In putting my book together I ask everyone I could think of in the family to give me a story or two, but when it came time to write my story - Where to Start and What to Say? Mother always said my life would make a good soap opera and maybe even a mini series! Tho Mother I am sure was just saying this as a joke she was pretty much right. We can safely say that my life has been interesting and very eventful at times. So I decided that I would just write a little bit about my life growing up and see where it leads me.
I was born at Hobart General Hospital on September 2, 1944 and raised most of my life in Lone Wolf. I grew up there for the most part except for a couple of years that we moved to Luther, Oklahoma. (this is a story into itself) We really never talk much about that time in Luther because Mother hated it there so much. She was so unhappy living there and leaving Lone Wolf. Katha Faye graduated from Luther. She is the only one that did not graduate from Lone Wolf except for Arlene and she got married and did not graduate.
I always liked Luther and I had a couple of friends that I kept in touch with for years. I still am in contact with Mrs. Elizabeth Threatt and count her as a special friend. She and her husband lived a short distance from where we lived off Hwy 66 in Luther. They owned and operated a Gas Station/Bar and Café. I was just about seven or eight years old when we lived there but all these years since we left, Elizabeth sent me a Christmas Card and letter each year. I think there was only one year out of the 50 years that I did not hear from her at Christmas time. She is a really neat and special lady. Her and her husband (who passed away many years ago) have such an interesting story. I wrote and ask her if she would send me a story for my book which she did and I am including it. I am so proud to have it in my book.
I remember some things about Luther. I do remember going to the Luther Methodist Church, where I can remember sitting next to Grace Gardner, who was my second grade teacher at school whom I just loved. I would sit by her at Church and she would let me try on her white gloves, she always wore white gloves to Church. She also wore such pretty jewelry. She had a sister named Maude Paddock that taught school and I think it was the fifth or sixth grade. So my memories of Luther are good ones. I made some lasting friends.
I also remember the fruit orchard that we had there. Daddy had cattle on the place and we rode a school bus to school. The house was sure not as modern as what we were use to in Lone Wolf, but we managed. How could any of us forget how very cold it was in the winter in that back bedroom. We slept under a pile of quilts and you could see your breath it was so cold. We had a wood stove and had to use lamps in one house we lived in. We lived in two different ones the time we were there. I liked the rock house on Hwy 66 the best. We also lived for a very short time in Oklahoma City in a huge Apartment House that Daddy bought on Walker Street. We lived in that big old place just us and it was really spooky. I remember it had a basement where we found a little black rabbit and we kept it as a pet. Katha would drive us which at that time was Katha, Johnny, Arlene and myself, to school in Luther everyday. I remember that next door to that place was a Colored Baptist Church and could they ever sing. We would listen to them sing for hours and hours. Longest Church service I ever heard. (ha) This was amoung the times that Mother would never talk about and would have liked to forget. She hated Luther and our time spent there. I being just a kid thought it was and adventure.
In the summer we had a Apple Cider Stand and I remember one day a man in a truck stopped to get cider (now we were just a few feet off Hwy 66 so it was a busy highway) and this man had a gorilla in the front seat beside him. He bought cider for him and the gorilla. We thought this was so cool. >p> Well we moved back to Lone Wolf and mother was happy. I guess I was the only one that really like Luther. So the rest of the kids were happy to be home as well. Katha Faye was in the 12th grade in Luther so she had to graduate from there where the rest of us graduated from Lone Wolf HighSchool. >p> I do believe we pretty much had a normal childhood and much different than the way it is today. I think we were just content with what we had and made the best of it. Sure much different from the way kids have it today.
Memories of our home in Lone Wolf are for the most part all good ones. Of course there are a few sad ones, like the fact that Daddy passed away in that house and when Mother moved out of the house when she was no longer able to take care of such a large place.
I have memories of my old room upstairs. The way it worked as the older kids grew up and left home then we could change rooms. Finally the room upstairs was mine. I can even remember that the wall paper (Mother wall papered every room) was mint green with beautiful pink roses in it. I even made the curtains to match the roses as a Home Ec project in school. Pauline Brown was my teacher and she was really strict about even seams and such as that. I bet I ripped out those scallops a dozen times before I got then finished. But they were really pretty curtains and I was really proud of them. Of course it took me weeks working on them in class. Mother could have finished them in a matter of hours I am sure. But I was sure proud that I made then. I guess I had those curtains for a long time in that room. I don’t see pink curtains that it don’t bring back memories of my room in that big old white house.
Another memory that is special would be that Mother having so many children of course made all of our clothes. I can remember when it got close to time for school to begin we would make a trip to Hobart to J.C. Penny’s and The Dixie Store and check out the school clothes for the year. We would pick out the ones we liked and Mother would take out her little note book that she carried in her purse and she would sketch out the dress and make notes of the colors. She would then go to TG&Y or the Fabric Store there and buy the material in the color we wanted. She would go home and make the dress and you could not tell it did not come from the store. I remember that when it was close to Easter and we always had new Easter dresses. Mother would always make us a new dress for Easter. I remember one year my dress was lilac dotted swiss with a really full skirt. If I am not mistaken I think Linda’s was pink. Then of course we always got new white Sunday shoes and a purse and hat and white gloves. I don’t ever remember not having a new dress for Easter Sunday. Mother may not have always had one but I know that Linda and I sure did.
It had to be hard raising eight children in those days. Somehow Mother and Daddy did it and we had a good and happy life. I don’t ever remember hard times. The older kids say they remember when times were lean as they were for everyone during the war years.
I have a lot of memories of the House in Lone Wolf. I know that some of the other kids lived in another house before they moved to the home place. But other than the couple of years at Luther I lived in that big white two story house.
Many memories of that house - lots of time playing in that yard. We played games like “Annie Over” where we would throw a ball over the garage, also “Red Rover”. I remember catching fire flies and playing on the monkey bar that Mrs. Aiken had in her back yard. We spent a lot of time playing in her yard as well. I remember Linda and I having a little Roy Rogers tent and played many hours in it. I have a picture of us playing in that tent out under the big tree at the side of the house.
Now I have some not so fond memories of that yard! We did not have to mow the yard but Linda and I had to go in front of the mower when Daddy mowed and pick up rocks. I hated that and especially if we missed one. Believe me we heard about it. I also remember the trucks parked out back by the alley. Daddy and the boys would park them there when they were loaded and ready to go out with usually a load of hay. I remember how particular Daddy was about how that hay was stacked on the truck. It would not be uncommon for him to make the boys stack it again if it did not pass his inspection.
I remember that Daddy always had a couple of guys around that helped him load the hay an anything else that needed to be done. I think that it was Pete Wilson and his brother Chief - Donnie Wilson and then Benny. They liked to work for Shug (as he was called by everyone) because Mother fed them really well when they worked. I remember her saying many times that they worked hard and deserved a good meal. That was one of the many things she was so good at - cooking.
I have been told (I don’‘t remember this because I was pretty young at the time) but I guess I put a handful of gravel in one of the gas tanks and I guess Arlene got the spanking. Of course she has not let me forget it in all these many years.
I remember the morning glories that grew on a white trellis over the kitchen window. I think that is why I love morning glories to this day, they are my very favorite flowers. Mother had a big round flower bed that she planted Zinnias in each year out by the storm cellar. Which of us could forget the Cottonwood tree at the back door. We have all had a switching or two from a branch on that tree at one time or another. (ha)
Now I have always loved Lone Wolf, I enjoyed my school years very much. I always felt very lucky to have enjoyed my friends and school
During most of my grade school, Jr and Senior High years I had the same best friends. There was the three of us that did everything together. Sandy Griffen and Sandra Clare. Now Sandy’s father was the preacher of the Church of Christ and Sandra’s folks ran the beer joint. Now we were really a threesome in those days. Sandy and I were not just friends but we lived just a short distance away. We even had a path worn down back and forth to our houses. Sandy and Sandra had sisters, Letitica and Joyce Kaye. They ran around with Linda my sister so we all ended up doing things together. I can’t even tell you how many miles we put on Mr. Griffen’s Rambler. He would let us drive it but only put a few miles on it on the weekend. Well Paul Everheart would unhook the speedometer and we drove a lot more miles. Ever who got that car when they got rid of it had no idea the miles really on that car!!!! But we sure had fun dragging main in Lone Wolf in that car. We would sometimes go to Hobart and to Granite and of course we were not suppose to get out of town. Lots of fun was had in that old Rambler.
I had a boyfriend that actually lived in Granite which was about eight miles or so from Lone Wolf. My boyfriends name was Bobby Windle and we dated in my Senior Year and he was a year older and ended up going to the Army and being sent to Germany. During that time that he was around we had some good times. His folks owned a Dairy and they belonged to the Chruch of Christ in Granite. I don’t think they really liked me much after all I was a Methodist. (Ha) Bobby and I wrote back and forth from Germany for a long time and in fact until I met Bill and then that ended our long distance relationship.
After highschool and graduation I decided that I would go to Abilene, Texas and live with Katha and James to go to Beauty School. I kept the boys while Katha worked 3pm to 11pm shift. I would go to school during the day and keep them at night. Can’t mention this part of the story without telling about the fire and the handcuffs. One day I was sitting at the kitchen bar and James was at the kitchen sink polishing his boots and his gun holster. The boys had taken his handcuffs and were playing with them and had handcuffed me with my hands crossed. They had gone back in the bedroom and about the time they came back into the kitchen James turned around to say something to me and he saw that the bedroom was in flames. He said for me to call the fire department and get the boys outside. Well he ran to the bedroom and there I was handcuffed and had a hard time dialing the phone. I took the boys and went out side after calling the Fire Department. Well when they got there we had to explain to them why I was handcuffed because you see I could not get them off because the keys were on the bed that was on fire in the house. I had to wait until a Highway Patrol friend of James came over and use his keys to unhook me. That was a memory that has lasted..
It was while I was living in Abilene, Texas and going to Beauty School that I met Bill who I ended up marrying. I met him at a party, his Dad was stationed at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. Oh was he so handsome at least I thought he was. (ha) He had a a1959 white Impala Chevy and it was a really sharp looking car. After Bill ask me to marry him he came to Lone Wolf, and actually ask Daddy if he could marry me. I remember that day well, they were standing in front of the garage when he ask him. (another memory)
Bill and I married at Lone Wolf at the Methodist Church. My best friend Sandy’s Dad married us. I had a really beautiful wedding. My flowers were really pretty and special because Aunt Velva owned the Flower Shop and she with Mother’s help really did a wonderful job on the flowers. My wedding cake was a wedding gift from Louise and Kenneth and Uncle Van printed my invitations. We had flowers in colors of the rainbow and the girls in my wedding dresses were pastel colors. I had a beautiful bouquet with a white orchid on top of my Bible that I got in Sunday School when I was two years old. Mother covered it with lace to match my dress that she made. My dress was beautiful and special since Mother made it for me.
After we married we moved to Dallas, Texas where Bill went to school and I worked in a Steel Company. I hated that town and I think I cried to go home every night. We lived there when President Kennedy was shot there. It was a really sad time for the country and I remember it well.
Bill and I have two sons together. William Randall born in 1964 and Rickey Lee born in 1965. Over the years that we were married we lived several places. We lived in Abilene, Texas where I went to work where Katha worked at Southwestern Bell this was in 1967. I transferred to Pampa after Katha and James moved to Pampa, Texas. Bill worked as the Newspaper Photographer. From there we moved to Colorado Spring, Colorado where we lived for several years until we moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. In 1976 Bill and I divorced and the boys and I moved to Elk City, Oklahoma where I transferred with the phone company again.
After my divorce from Bill, the boys and I moved for a brief time just a few weeks to Arkansas but that was a bad move and did not last long. We moved to Broken Arrow where I again transferred with the phone company and worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was there that I met Bob Cowan my second husband. We were married for 18 years. Bob adopted my sons after we married. We moved to Austin, Texas where I again transferred with the phone company. We moved back to Claremore, Oklahoma and I worked at Tulsa at the phone company until I retired taking early retirement in 1987. The job that I had was being eliminated and the choices were that I could move to Oklahoma City and take a chance on that job lasting until retirement or I could take my vested rights and freeze my retirement until I reach retirement age. That made me work for Southwestern Bell for 20 years to the day from when I started. It turned out to be a good thing that I did take my vested rights because the job in the city did not last even a year. Things worked out for the best since Mother had a stroke and I was free to care for her.
When Mother had her stroke we brought her to Claremore for a short time put her in a Nursing Home. This just was not working out for her to be there so we decided that I would bring her to my home and take care of her with the help of the sisters. Mother lived 18 months after having her stroke. This was a special time for us all. I can’t say it was a happy time but we all did our very best to care for her and see that she had the very best care until the end. I know that having her in my home even tho she did pass away there was a very special memory for me. It was hard work I won’t say it was not but we did it for Mother. I don’t think any of us girls regret that we brought Mother into my home and cared for her until she passed away and went on to a much better place. One could not even find the words to say how special she was and not only her children thought that but everyone that came in contact with her could say the same thing. God truly blessed us with a wonderful mother. I think we are all better people this day because of the wonderful examples that our mother put before us all our lives. She worked hard all her life to take care of eight children and that could not have been a easy task. We of course had a good Dad as well but he was gone a lot of the time rightfully so earning a living to raise eight children. Most of the child raising fell on Mother. She handled anything that came her way and handled it well. We really wanted for nothing that I can remember and she was always involved in our lives both at home, school and church.
In later years: It became necessary for me to help raise our grandchildren for several years. This was a challenge for sure. Having already raising my two sons and for most of the teen years alone, it was quite a undertaking especially with Candice requiring a lot of attention for several years.
My granddaughter Candice lived with me off and on for several years until April 2001. Anthony my grandson came to live with me in 2001. So I not only raised my own two sons but I had both of their kids to raise. I devoted most of nine years taking care of Candice and then Anthony in his highschool years.
I have had sadness in my life due to the fact that my boys both made some bad choices in life. But I have faith that someday that can be corrected. I know that I depend on the fact the God said “Train up a child in the way he should go and he will return” I just live for that day and it will come. I know that I gave my boys a good Christian upbringing and the choices they made were of their own free will but I have faith that one day we will all be together again. God can do great things and I keep that in my prayers at all times.
Over the past few years I have put this book away and I seem to always bring it out again. This time I will finish it so that my family can enjoy it and hopefully pass it on to their families. I have always thought that it is important to know your family history. I think the past has a lot of memories that will be special to our kids and their kids to come for many years. I hope that each and everyone that reads this book can get a little bit of enjoyment out of it. I know that putting it together has meant a great deal to my life both past and present.
On September 21, 1963 I was married to William James (Bill) Taylor at the Lone Wolf, Methodist Church at Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. This was the Church that I had attended and grew up in all my life. This was a very special church to me and always will be. I was very active both as a young child until I graduated from high school. I always knew that I would be married in that church as well. Rev. Harold Griffen, who was one of my best friends father and a minister of another church in town, officiated at the ceremony as a favor to me. My two dearest friends Sandra and Sandy and cousin Veldean and sister Linda were in my wedding. Arlene sang and both my brothers Johnny and Kenneth were in the wedding as well. Daddy gave me away and Aunt Velva made my flowers from her flower shop. I had a beautiful wedding and lots of flowers and candles.
After our wedding trip we moved to Dallas, Texas where Bill went to Technology School and work at Sears. I got a job at Austin Brothers Steel Company where I worked in the office. Looking back on that job now it was so boring and I hated every day of it. I would sit all day and figure the price and weight of steel on a machine called a comptomerter (like a over sized calculator. Stacks and stacks of ledgers with row after row of figures and this was a eight hour day of sitting and doing that boring job. Another thing that was so awful was I had to ride the public bus and change buses twice to get from our apartment to where I worked. I was scared to death each time I got on that bus. Here was a girl from a little town in Oklahoma that had been hardly anywhere for most of her life and now I am living in Dallas, Texas and riding a bus to work. “Yes Memories Last Forever”
For that short time we lived in Dallas, was when President John Kennedy was shot and killed. It was actually not far from the Sears where Bill worked at the time. This was a really sad time and very strange being there in Dallas then. We also lived in a really cute little apartment a few blocks from Aunt Anna Pearl and I would get so homesick and I would walk up to her house to see her each day. The one thing I could never get use to was the amount of sirens that would go all day and night on that Central Expressway that was right by our little apartment. I think I cried everyday to go home which we finally did..
From Dallas we move to Altus, Oklahoma where Bill worked at a Jiffy Food Store. Johnny and Shirley lived in Altus at this time as well. We lived in Altus for a short time and then moved a few miles away to Blair, Oklahoma where we lived in a little trailer house. Not a nice manufactured home like they have nowadays, but a trailer house. What a difference there are in the two. (ha) I was pregnant with Randy by this time it was in 1964 and not to long before he was born we moved to Lone Wolf where we lived in Mrs. Aikens house that was next door to Mother and Daddy. Daddy had bought the house when Mrs. Aiken passed away. We lived in that house when Randy was born at Hobart General Hospital. Dr William Bernell delivered me when I was born in 1944 and he delivered Randy in 1964. When Randy was just a week old we moved once again and this time to Grapevine, Texas where Bill worked as produce manager for Buddy Food Market. I can honestly say this was one of the moves that was not as good a memory as some where. Except for the fact that we had Randy and were learning how to be parents. Randy was a precious baby and he was a handful for sure. I spent a lot of time rocking him, he was a colicky baby and cried a lot with that. Of course I was inexperienced with babies and when Randy would cry I would call Mother at Lone Wolf and I would ask her what to do. I did that quite a lot in that first year of Randy’s life. Mother was always there with advice only if you ask for it never unwanted. She was a wonderful Mother and oh I miss her so much.
Our next move in our journey would be we moved to Whitewright, Texas where we lived for a short time and then moved a few miles away to Sherman, Texas. Bill worked at Kaiser Aluminum for awhile while we live in Sherman. By this time I was pregnant with Rickey this would have been in 1965. When it came close to time for me to have Rickey I went back to Lone Wolf so Dr. Bernell could deliver him as he had Randy and me as well. Rickey was born on October 28, 1965 at Hobart General Hospital. He was such a good baby.
Well as we see by now we have moved already plenty of times and more than enough for a lifetime. Of course we are not finished with this story and there are still several moves to make. I can tell you for sure that moving all these times was not good for our children and they paid for that over the years. I don’t know why we felt we had to move around so much. I guess that Bill just was looking for something in the way of a profession and don’t know that he ever really found it. I believe that when he was the photographer for the Pampa News was where he was the happiest. He should have kept that up.
In the year 1966 Bill and I decided to move to Abilene, Texas where Katha lived. It was Katha that helped me get on at the Telephone Company. I at first worked at the little Diner that was called the Bell Diner and it was right next door to Southwestern Bell where Katha worked. I worked there until I got on at the telephone company. Bill worked at several jobs while we were in Abilene, Texas. I enjoyed working for the telephone company for a total of 20 year. I transferred several times over the next 20 years which was one of the good benefits of the telephone company. >p> In the year 1968 we moved to Pampa, Texas and as I was able to transfer I could still keep my good job and my seniority as well. Katha and James had moved to Pampa and Katha transferred and this made it possible for me to transfer as well.. We lived in Pampa for several years actually until 1972 and that was quite a length as our record for moving had gone. (ha) I think I might just have held the record of transferring with the phone company.
Well we are now up to 1972 and it is time to move again. This move was one of the best ones that we ever made and I would say the happiest time of our lives. When we decided to move to Colorado Springs, Colorado and Bill managed a Seven Eleven store when we first got there. I once again transferred with the telephone company so I had the same good job that I had enjoyed since 1967 when I first went to work for them. When we first moved there we lived in an apartment complex while they were building our house that we bought. Colorado Springs being a military town with several military bases there would of course have a lot of people from different branches of service. In this apartment complex I believe that we were more than likely the only ones that were not military. We formed some long and lasting friendships with some of the tenants. We had a lot of good times with these neighbors we had met and became friends with. About four couples of us would go out to eat on the Saturdays and have a baby sitter come to one of our homes and watch all the kids. Each week a different one of us would choose where we eat and the kids would all stay together with a baby sitter. This was fun for the kids as well. They would enjoy the evenings with their friends and we would have a time out as well. Funny how after all these years I can remember some of the places we went. Colorado Springs has a lot of wonderful eating places and we all had or favorites. For example when it was our time to choose we would pick a place called “The Hungry Farmer”. This was a really neat place that looked like a big barn and inside it was decorated to look like a farm. Wonderful food and just a fun place to go. Now one set of our friends, Mike and Ellen (she was a German girl), they would pick a German place and the week they chose we would go there. One night Bill ate Turtle Soup and was as sick as I have ever seen him. Can’t help but laugh now when I think of how sick he was and boy he even turned green. They would drink a Schnapps which is a German vodka and they would drink it along with the meal. I am sure that Mike and Ellen were use to it but Bill was not. Need I say more?? Yes Green and pea soup!! Then one of the couples in our group would always pick a place called “The Castaways” a fancy fish place that looked inside like a sunken ship. Good food and the best buffet bars I have ever seen. Lupe and Sandra were there names. He was from Porta Rico and she was from Washington I believe. For years I kept in contact with them all. I still am in contact with Mike and Ellen and they have even came to Oklahoma and visited me a couple of times. They are back in Germany and I am in email contact with them now which is great. I talk with them on the phone from time to time as well. Always wanted to go visit them in Germany. They ask me all the time to come but guess that will never happen.
We loved our time in Colorado, there were so many places to go for fun and the boys loved it as well. During this time we had our motor cycles and Bill and I both rode and took the boys with us. We even rode up Pikes Peak a couple of times and all over that area. I would put one boy on with me and Bill had the other and off we would go. Had a really fun time there. My friends find it very hard to believe that I ever drove a motor cycle. I think that those were just the best of all our travels. If wishes came true I would have wished that we never left Colorado Springs.
The reason for our next move was when Bill’s father who lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi passed away and his Mom could not even as much as drive or had never even wrote a check. She was just pretty much unable to function. Bill decided that we should move to Mississippi and live there and help her out. So our next move was to Hattiesburg, Mississippi where I again transferred with the telephone company. We settled in there and bought a home and we were very active in the Nazarene Church. We lived there for several years and I thought we were doing fine. But as the old saying goes “the wife is the last to know”, the next move was to Elk City, Oklahoma and the boys and I made that trip alone. I guess that pretty much speaks for itself. Once again transfer with the telephone company. It was June 10, 1976 that we moved to Elk City where we lived for just a short time and we made one more that turned out to be a mistake when we moved to Arkansas but that lasted only a few weeks and I transferred to Tulsa, Oklahoma and we lived in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and I drove back and forth to Tulsa. Louise lived in Broken Arrow at that time so I was not totally alone there.
It was while living in Broken Arrow that a friend of Louise’s introduced me to Bob and after dating him for a short time we married. We were married at Mother’s house in Lone Wolf on April 10, 1977 which was also Easter Sunday. The First United Methodist Church pastor in Lone Wolf, Rev. Denny Deeker officiated at our wedding. Bob was a truck driver and worked for Time DC Trucking out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. He soon went to work for himself, buying a truck and going over the road long haul. This he did for the rest of our married life. In case anyone cares being a truckers wife is a lonely way to live and I did it for almost 20years.
Now my gypsy days were almost over by now, we only moved two more times. In January of 1978 we moved to Round Rock, Texas and I worked in Austin, Texas once again transferring with the telephone company. We lived there until June of 1989 and we moved to Claremore, Oklahoma where I transferred back to Tulsa. This was the last move and ended up at Claremore where I still live today at the time of this writing. Turns out that I worked for Bell Telephone company for 20 years to the day. I had my retirement party on my 20th anniversary.
My marriage to Bob ended after 18 years of marriage. I remained in Claremore where I work at the Claremore Regional Hospital as the cashier. I plan to work there until retirement time in a few years.
I feel like I have traveled a million plus miles and not really gone anywhere either. I know that I did not do my children any favors by moving around so much but that seems to be the life that was sit for me and I have lived it the best of my ability. Now this story may would made a good soap opera someday and if so perhaps some of these travels will pay off. Mother would always tell me that it would have to be a mini series since there was so many travels and so complicated. (ha) Of course Mother was right she always was.
It is now 2003 and I am 59 years old. I still work at the hospital. My health has prevented me from doing many things that I would like to do in my later years, however I stay very busy with my genealogy work on the never ending “Family History”, I also quilt quite a bit and I have my Church and I am involved with the DAR “Daughters of the Revolution” the Chapter in Claremore. I of course will be working on my book for years to come I would imagine. Seems like I can’t find a stopping place. But as long as I have breath I will be looking for stories, pictures and just anything I can find out about “Family”. After all my very favorite saying is “Memories Last Forever”.
