Oakie's Heart To Heart

14 April 2001, Vol. III, Iss. 15

Ghostowns.com...

This little bit of information was sent in through Kathy. She found the info in an article from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. - GhostTowns.com.

Some towns may be abandoned today, but you may find Web sites with information about many of these abandoned towns.

This GhostTowns.com site states, "While the site describes many ghost towns, you will not find exact locations mentioned."

Quoting from the site.... "Visiting our historic past can be one of the most rewarding experiences we can have. However, some people don't take it very seriously.

You will find that most ghost town sites have been mostly or completely vandalized or shot to pieces. For the sake of preserving our history we have not given the exact directions to any of the ghost towns on this web site.

We feel that if you are serious about visiting ghost towns, you can take the information we give you together with a small amount of work and locate the towns.

Individuals who take the time to do this will hopefully enjoy an awesome visit to our past and not take or destroy it.

It might be good to point out here that there are federal and state laws governing "ghost towning".

Federal law states an individual can be imprisoned and fined for so much as digging a small hole or removing anything at an archaeological site. Unfortunately this rules out all metal detecting.

The only thing you can legally take at a ghost town is pictures! With or without exact locations, you can still find a lot of information at: www.ghosttowns.com"

Morning Star Baptist Church...

If you travel north out of nearby Waynoka, on hwy 14 for a few miles, You will come upon a white road sign on the eastside of the highway.

On that sign is an arrow pointing west (left) to the Morning Star Baptist Church. Make your left turn onto a country dirt road for a few more miles and you will come upon a rural country church that still holds services there on Sunday.

On the top of the steeple gracing the front of this white, wooden frame country church you will glance a fantastic looking bell.

I know very little about the Morning Star Church, but would love to hear from some of you readers concerning the history of Morning Star. Besides a church, was this also a small rural community in the early pioneer days???

Let us know what you know about the Morning Star Church and community North and West of Waynoka, Oklahoma!

Burlington, Oklahoma...

Let's journey north on hwy 281 from Alva (Oklahoma) a few miles until we come to the hwy 11 & hwy 58 jct. Then we shall turn east (right) and follow the highway, passing through the northside of Capron. You go approximately 7 miles or so until you reach the next all farm community of Burlington, Oklahoma.

When you reach the north-south Main street, take a left turn for a half a block. On the rightside of the Main street is the community Town Hall next to a small park, picnic shelter. On the southside of the Town Hall building is a painted mural of the pioneer's earlier times.

As I was leaving Burlington, heading east, I stopped to look back and caught the Burlington town sign in the foreground and some houses and grain elevators in the background. Burlington, Oklahoma Eastside.

Oakie's Spring Corner...

With Good Friday the 13th and Easter upon us, many trees, bushes, flowers and hopes & dreams are springing up and beginning their rebirth in the warm, sunny, windy weather that past through the Heartland plains this week.

This Windy Wednesday brought dusty horizons, but... Thursday and Good Friday the 13th turned out to be beautiful Spring days.

The winds that blew Wednesday brought warmer, sunny, spring weather for the flowering bushes and trees in my yard. My 60 year old French Lilac bush opened it's blooms and feeled the backyard area with it's fragrance. My neighbor to the east has some purple and white lilacs that hang over his backyard fence.

On the edge of the road that runs east of the northwest Oklahoma ghostown of Fairvalley are these sand plums that this writer caught in bloom earlier this week along with the purple plum trees in my yard.

The Ornamental Purple Plum tree growing on the westside of my home in NW Oklahoma was loaded with beautiful blooms this year.

One of my readers told me about an ornamental plum that had deep purple leaves. He said, "I don't recall any blooms at all, but the leaves were purple. It must have bloomed a little though, because I remember one year finding a single plum that was exactly the same color as the leaves."

Besides Springs rebirth and the blustering winds across the midwest plains, there was a Full Moon April 7th, Saturday. As I was headed out to check on the horses around 7p.m. last saturday, I snapped this shot of a moon rising in the blueish, pink evening sky while the horses gathered around their watering hole.

On 8 April 2001, these yearlings were caught grazing along side the black birds (in the foreground) in this Alfalfa county grass pasture. If you look closely down front, you will see some of the black feather friends grazing along side in harmony with the yearlings.

My mother's cousin, Viola Paris (born 1914), past on April 10, 2001. Besides her parents (Volney & Juliet Cook Paris) she was preceded in death by three brothers, Alfred, Ralph, and Irvin Paris; and a sister, Pearl Stengle. Viola is survived by seven nieces and nephews, Louise and Arthur Durkee of Enid, Cleta Belle and Jakie Zook of Waynoka, Joan and Wayne Morse of Nash, Ray and Donna Paris of Portland, Ore., Jim and Dixie Stengle of Yukon, Judy and Don Mitchell of Stillwater, and Joe and Candyce Stengle of Enid; 18 great nieces and nephews; a sister-in-law, Mildred Johnson of Alva; a brother-in-law, Bill Stengle of Enid; other relatives and friends. Funeral services were held at 2:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, at the Marshall Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Connie Kinnard officiating. Interment was in the Alva Municipal Cemetery under the direction of Marshall Funeral Home of Alva. Memorial contributions may be made through the funeral home to the Hopeton Wesleyan Church or to the American Cancer Society.

Let me leave you with this quote from Jack Riemer.... "Perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left."

Happy Easter
Linda "Oakie"

Common Knowledge Answers...

Well! How did you do with the 'Common Knowledge' test in last weeks E-zine? Did you at least reach the average (18) mark? As I promised last week, here are the answers to last weeks questions....

1. On a standard traffic light, is the green on the top or bottom? ANSWER... Bottom
2. How many states are there? ANSWER... 50
3. In which hand is the Statue of Liberty's torch? ANSWER... Right
4. What 6 colors are on the classic Campbell's soup label? ANSWER... Blue, red, white, yellow, black, and gold
5. What 2 letters don't appear on the telephone dial? ANSWER... Q Z
6. What 2 numbers on the telephone dial don't have letters by them? ANSWER... 1, 0
7. When you walk does your left arm swing with your right or left leg? ANSWER... Right
8. How many matches are in a standard pack? ANSWER... 20
9. On the United States flag is the top stripe red or white? ANSWER... Red
10. What is the lowest number on the FM dial? ANSWER... 88
11. Which way does water go down the drain, counter or clockwise? ANSWER... Counter (unless you happen to be south of the equator)
12. Which way does a "no smoking" sign's slash run? ANSWER... Towards bottom right
13. How many channels on a VHF TV dial? ANSWER... 12 (no #1)
14. Which side of a women's blouse are the buttons on? ANSWER... Left
15. On a NY license plate, is New York on the top or bottom? ANSWER... Top
16. Which way do fans rotate? ANSWER... Clockwise as you look at it
17. Whose face is on a dime? ANSWER... Roosevelt
18. How many sides does a stop sign have? ANSWER... 8
19. Do books have even-numbered pages on the right or left side? ANSWER... left
20. How many lug nuts are on a standard car wheel? ANSWER... 5
21. How many sides are there on a standard pencil? ANSWER... 6
22. Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc. Who's missing? ANSWER... Bashful
23. How many hot dog buns are in a standard package? ANSWER.... 8
24.ANSWER... Did you notice there wasn't one?
25. On which playing card is the cardmaker's trademark? ANSWER... Ace of spades
26. On which side of a venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats? ANSWER... Left
27. On the back of a $1 bill, what is in the center? ANSWER... ONE
28. There are 12 buttons on a touch tone phone. What 2 keys bear no digits? ANSWER... *, #
29. How many curves are there in the standard paper clip? ANSWER... 3
30. Does a merry-go-round turn counter or clockwise? ANSWER... Counter

Mailbag & Links....

Some believe that the dandelion is a very pretty plant and actually has many uses, while others fight with a vengeance to erradicate and keep them out of their lawns.

There is a poem out there called,, "Ode to a Dandelions." Did Walt Whitman or did a poet by the name of Robert Lowell write it? Is there anyone out there that could help me find a copy of that poem, "Ode To A Dandelion?"

The A Special Service Citation for Outstanding Contributions to OU (University of Oklahoma) College of Pharmacy was presented to Ernest D. Martin (BS in Pharmacy, 1950). The Awards Banquet was held April 7, 2001, in Norman, Oklahoma. Among those attending was the honorable Ernest D. Martin, Ardmore, Oklahoma. Ernest sent me a photo of the pharmacy award that he received for outstanding 2001 Pharmacist.

"Linda, didn't know if you were still interested in ghost towns. Here is an article from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. - GhostTowns.com." Kathy

Pam's Happy Easter site... "Grandma Pam finally got her new site up! Have a Happy Easter!! Love, Kels and Syd ."

Palm Sunday.... "It was Palm Sunday and, because of strepthroat, Sue's three-year-old son had to stay home from church with a baby-sitter. When the family returned home carrying palm branches, he asked what they were for. 'People held them over Jesus' head as he walked by,' his mother explained. 'Wouldn't you know it,' the boy fumed. 'The one Sunday I didn't go, He showed up!'" Connie

Making the Most of Things... A friend sent me an Article from the Houston Chronicle.
      It starts out, "On Nov. 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City." If you have ever been to a
      Perlman was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches.
      The article goes on to tell how Perlman would painfully, slowly, yet majestically, walk across the stage one step at a time until he reaches his chair. He then would sit down, slowly -- putting his crutches on the floor -- undoing the clasps on his legs -- tucking one foot back -- extending the other foot forward. He
      Perlman would then bend down and pick up the violin, positioning it under his chin and nodding to the conductor to proceed to play.
     Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke.
      People who were there that night thought to themselves that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage - to either find another violin or else find another string for this one.
      But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again.
      The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before.
      You could see Perlman modulating, changing, re-composing the piece in his head. When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered with an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium.
      The violinist (Perlman) smiled, wiped the sweat from this brow, raised his bow to quiet the audience, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."
      What a powerful line that is. Perhaps that is the [way] of life - not just for artists but for all of us. So, perhaps our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left."

HistoryChannel.com Celebrates... THE APOSTLE PAUL: The Man Who Turned the World Upside Down. "Several years after the crucifixion of Jesus, the beginning half of the 1st century, a young Jewish man named Saul is on a mission with his companions. They had been authorized by Jewish temple officials to arrest a community of Jesus' followers known as 'The Way.' They are to return them to Jerusalem and stand trial for blasphemy. However, close to their destination, a brilliant bright light hits Saul, suddenly blinding him. A voice speaks to him from the heavens. Scripture looks back at the event as a miracle - moment that not only changes Saul's life dramatically, but also the course of the western world."