Dear Duchess

Well! The afternoon thundershowers have hit here in SW Colorado. It has a been a wet, cool week. And ... the end of May and the original Memorial Day is upon us this weekend.

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1938 - Highway Officer Stabbed At Alva

On August 30, 1938, page 3 of The Okalhoman, there was a story of a theater man arrested for knife attack of a highway officer stabbed at Alva.

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1936 - Edith Johnson's Column

The Oklahoman dated February 27, 1936, page 10, had this to say about Emma Willis and Mental Illness.

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Eakly, OK

Eakly was located in Caddo county, 13 miles west of Binger, Oklahoma [more]... View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Brown-headed Cowbirds

Cowbirds -- The Brown-headed Cowbird is a stocky blackbird with a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests and instead put all their energy into producing eggs, sometimes more than three dozen a summer. These they lay in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents, usually at the expense of at least some of the host’s own chicks.

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1936 - Skating Good In Perry, OK

A picture story in The Oklahoman dated February 19, 1936, page 2, with headlines that read: "The Skating Is Good In Perry," showed four young ladies enjoying the icy temperatures of that area around Perry, Oklahomam.

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1938 - Northwestern Gets Two Dormitories

As The Oklahoman reported, December 18, 1938, on page 24, the college at Alva was given $220,000 project for Dormitory work for boys and girls dormitories at Northwestern State Teachers College.

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1936 - Emma Willis Leaves Asylum

On March 27, 1936, The Oklahoman reported on the front page of the newspaper, with the following headlines: "Emma Willis Gets Writ To Leave Asylum" and "City Club Women May Aid Girl Slayer."

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Hominy, OK

Hominy was located in southern Osage county, 16 miles south of Pawhuska [more]... View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Insight Into Grandma

This week's insight into John and Constance's true friendship takes us back September 20, 1904, from Altona, Illinois to Alva, Oklahoma Territory. Constance sent John a "beautiful, highly prized" souvenir. What was it?

It begins as usual with, "Altona, Ill, Mon. Eve, Miss Constance Warwick, Alva, Okla.

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1937 - Eleanor Roosevelt Visits Oklahoma

According to a news article dated March 11, 1937, on the front page of The Oklahoman, an Alva City group greeted Mrs. Roosevelt as she talks at Alva, Oklahoma.

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1936 - Murder Trial of Emma Willis

It was December 21, 1935, that an abused young girl from Eakly, Caddo County, Oklahoma, fired a 12-gauge shotgun at her sleeping father, Iddis Henry Willis, a share-cropper near Eakly, Oklahoma. The Iddis Henry & Zona Willis family has lived on the 160-acre farm for a year since coming here from Idaho. Willis formerly lived near Hugo where Miss Willis said she was born. Emma Willis (18 years) was a sophomore at Sickles Union Grade and highschool near Eakly. Her sisters were Leona (13 years), Lena (12 years). Her brothers were Dee (8 years) and Danny (6 years).

Zona Willis was the second wife of Iddis Henry Willis. It was reported in news articles during the trial that Iddis Willis drove his first wife away from their four children and his first wife went crazy. It was reported that she was in an asylum in Vinita, Oklahoma.

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Anadarko, OK

Anadarko was the county seat of Caddo county [more]... View/Write Comments (count 1)   |   Receive updates (1 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Alva High Class of '59 Reunion

Linda Beeler reports, "The reunion for the Alva High Class of '59 (June 6, 2009) is coming along well [more]... View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe