, PLEASE let me know.”   rodney54lawrence@gmail.com


“It has been such a long time since I have written to tell you how much I like your publication and to apologize for not being in contact for a while. A note to let you know that my mother, Ardmoreite, Fredericka (Fritzi), granddaughter of famous Dr. Frederick P. vonKeller, a founding father of Ardmore and the vonKeller Hospital in Ardmore, Indian Territory, passed away last year at the age of 89. She will be missed. Happiest of holidays to you all.” -Gretchen Hart – vonKeller  the-gretchen@hotmail.com


“When I was a kid growing up just west of Wynnewood, I use to do a lot of trapping. One time I went to check on my traps, and could see dirt flying from the den where I had my trap set. I had caught a lot of skunks in the past, but when I saw the dirt flying, I knew it was no skunk. I ran back to the house and got my dad and and my 22 rifle. We went back down to the den, and there was a badger in the trap. I shot him and we sent him and we sent him to a taxidermist in Oklahoma City. We made him into a rug. The year before my neighbor had killed one. We figured they may have been mates. this was in 1964 or 65.” -William


“Butch, I don’t know if you knew Al Boucher from Ardmore, his son Mike has a very interesting site that I thought you might like. Lots of Choctaw history, old photos and such.” -Eddie
http://mike-boucher.com/wordpress/?page_id=43


History and documentary on The Cattlemen’s restaurant in Oklahoma city
http://ndepth.newsok.com/hard-six


“Friends, You could probably guess the date of our New Years Eve Dance. Yes, that’s right. It is next Monday night, December 31, 2012. This will be our 5th consecutive year for me and my Silver Lake Band to be at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper in Benton, Kansas for New Years Eve. The gates open at 5pm, with wagon rides, a western movie in the Bar 20 Theater and a tour of the western museum. The Chuckwagon Supper is served at 6:30pm. A mini-concert by the Prairie Rose Rangers is planned for 7:45pm, followed by the New Years Eve Dance from 8pm to 10pm. (At 10pm, my old clock will show midnight, so we can sing Auld Lang Syne, and go home before the crazies get out on the road.) So please call 316-778-2121 for reservations and directions, and come join us for a great way to sing and dance out the old year and bring in 2013. Remember, you don?t have to dance if you prefer to just sit and pat your foot. And I invite you to sing along, as long as you are singing the same song I am singing!!! Hope you had a Merry Christmas and thanks to all of you who sent Christmas cards and greetings.”  –Les Gilliam



2012 is quickly coming to a close.  I look back the past year and think of all the good times shared on here by so many.  Some I have met in person, some I have not, but I consider every one of my T&T Readers a friend. As I reflect back the past 12 months there are some that started with us at the beginning of the year, but have since been called on to a better place. It saddens me when I hear about a T&T reader passing on, but we cannot dwell on the past, and I’m looking forward to 2013 and whatever it brings.

I was looking at a video made on July 27, 1987 at Central Park here in Ardmore celebrating the Centennial birthday of the city and re-dedication of Central Park after a $250,000 renovation. As you watch this video you are going to recognize a lot of faces, even though 25 years have pasted.  And you’re going to see a lot of faces that are no longer here with us. But we keep moving forward.  Like Ardmore attorney and philanthropist Wilson Wallace (now deceased) said at Ardmore’s 100 year birthday celebration:

“Ardmore people have always come through troubles, trials, and tribulation, with courage, with fortitude, and with optimism. The Big Explosion didn’t stop Ardmore, fire didn’t stop it, tornados didn’t stop it, floods haven’t stopped it, when the airbase died, that didn’t stop it. Oh they were a little bit troubled at times, but trouble is what brings people together, and trouble is what makes things grow, and makes things succeed. The people of Ardmore have always used trouble, haven’t cried, and have used trouble to build and build and build.”

It is with this same attitude I look forward to 2013.  Happy and Prosperous New Year everyone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6sKtRz1sE8