The Okie Legacy

Oakie's NW Corner...

Besides helping take care of horses in NW Oklahoma, I have been rummaging through some old photo negatives that my Uncle Bob McGill took back in the Summer of '38. Anyway, I am assuming they were all taken back around that time.

The photos were grouped as like-negatives -- together. I am assuming that the Virginia/West Virginia Warwick/Gwin family photos were taken around the same time as the Summer of '38 Europe photos. My Dad (Gene McGill) would have been 23-years-old and Uncle Bob would have been 21-years-old. I wish I could go back in time and ask my grandmother and father a few questions of who some of these people are in the photos. I am hoping that at sometime - someone will catch a glimpse of a relative and help us identify an unknown relative. Thanks for any help you might be able to share with us.

This photo to the left shows my dad on the backrow, center, and my grandmother Constance Warwick McGill, 2nd from the right. There is another photo that shows a man, a lady and a young child with an antique rifle perhaps used by a great-great-great-great grandfather on the Gwin side of the family during the Civil War or Revolutionary War era. I have added these Warwick/Gwin family photos to our Oakie Webshots in the West Virginia / Virginia Family ca. 1930s folder.

I have also re-scanned some other photos that readers have asked me about in the last few weeks. One of those is the early 1900 Northwest School picture showing my grandmother Constance Warwick (McGill) - The Teacher. After looking at it a bit closer, I noticed that it was taken of the Liberty 35 - 1904-1905 pupils and teacher. You can view the Back of the Picture with the names that I assume my grandmother put on at a later date. Click the photo for larger view of pupils and teacher, Constance Warwick (McGill).

I have also re-scanned the 1936 Seiling High School Senior photo showing my mother's Graduating Class of 1936 of Seiling, Oklahoma. Class of '36 Seniors: Irene England; Lorene England; Violet Cofer, Secy-Treas; Cecil Condreay; Dorothy Strecker; Willard Redinger, Pres.; Roy E. Patton, Sponsor; Elizabeth Smith; Gladys Hedrick; Eunice Bland, V-Pres.; Neal Stands; and Vada Paris.

As to the Riddle of the Blazing Coed... the Old Avard mysterious, fiery death of Anne Reynolds, was written up in the February, 1958 Issue of the Real Detective. I received a copy of the Real Detective magazine dated February, 1958, that had the story on page 16, written by Jack Jones, entitled Riddle of the Blazing Coed. I have scanned those pages and put up on our OkieLegacy website. Click the link above to read the Real Detective story.

From this detective story, we now have a picture of Anne Reynolds, her nephew Jim Huckelbee (Huckabee), the charred '49 Chevy, Sheriff Ed Doctor & Ray Lambert, and another writer's 1958 view of the mysterious, fiery death of Anne Reynolds. At one time there was a reward of $1,600 offered to find out why this pretty co-ed was cooked to death in her blazing car on this rural county road one mile south of Hopeton and over two miles west of highway 64, in northwest Oklahoma.

Anne Reynolds had grown up, a healthy, popular young girl whose ambition was to become a school teacher and raise a family of four children. Reynolds was only three months away from realizing one of those ambitions, a degree in education which would enable her to teach school next autumn with her husband, R. D. "Dee" Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds was a basketball coach at Avard, a community about 13 miles south and east of Alva.

Mrs. Reynolds was known by almost everyone in the area. Her background was that of a normal girl reared in a rural Oklahoma family. She was the youngest in a family of five sisters and one brother. She was known as a quiet, friendly person, active in the Methodist church. She loved music and was considered good at piano. She met her husband while attending Northwestern and had dated him for several months before the courtship culminated in marriage.

If you know of anyone that knew Mildred Ann Reynolds or went to school with her in 1956, we would love to hear from you. You can read the Real Detective magazine article, written by Jack Jones by clicking the Real Detective - Riddle of the Blazing Coed link.

Before I head out of here for the Memorial weekend, keep those NW Okie tidbits coming in and jogging our memories. Have a safe Memorial weekend. We will see you all next weekend around the same time.

~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~

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Linda K McGill Wagner
c/o WWW Publishing Co
PO Box 619, Bayfield, CO 81122

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  Emma Huston Building... "Can’t assist with info as to who Emma Huston might have been, but do remember a couple of businesses which occupied a part of the building during the late ‘40’s and 50’s. As you mentioned, the Palace Barber Shop was located at the front of the building. One of the barbers there was Vern Henderson. The main recollection of him that I have is that he rode an Indian Motorcycle. I guess he was the first person I ever knew who rode a motorcycle, and the Indian Motorcycle was the top of the line. He often parked the Indian at the shop and many of us did a lot of admiring and dreaming of the wind in our hair. Directly behind the barber shop, I. R. Boyce, the local coroner and Justice of the Peace had his office. Here he presided over sort of an early version of Peoples Court. Just beyond that was Smitty’s Shoe Shop. Can’t remember all of the details, but was owned by a man named (I believe his first name was Merlin) Smith who operated a shoe repair and shoeshine business. The Palace Barber Shop also had a shoeshine operation at the back of the shop, as did most of the barber shops during that time. Never did know all of the details about Smitty, but during the war he had been in the 45th, and there was something about him having been lost from his unit somehow. There was another space at the back of the building, and as I recall, it was used as a residence, but I haven’t any recollection as to who lived there. I don’t recall if, like many of the buildings around the square, there were apartments in the upper level. Again, thanks for the memories!" -- Marvin

Benningfield Family Photo...