“All good things must come to an end” is a proverb meaning that enjoyable experiences, situations, or periods in life are temporary and will eventually finish. I was sadden to hear this week the following:
In 1973 I was fortunate to organize, incorporate and be the Founder of the Oklahoma Emergency Medical Technician Association (OEMTA). I served as it’s President until 1981. In 1981 when I stepped down as President, we had over 450 members all across Oklahoma. In May of 1982 I was honored with a plaque at the Annual Conference and Meeting held in Norman. I learned this week that OEMTA has gone dark, taking their website offline and no longer an organization. I was told by an EMT the last time it was still a viable organization was February 2025 when Jenalu Simpson, EMT, was president and treasurer. That’s all I know.
I remember when I formed OEMTA association some guy in OKC called me and said, “you’re just trying to start a union.” No, not at all. I formed the association for local EMTs to meet once a month in the basement of the hospital to help fulfill their requirement of needed 120 hours of in-service education classes to re-certify. That was the only reason. Over the next few months we were holding classes around the state for EMTs. I remember one class I scheduled in Enid. The Saturday class was to be held at the Enid hospital. As I walked to the front entrance the RN Director of Nursing met me at the door. She said, “you can’t hold your class here. We can’t not handle that big a crowd.” About 70 EMTs had signed up to attend. The assistant fire chief was my friend and EMT to attend. He said let me call my church down the street and see if we can get in there. He got the ok (for a $50 cleanup fee for the janitor). Everything turned ok.
I’m saddened that the organization could not be kept going after all these years.
I have a lot of the beginning history on OEMTA and also the National EMT Association on a webpage I created years ago.
https://oklahomahistory.net/my-life-with-thesouthern-oklahoma-ambulance-serviceardmore-oklahoma/
Speaking of Enid, Oklahoma below is a photo taken in Enid from bygone days (1893). I colorized the photo using AI.
Group photo – 1964 Ardmore Police Department
Some mail from this week’s MAILBAG….
Q. Does anyone remember what the restaurant was that was in the now two frogs building & if I remember correctly they had moved to the building that was in the now empty lot across from the convention center, the pole & frame of the sign is still there.
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Allstar node # 58735 – Echolink # 101960 – HamsOverIP # 103010
I’ve mentioned in past issues about the Boredom Breaker Net in Claremore, Oklahoma that I check-in on almost a daily bases (Noon to 2pm) everyday. I just found out this week that Net is now on HAMS Over IP. I use my Cisco IP phone to login. The node number is 15018 for any HAMs that uses an IP Phone.
Below is from my newsletter archives
March 22, 2000
“On Friday, March 3, 2000 the General Robert E. Lee’s Boyhood Home was CLOSED to the public after 30 years as a museum. The Lee-Jackson Foundation SOLD it to a multimillionaire couple as their private home, NOT open to the public. The sale was totally secret until it was a “done deal”. The house was never publicly on the market, and the millionaire buyer asked the Foundation to keep the sale confidential.”
“On May 27, 1927, several young Carter County men were killed in an oil well explosion and fire in Sanford, TX. My great uncle Bryant Daniel, age 29, was one of those killed and my grandfather Claud Daniel was burned badly but he recovered. Most of the men came from Rexroat, Graham, Healdton, and they worked for the Blacky East Casing Crew out of Borger, TX. One newspaper report said that Bryant was married and had four children. He lived in Rexroat. I am asking for help in finding any of his descendents since I have never met any of them. There were six Daniel brothers in the county and there were three sisters who lived elsewhere. All of them are deceased now and I would love to find some new cousins to share info and stories. If any of your readers know of any of the Daniel ancestors please have them contact me.” -Del Daniel, grandson of Claud Daniel. delbertd@ix.netcom.com
Bryant Daniel – Find A Grave
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/113680661/luther-bryant-daniel
“I am also a granddaughter of Harris (Harry) Gaines, who was the janitor at the old Carter County Court House, where he had is first heart attack. The times we climbed those stairs and listened to the echo of our shoes hitting the steps and the voice of Granddad saying, “Be careful.” Looking up at what seemed the most beautiful sight–the rotunda. As a child of the fifties, that building and the old viaduct on fifth street northeast, which has burned since then, were my favorite places to walk with him.”
“The legend, or so it is told, of the “Mad Stone” which is in my possession, has many years behind it. Over 100 years ago, Clifton Elmer Winter, my great-grandfather, as a child, was playing under a covered wagon. While under the wagon, a dog, supposedly mad, bit him on the nose. The wound that was inflicted on this child, ran the length of his nose. In those days, there was no such thing as a rabies shot, so his folks took this stone and soaked it in milk. It was then placed on the wound, where it was held for a couple of days (by itself, so I am told). It released itself only after all the poison was extracted from the wound. These mad stones were used in this manner to keep children from going “mad” when bitten by a rabid dog. Clifton Elmer Winter, (my great-grandfather), kept this stone until shortly before his death in 1956, when he gave it to C.T. Winter (my grandfather). C.T. Winter in turn gave it to Bennie Winter, (my father), about 1965. When my grandfather gave this stone to Bennie, he told him to pass it on down to me, Scheryl Winter Williams, which was passed on to me in October of 1989. This stone and the legend behind it, has great sentimental value to me.”
“Butch, Will you ask your many readers if they have any knowledge about a photography studio that was back in Oklahoma Territory & Indian Territory called Walpole’s Studio? Have an old photo of a relative taken by them…and Walpole’s Studio is stamped on the back of it. Just wondered if it was a permanent studio, or maybe one of the traveling kind. Thanks for your wonderful column each Saturday…it is a joy to see on the Mail list every week… like getting a letter from an old friend.”
The phrase “Elvis has left the building” was popularized by Elvis’s announcer, Al Dvorin (1922-2004), in the early 1970s, but it was first uttered by Horace Logan (1916-2002) at the Louisiana Hayride in 1956 to calm rabid crowds, though Dvorin made it famous as a standard sign-off for concerts to signal no encore, and it’s now used generally to mean something is over.
Elvis Presley, January 8, 1935-August 16, 1977
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NJYC5BvhtA
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net