Below is a photo of the Marietta, Oklahoma switchboard back in the day.
The old Ken Milburn Ford dealership at West Broadway and C Street. It would later become the Carter County Health Department before it moved east of the courthouse.
Ardmore Ice Company of bygone days.
I worked with Troy Loard of Lone Grove (1970 and1971) when he was a driver at Southern Oklahoma Ambulance Service and he left to join Uniroyal 1971 (now Michelin). When Troy retired from Michelin in 2001 he began installing and repairing windmills in south central Oklahoma. I took a couple pictures this week of windmills Troy installed in Lone Grove. The windmill below is at Myall Road and Brock Road in Lone Grove, Oklahoma.
The windmill below is behind a house at the dead end of Pruitt Street in Lone Grove. Its made of wood like in bygone days.
Troy estimated he installed or repaired over 200 windmills in this area.
After an EF-4 tornado destroyed the General Dollar store in Marietta April 27, 2024, a new store opened in Marietta this week. I know the people in the Marietta are glad they don’t have to leave town to buy groceries.
A couple of grave markers I made last week for a friend. Glad to make these for 2 babies that had no marker.
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG….
Request:
I am trying to help someone locate information about an Ike and Tina Turner concert that happened in Ardmore on or about July 22, 1962. I haven’t found any reference to it in any paper in Oklahoma (or elsewhere for that matter). I do believe it happened at the Hardy Murphy Coliseum. Perhaps someone out there knows something about it. Anyone remember it?
Q. Hello, I am looking for a copy of newsletter #900. Specifically the answer to the boomerang sign riddle from #899 located in the Lone Grove Boomerang restaurant. -Miles
A. HE reSt Opa Nds Penda Soc Ialho Urinh Ar mles Smir Tha ndf Unl Etf Riends Hipr Eig nb Ejusta ndk Indan Devils Peako fnone.
HEre StOp aNd sPend a SocIal hoUr in hArmlesS mirTh and fUn lEt fRiendsHip rEign bE just and kInd anD evil sPeak of none.
The LAST train from Ringling (the Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railroad) left 10-31-1976… also known as ” the Ringling rail “
Butch, Your James Clark remembrance in last weeks newsletter brought back my own remembrance of James. He was quite the character. I remember when my brother Tom Miller & James were part of a raid on the old Cloverleaf Club. During the raid, the phone rang and James answered the phone. The caller wanted to know what band would be playing that night. James responded: “James Clark and the Raiders”. A popular radio band at the time was Paul Revere and the Raiders. James just couldn’t resist the urge ! Tom and James were known for their practical jokes around the courthouse during those years. Who can forget Tom planting marijuana seeds in Judge Dillard’s potted plant and James bringing it to the judge’s attention when they began to sprout.
-Steve Miller (like the band)
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Allstar node # 58735 – Echolink # 101960 – HamsOverIP # 103010
Below is from my newsletter archives
Butch, I think correct time of establishment for Bill & Barb’s Restaurant in Ardmore is summer of 1955. I graduated in same class at Ardmore High School with Billy Paul Short (1938-1996) and wife Norma Joy Short in 1956. Bill’s parents had moved from Hugo, Ok to Ardmore and opened the restaurant the summer before our Senior year in school. It was named after Billy and his sister Barbara. I hate to think that you will possibly not write the your weekly column after year’s end. -Jim Wilmoth
Sept 30, 2000 – Last Tuesday, September 26th, the employees of the Court Clerks Office at the courthouse decided to have a birthday bash for Karen Volino. Karen is the Court Clerk, and when they have a celebration, they have a celebration! Several of her employees got hold of some photos of Karen from her childhood through her teens and on up. They made copies and taped them up all over the courthouse the evening before. When Karen came to work Tuesday morning, was she in for a surprise!
Now we’re talking about major celebrating here. There were black balloons and black streamers hanging all around. The pics were on all three floors and the front doors. There were signs up everywhere, including a banner across the grass in the courtyard. Even signs in the elevator! Yep, you guessed it, they all carried the same theme….. “over the hill”. They even “remodeled” her office!
Everyone had a great time, from the 4th floor all the way down to the basement. And the birthday cake was delicious! I had two pieces! One of Karen’s employees, Jeannie, is the unofficial cake maker at the courthouse, and believe me, you can’t eat just one piece!
Sept 30, 2000 – This week I think we had a flashback to the old movie “The Birds” by Alfred Hitchcock around the courthouse. In the early mornings there were birds everywhere. But what really was amazing, it seemed like thousands of birds were in the two trees across the street at the Salvation Army building. I mean these little devils made a noise like you wouldn’t believe…. LOUD.
Sept 30, 2000 – A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the unbelievable sheriffs race here in Carter county, and how close the primary vote was, one vote forcing the present sheriff into a runoff with Harvey Burkhart. In the runoff election, Harvey won and will take the reins of the county’s law enforcement machine January 1, 2001. The reason I am mentioning this, is I heard on the news this week the sheriff in LeFlore county Oklahoma lost by one vote. He called for a re-count and the recount placed him ahead by one vote. So he got to keep his office. Unusual things are happening more and more it seems.
Sept 30, 2000 – Speaking of law enforcement, Oklahoma was the first state in the Union to make available to state law enforcement agencies the Oklahoma Department of Corrections database on its inmates about 10 years ago. Now the Department of Corrections has taken another giant step forward. They have placed on the Internet this same searchable database. This is a database of convicted felons from all 77 counties dating back 20 or 25 years. We are talking about several hundred thousands inmates. You can check out Oklahoma’s felon database at the following URL: https://okoffender.doc.ok.gov/
Sept 30, 2000 – “Your account of the train ride to Ft. Worth brought back old memories again. I must have been about 11 or 12 and was in the Girl Scouts. A couple of my friends, Nancy and Patsy Veal, needed uniforms and their grandmother said we should go to Ft. Worth to Sanger Department Store. Her husband Mr. Jones worked for the railroad and got us passes so on Saturday we got up early and went to the RR Depot and boarded the train. Now that was over 50 years ago so that train was not like the ones we have now. But for 3 girls who went for a train ride for the first time it was very special. Grandma took us a lunch and we had hard boiled eggs (which I never liked just to eat). It took us about 4 hours because we got there shortly after noon. We did our shopping and made the trip back home. I still think about that time.” –Jo Evelyn Franklin Barton in Texas
Sept 30, 2000 – “Butch, I have been out of town for long weekend and was just reading your T & T. My dad was a country veterinarian and did all of his work out of a car or pickup. He had an old cigar box on the dash of his vehicle that had counter checks from all the banks in that area. I think he had 8 or 10 different banks checks. When he would finish a call, he would make out a check from the proper bank and the farmer would sign it. I don’t know how those people at the bank knew whose account to deduct the payment from. Some of those signatures were sure hard to read. I guess they just recognized the scribbling.”
“Right on the money”
If you are right on the money, what you say or write about a subject is completely accurate. Their predictions were right on the money. His reports are always right on the money. Note: This expression was originally used to describe a bet which turned out to be exactly right.
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net