Only in a small town like Grainola

When you live in small towns you get to know about everyone and a lot of times you just get surprised about what you don't know.  One of those times was when I was in downtown Grainola (get real as there was only about 36 folks in Grainola and there were probably more dogs than people) at Dale's Feed Seed and Fertilizer Store and here comes Paul Jones (dad to Paula, Debbie and David and wife to Billie, I guess that is how you spell Billie) landing his airplane on main street right in front of the tennis courts, the Post Office and Dale's.  Paul was bald headed, like a lot of the Jones as they got older, but he was adventuresome and just down right a lot of fun.  He jumped out of the plane with a big smile on his face and with everyone coming over to see the commotion he was in his element.  I guess everyone wants to be noticed but Paul was all about the fun.  Anyway, that was the first time I saw Paul's plane and the first time I saw a plane up that close.  And the only time I saw a plane in downtown of any town, especially Grainola.

I don't know if it is true but Paul was supposed to have flown his airplane under a high line wire many a time but once he hooked it and flipped the plane.  He lived.  Another story which I cannot validate is he drove a Ford Bronco (as I remember anyway, it kind of looked like a jeep to me) with an engine that he rebuilt and it was told that he had a high patrolman clock it and he was over 140 miles per hour on Highway 60 down by Pawhuska.

I am not sure all the stories were true but based on the evidence he was guilty of all these pranks.  He flew his airplane to hay fields where we cut, bailed and hauled the hay which he contracted.  I guess you could say he was an entrepreneur.  As I recall we could stack about 600 bales on a semi trailer which he would take to anywhere they would pay.  The hay was typically alfalfa but we bailed and hauled a lot of prairie hay and some hay-grazer (kind of like johnson grass but a lot better).  It seemed that about every young man at one time or another worked in the hay fields around Grainola, Shidler, Fairfax, Pawhuska (home of the pioneer woman, Ree Drummond), plus Copan and Bartlesville.  I should throw in Little Chief since they are making a movie focused on the murders in Little Chief and the remainder of Osage County.  The movie is based on the book "Killers of the Flower Moon".  You gotta read the book, it is a killer (get it? ha, ha).  In fact now that I bring that up we hauled hay for E.C. Mullendore, who was murdered up around Copan by what they think was the mob.  There is a book about it and I believe the title is: "The Mullendore Murder Case".


Paul is mentioned in the book along with some of the other Grainola folks as he flew  E.C. to Ponca City where E.C. transacted some business supposedly with the mob.

Paul is also the person who gave me my first airplane ride from the Mullendore Ranch near Copan to Shidler so I could get back to the start of football practice.  Paul teased me about getting sick in his airplane for weeks telling me I had to carry a bucket in case I tossed up some chunks.  Do I need to explain?  NOT!  He tried everything he could to make me sick and luckily I did not.

Paul was just one of those great guys in my life and I am thankful I got to know him.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• Life is like a box of chocolates, you just don't know what you are gonna get
• In everything give thanks and learn something
• You will never regret if you keep your mind on what matters most, like Jesus and family

Thanks for listening,

gary

golson21@hotmail.com