Okie's NW Corner

As we look down these SW Colorado roadways, we see that it is that time again for another episode of Okie Legacies, memories from our mailbag and treasure chest. Where does the time go?

Hello, to all those special people back in Oklahoma.  Just wanted to let you know that we haven't forgotten Y'all -- to prove it... we are including this recent snapshot that Oakie took of this Pug out in the grass pasture here at our place in the country, east of Ignacio, Colorado.  Wish you were here!

This cool weather is great on this short-nosed Pug and her human counterpart.  The days have been in the mid-80s and the night in the 50s. A couple of nights ago it got down to 41, though.  We hear that the monsoons start next month.  We shall see what all that brings.

BUT... It sounds like Oklahoma has been getting a reprieve from the Summer heat. Someone told me the other morning via our Yahoo! IM (paristimes) that Alva (Oklahoma) received about 8 inches of rain last weekend (Thursday through Monday).  Write and let us know how things are going back in Oklahoma.  We love hearing from you and sharing your stories, legacies in our Okie Legacy. You don't have to be an Okie to submit your legacy. We love hearing from all of you!

We were reading the NewsOk.com weather online and see where the rain has been forming over the Colorado, New Mexico Mountains. We just wanted to inform you that we have NOT been doing any rain dances up here near the Ute Reservations around Ignacio, Colorado... but we are glad that the rains have brought smiles to many farmers in our neck of the woods back in Oklahoma... plus relief with some cooler summer temps. We found out this week that our Fairvalley (Oklahoma ghost town) received 7 to 7-1/2 inches last weekend. The ponds filled up, but aren't overflowing the spillway. AND.... we hear that Waynoka and the Cimarron River made the Channel 9 (KWTV) Weather News last Monday when the River reached the 8 feet flood range.

Hang on to your hats & pugs... This Friday, in SW Colorado, at about 3:00 p.m., MDT, the clouds had been gathering, forming -- just began blowing wildly across our Stone Mountains as it moved in from the mountains to the north. If we were back in Oklahoma the storm chasers would be out searching, watching the skies for possible tornadoes. Oakie said I couldn't go outside right now, 'cause I would surely be "blowing in the wind." Doesn't she know that I am pretty heavy in the chest area... kind of like Mae West and hug the ground.

Vallecito's - Tour of Carvings...

We did add a couple more photo carvings of Vallecito's Tour of Carvings. They are Carving #12 (Lynx & Eagle) and #13 (Fireman With Hose). We have also added a written listing of the carvings from 1 to 14 with a map of the Vallecito Reservoir where you can view them. You can view all of this on our Webshots album at Vallecito Tour of Carvings.

Baa Baa Black Sheep...

where are you headed! Oakie and I were heading to the store, post office earlier this week and had to stop for this photo opportunity as we experienced the sight of sheep being herded along Buck highway South of Bayfield a few miles. This snapshot shows the sheep, little lambs meandering northward (and sometimes southward) along the highway while we sat at the intersection and waited. We did look right, left and right again to catch this terrific sight before turning around and heading another direction. Can you see the black sheep to the left, front and center? I guess it is that time of year, isn't it.

Remember Bambi... Walt Disney's motion picture, "Bambi" was produced in 1944 and Disney let the forest fire prevention campaign use his creation on a poster. The "Bambi" poster was a success and proved that using an animal as a fire prevention symbol would work. Seems as though most of us can't resist, loves animals... huh?!

Remember When Smokey's 1st Posters came out... It was on August 9, 1944, the first poster of Smokey the Bear was prepared. The poster depicted a bear pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. Smokey the Bear soon became popular, and his image began appearing on other posters and cards. In 1952, Smokey the Bear had enough public recognition to attract commercial interest. An Act of Congress passed to take Smokey out of the public domain and place him under the control of the Secretary of Agriculture.

Speaking of Smokey... Last week a reader sent a photo in of Smokey and alleged rescuers. Well, we all make mistakes sometimes... especially, when we are only three years old back in 1950 and our imaginations get bigger than the real world. The little burned bear cub in the photo last week was NOT of it's rescuers... That was a promotional tour after his recuperation from his burns. Smokey was to begin his "Smokey the Bear" reign with the forestry service to help educate us all that ... "Only YOU can prevent forest fires!"

SW Colorado Sunset

As the Sun sets on the western slopes of the SW Colorado Rockies... we leave you with this photo we took the other day from our backyard and leave you with this thought... REMEMBER... Only YOU Can Prevent Forest Fires! A beautiful forest is Matchless!

ALSO, Remember... those family, historical legacies! Help us preserve their memories. They do not have to be "Okie" legacies. We would love to share everyone's ancestral legacies from all over the country, world. We are ALL in this together... as my sister, Dorthy, would say, "Together we can do it!" We can preserve our ancestral legacies for future generations!

WWII, 1329th POW Camp...

"My Dad guarded German POW's during WWII. He was assigned to 1329th POW Camp. He was separated at Ft. Story, Virginia. But I remember him telling me he guarded POW's in Oklahoma also. Can anyone direct me to where I might find info on his unit?" -- G. Brazil - Email: gbrazil@door.net View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

How did lynching start

How did lynching start... ".....Vigilantism, or summary justice, has a long history, but the term lynch law originated during the American Revolution with Col. Charles Lynch and his Virginia associates, who responded to unsettled times by making their own rules for confronting Tories and criminal elements. "Lynching" found an easy acceptance as the nation expanded. Raw frontier conditions encouraged swift punishment for real, imagined, or anticipated criminal behavior. Historically, social control has been an essential aspect of mob rule....." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Early OK Lynchings...

Early OK Lynchings... "Lynchings in Oklahoma is a history that covers the early days of frontier vigilantism in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories when the law was as scarce as civilization. After statehood, the practice became a tool for racial hatred and political dogma based on the philosophy of Jim Crowism. The book covers approximately one hundred years of lynchings beginning in 1832 with the lynching of Uncle Joe, a slave, when he killed his master's son-in-law for attacking him with a bullwhip, and ending with the lynching of Henry Argo in 1930 in Chickasha when he was falsely accused of molesting a white woman." View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

The Company That Made Your Ice Chest...

Look what I found from the company that made your ice chest... "1940 - Gleason, Glen L. "Bud" - Daily News, Greenville, MI - Monday, March 29, 1999 Belding - Glen L. "Bud" GLEASON, 77, passed away Saturday, March 27, 1999, at his residence. He was born March 9, 1922 , in Belding, to Leon R. and Jennie H. NEVE GLEASON, the youngest of three children, Adell, Viola and Glen. He attended Belding Schools and graduated with the class of 1940.
      In June of 1940... he started work at Gibson Refrigerator Co. as an apprentice draftsman. He worked there as manager of design and drafting until his disability retirement in February 1982. He was a member of the National Rifle Association. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in September 1942 and served until his discharge as a sergeant in February 1946. He married Rosalie Jane SMITH on June 27, 1942 , in Lakeview. She preceded him in death on June 28, 1978.
      He is survived by his children, Gary and Suzanne GLEASON, Tammy TOMPKINS, all of Belding, Michael and Carol GLEASON of Gowen; seven grandchildren and one great-grandson; one sister and brother-in-law, Adell and Ray JENSEN of Belding; his aunt, Susan NEVE of Grand Rapids; one brother-in-law, Daniel SMITH of East Lansing; several cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; one sister and brother-in-law, Viola and Nate BARTHOLAMEW of Belding; several aunts, uncles, sisters- and brothers-in-law.
      Funeral and committal services will be Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Johnson Funeral Home, Belding, with Pastor Kenneth Harger officiating. Interment will be Rest Haven Memory Gardens . Visitation will be Wednesday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the Alvah N. Belding Library, Shiloh Community Church or the charity of one's choice."
      ALSO Checkout these Links: 1942 - Contracted to make the Fighting Falcon for WWII WWII 1947 Ad after the war View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

MORE Info On Thelma Lippincott...

"I just love the Okie Legacy website!  We're still receiving cards, letters, and e-mails and loving it!  We've learned so much about our roots. We're waiting for airfare to come down so that we can visit this summer.  Not sure what airport to come into though. I've attached a picture dated 1929 that was enclosed from a letter from Helen Snapp London of Alva, Oklahoma -- as well as a picture of myself (Terry) with Grandma Lippincott on her 100th Birthday party (June 6, 2004).
      Thank you for helping us make Grandma Lippincott's 100th Birthday a memorable occasion.  She enjoyed all the fuss and being surrounded by family and friends at our home on June 6th.  I'm working on a photo album that covers that special day for her.  I'm also collecting pictures from her past for her Century of Pictures Scrapbook. 
      Please let me know if anyone has pictures that they'd like to contribute. My two youngest daughters, Lindsay age 9 and Kate-lynn age 6, arranged some of her birthday cards along ribbons on her Napa Nursing Home bedroom wall.  The remaining 150+ cards are in a heart-shaped basket near her bedside.  She enjoys reading them and admiring her new 5 generation famly picture that sets next to it.
     Grandma also loves reading her 100th Birthday poem and the 4 newspaper articles that were written about her.  The flowers, plants, scented lotions, bath gel, letters, e-mails, and a conversation piece that consist of 100 pennies accompanied by a poem,  were very thoughtful gifts. The Shibui Flower Arranging Guild, that she belongs to, donated $68.00 in her honor to the Pennies for Pines project that she is so fond of.  Her Shibui friends were not available to physically attend the party.  However, they arranged a special table in honor of her 100th Birthday at their special flower arranging event that same day in Benicia, CA.
     Community Congregational Church of Benicia made a special announcement in their newsletter and at their Sunday service.  Individual church members sent cards, letters, etc. and attended the party as well.  Several members of many different Bridge clubs did the same.
     Thank you again.  Your efforts meant alot to Grandma Lippincott and our family." -- Terry Kent

Sampling of Letters, E-mails that Lippincott's Received...
Dear Terry, I read with interest your report on Thelma's birthday party.   I would liked to have been there to meet her and visit about Farry, Freedom and Alva.  The Okie Legacy website is just wonderful isn't it? I am writing to tell you that I was looking through some of my material a while ago and found a 5x8 picture of Audrey and Thelma playing in the yard at the DeGeer home place on Anderson Creek. Audrey is pulling Thelma in a little wagon. The pic was taken in 1906.  That was Josie James Degeer's homestead.  Yes, I have copies and will send you one along with some others you will be interested.  Will also send you a copy of the original James Dugout home which was on Aunt Alice Mapes homestead, taken in 1898. I have a picture of Uncle Ren's Grocery Store in Alva in the early 1920's. Well I will close for now.  Your "shirt tail' relative, Gilvin Walker"

June 15, 2004 - Helen London - 901 Homestead Apt. A7, Alva, OK 73717... "Dear Thelma, I know that you'll be surprised to hear from me.  I was a senior at Freedom High School in the year 1929-1930, the year you taught there.  The Superintendant of Schools was William McMurtry. I knew your parents, Mr. and Mrs. R.I. DeGeer. They ran a grocery store in Alva.  My father, Bunk Snapp, was a good friend of your father and we always traded at their store. I also knew Otha James, who was your mother's brother.  He worked at First National Bank in Alva which went broke.  George Nichols was the bank president. Freedom certainly has changed in the past 74 years.  They still have a school, a bank, a post office, and a grocery store. Congratulations on reaching your 100th Birthday.  Best wishes for many more. Sincerely, Helen Snapp London - P.S. I was born August 5, 1912, so I'm only 91."

The Napa Register had this in today's (Father's Day - Sunday, June 20th, 2004) newspaper. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Bristow Surname...

"I found the site as I was browsing the web on the name Bristow. What a fascinating history. Best wishes." -- Derek Bristow-Huntingdon, United Kingdom. - Email: e.co.erekhenry@bristow47.freeservuk View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Animas River Photo...

"I am an intern with the Hydropower Reform Coalition. We are currently improving our website and would like permission to put a photograph from your website onto our site. Here is a Link to the picture we would like to use: 6-06trainview-animas.jpg. We are excited to have your picture in helping to inform the public about hydro relicensing! The HRC is involved in working with stakeholders in hydroelectric project relicensing. We would like to have the site ready by July. Here is a link to the temporary website: www.hydroreform.org. Thank you very much. We will be sending out a notice of our site launch in early July, at which point feel free to link to our site. Thanks again, and I hope that you also have a wonderful week!" -- Greg Simon, Intern - Email: gsimon@amrivers.org - Hydropower Reform Coalition - 1025 Vermont Ave, NW, Suite 720 - Washington, D.C. 20005 View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Slapout, Oklahoma...

"I was recently asked if I know this town called Slapout, since I had lived in Oklahoma a few years back (OKC). I had not. BUT, I think next time I'm on the mainland (I'm in Hawaii, at present) I will stop and talk to the local folk there." -- Rich - Email: richp@hawaii.com View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Smokey the Bear...

"A distant cousin of mine, E. S. Barker, was involved in the Smoky The Bear rescue. He later was one of the founders of The National Wildlife Foundation." -- Bill
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Historical Gazette, Volume Three Number Two...

Historical Gazette, Volume Three Number Two... Smokey Bear Celebrates 50 Years 1944-1994 -
Bear cub burned by wildfire lives to bring Smokey to life - "Smokey" soon becomes darling of our National Zoo. In 1950, a careless act turned into tragedy when a fire burned wild and swept away over 17,000 acres of forest and watershed land in Capitan Mountains, Lincoln National Forest, N. M. Hundreds of firefighters battled the blaze..... When the fire died down the 24 firefighters spotted a badly burned little cub clinging to a charred tree. They rescued the bear and did a quick look for mother bear, but the fire must have claimed her life because all around the firefighters, as far as they could see, the forest was blackened and bare. Smokey's name was given to the small cub who escaped death by wildfire. With the love and care shown to the cub by Ray Bell*, his wife and daughter, Judy he soon recovered. A home at the National Zoo would be his ticket to living to a ripe old age....." MORE

Rudolph A. Wendelin - Smokey's Caretaker...

Rudolph Wendelin Rudolph A. Wendelin (90) an artist who became best known as the "caretaker" of firefighting icon Smokey the Bear. Wendelin joined the U.S. Forest Service in Milwaukee in 1933 and transferred to Washington, D.C., four years later. After World War II service as a Navy artist, he resumed his Forest Service career as the man in charge of Smokey the Bear, whom the agency had contrived in 1945 as its "spokesman" in the fight against forest fires. The bear's slogan, "Remember, only you can prevent forest fires," became one of the most familiar and imitated instructions of all time. Under Wendelin's guidance, the bear changed from what originally was a bear cub and later a full-grown animal with fangs and fearsome claws to a more human character. By the 1950s, the bear (by then using a middle name of "the") sported a ranger's hat and belted bluejeans. His paws had become hands, in which he always carried a shovel, to better protect America's forests. Smokey appeared on government posters, postage stamps and television, in magazines, on radio and in various teaching materials. The government licensed Smokey's likeness for use on such commercial products as school lunch boxes. Wendelin, a native of Kansas who had studied at the University of Kansas, oversaw Smokey's activities until he retired in 1973. During his long career as a government artist, Wendelin also designed government awards and five commemorative U.S. postage stamps. On Aug. 31 in Falls Church, Va., of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Smokey Bear And the Great Wilderness...

Smokey Bear And the Great Wilderness -- by Eliott S. Barker, p. 39... "One day Ray and I talked to Forest Superviser K. D. Flock about having our cub made into a SMOKEY BEAR, a symbol of fire prevention and wildlife conservation. Flock was enthusiastic and wrote to the Regional Forrester in Albuquerque about it. Amazingly, Flock got a negative reply. Since he wouldn't go over the Regional Forester's head, we took the liberty and did so ourselves. As soon as Chief Forester Lyle Watts and his public relations officer, Clint Davis, learned of Smokey's story, they called me and begged us to donate him to the Forest Service and have him domiciled at the National Zoo where he would be made the living symbol of forest fire revention. I agreed to this plan but insisted that wildlife conservation be included in the long-range goal."
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Last Week - Fairvalley, Oklahoma Rains...

"The rain has been wonderful, we got about 7 or 71/2 at Fairvalley. Gary England even had Fairvalley on his weather report, but I think Everette said we had more than what Gary had thought. The pond is full but not overflowing. It will be awhile before Everette can get in the field. Waynoka has had a lot of rain also. It seemed like the grass in the yard turned green overnigh. It had been so crunchy. We are truly blessed." -- Louise View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Smokey's Rescuers...

" Well, I am TOTALLY embarrassed and dumbfounded!  Just like I thought and said, 'I only remember daddy showing us the picture and telling us about the poor cub but I was only about 3 then (born in 1947) so the memory isn't all that great.'
      The picture and article I sent to you about my dad and Smokey the Bear was apparently NOT true (so I've just discovered)! The picture of my father with Smokey the Bear was NOT taken because my father helped fly the little cub to medical care but was merely a photo opp after the bear recovered enough to go on a promotional tour as 'Smokey the Bear'!  I must admit it was quite a shock to me after all these years but ... glad the real rescuers are being recognized! I sent the article and the question to my brother. He responded: 'He (meaning our father) had nothing to do with it.  He was at an airport in the Howard (type of plane) and the forestry service was doing a promotional visit with Smokey.  The bear just signed an autograph by posing on the plane.'
     Soooo, I apologize profusely to you, the readers, and the Bell's for unintentionally REALLY clobbering this!  I THOUGHT my mother told me my dad was part of the rescue but... guess the 3 year old brain is pretty inventive, huh?  Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention and this was a very interesting article!  Heck, I would have gone to my grave believing my dad had had something to do with it - but sure glad this has been clarified.
     I congratulate all of the 'real' rescuers and the caretakers of this wonderful bear and give my humblest apologies to you all! Thanks again." -- Karel View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Alva (AHS) Goldbug Alumni - Class '91...

"What a great site! It's nice to see a lot of familiar names in one place. I graduated from AHS with the Class of '91, but had good friends from Classes '88-'93. It would be great to hear from some of them." -- Diane Lancaster McAlpin - Email: dllancaster@hotmail.com View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Oakie's Webshots Popular Pics Albums & Downloads (Visitors so far)...

Political Legacies 1960s Kennedy, Johnson & McGill (3,255) -- Freedom Rodeo 2001 (1,849) -- Old Postcards II Oklahoma (1,841) -- Windmills of Oklahoma (1,836) -- Old Postcards I California & WWI (1,542) -- Alva Old Studio Photos I (1,430) -- Old Postcards III Oklahoma (1,177) -- Grandpa's Baseball Days (1,129) -- Old Postcards IV Virginia (1,005) -- Freedom Rodeo 2003 (1,069).
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