The Okie Legacy
Oakie's Heart To Heart

Oakie's NW Corner...

Sometimes strange things do happen to let you know how small a world it is and without even knowing it some small bit of info can help someone find another relative. It happened just that way when one reader was reviewing one of my newsletters a few weeks ago. You can read her story in the "Mailbag" section.

Someone wrote in asking for possible help locating a map of some kind of the tunnels under the city of Okmulgee, Oklahoma. If you know of someone or someplace that could help, would you share your info with us. I don't know that much about the Okmulgee tunnels nor the stories concerning them, but this sounds like an interesting Okie Legacy to uncover. Can anyone help out there?

Last week I mentioned and linked to an old Alva newspaper dated 23 November 1934. On the frontpage there was an article about the Salt Fork River, but because my grandmother Constance only cut out around the obituary on the backside... part of the Salt Fork river story was cut away. Well! This week I made a trip to the microfilm library in search of a copy of that November, 1934 frontpage article to get the rest of the story. You can click on the photo to read the rest of the "Salt Fork River Story" printed 23 November 1934.

I found another little interesting, 1904, frontpage story on the back of a Thanksgiving Poem that my Great-Grandmother cut out of a November 25, 1904, Alva Weekly Courier (which was a successor to the Old Alva Republican, in Alva, Oklahoma Territory. The article was dated Friday, November 25, 1904, Vol. 9, No. 22. The Article was called "Reasoning On Statehood" with a Guthrie, O. T. newspaper by-line, dated November 19, 1904. Click on the photo to read the rest of that article. Everyone knows Oklahoma & Indian Territory came together in November, 1907 as a marriage of statehood.

While I was at the library looking through old microfilms of old newspapers, I ran across a frontpage article, dated Friday, September 14, 1906, in The Alva Weekly Courier, Alva, Oklahoma Territory. It concerns a story of the Alva City Schools and lists the date school opened -- Monday, September 10th, 1906 and lists the superintendent, prinicipal and teachers. One of those teachers was my grandmother Constance Warwick.

That year Miss Warwick was in charge of the fifth grade for the Alva City Public schools. It also mentioned that Miss Warwick graduated from Northwestern Normal school and taught 4 years in succession in District #43, Woods County. Now would someone remind me where, what District #43, in Woods County was located?

Some of the others that had been obtained for the 1906 school year were... Miss Stella Ernest, Prinicipal. Miss Ernest had 4 years experience as principal of public schools with a diploma from several different schools.

Then there was Prof. Guy M. Lisk, superintendent (2nd year for the Alva City public schools). He graduated from Illinois State Normal University at Normal, Illinois and was the former vice-president of Northwestern State Normal, in Alva, O. T.

The 1906, Alva PUblic school teacher in charge of the sixth grade was Mrs. Anna R. Stevens with 12 years experience. The past 3 years in the city schools. She graduated from Kansas State Normal and Kansas University. It reported that Mrs. Stevens was the "Best teacher Alva ever had."

Other teachers that year (1906)... were Miss Stella Stull (taught 4 years in Newkirk schools); Miss Edna Kelley (4th grade teacher, graduated class of 1905); Miss Lula Keith (3rd grade teacher, graduate of Emoria State Normal); Mis Pearl Bickel (2nd grade teacher, graduate of Northwestern Normal, also taught at Cleo, Geary and Cherokee); Miss Edith Norris (3rd year as intermediate, primary teacher, graduate of Northwestern Normal); Miss Jesse Converse (primary teacher in West School, graduate Univ. Kansas, 2 years training primary, kindergarten, 4 years experience training in teaching); Miss Jennie Monfort (2nd & 3rd grade teacher in East building); and Miss Myra Taplin (primary teacher in East school, graduate of Emporia School).

As I leave you for this week, NW Oklahoma has seen temperatures rising into the mid-60s this Friday. They say the evening temps should get down into the 40s. If this is any indication, are we to have our snowy winter in March or April? Seems like back in the Winter of 1971, January started out similar to what we are having now. Later... maybe couple months later the state had a huge snowfall, with drifts that stop business, schools, etc... for a week. Our oldest son was just a baby back then and we were living in Alva and finishing our college degrees.

Can you remember what some of the past snowstorms were like back whenever? Let me know! See You all next weekend!

~~ Linda "OaKie" ~~

First DC Snow of 2002... "Weather update! It's about time. The snow started late Friday night. It started getting heavy Saturday evening."

Menu:

• FairValley Eagle
• Castle on the Hill
• Oakie's Webshots
• ParisTimes Pioneers
• ParisTimes Cookbook
• WWII POW Camps
• Grandpa's Baseball Legacy
• Gr-Grandmother's Legacy

Linda K McGill Wagner
c/o WWW Publishing Co

Thanks! You can also view The OkieLegacy online. Copyrighted © February 2006 by WWWPubCo & OkieLegacy.  All Rights Reserved.

The Mathematics of Life... The equation -- N = N* x fp x ne x f1 x fi x fc x L. -- Frank Drake's equation is thought to be among the most important of the 20th Century, second only to Einstein's E=MC2 . Click on Link to read more about it.

Smith Cleaners in Alva... "Hi Linda, About the Smith Cleaners, it was owned and operated by Errol Smith's Father. Erroll Smith owned and operated the City Cleaners, which was located at 519 Barnes. This is the location where I started in the dry cleaning business in 1982, then relocated to 432 Okla. Blvd. I have a picture at the cleaners of there old delivery truck and the Smith brothers, I can't remeber the date on it but I can get the picture and get a copy of it for you if you would like. I still use the same spotting techniques and solvents that Erroll used, I was taught by the best."

Another DC Snow picture, January, 2002