Marrin Becknell moved to Ardmore in January 1924 and assumed charge of the Piggly Wiggly Ardmore company, an Oklahoma corporation, as general manager.
Mr becknell came to Ardmore from Lima, Ohio where he was local manager of the Piggly Wiggly stores, a link in the chain operated by the Memphis company. At previous times, Mr Becknell was associated with firms located in indianapolis, Columbus and Toledo. Before joining the Piggly Wiggly organization Mr becknell was associated with one of the largest wholesale houses in the south, located at Memphis, Tennessee.
He has been particularly energetic in building up the present, efficient Ardmore unit of the gigantic Piggly Wiggly concerned. -The Ardmore Daily Newspaper
Piggly Wiggly 221 West Main – The Randol Hotel
The original Piggly Wiggly (May 1923) was destroyed by fire and a new store built in the SE corner of West Main and C Street SW.
Location of the new Chickasaw Casino and hotel being built by Lake Murray. Projected completion date is May 2024.
Click here to bring up the casino location on Google maps ——— CLICK HERE
Ardmore Main street, Indian Territory (before 1907)
Several issues back I spoke about the Dr. H.A. Higgins’ CureAll linament from the early days of Ardmore. It is no longer available ready-made at the pharmacy because of restrictions by the Oklahoma Pharmacy Board. Something to do with pharmacists are not allowed to “manufacture”. But I was able to get the recipe for anyone who wanted to make up a pint for personal use.
Menthol oil 2 drams = 3.54 grams
Camphor oil 2 drams = 3.54 grams
Mix above to 1 pint of mineral oil
For external use only
PHOTOS OF UNCLE IVAN’S HAM RADIO DAYS – Butch, A little something for your Ham readership. Here are photos of an old ”hammer” ( Ivan S. Miller ), my uncle. I spent my college years with my Aunt & Uncle, where I would always hear ”chatter” coming from Unc’s ”ham shack” preceded by: ”this is W5HFU, Huge, Fat & Ugly !” The black & white photo (bottom photo) is when he was ”hamming” it up while in Morocco. -Steve Miller
Subject: Healdton/Ardmore area
Hi Robin, Just wanted you to know I also love the Healdton area. I am much older than you, but thought hearing from someone that has great memories of Healdton too, would be a joy. I was born and raised at Graham, a small town (at the time I lived there, is nothing but a wide place in the road now). Its about 10 miles north and east of Healdton. The fun times for me began during World War ll, and I’m in high school. Going to Healdton on a Saturday night was the highlight of the week. It was back in the time when a dollar would buy a ticket for the first movie at the Thompson Theater, then everybody stayed for the second movie which was called the Preview. I still had enough change left to buy popcorn and a drink. What a fun time. In 1951, I married a guy from Healdton. His family had lived there for years. I’m so glad you have good memories and want to have a memory book to show your family how great it was, and is, to have lived there. I wish I had pictures to send to you and be a part of this wonderful book you will succeed in making. Take care. I will be 96 next month. -Elisabeth
egrisham27@aol.com
HAM Talk KC5JVT via Echolink
Last spring the Ardmore local HAM radio repeater 146.970 located north of Ardmore in the Arbuckles was damaged by fire. This week, thanks to the driving force of Vance Smith ( KE5BAL ) and help from other HAMS, the repeater is back up and running
Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2369 for Friday March 24th, 2023
NEIL/ANCHOR: A vital repeater in southern Oklahoma has literally gone up in smoke, leaving a region without an important emergency communications resource. Ralph Squillace KK6ITB has that story.
RALPH: Fire has destroyed the W5BLW repeater in southern Oklahoma, taking down a critically important resource for SKYWARN, the Red Cross and local emergency operations in five counties of the region. According to Vance Smith, KE5BAL. Tt will be a slow road back for the repeater, which stood for more than 16 years.
Vance told Newsline that the repeater was consumed by a controlled burn that went the wrong way on the private ranch property where the repeater stood. By the time the damage was noticed on the mountaintop, it was too late.
Now the scrambling – and the hard work – begins so that emergency communications can resume when needed.
Vance said he has an old repeater that can be put up temporarily on another site but it will be a while before a full power repeater will be back in action at the site on top of Arbuckle Mountain. He told Newsline “We have a lot of work to do up at the site. We are going to need a tower climber to do work up top and along the side of the tower.”
The repeater bears the name and callsign of Ardmore club member Charles M. Dibrell who became a Silent Key in 1998. He had been a licensed ham since 1929.
Vance told Newsline: “This is a very important piece of radio equipment for southern Oklahoma.”
Thankfully as of this week the repeater is back up and running!
The Mailbag
Below is a Buck Garrett Sheriff 1914 check with his signature. -Robert Hensley
I’ll send you photos (circa1955) after your remembrance of the old Lake Murray area landing strip. Pappy used to fly in there regularly when I was a wee lad. I will send you photos of the crash you spoke of in the newsletter. I will send them via your cell phone. Pappy had just landed there to have a hamburger at the little cafe across the road. The crash happened as he was eating his hamburger. He took the photos that I will be forwarding to you. Pappy hated that they closed the little landing strip after the crash. He loved flying in there for those great burgers. The two crashes I know about were the result of getting landing gear hung in the telephone pole wire at the end of the landing strip. As an old flyboy myself, low hanging or high wires can totally mess up an otherwise good landing. As the old saying goes: ”There are old flyboys & there are bold flyboys, but there are NO old, bold flyboys !” I was constantly reminded of this during my military flight training days, as I used to drive instructors nuts with my ‘seat-of-the-pants’ skills picked up from my pappy. I would occasionally be ‘gigged’ with a post-flight notation of: ‘No Apparent Fear Of Death’. -Steve Miller
Butch, After talking with other old timer flyboys, it seems there were a few landing strips in and around the Lake Murray area. A number of private airplane crashes were not documented because the FAA didn’t come into existence until 1958. The FAA apparently put the ”squash” on private landing strips across the U.S. due to unsafe hazards that would interfere with landings and takeoffs. It was a different era after WWII, as there were a lot of ex WWII flyboys flying around using ”seat-of-the-pants” techniques picked up from the war. -Steve Miller
Speaking of good hamburger joints from the past, I remember the hamburger joint your reader spoke of just south of Colvert’s Dairy. Pappy would stop in there and get a sackful of burgers when they would have their special sackful day. By the time he got home with the burgers, the sack would be completely saturated with grease > YUM ! Those were the days ! How our bodies processed all that fat back then, I’ll never know. -Steve Miller Band
Below are rare Decatur, Texas cowboys pictures pose for the camera with a break from a cattle drive circa 1880 and Indian Territory Cowboys pose with their dogs and colts circa 1880’s. -Robert Hensley
I took the photo below at Premier Eye Care on 12th NW. – Russell Martin
Note: The old yard sticks above (and other hiistorical artifacts on display) were provided to Premier Eye Care by Steven Harris of Jerry’s Gun Shop.
Below is from my Vol 4 Issue 184
October 28, 2000 newsletter:
I received a surprise email this week from Leroy “Mac” (1926-2005) and Jimmie McDaniel (1938-2022) in Mannsville, Oklahoma. I stopped by their house last Saturday and we talked about the old bell that used to be on the Mannsville school grounds years ago. Rumor has it, about 25 or so years ago, some mischievous students at the school removed the bell from its base, and took it to the old Norton bridge NE of Mannsville and threw it into the water. We may never know what really happened to that bell, but its gone. This is a couple of pics I took in June of 1996 of the old Norton bridge NE of Mannsville, Oklahoma where the bell might be laying at the bottom of the river.
Below is the email I received from the McDaniels………
“Hi Butch, We really enjoyed your visit this past Sat… Funny how things work out. I just had a visit from a cousin and she brought me some old pictures and one of them (the one I am sending to you) is a picture of the Mannsville School with the “BELL”. It isn’t a very large picture but just before you get to the building and to the right, by the three large trees is the bell. This picture was taken in the 40’s. I don’t know if you can enlarge the photo to see the bell more clear or not.”
I would venture to say the bell is deep in the river’s silt and mud, waiting for someone to rediscover it. Maybe we should put together some kind of search party someday?
Last Thursday when Ardmore area had the downpour and lightning, I was attending the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet at the Hardy Murphy Coliseum. There was over 300 in attendance, and the kids, well they had a lot of fun and each received some kind of prize! Here are a couple of pics I took of the banquet area.
Twenty five miles east of Ardmore is Madill, Oklahoma. On the north edge of Madill lives Mable Wallace. She has a neat little store at her house…. where she sells turquoise. She also has a wooden Indian in her front yard.
A few more miles north of Madill, before you reach the highway that goes to Tishomingo, there is a neat little business that sells all kinds of crafts, figurines, whatnots, and a large assortment of old bottles. The owner, Sue Sparks, also has a wood stove in the store. When I was there last Saturday morning, it was kind of cool, she had the stove burning, and the heat really felt good. The store’s name is Owl Hollow.
Workers have been busy this week on the west side of the courthouse erecting the steel framework for the pavilion.
I don’t think I’ve ever shown a pic of my office in the commissioners ofice in Annex building #1 next door to the courthouse…… so here.
“I remember all those great places! I had a blast with the talking parrot as a kid at the drive in on South Washington. It was where a little bbq place is now. They also had a gum machine out front that if you got a certain color gum you got a free ice cream. My Grandpa spent I don’t know how much money one afternoon until I got the gum for the free ice cream! I’m sure he could have bought several ice creams for the price of the gum…LOL! My Grandfather is Denver Lewis, and he ran the Avalon Supper Club from before I was born until it burned the second time in the late 60’s. I remember when the Superdog came out with the Icees too! We thought it was so neat to have a drink that didn’t spill easily….(sure, but we were just kids!). Weren’t the Super Dogs fabulous?!
“Read the letter about the car wash at ‘Coopers Corner’, and it is still there. It is now owned by Lloyd and Linda Vaughn of Boat Dock Pro Shop. They are making plans to remodel and fix it up.
“Dear Butch, I believe the first coin operated car wash was an invention of Jack Thompson and Travis Harris (now deceased). It was on the corner of Monroe & N. Washington. I’m not sure if the car wash is still there or if it is the original one first installed. There was a drive-in restaurant on South Washington that is now a barbeque place. I don’t remember the parrot at the drive-in but I remember it being at the liquor store that went in after the drive in closed. A furniture salesman named Boots Hudson persuaded the owner of the liquor store to sell him the bird after a few years. The bird’s name was Bingo. Does anyone remember anything about this? I worked with Boots at B.L. Owens Furniture Store in the 70’s and 80’s. He was always talking about that bird.”
“I remember quite well the little drive-in with the parrot out front. Can’t recall the real name of it, but we called it “The Parrot Place”. They had these little meat pocket pies that were a real treat. I also remember Cooper’s Corner gas station and car wash. I went to school with the Cooper’s son, Ty, and made it a point to give them my business up until they closed. Once again, thanks to you, Butch, and all your readers for bringing up some great memories.” -Tully
“Butch, Re: The hamburger joint on the east side of lake Murray Drive about a block east of Colverts Dairy was probably Honest John Hubble’s. I was driving a route truck for CB Hunt, who was the local Morton Foods distributor when the place opened. That would have been in late 1958 or early 1959. I also called on a place on south of there just shy of the underpass on the west side of Lake Murray Drive, called Means drive-in. I eventually married a girl that car hopped there named Kaye Pritchett, in the same time frame.”
“The Lake is “Texoma” not “Texhoma.” One of the first things that was drummed into my head as a reporter. Texhoma, with an “h,” is a town in the Panhandle on the state line between Oklahoma and Texas. The high school is in one state, lower grades in the other. The legislatures of the two states made provisions to allow for this.” -Wes Leatherock
“For those of you who might be looking for fitting Christmas presents for young folks (or ANYBODY else, for that matter), our family friend Desiree Morrison Webber’s new book “The Buffalo Train Ride” is a detailed and well-told account of the reintroduction of American Bison into the newly developed Wichita Game Preserve, near Lawton/Ft. Sill, Oklahoma (then still “Oklahoma Territory”) in 1907.” (still available on Amazon – Kindle $2.99, hardback $15.99 and paperback $5.73 104 pages. Published by Eakin Press, Austin Texas
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore, OK
580-490-6823
