Oakie's Heart to Heart - Vol. II, Iss. 87 SEasons Greetings

Vol. II, Issue 87, 9 December 2000

Seasons Greetings, World, and how's everybody out there? Things are beginning to look allot like Christmas! Did you miss Oakie's Newsletter last weekend? Don't fret! Everyone else was in the same boat. We were in the process
of moving our office to a new, bigger location where we now have room to breathe.

Are you busy fighting the traffic and shoppers? Here's a little Cyber Christmas Card to help settle some of those frazzled holiday nerves.

Y'all know that Oklahoma Sooners are heading for the National football championship in Miami, Florida at the Orange Bowl next month, January 3rd, 2001. Will this be another close scoring victory for OU or FSU? Will we see only dimples? Will the goal posts be blocked with chads? Will the Republicans tamper with absentee ballots? Only the US Supreme Court, Oklahoma & Florida know for sure! news.excite.com/news/r/001203/16/sports-ncaaf-bcs-dc

I suppose most of you have ventured out to view the Christmas decorations & Lights these last few weeks. Christmas decorations are adding glorious colorful scenery to the neighborhoods across Oklahoma. Even I'm getting in the mood! Decorating for the holidays, that is.

Jolly Old St. Nick has dropped by a couple of times in the last few weeks. Making his list and checking it twice. Trying to decide what the heck is going on down in Florida. Dimples? Chads? Oranges? OU? FSU? Bush or Gore?

Speaking of the Holidays... Rummage through your mind and think back to your favorite family holiday traditions. Jot them down in an email to Oakie so we can share our traditions with each other. I know some of us celebrate christmas while others celebrate Hannukah, etc. Enlighten us all with your cultural traditions this time of year. www.jajz-ed.org.il/festivls/hanuka/

In the local newspapers this time of year you see lots of "Dear Santa Letters" from children telling Santa what they hope to get for the holidays. OK! All you young at heart adults out there - send an Email to Oakie and share your holiday message with us. Tell us what you hope, pray and wish for the next millennium.

Here's a little bit of something that one of my readers shared about himself. He is searching for information concerning a ghost town community that once existed in Major County and located east of Seiling, Oklahoma. The mystery begins... Many, many years ago and approximately 8 miles or so east of Seiling, Oklahoma there was a small community called Fonda, Oklahoma. At that time Fonda consisted of a General store, Blacksmith shop, Post Office and several residences. The store was run by the Tyree family.

Near Fonda, Oklahoma and the Canadian River there was a school called Diamond. It was a typical elementary school of the era. A one room, one teacher teaching grades one through nine. There was a barn for the students riding horses, a windmill for drinking water and two out houses. There was no electricity and light came from kerosene lamps. In cold weather heat was provided by a large wood stove in the rear of the room. In 1928 there were about twenty students the majority of which were Indian. Today the original site of Fonda is only an open wheat field. The same can be said for the Diamond school - just an open space.

Does any of this sound familiar to Y'all out there? Have your ancestors told you through letters, diaries and journals about Fonda, Oklahoma and the Diamond School? If you know of anyone who has info or old photos about Fonda or the Diamond school, I would love to hear from them.

If you have any inquiries that you would like to pass on to Oakie's H&H readers, please don't be shy... Send me your info, photos and inquiries. Maybe we can make a connection! Besides that, it keeps this one woman-newsletter from going dry. I can't do it without your feedback and input. Together we can make a difference and preserve some history of the ghost towns of the past.

o OAKIE'S MAILBAG & LINKS

"The Story Behind The Twelve Days of Christmas... People often think of The Twelve Days of Christmas as the days preceding the festival. Actually, Christmas is a season of the Christian Year that lasts for days beginning December 25 and until January 6 - the Day of Epiphany. From 1558 until 1829 people in England were not allowed to practice their faith openly. During this era someone wrote 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' as a kind of secret catechism that could be sung in public without risk of persecution. The song has two levels of interpretation: The surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of the church. Each element in the carol is a code word for a religious reality.
1. The partridge in a pear tree is Jesus Christ.
2. The two turtledoves are the Old and New Testaments.
3. Three French hens stand for faith, hope and love.
4. The four calling birds are the four Gospels.
5. The five gold rings recall the Torah (Law) the first five books of the Old Testament.
6. The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation.
7. Seven swans a-swimming represent the seven fold gifts of the Spirit.
8. The eight maids a-milking are the eight beatitudes.
9. Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruits of the spirit (Gal.5).
10. The ten lords a-leaping are the Ten Commandments.
11. Eleven pipers piping stand for the eleven faithful disciples.
12. Twelve drummers drumming symbolize the 12 points of belief in the Apostles Creed."
www.cvc.org/christmas/12days.htm
__________
"Hi Linda, Missed your newsletter this week, hope all is well. I'll send you a short note on my past. I was born about 8 miles east of Seiling near the Fonda community. At that time Fonda consisted of a General store, Blacksmith shop, Post Office and several residences. The store was run by the Tyree family. My grandfather lived on an indian lease about two miles east of Fonda just south of the Canadian river. My family lived about a mile west of Fonda. I first attended school at the Diamond School a couple miles west of our farm. Diamond was a typical elementary school of the era. One room, one teacher teaching grades one through nine. There was a barn for the students riding horses, a windmill for drinking water and two out houses. There was no electricity and light came from kerosene lamps. In cold weather heat was provided by a large wood stove in the rear of the room. In 1928 there were about twenty students the majority of which were indian. The sad part - I went back a couple of years ago and couldn't locate Fonda. An elderly local resident took me to the original site - an open wheat field. The same can be said for Diamond school, just open space. Do any of your readers have any information about this area. I would love to hear from them. Enjoy your newsletters" - Vernon mailto:107666.407@compuserve.com
__________
Oakie's Polls... Stop by! Cast your dimple, leave your comments concerning the Electoral College. No chads Allowed!
__________
The Electoral College... "The Electoral College was established by the founding fathers as a compromise between election of the president by Congress and election by popular vote. The electors are a popularly elected body chosen by the States and the District of Columbia on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November (November 7, 2000). The Electoral College consists of 538 electors (one for each of 435 members of the House of Representatives and 100 Senators; and 3 for the District of Columbia by virtue of the 23rd Amendment). Each State's allotment of electors is equal to the number of House members to which it is entitled plus two Senators. The decennial census is used to reapportion the number of electors allocated among the States."
www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll/proced.html
www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll/index.html#top
www.nara.gov/fedreg/elctcoll/provis.html
__________
It was only 59 years and two days ago, 7 December 1941, That was to be remembered by many as, "A day in infamy..." On 7 December 1941 the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant. Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression. The day before, Saturday, 6 Dec. 1941, a decrypted Japanese message telling of the plans to bomb Pearl Harbour was handed over to the War Commission in Washington. Only to be put aside until Monday. What if... It would have been handled on the 6th of December? Would we have been better prepared?
www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/pearlhbr/pearlhbr.htm
www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq66-1.htm
__________
"The question of how far back the origins of the attack go has only one safe answer: 1853, when Commodore Perry opened the long-slumbering Japan to foreign relations at gunpoint. Noting how Europe had occupied India, China, Africa, Australia, the Indies and other areas surrounding Japan, its leaders began goading the country from feudalism to industrialism. Japan began to hone its already fierce military tradition, sending its future Army officers to Germany and its future naval leaders to England." www.aracnet.com/~histgaz/pearlharbor/7dec1941.html
__________
""AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL." -- Telegram from Commander in Chief of the
Pacific Fleet (CINCPAC) to all ships in Hawaiian area, December 7, 1941.
www.nara.gov/exhall/originals/fdr.html

o OAKIE'S QUOTES

"People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said,... but they will always remember how you made them feel." -- author unknown

Here is a Special Thanks to Jan & Frank Cummins for sending me a copy of the "Twilight Reveries," the last book written by Orange Scott Cummins. I will treasure it for the wealth of history inside this little book of prose.

LATE BREAKING NEWS... I guess I will have to find another place to house my NetDrive photos. If anyone out there has any ideas, please clue me in on them. this is what I received from NetDrive.com just a few minutes ago...
"As a result of the recent acquisition of netdrive.com, Inc. by Visto Corporation, we'd like to make you aware of an important upcoming change that will affect your membership with netdrive.com. In our efforts to consolidate our businesses, we've decided to discontinue the netdrive.com service effective December 22, 2000. After this date, you and your visitors will also no longer be able to access your files and we will not be able to recover any data."

The Okie Legacy