Olson Family and how they got to the Osage

This is another story that was not posted when it was supposed to be on this blog.  I did find out what I did wrong as i was trying out other blog software and sites.

Cliff, Preston, Opal and me

Posted on November 28, 2010 by glolson21

This is Gary Olson and I would like for anyone from Grainola and the area around to tell their stories.   You are invited to send me your stories and I will review them and hopefully post them so you need to understand that if you send them they may wind up on the blog, in the Shidler Review, in a book or whatever I choose and don't expect anything but a big thanks for helping keep the memories of the Osage alive.

Wynter (our daughter) and her Uncle Larry (my brother)

My family was led by Olaf and Marry Olson who moved to Grainola somewhere around 1950.  My dad, Cliff Olson moved there around 1944 when Dad came to work on the ranch of Tanny and Nanny Olsen.  It was during these early years dad met Opal Lane, daughter of Jess and Anna Lane who lived west of Grainola about 1 mile and then on the hill where Bob Jackson lived during the 70 and 80′s and more.  Mom had sisters which most of the Grainola folks knew but by other last names as they were married, Gladys Snyder (Shidler math and science teacher), Peggy Heath (married Uncle Bill who is Jack Heath’s brother and who’s mother ran the Grainola post office), and the other sisters married and moved away to the Oolagah area.  There were also two brothers, Bill and Don, who lived mostly in the Oolagah area.  Uncle Bill worked in the logging industry in California until he retired to Oolagah.  Uncle Don farmed and ranched in that area his entire life.
Uncle Don was colorful in that he was always chewing tobacco with a big wad in his cheek making him look like a squirrel with a nut in his jaw.  My favorite time was when my brother, Larry, got stung by a bumble bee and Uncle Don took out his chew of tobacco and put it on Larry’s sting.  He said it would stop the swelling and the pain.  I am not sure if it worked but it grossed both of us out and if anything it took the attention off the pain and the swelling.

Wynter and William (daughter and son in law)

Old pic -- me, Shouna, Wynter, Chase, and Preston

I could write more stories but I think I will wait until next time.

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Blessings - you and I are blessed to grow up in the Osage

Blessings (somehow this one never posted when it was supposed to)

Posted on December 4, 2010 by

I don’t know about you but when I start worrying about my problems of money and friends or even my pride I take a look around and I find my life blessed. Yesterday I stopped by to light the furnice for two guys who live thier lives in almost isolation because they are mentally handicapped. If that were all it might not sound so bad.
One of these two young men has lived his ENTIRE life in an instution until the last 5 years. He was not challenged or even loved. He was barely talked to. For the last five years he has lived in a house managed by the state/DHS. He almost starved to death and was down to 73 lbs. We were told he does not like to be touched and is paranoid of getting outside the house. Well I am here to tell you he went to Braum’s for the FIRST time in his life. I was blessed to take him with my wife.  He loved ice cream.
Have a marvelous day and count your blessings.

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Whippersnapper or Whipper-snapper and the Speed of Sound

                                                        Whippersnapper or Whipper-snapper

Today you get a lesson and a story.  A whippersnapper is a small child who is ornery like my 28 year old son, Chase.  When he was small (that is a relative term since he was always big), see picture of whippersnapper.  He was very ornery and now that he is big, 6' 5" and 235 lbs, he is still ornery.  Just to clarify we use to live on the golf course, Westbury in Yukon, and he and his best friend put a dead mouse in the cup on the green.  They hid and watched folks when they went to retrieve their balls from the cup.  Almost everyone thought it was clever and funny except one person who looked for them and chewed them out and yelled at the parents, my wife.  She asked, "what kind of parent are you?".  That golfer needed to lighten up.  If you don't agree then you need to lighten up and take some blood pressure pills.

Whippersnapper - Chase

Now I guess you could include Eddy Harris and I in that category when we were young as well.  Just a thought but my dad was ornery, I was ornery and my son was and is ornery, do you think it could be hereditary?  Anyway I think it had something to do with the tall grass prairie as Eddy was ornery with me.  Another side thought, Eddy was a cousin?   Hummmmmm!  Just for example, I remember when Eddy and I were young and we found some pink paint and painted the chicken house pink.  We thought it was fun and I don't know if it was good for the chickens or not.  Did I mention the eggs looked pink after that?

Well back to the definition thing.  Now that you know what a whippersnapper is let me explain a whipper-snapper.  First you have to have a bull whip, see picture, and two whippersnappers, Eddy and me.

 Eddy and I were out using the bull whip and acting like we were the Rifleman (an old western series).  Now just in case you did not know what causes that cracking sound of a bull whip let me explain.  It comes from cracking the speed of sound.  Can you believe that?  If not just look it up or read below from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia:

A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.

Bullwhips are agricultural tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's length, flexibility, and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a way that, toward the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound—thereby creating a small sonic boom.^[1] Many modern "sport" whip crackers claim that the bullwhip was rarely, if ever, used to strike cattle, but this is a matter for debate.

 Anyway, Eddy and I were cracking the whip and when it was my turn something went wrong.  The bull whip wrapped around my neck and cracked just as it hit my cheek (face not butt).  Man did that hurt and it left a welt on my face.  So the moral of this story is when two whippersnappers go whipper-snapping the whippersnappers may get whipper-snapped and that really hurts.

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

How to reach a Dad's heart? OC Eagles

Jeff Crocker, Andre Vaughn, Izea Lovejoy, Chad Endres and Coach Dan Hays with Preston.

Tonight I have to detour from my normal blog because these guys have made my heart swell up.  You see this was their last home game at Oklahoma Christian University in Edmond.  Four years ago Preston and I started going to the OC basketball games to see Jason Taylor (graduated last year) play ball.  What happened to me and my family is almost beyond words as I am so grateful for how these people MINISTERED to us by their actions.

Jason Taylor

It started with Jason who first welcomed us and loved my son in spite of the differences or because of the differences.  He took Preston to the locker room which made me especially nervous and concerned about how Preston would be received.  Everyone including Coach Dan and his assistants and coaches and players welcomed him in just like I expect Jesus to welcome those who love Him into his arms.  Coach Dan told me Preston was welcome any time into his gym.  Unless he reads this he will not know how touched I was by those words.

Tonight I just had to say thanks to these five young men for what they have done.  My eyes swelled up tonight as I tried to let them know just how thankful I am for what they have done.  Thank you, thank you and thank you.

Now it is my nature, I have to add one funny story.  I am going to take a little literary license here but bear with me.  The last home game two years ago there were two people who got to speak to the team after the game in the locker room and one was more famous then.  The first one was the best and it was Preston and the second one was Blake Griffin who was not quite as famous.  It was a treat and both really did speak to the team.  Blake was a gentleman to my son as well.

Well I have to tell you Preston and I are avid OC Eagles fans now and we do our best to make every home game for the girls and the guys and some of the away games.  They have poured out their hearts to us and we want to give back a portion of what we get.

Thank you EAGLES,
Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Chuckles -- He can't walk on water but? (part 2)

Julian and Harold Codding on the right with WHITE hair

I just cannot resist a few more stories on Harold and he can still not walk on water.

Harold and I were very active in 4-H as Shidler had one of the best 4-H clubs in the state.  Every year we had a large group from Shidler area who would get out of school for the spring livestock show in Pawhuska.  Generally it was about the first week or second week in March.  We would stay in the dormitory at the fairgrounds on the east side of Pawhuska.

One small detour from Harold is there was a lot of graffiti in the dorm and particularly in the bathroom.  Two things I remember I learned from the walls.  One was by the old white toilet with the black seat that said, "please flush toilet, Pawhuska needs drinking water".  The second one was above the urinal and it started just above the urinal and slowly went up to the ceiling, it read "look up.... look up.... look up.... look down, you are peeing on your shoes".  Now you can surely see why graffiti is not a good thing.

Back to Chuckles:  At the fair Harold decided we should go for a run which made since to me since I needed to stay in shape for sports.  Well we took off and I was pretty naive.  First we ran to the horse racing arena and ran around the track a few times then we went north toward the highway where we then headed north then west toward the old Dixie Dog.  Now that may not sound like a big deal but it was MILES in basically one direction and I was extremely happy when we started back toward home.  Harold was such an encouragement as he prodded me to keep going.  By the time we got back close to the fair grounds I could hardly more and Harold said, "KICK"  which normally means sprint or run like a one hundred yard dash.  He took off like a rocket and I took off like a flat rock on a highway.  He left me in his dust as we entered the race track again for a VICTORY LAP.  You have got to be kidding is all I could think.

Now if you don't get the idea yet that Harold is like another Blake Griffin let me tell you one more.  I was not there but I read the story and asked Harold what the truth was which he confirmed but with more details.  Harold was and is a pilot for American Airlines but if you know how that works they are off 20 plus days a month and get paid like they work 30, just a cheap shot.  Anyway, there was a contest for a new car at White Water in Arlington, Texas.  If any of you know about Harold's 1970 Olds Cutlass you know he desperately needed a car.  Now I am not going to say anything about how frugal/tight Harold is with a dollar but he really needed a car as that old one needed a new body, paint, puddie, and engine and certainly more.  Back to the contest.  The winner was the one who would run up the stairs on the giant water slide and go down the most times.  I do not remember the details but it was over 24 hours and there were two left, one of which was Harold.  As I recall they ran up those stairs and slid down over 600 times and neither of the two were going to quit.  To bad but Harold had to go to work so he quit first.  THIS CONFIRMS HE IS AN ANIMAL.

Since someone brought up the idea that Harold was tight/cheap/frugil I will tell you one more story.  Harold and I sold books during the summer for Southwestern Company door to door much like Paper Moon.  If you have not seen the movie, Ryan O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal stared in it and they were door to door salesmen who sold Bibles just like Harold and me.  Now I will tell you the movie is nothing like what we did but it was a good movie.  Anyway every year we had a contest to see who could spend the least amount of money on food and shelter so that we could bring home the biggest check at the end of the summer.  One year in particular Harold found this little old lady who let him stay at her house including room and board (two meals per day) for $10 per week.  That woman loved Harold and quit frankly every person I ever knew loved him.  He made me sick he was so popular, just kidding.

One last story:  Harold was the half back and a senior and I was the full back and a junior at Shidler.  We were considered pretty clean cut kids.  Now I am not going to tell you about when Harold asked me about how to get a girl to go parking but .... maybe.  Back to the story.  There was a family in Shidler named the Coffees who owned the dry good store down by the old cafe and Julie Berman's drug store (not sure how to spell it).  One summer Neal Armstrong, the assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings not the astronaut, was visiting the Coffees.  I believe he married the Coffee's daughter but not sure.  Well Harold and I met their daughter and her best friend down at the Dixie Dog and we thought they were worth taking to the movies.  So we asked the girls if that would be OK and they said we would have to ask her dad.  Harold and I went down to the Coffee's house and asked for Mr. Armstrong.  Now I don't know about Harold but I was scared to death because he was a big deal in my mind.  Mr. Armstrong later coached the Chicago Bears.  Well, Mr. Armstrong told us NO since he did not know us and they were only there a few days.  We were bummed out.  The funny thing was the next day the girls wound up hanging around with some other guys and I think one of them was Steve Crisco, not sure.  Anyway, I was shocked that Mr. Armstrong called on Sunday and apologized for not letting us take the girls out.  We did get together with the girls and I remember exchanging letters for a year or two but that was one of those fun stories growing up in a town like Shidler.

I always try to think about what I learned from these events so here we go:

•   No matter how famous or how big of a person they are all people who put their pants on just like       me, one leg at a time
•   The girls taught us respect for their father
•   Mr. Armstrong taught us respect and humility by how he handled something he felt he should correct

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

Chuckles -- He can't walk on water but?

Well he could never walk on water but he could walk on his two hands around the Bias Gymnasium and straighten a horse shoe or squeeze an apple in his hand and make apple sauce.  I would never want to embarrass the most humble and nicest guy I ever met, just kidding.  I would claim him a a cousin even though he is a distant one.  And I will not say anything about that super pretty girl he married, Nancy Nash (sister to Chris another pretty girl).

Have you ever tried to ask Harold a question about himself and get an answer without getting a question back?  Try it if you have not.  Before I go much further on Harold and Nancy I have to say I love this couple and admire them greatly.

Just a little background on Harold.  He is the son of Charles and Helen Codding who were partners with Don and Helen Joe Codding on the old Codding Cattle Research out of Foraker.  Now if you don't know anything about all that I will say that they had one of the prettiest ranches in the Osage which was well known for research on bulls and ultimately semen collection and embryo transplant technology.  They also pioneered the idea of "Rent a Cow" during the tax credit era (error could also work there, think politics)  in the 1960's and 70's.  I think it is pretty clear what embryo transplant is since it is done on humans today for those having difficulty having children.  But the semen collection might need some explaining which I don't think would be entirely appropriate here.  I will say that if you get a bull real excited and you are holding a jar in the right location there is a lot to catch.  Enough said about that.

Back to Harold, cousin to Julian which is one of my favorite and a story in the future.  Harold was one of the most athletic people to ever come out of Shidler.  He was so muscular that he could flap his ears.  He could even stand between two chairs and slowly do a hand stand on those two chairs.

But in my mind Harold's big claim to fame was football.  He was right up there with the great Ronnie West (running back who played in college at Northeaster).  Anyway Harold was the half back and I was the full back when Harold was a senior.  Harold had braces on both legs and could still out run everyone.  In fact I am probably the only full back to be run over every game and practice by the half back on the same team.  I think he could have out run me with both legs tied together.

What made Harold great was that he had a passion for everything he did.  He worked to do his best in everything. Every year he would start working out in mid July to be ready for football in the fall.  He would run through the tall grass prairies for miles over the hills and not on the roads.  Harold studied hard, played hard and laughed hard at everything.  In fact that is where he got his nickname, Chuckles.

I am going to have to write a few more stories on Harold but let me tell one last one today.  Once Harold and his mom were trying to lose weight so they made a bet.  Harold was so honest but every time they had a bite of desert they had to put a dollar in the jar for each bite.  Harold and I were at the 4-H livestock show in Pawhuska and Harold loved apple pie.  Harold purchased one normal piece and put the entire piece of pie in his mouth at one time.  It cost him a dollar penalty but the integrity was impressive.

What did I learn from watching and growing up with Harold:
a. watch what you are doing because lots of folks are watching especially the young ones
b. whatever you do give it your very best, no regrets
c.  laugh at yourself and I hope Harold is laughing now, I can't out run him
d. have integrity even when no one is watching, you will feel better about yourself

I know I did not say anything about Nancy but she was one of the smartest and prettiest girls in school and in fact I can honestly say the class of 1970 had a bunch of good looking girls.  If you want a list let me know.

Thanks for your time,
gary@thepioneerman.com

The Lane Sisters

You may not recognize these three but they were "hot" in their days.



Left to Right
Peggy Lane
Earlene Lane
Opal Lane

Most folks know these ladies as Peggy Heath, Earlene Patterson and Opal Olson and for me I call the last one MOM. Don Cassleman (I spelled it right this time) told me the best basketball player in Oklahoma was Lois Lane (another sister) and the best looking woman to come out of Grainola ever was Opal Lane. Well at least I never thought of my mom as some beauty queen but seeing this picture tells a story.

Now another thing you should notice is these ladies are wearing pants! Yes Pants! How daring! Mom told me that prior to "Rosie the Riveter" in WWII women never wore pants, not even to plow in. Can you believe it? I make my wife plow in a dress like any decent man would! I bet that makes you feel better about how I treat my wife, Shouna.

Actually I was talking to Mom yesterday and she was telling me how Grandma Annie, her mom, used to plow the fields in a dress. I could not believe it. Mom told me that everyone of the kids had to do chores each morning before breakfast and school. Why if we tried to do that today they would arrest you for child abuse! I guess that is why their generation grew up knowing how to work and WHY to work and they appreciated the work.

Aunt Earlene and Uncle Harley Patterson lived down by Oologah, Oklahoma where they farmed and Uncle Harley was a mechanic. In fact he worked on jet engines for American Airlines in Tulsa. Uncle Harley taught his kids how to weld and fix about any vehicle or truck you can imagine. Wayne, Donna Jean, Stanley and Karen were Aunt Earlene's kids and some day I will spend a little time telling you about them.

Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bill Heath (Jimmy Heath's shared uncle) lived in Ponca City and had three of the smartest kids, well two out of three anyway, just kidding. Joe, Marie and Cathy. Again they are another story but I had a lot of fun with them.

Thanks for your time,
The Pioneer Man
Gary
don't forget to call or write
12501 Dutch Forest Place
Edmond, OK 73013
or gary@thepioneerman.com

This is getting serious!

I have enjoyed this too much.  Someone wrote me a letter last week which got deleted accidentally.  But it was one more encouragement to keep moving on this blog thing.

Well, (when you write Well with a comma after it that means "sigh") what I am asking is for all of you to email me or mail me pictures and stories and if you are in the area especially I would like to meet with you and learn more about the history of Grainola and Shidler and the areas around like Foraker, Carter 9, Webb City, Apperson, etc..

so here goes:
Mail to:
Gary Olson
The Pioneer Man
12501 Dutch Forest Place
Edmond, OK 73013

also

I now have an email address just for the Pioneer Man:

gary@thepioneerman.com

I visited with Mom yesterday for a few hours and she gave me a bunch of pictures and stories so I am Pumped UP!

Have a GREAT Day, make the most as it could be the last.  Last night at my weekly prayer group (7 couples for over 9 years every week just for prayer) one person mentioned NOT REGRETTING what you did or did not do before the passing of your parents.  My suggestion is to not let another minute go by harboring bitterness as it typically is only one sided and never meant to harm in the first place.  Forgiveness is the theme of the Bible and even if you don't agree with that it should be theme of our lives.

My prayer, "Father, help me to forgive and move on and to make another person have a great day. Amen."

Thanks for your time,
Gary

True Grit in Real Life - Clifford Olson

Dad, Larry, Mom, Gladys Snyder, Naomi Davis (mother n law)

My best friend, mentor, and character beyond any I have seen, Clifford Woodrow Olson.  He was born in Minnesota north of Minneapolis in Anoka and on his birth certificate his official name is "son of Olaf and Mary Olson".  Now that is amazing in itself because he was in WWII (repairing airplanes) and when he was in his 40's he started working for the post office carrying the mail 3 hours a day around Grainola and NO ONE knew he had no official first name.  We discovered this bit of information when dad was about 80 years old.  Do you think he could get in an airport today?





Anyway, dad grew up on a dairy and sweet potato farm until he was a junior in high school at which  time his mom and dad plus two brothers moved to Womego Kansas.  Now I told you in previous stories how he made his own snow skis by boiling the wood to get it soft and bendable then shaping them and preparing them for cross country skiing to school.  If he did not ski to school his dad would hitch up the horse and sleigh just like Santa Claus and then over the river and through the woods to school they would go.  We still have the sleigh bells Grandad put on the horses when he hitched them up.


I don't know how but dad was stronger than any man I knew.  In fact his brother, Uncle Olie, could hold in his arms 7 - 94 lb bags of cement.  People marveled at how strong Uncle Olie was and dad looked up to him and tried to be just as strong.  It did not happen.  Uncle Olie could actually pick up the back of their Model A car.  I tried my entire life to out perform my dad but he was amazing and he was only about 135 lbs sopping wet while I grew to over 200 lbs and 6' 2".


For fun my dad would always hold up his fist and dare me to hit it with my fist.  Which I did hundreds of times until once in junior high I broke one of his fingers.  He never flinched.  Another of his favorite tricks was dealing with electric fences where he would get me trusting him by him grabbing the fence and then telling me it was off.  Then I would grab it and he would just laugh as I screamed.  It only took me once on that trick but he had others up his sleeve.  Like the time he convinced me that if I had rubber soled shoes it would not bother me, BS.  Then there was the time he took the crescent wrench and laid it on the wire and told me that would stop it, liar.  Then there was the time he held onto the fence and said to hold his hand and then step over the fence, BS.  I don't know how many times he pulled some variation on that wire fence but everytime he would laugh and laugh at my expense.  How he held onto that wire or crescent wrench on the wire and not flinch is amazing to me.


I know these stories will probably mess you up as they are gross to some but now let me tell you about the cut hand.  Dad was at our farm in Edmond (The Pumpkin Patch) and we were working on something when he sliced the hide off the back of his hand.  The hole was about 1.5 inches by 2.5 inches long.  I got Dad to come to the house where he said pour peroxide on it, we did.  He said keep pouring and he just gritted his teeth (false teeth by the way).  He refused to go to the doctor so he told us to tape the skin back on the hole and then we went back to work.

 Now if you still don't think he had "true grit" once when we were cutting wood a tree fell and hit him.  It broke two ribs.  We went to the house where he had mom wrap him with the elastic bandage.  Guess what we did after that, went back to cutting wood.  Now if you don't know anything about a broken rib basically it is terrible to breath and it hurts every time you take a breath.  Try it.


Now I have one last story about how Dad could handle pain.  When he was in his 20's he got kicked in the mouth by a mule.  I don't know how long he waited but he got an infection in the top of his mouth plus a bunch of teeth were loosened or lost.  Anyway he went to the dentist (I assume it was a dentist and not a doctor) where they were going to remove ALL of his remaining teeth.  They were unable to use anesthetic so he drank a lot of whiskey at the office prior to the surgery.  Dad told me, "it sure was hot in there because I sure did sweat a lot".  After the surgery he went to my aunt's house and had her daughter just bring him pieces of ice for about two days to keep the pain and swelling down.  I just cannot imagine.

Neal McConaghy feeding cattle

Ok, you talked me into it.  One more story.  Dad use to work for Tanny Olsen and every year they use to go down to Louisiana to get steers to feed out on the Osage prairies.  They would get a train load of steers, mostly Brahma and Brahma crossbreeds.  They had to round up the steers from the swamps and get them to the train.  But one time Dad told me they were crossing a river with the cattle and horses to get to the train and he said a couple of snakes crawled up on his saddle.  Well Dad hated snakes and he said he left the horse because there just was not enough room on that saddle for him and two snakes.  That is where he drew the line.


Well what did I learn from my Dad:

a.  You can take a lot more pain than you think you can

b. Ornery people have more fun in life

c.  Work hard and play hard

 d.  If you are not having fun don't keep doing it.


Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.comPlease write me at:
The Pioneer Man
12501 Dutch Forest Place
Edmond, OK 73013
especially those who read the Shidler Review and are from Shidler

Who coached Michael Jordon from Shidler?

Who coached Michael Jordon from Shidler?

This is a long write up I found about the history of Shidler but if you are proud to be from Shidler area it gives you a great history of the school and the schools that consolidated into it.  Jack Hartman, you are another Shidler icon (my mom went to School with him but I am not sure if they were in the same grade.  I will find out.).

 

Shidler Elementary Building named for Mr. W. G. Ward, high school principal and counselor from 1920 to 1965. In 1921, Shidler was chartered as Independent District #11, including 25 square miles, known as the Shidler-Webb City Schools. Present Shidler High School Building was started in 1923 and in 1926 the south part of the building was finished. In 1923, at the same time the Shidler High School was being built, an identical structure was going up in Webb City, only its front faced the east. In 1929, five "wing schools" were brought into the Shidler-Webb City buildings. There schools were Gypsy Corner, a one room school; Phillips, an oil field camp two room school west of Shidler; Vinnedge, an oil field camp one-room school west of Webb City; Cooper, west of Webb City, and Lyman. Lyman school was a four room brick building northwest of Webb City. Lyman had a principal and four teachers. The Bias Gymnasium, with seating capacity for 702, and music complex was constructed in 1970-71. District owned buses started providing transportation in 1937. In 1929 part of the Shidler High School building burned. In the early 1930's football teams were in the Katy Conference. Due to losing seasons, Shidler-Webb City teams combined; but still had losing seasons-football was abandoned until 1947. In 1937 a red brick gym was built west of the Shidler High School building, under the Project Works Administration plan. In 1955 shortage of space at the Shidler Building, grades four, five, and six were bussed to the Webb City Grade School. When the Webb City School united with Shidler in 1944, a school of grades one through eight was still operating at Webb City. Shidler had a junior college for six years from 1939 to 1944. DeNoya annexed in 1941-Carter Nine annexed in 1942. A grade school was left in each of these places. During the 1940's, Apperson School joined the Burbank system. In September, 1944 Webb City High School united with Shidler. In 1944 the last graduating class in Webb City had 16 students. In the middle 1940's a school of ten grades named Hill Top came into the Shidler district. Little and Big Beaver consolidated with Shidler in the late 40's Vocational Shop was offered at Shidler in 1947 with welding and carpentry added later. In 1947 the first hot lunch program started. In 1956 Ward Elementary School Building was completed. In 1956 Webb City School was closed. In 1955-56 Grainola and Foraker High School students transfer to Shidler High School. In 1970's high school students from Kaw City and Burbank come to Shidler. In 1960 the District 11 Alumni Association was organized with 117 charter members. In 1961 District 11 Alumni Association membership grows to 165. In 1961 the Alumni Association donated money for a whirlpool bath for Shidler High School Athletic Department. In 1963 the first Alumni dances were held. In 1968 money was given for a lighted sign for the front of the school. First Webb City High School Principal was E.B. Brown. First Shidler High School Principal was E.W. Bass. First Superintendent of Foraker Schools was J.A. Wedgeworth from 1922-1924. 1924-1925 Enrollment at Foraker Schools was 35 High School and 160 Grade School. In 1925-26 school year Foraker Schools built their gymnasium at a cost of $6000. The gym included 200 steel chairs and stage scenery. Miss Augie Schnurr was Foraker School Principal from 1923-1928. Jack Hartman 1943 Shidler/Webb City graduate was selected Coach of the Year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches for the 1980-1981 season. In 1983 Jack Hartman led the United States to a gold medal as basketball coach for the Pan-American Games. (Michael Jordan played on the team). Oklahoma, a Century in the Making - Top 100 Contributors to Sports in Oklahoma - #78. Jack Hartman, Shidler. The Henry Iba disciple from OSU coached Walt Frazier at Southern Illinois, where he won the NIT, then became the most successful coach in Kansas State history, going 439-233 in 16 years. Oklahoma, a Century in the Making - Top 100 Sports Teams in Oklahoma History - #39. 1950 Grainola girls basketball: 34-2. Step aside, Hoosiers. No story beats this defunct Osage County school, which sported only 14 students; all nine girls played hoops and won Class B state title.

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K-Love and the Bahamas – for short warm sunny weather

I know you are wondering what I am doing since I have not updated in several days so I figure I might do a little diary of my activities.

We have left the country for over a week and what we hear is we missed a lot of snow.

Shouna, Preston and I took a cruise on the Majesty of the Sea with k-Love, the Christian radio station. This cruise was for Preston at his request. For those of you who do not know us, Preston has Down syndrome which makes him extraordinarily special. You see he never asks for anything besides ketchup, which goes on everything and much more than you can imagine, a CD or DVD now and then and he loves to go "for coffee". Now he does not like coffee too much but when he says, "go for coffee" he means he wants to go to Jimmy's Egg for breakfast. He has never asked for a car or lots of clothes or a new stereo or even a Wii (Wii is not a war but an electronic game). The only thing of significant expense he has ever requested was to go on the K-Love cruise, so here we are after almost a year of waiting.

The first day we sailed to Nassau in the Bahamas where we had a great day. We started the day with one of those breakfasts that goes on and on (it is a cruise thing). Anyway, after that we walked off the ship we were hit with a barrage of locals wanting to sell you a trip around the island. We made it through and then found ourselves surrounded with a lot of stores selling about anything you can imagine. Preston got a new straw hat, notice the picture, a t-shirt, and lunch.
 

Conch

Now lunch was something to talk about. We went to Skans where we had Conk soup, conk fritters, and fried conk. Now if you are like me you were not sure on this one and it was a lot better before we saw how they harvested conk. Conk is basically a giant snail that grows inside of a huge seashell. It was actually excellent.

After walking for a few hours and shopping which I hate to do we started back toward the ship where all the locals were hustling people to take them around the island. Normally we were told it was $80 per person for about a 2 hour tour but they readily negotiated to $50 for all 3 but I held my ground until one of them came running to me and said he would take us for a total of $30 for all 3 but we had to promise not to tell the two ladies with us. They had paid $40 per person.

 

The tour was well worth it as we went to a local fort and then down the queen's stair case. The staircase was about 60 feet deep and dug by hand taking 3 years and hundreds of folks working. I really did not see why they made the effort but it was very beautiful and the temperature was perfect. From there we went to the hotel Atlantis which was the Merv Griffin Hotel and Casino. Again it was well worth the trip and I would highly recommend going there. The last stop before going back to the ship was the fisherman's wharf and market where we saw the conk being sold and processed. In my mind calf fries seem mild compared to seeing live conk being harvested out of the shells. Nasty but if you don't see it before you eat it you will love it.

At the ship we cleaned up to start participating in what this cruise was about, THE MUSIC. Every evening we had three live concerts put on by groups that you hear every day on Christian radio and probably in your own church. Mathew West, Casting Crowns, and the list went on and on but the great thing was Preston got to see, meet and get to know many of the artists. Every day there was also a worship time at 9 in the morning which was led by one of the groups.

Now let me tell you the real story behind this trip. Preston has a unique ability to engage everyone without any prejudice relative to age, ethnic background, tattoos (bet that one is hard for most of you if you are like me), ear rings (next to impossible for me to not assume something when it is a guy), dress (we had it all), disability (does that hit home?), or sex orientation (wow – if nothing else got you that probably did). I have seen this for years but a trip like this opens my mind and what I learned is that EVERYONE of these folks are human beings just like you and me. They have a heart and a personality that is fun to get to know if you will invest the time. Knowing someone overcomes our prejudices. Now I am not saying I agree with all of these choices people make but I am telling you I love the people without regard to these choices. I am amazed at what a child with Down syndrome can teach me!

Back to the trip. After more concerts and more food we went to Coco Cay Island (a deserted island) and enjoyed the sun and fabulous weather and more food but the big event for the day is we taught Preston how to snorkel. Now if you have not done this it is taking a mask with an air tube attached and swimming on top of the water so you can see the tropical fish. Preston was not particularly interested in all of the equipment or the opportunity to see the fish. We spent about an hour just getting him over the fear so that he would put on the equipment and stick his head into the water. Every ounce of my patience was used that day and it will take me some time to get revived. After some time I sent Shouna on to snorkel while I worked on getting Preston out far enough in the water. Normally Shouna is the one who can get Preston to try new things but for some reason I felt strongly that I was the one to work with him. There is one secret weapon that I used and it was a young girl who swam by and Preston started talking to her and she asked if he were going to snorkel and he said yes. I held on to him and he stuck his head in the water with the mask and tube on. She was impressed and Preston was very pleased with himself. From there after the girl left he was much more confident and was able to take very short snorkel times. When Shouna got back after about 30 minutes she stood by Preston and as I started to snorkel Preston said, "I will snorkel like Dad." VICTORY, he took off and snorkeled. It was a wonderful time other than a little too much salt water got swallowed and later that night Preston got sick. As it turned out Preston had a virus and he was over it in about 8 hours.

Sadly enough Preston missed dinner and all the concerts this evening and I had to take him to the ship doctor. FYI, bring some Imodium for diarrhea and something to stop the vomiting (sorry, I probably made you sick). It is much cheaper if you come prepared rather than having to go to the ship doctor, kind of expensive.

Preston has a tendency to become very well-known and we made lots of friends because of him. In fact, he stopped folks and just asked, "Have you met my parents?" We met a lot of folks from all over the USA thanks to Preston.

I had better end this but you can see we had a great time and we would recommend this cruise over any others. Outside of the lost luggage on the way home and getting the Preston Virus shortly (30 minutes) after getting home, it was a great time.

Thanks for your time,

Gary

gary@thepioneerman.com

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

 

My Mom told me not to play with Dynamite - but WE did!

Well I have put this one off too long but I had to make sure the statute of  limitations was up and that what you did when you were under age could not come back to haunt you.  Eddy Harris ( the picture above) and me grew up living one mile apart and he was my closest neighbor and cousin.  In fact if you came to my house on the road you had to drive by Eddy's house to get to mine.

This is Eddy's mom who still lives at her house and she is now in her 90's.  I just got to visit with her a couple of weeks ago with my Mom and she was delightful as ever but suffering from some small stokes.  Eddy's dad, Gordon, passed away when he was about 13 years old.  He was a great guy and very well liked.  My dad loved Gordon as they were close friends.

In fact let's chase a rabbit.  That means let's tell a side story.  I hate explaining myself all the time but some folks just are uneducated.  I know I have a lot of culture as I went to AgriCULTURE school.

Dad told me many times about Gordon having a prized dog that he really loved.  Another issue going on at the time was there was some dog that was chasing cattle and where I come from that is a capital offense.  Anyway, there was a dog down at our house (remember that our closest neighbor was one mile away) and Dad assumed that was the dog that had been chasing cows and in fact we had one that was killed.  Well Dad went and got his gun and shot that dog.  He said he wounded it pretty bad and it ran away.   A couple of days later Gordon was down at the house and was telling Dad how somebody had shot his dog.  Dad immediately knew that must have been Gordon's dog so he said, "Who would do something like that?".  Dad felt really bad but just could  not tell his good friend he shot his dog.

I suspect you are still wondering about the dynamite.  HOLD ON, I have another Eddy story or two.  Heck I will tell those another time.  So here goes.

In those days most people kept, maybe not most, dynamite so they could blow holes for fence posts in rocky areas.  Generally it was kept in an old freezer in the barn and normally it was locked.  But we knew where the key was kept.  Anyway, (twice in one story) Eddy and I enjoyed playing with dynamite on occasion.  The challenge with dynamite is when you play with it people can here it miles away.  Some people say it was dangerous but Eddy and I did not share that fear with our families and friends.  Also we knew that if you put on a blasting cap and a fuse you could calculate how much time you had to get away before it went BOOM.  In fact for every foot of fuse we knew we had one minute.  Also we knew that if you took one stick of dynamite and cut it in half you could get two BOOMs out of each stick.  We were pretty good at math.

We were out looking for something to do and decided that we should go fishing.  We were about 12 years or maybe 14 at the oldest.  We did not have the patience so we took our 22 caliber rifles and a 22 pistol and one half stick of dynamite.  We had heard that fish really enjoyed dynamite.  Anyway we shot a lot of shells then we decided it was time to catch some fish.  We lit that stick of dynamite and threw it into the pond where it sank to the bottom.  At that point we were not sure if it would just go out or what would happen.  But we saw some smoke coming out of the water and then after about one minute the water rose about a foot in a 20 foot circle.  Shortly the water exploded like someone had dropped a giant rock into the water and water went sky rocketing into the air then there was a very loud BOOM.

When we shared this story with folks over the years we would always be asked, "how many fish did you catch?".  Our answer was "ALL OF THEM".  We just scooped them up and when we got home everyone was surprised at how well we had done fishing.  Luckily no one suspected how we caught them other than when folks asked where we caught them we always answered, "In the mouth".

I am sad to say that we lost Eddy in a construction accident about 13 years ago.  For years Eddy was my best friend and we shared a lot of stories, not that we heard but that WE MADE.  If you haven't read my blog you will find a story about the eggs we got into in one of the earlier stories.  There are a lot more and in memory of my friend and cousin I will enjoy sharing them with you.

What did I learn from this:

   Don't play with dynamite
   Remember the great things in life and forget about the bad, it never helps you in the end to be bitter
   Great friends endure through hard times like losing your dad or unfulfilled expectations

Somehow I would like to just sit here and remember Eddy Harris, a Great Friend.  I love you Eddy and I miss you.  

Thanks for spending time with me.
gary

gary@thepioneerman.comhttp://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

I shot a Cardinal

I grew up hunting and fishing with my brother and had a great time doing it except for once.  That was the time I was out shooting my 22 rifle and for fun I started shooting at a Cardinal at about 200 yards.  Now at that distance no one should be able to hit a bird that small.  But I did.

Side story:  I was never a great shot like my brother.  Larry was fast and one time I know he hit two quail with one shot.  And then there was Don Conner, the bus driver and Joe and Ida's dad, who would have ever known he was a world class shot and won tournaments all over the country.  Don was cranky at us sometimes and I am sure we deserved it.  Every day he drove the bus and chewed or smoked a cigar, yes on the bus.  I loved the days that there was not a law protecting me from every single little thing although I hate smoke.  He lived over the hill one mile west from our house.  That is one mile as the crow flies because there was no road to his house direct from our house.  For you who do not know what that means "as a crow flies"  means straight from one point to another.  Kind of like the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, hmmm, geometry at an early age.

Anyway, I loved to hunt squirrels and my mom could cook up a fried squirrel better than you can imagine and especially with squirrel gravy.  Yes, FRIED, in grease not this cheap stuff you get today.  Some day they are going to figure out peanut oil and canola oil will kill you just like lard.  Anyway, Larry and I would hunt squirrel or quail every chance we could get up and down Beaver Creek. We would walk for miles and for hours.

I remember one time we were on the other side of Soup's fishing hole (by Soup Wade;s old house) near the gambrel red barn and we could here the quail running through the grass.

gambrel red barn -- not the one on Beaver Creek

a Quail

Quail were normally so quiet that you never heard or saw them until they flushed out of the grass and then they would scare you to death with the flapping of their wings.  But this time we figured there had to be over 200 birds in one group/covey.  We had never seen anything like it before.  There was a maize field within 100 feet of the barn and I assume that is why they liked it there so much.

prairie chicken

In those days there were not a lot of deer and virtually no turkey but there were bobcats and an occasional badger.  I remember when there was a big uproar about shooting deer and that the government got involved in repopulating the deer and bringing in the turkey.  I have to tell you I am not fond of government spending especially when they don't know what they are doing.  They destroyed the natural quail country and prairie chicken  population by bringing in too many deer and turkey.  I take a simple approach to politics and life and that is the lesser the better.  If you pass a law for one group you hurt another.  More deer and turkey means less quail and prairie chickens, get it?

That reminds me of another famous philosopher, Cliff Olson my dad.  He told me that if the government would stay out of the way of free enterprise the bad farmers would go out of business and the good farmers would stay.  Now this is not a political blog but think about this.  If you pay one person to not produce wheat so the prices are higher then you have false pricing and the taxpayer picks up the tab.  Also you have just paid the farmer who does not want to do the hard work and take the risk to just take his land out of production.  Some folks think this is good because it protects farmers from losses which drive him out of business.  Dad said that if you were a good farmer you would fertilize and till the ground and rotate crops according to best practices and store up money for bad years and not rely on the government.  Such a novel idea?

Anyway, back to the Cardinal.  I got down pretty bad about shooting a bird I was not planning on eating and a bird that was not bad for the crops but one of God's creation.  From that day on I never wanted to shoot anything I was not going to eat or at least give away to someone who would eat it.

That sounds pretty good but I slipped one other time.  Eddy Harris and I took a box of 306 rifle shells and went hunting a duck.  We shot a hole through that duck at about 300 yards that you could drop a quarter through.  I don't remember what a box of shells cost then but today they are around $25 or $30 and we used a box full.  There are more stories on Eddy and me for later.

The moral to this story is:
   Don't destroy something without a better purpose in mind
   Use your head and think because the consequences are long lasting
   There is no free lunch even from the government, someone has to pay


Thanks for your time,
gary
http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com
gary@thepioneerman.com -- be sure and drop me a line with your thoughts and stories

What happened to the class of "71

30 year class reunion 2001

 


I have always been in a hurry, just like my dad, but one of my deepest regrets is that I did not spend enough time with the class of '71 and '72. There were 56 classmates with a mix of the Grainola Grubbers who joined in the 9th grade plus Burbank and Kaw City who joined in the 10th.




Well what I can do is tell you some of the great stories of this class like the time Henry and Ester Vaden got lost and we all got out of school to help find them. Where else could you get out of school and ride horses looking for people most of the day. We had a lot of fun and Henry and Ester were found. Probably the funniest thing about that was Ester left Henry with the pickup and she took off walking with her prized posessions. She carried a bucket with a pop bottle, some money, and whatever else she thought was valuble as she walked for miles.




How about the time some of us got a coyote that was dead and ran it up the flagpole. That made the paper and I think the principal at the time was Louis Morris who thought it was funny. Today some liberal would be screaming about how crude it was. People just need to lighten up.




Then there was the time Jody Price was riding his new motor cycle and Johnny Payne, the One Armed Bandit, roped him off the bike. That should not be funny but since Jody was alright it was hilarious. It is still hard to believe Johnny got away with that.




Then there was the time in Pablo's Algebra class someone stole the grade book and changed the grades. Or what about the time someone cut out a hand signal (the finger) and put it on an overhead projector and Pablo got so mad. Time for confessions?




Joe Center and Pee Wee (the two smallest guys in the class but the fastest) kept things going all the time like the time in Mrs. Dozer's class when they took some Garret Sweet Snuff and threw it into the air. It smelled like someone had some serious gas and Mrs. Dozer cleared the room.




How about study hall when someone named Johnny put water into Mr. Morris's chair so that when he came back into the room we would all get a big laugh. The only problem was that when he got back he must have known and he had Johnny come up and sit in the chair. He got pretty mad about that because I think he was assuming there would be a confession before Johnny sat in the water. And then there was the time there was a green looking water on the floor which looked like urine. Or the time the poem was written on the board which described Mr. Morris, "No One speaks until the Beak Speaks". Mr. Morris was actually a very nice guy and we were just especially ornery. Mr. Morris worked at Grainola before coming to Shidler and I would have to say we drove him nuts there as well. Hugh Jones and I had a contest to shoot pencils at the ceiling and try to stick them there. We were not caught but Mr. Morris did not appreciate our competitive nature. Spit wads (paper chewed up and real juicy) were popular then and we stuck a lot of those to the ceiling in Shidler and Grainola. The strange thing about this is I really liked him and he was an excellent teacher and mentor. He loved Foraker and I remember going to his funeral which was out on the prairie in an old cementary near Foraker and the Methodist Church.




Steve Chrisco seemed to be able to do about anything. He could play the guitar and was a pretty good athlete but he would stir things up rather often especially the girls. I think he just enjoyed getting them mad at him. Like the time he was screaming obscenities at the girls in downtown Shidler just to irritate them. I am not going to say anything about how he drank or smoked.




One of my favorite stories which I think no one really knows but it meant a lot to me. That was when I got to Shidler I had always been very tall and heavy for my age and the smaller guys always wanted to fight me. Rick Cottle knew that I was just not a fighter and when one of those little guys came to a ballgame and wanted to fight me he stepped in and offered to let them fight someone their size. They did and I think that was the last time I had someone try to get me in a fight.




Now I will say there was one fight but it was prior to that one. Jay Snow and I wound up in a fight because Pee Wee kept going back and forth telling each of us what the other one said. None of it was true but Pee Wee thought it was funny. Well Jay and I scheduled a fight at David Howell's yard during lunch. I think the entire school came out for the festivities. Again I was bigger but Jay was faster. I kept throwing him on the ground and I hit him once. I don't remember him hitting me but he came at me over and over again. Finally once when I had him on the ground I said, "this is stupid. Why don't we quit". We went inside and David fixed us sandwiches and Jay became one of my favorite friends.




I know I made really good grades and better than most in school but I knew that our class was one of the smartest bunches around. A.J. Jacques, Rick Hill, Jon Tanny Olsen, Jim Heath, Pat Nelson, Jim Miller, Frank Ball, Linda Harding, Deborah Himbury, Cindy Hustead and many more were ever bit as smart or smarter than me. Jon Tanny could fix anything and Rick Hill and Jim Heath were the wittiest folks I ever knew. A.J. was always a class guy and a leader at an early age. Pat laughed at everyone's jokes and had to be the nicest guy ever. Linda was off the charts smart while Deborah was the top scholar in the class because she was a more serious student than everyone else. Cindy could read better than anyone I knew and I always thought she should have been an actress. Come to think of it she was because she could get out of trouble so fast. I am not going to mention when she borrowed the school car in Stillwater during a band trip.




Marilyn Bivins made me laugh the hardest and she laughed all the time. Jenny Eden was just dang pretty and she never got over it because she gets prettier all the time. Marsha Cannon was the first one in our class to pass away and she was quiet as a mouse and not to bad to look at ( that means she was pretty). As far as I can tell Fran Kelsey and Shelly Rowe were the sweetest persons in the class while Jeri Rash was probably the ring leader for the girls. Jeri was just always easy to get along with as was Shirley and Shelly and Kathy. I could go on and on about this group of folks but they all impacted my life in a positive way.




I think our class worked harder and played harder but got along better than almost any class I ever knew. We even let a few lower classmates run around with us like Dave Jacques and Dale Head and Jimmy Miller and more.




Well what do you learn when you grow up with these folks:




Good friends have your back covered, kinda like a marine (Hugh Allen Jones)

People are more important than animals, if you don't agree, get over it.

My Mom told me what is on the inside is more important than the outside , she was right

Don't judge folks by their looks but by their actions




Thanks for your time,

gary

http://thepioneerman.blogspot.com

glolson21@gmail.com