bmonthly August 2021

AUGUST 2021

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WHAT’S INSIDE

what’s inside...

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Upfront

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Out & About: Photos from Around Town

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Profile: Jim Hess

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On the Osage: Story Behind the Jewelry

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Tribute: Lida Floriene Messall Until We Meet Again

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Funny You Should Ask: There Is Still So Much Beauty to be Had

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Legendary Leaders: Coach Bill Holbrook Former BHS Coach Had a Big Impact

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Knowing Nowata: Different Times in Education

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Health & Luxury: The Spa Treatment

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Feature: One-Room Schools The Backbone of American Education

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Looking Back: Oil & Water Mix in Copan Lakes & Oil a Boon to District

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Feature Sponsor Story: Coach Custer Former Teacher & Coach Did Much for Students

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Making a Difference: Hope Pediatric Therapy

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Once Upon a Time: Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Decades-Old Photo Has Local Writer Stumped

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Breath of Relief: The Crawdads Celebrated . . .

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Hope & Belief: Community Bible Study

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Health & Wellness: Recruiting for the Future

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Introductions: Meet Coach Cody Price

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Arts & Entertainment: Music Festival a Hit

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Meeting a Need: Empty Bowls

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Leaders in Education: Salute to Coach Benne

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Special Thanks: Thank You!

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Kids’ Calendar

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Chick-fil-A Events Calendar

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A Good Word: When Contagious is a Good Thing

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Life of Service: Chief Banks Retired Fire Chief Served 42 Years with Department

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Now You Know: Story Time With Miss Ruth Winifred Brown

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From the Heart: Be a Cupcake Maker

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Community: A Community of Support

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Education: State of Schools

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Let Freedom Ring: The Cold War & Radar Hill AUGUST 2021

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UPFRONT

upfront Hello friends, and welcome to August! I cannot believe school is starting in three weeks. Where the heck did the summer go? At least we still have plenty of weekends to get on the lake or take a late summer trip to so many places in this great state of Oklahoma!

Every issue I try to create a magical cover that usually matches our theme of the month or the feature story. As many of you know, I take my covers very seriously!

Throughout the year, when I’m creating the cover I get stuck from time to time, and this month is one of those months. I looked at hundreds of pictures and could not find that one picture for the cover. It was coming down to possibly using an old school room picture from clip art off the internet.

Yikes! It finally came to me as I studied this picture of Garfield School ... the first school building in Bartlesville. I started to look at the faces and the life that all these kids lived after graduating from this school. Did any of these kids on the cover become our great-grandfather or our great-grandmother? Can you see the three boys in the tree and how all their faces are so different? When I started to bring this picture from my thoughts to paper, Melissa Green at Copper Cup Images helped transform this picture back to 1905. Two days later, we present to you our August “Back to School” issue. This picture was photographed when Bartlesville was still in Indian Territory, and it would be two years later that we would become a state. We love our history!

In this month's feature story, Debbie Neece from the Bartlesville Area History Museum wrote about all the one-room schools which were scattered like seeds all over this landscape in the early 1900s.

There were many little one-room schools throughout our area. The museum has pictures of most of these historic schools, including the first students and teachers who helped educate and make Bartlesville and our surrounding communities such a prosperous place to live, work, and raise a family.

Also in this month's issue, we have our “A Good Word” written by our dear friend, Dawn Marie Colaw ... really, she’s like a mother to Christy and me. Thank you for always being there for us and believing in Christy and me when we battled the enemy for our marriage and, honestly, my life. We also had Sarah Gagan tell us about our Profile this month, Mr. Jim Hess, and how he and his family have been in the area and

making an impact on our city since the early 1900s.

Over the last 16 years, Christy and I have had seven of our children go through the Bartlesville school system. Now we just have one left ... Grace, who will be a sophomore this year — that's crazy in itself!

What challenges we had back then. There was a time when we had three kids in three different schools here in Bartlesville. It was crazy getting everyone on the bus or scrambling to get them to school on time, but we did it.

Growing up, the importance of education was not pushed on me. Three weeks before graduation, I was kicked out of school because I skipped class so many times and finally got caught. Looking back, I miss walking with my class and getting my diploma. I never went back and got my GED, but God has been good to me over the years. I have worked all over the world and for many companies such as ABC Sports, FOX, CBS, and Disney. I have met movie stars, presidents of different countries, and some of the most incredibly talented people. I did it with hard work and being in the right place at the right time.

Education is crucial for our kids' future, but I know some of the most successful people in the world who dropped out of school to pursue their dreams. No matter how many degrees you have or how many years you went to school, the one thing I think is most important is don't ever give up on your dreams. Fight for them everyday. I truly believe education is vital, but I also believe at the end of the day what will carry you through and what I have always told my kids is don’t ever quit ... never! God Bless.

Volume XII Issue VIII Bartlesville Monthly Magazine is published by

ENGEL PUBLISHING

Offices located in Downtown Bartlesville in the historic Price Tower 510 Dewey Ave, Suite 400, Bartlesville, OK 74003 P.O. Box 603, Bartlesville, OK 74005

www.bartlesvillemonthly.com facebook.com/bartlesvillemonthly Publisher

Brian Engel brian@bartlesvillemonthly.com Art Direction

Copper Cup Images design@coppercupimages.com Director of Sales & Marketing

Keith McPhail keith@bartlesvillemonthly.com Community Liaison

Christy McPhail christy@bartlesvillemonthly.com Project Manager

Andrea Whitchurch andrea@bartlesvillemonthly.com Administration

Shelley Greene Stewart Delivery and Distribution

Julie Drake Calendar/Social Media

calendar@bartlesvillemonthly.com Contributing Writers Debbie Neece, Kay Little, Jay Webster, Tim Hudson, Lori Kroh, Brent Taylor, Kelly Bland, Keith McPhail, Rita Thurman Barnes , Jay Hastings, Maria Gus, Sarah Leslie Gagan, Carroll Craun, Lori Just, Dawn Marie Colaw, Bob Fraser, Mike Wilt, Delaney Chidester, Rudy Taylor, Chuck McCauley, Carol Hudson, Mindi Gaut, Lizet Almendarez Contributing Photographers Ray Peaster, Kathryn Peaster, Chance Franks, Nowata County Historical Society Museum, Bartlesville Area History Museum, Kumar Krishnan, Michael Wray, Lehmer Photography, Matt Conley, Allison Swift, Celeste Cleary, Grace McPhail Kids Calendar

Jessica Smith

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied or otherwise, without prior permission of Bartlesville Monthly, Inc.

ABOUT THE COVER Cover photo is Garfield School, the first school building in Bartlesville.

Creative Concept by Keith and Christy McPhail Design by Copper Cup Images

bmonthly managing editors Keith & Christy McPhail.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

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PROFILE

Jim Hess

A Merchant’s Legacy

by Sarah Leslie Gagan

It has been said, with a wink and a twinkle of the eye, that it was an arranged marriage when the son of a grocery wholesaler married the daughter of a retail grocer in 1933. Both Joe Hess and Mildred Jolley had Bartlesville family history dating back to 1902. Moreover, it was a rich history of entrepreneurship, commercial business know-how, and serving people.

These values are alive and well today in the Hess family, carried on by Joe and Mildred’s third child, Jim.

In Jim’s eyes, the whole world was magical while growing up in Bartlesville, when the entire town was west of the Caney River.

He fondly recalls his grade school years at Garfield elementary, riding bicycles with friends, attending movies downtown, and getting into some schoolboy mischief. His parents’ two-story home on South Johnstone was the popular place for his friends to gather, as well as friends of his sister and brother. It was the comfortable busyness of growing up that would become fodder for some of Jim’s favorite stories he would share with friends later in life. He has a natural, captivating bent for storytelling with his mellow voice and delightful choice of words.

After graduating from College High School in 1961, Jim attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, and keeping with the family trade, majored in Business Administration. He began his career at Shell Oil Company in the credit department. He enjoyed the accounting work, however, Jim missed interacting with people and the public. It was at Shell Oil that he met and married his wife, Linda, who has been his bride of 52 years. Jim has a daughter, Tracy Ann, and a son, David, as well as two grandsons and one

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granddaughter. The picture above was taken by David while Jim was in Ireland.

Following his time at Shell Oil, Jim began a lengthy career in the medical and laboratory supply business. In 1977, while continuing to work his full-time day job, Jim bought Fifth & Shawnee Liquor Store from his father, who had opened the retail liquor store in 1965. He was blessed with reliable and trustworthy employees, which he considered family, to help keep the store running.

Jim has many memories from his 44 years as owner of the store at Fifth and Shawnee. Perhaps the most memorable story to tell is of the October night when evil came calling.

It was 1978, and Jim was still living and working in Tulsa. He came into Bartlesville on a Tuesday to attend a seminar presented by the Chamber of Commerce and Department of Treasury about counterfeiting. Jim came into his liquor store at dusk and noticed a dark blue, early-model Chevrolet with Kansas plates parked at the south door.

Jim parked his company car, equipped with both a regular antenna and CB

PROFILE antenna, at the store’s east entrance. Jim admits that in his blue blazer and khaki slacks, and driving his company car, he could easily have been mistaken for a detective.

As Jim entered the east door, he noticed the Chevy began revving its engine. As he stepped in, he said, “Boy! We had an interesting seminar tonight, it was on counterfeiting.” He noticed a small man standing at the counter in a trench coat, and as Jim walked behind him, the man turned 360 degrees. Jim picked up the $20 dollar bill the man handed the cashier to pay for his Jack Daniels, held it up to the light and said, “That one looks ok,” and laughed. The customer wasn’t laughing at all, in fact Jim describes him as looking like a vicious mad dog ready to attack.

It made Jim’s blood run cold. Taking his purchase, the man backed from the counter all the way to the south door, then spun around and ran out the door and left.

A few months later, Jim entered the store and his employee asked him if he had seen the Tulsa Tribune. They both stood in shock as they recognized the man on the cover as the strange customer from that October night. It was the notorious serial murderer Roger Dale Stafford, best known for the Oklahoma City steakhouse murders in July 1978, who was suspected of committing several other murders with his wife and brother since 1974.

Stafford was known for leaving no witnesses. Jim could only guess that Stafford suspected he was a cop and armed, so he didn’t commit murder that night at Fifth and Shawnee.

Jim’s love of the Bartlesville community has remained strong through the years. He served the community as a two-term president of The Friends of the Bartlesville Library. During his leadership, he was instrumental in starting the annual creative writing contest, which has become a beloved tradition in our literary community. Jim is a writer himself and wishes he had more time to devote to the craft. His writing has won awards through the creative writing contest sponsored by Friends of the Bartlesville Library.

Jim holds a deep love for our community history and is truly knowledgeable on many subjects, including history on the founding of our town and its growth. He is a former three-term president of the Bartlesville Historical Society and was very involved in the establishment of the one-room schoolhouse exhibit, a replica of the late 1800s school built by early-day pio-

Jim Hess and his wife, Linda.

neer Nelson Carr, at the Bartlesville Area History Museum. It was his vision to acquire authentic furniture and supplies used in the pioneer time period, and invested much time obtaining just the right items necessary for a realistic experience.

Jim considers his greatest accomplishment to be the creation of the College High Alumni Scholarship Program. It was an idea that literally came to him in the shower one day, after the town’s two high schools — College High and Sooner High — were merged to become Bartlesville High School, in 1982. He wanted the Wildcats of College High to be remembered for their love of education, and created a way for them to pay it forward to future generations. Each alumnus that joins the scholarship program agrees to donate their graduation year in dollars, every year on their birthday. For example, Jim graduated in 1961, so every year on his birthday, he donates $19.61 to the scholarship.

The College High Alumni Scholarship has helped 141 graduates attend college since its inception in 1986, and maintains $500K in a very conservative investment portfolio. Scholarship recipients continue to receive Wildcat financial assistance each year that they make their grades in college. Because of this legacy, Jim has promoted education and growth for the young people of our community in a way that continues to change lives.

Jim Hess is a keeper of history and a teller of stories that future generations need to hear. Education comes to us in many ways.

Sometimes it is through formal institutions, but other times it is through the heart of a local businessman with a love of sharing history. We have much to learn from Jim, and we are grateful for his love of our past and the desire to carry it forward.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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TRIBUTE

Lida Floriene Messall Until We Meet Again

by Debbie Neece Fourteen years ago I found a dear friend when I met “Flo” Messall. She served on a committee charged with collecting the “Family Histories of Washington County” … always a smile, kind word and gentle hug.

She was born in Ponca City on March 10, 1922 and shared vivid memories of 101 Ranch visits with her father as she told about the time they stood outside “Tony the Bear’s” cage and he swiped at her leaving a barely visible scar across her cheek.

Her family moved to Michigan and Ohio before moving to Bartlesville in 1937 where she graduated as a College-High Wildcat in 1940; but she didn’t hold my Sooner Spartan roots against me.

In 1941, she married Arthur Messall, Jr. and they lived in Kansas City where their daughter, Mary Kathryn was born in 1944.

They returned to Bartlesville in 1948 and Art worked at Phillips Petroleum Company’s Research and Development. He passed away in 1973.

In 1950, Flo accepted employment with Drilling Specialties, a division of Phillips Chemical Company. In 1974, she became the International President of Desk and Derrick and was often was the key speaker at oil and gas related events, a skill that evolved into a career. Her knowledge of the petroleum industry brought speaking engagements across the U.S. and Canada and earned her the Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Petroleum Council and the Independent Petroleum Energy.

She retired from Phillips in 1985 but her adventures had just begun. She earned her private pilot’s license and told of flying to Alaska with a friend from Louisiana where they chartered a fishing boat. Their catch was packed in ice for the return flight and they worked during the night in Flo’s kitchen to repack the fish for the friend’s trip home. She thoughtfully stopped flying because it worried her mother too much.

She cherished volunteering at Jane Phillips Hospital and serving with Tuesday Club. And she challenged her day by working book after book of crypto quote puzzles but was not ashamed to say, with a sly grin, “I often have to cheat a little to get started.”

During her employment years, she developed quite a wardrobe of clothes and shoes…oh those shoes. She enjoyed her outdoor walks and when Covid restrictions lifted, the first place she wanted to go was Brown’s for a new pair of shoes. She was a sight dancing with her walker in leopard print tennis shoes. We laughed and enjoyed the outing.

Her gorgeous white hair had a natural wave and was immaculate all of the time with little to no effort.

Somehow we never ran out of conversation. She loved car rides around town to see what was new or even what was old.

The Tower Center at Unity Square was a delight to see. She loved lunch with friends and family at Eggberts or Tumbleweeds, which she always called Thunderbird.

When a fall resulted in a broken hip, she graciously accepted the challenges of rehab and the minor aches that followed. When her broken body could carry her no longer although her heart was strong, her words so kind and her friend base so large, the dear Lord knew when to send his angels to bring her home. This happen for my dear friend Flo Messall on July 13, 2021 … until we meet again.

Flo Messall with Debbie Neece.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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KIDDIE FARM

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LEGENDARY LEADERS

Coach Bill Holbrook Former BHS Football & Wrestling Coach Had a Big Impact

by Mike Wilt It is March 24, 1945. Not knowing the end of fighting in the European theatre is only six weeks away, the Allies launch Operation Varsity – an airborne attack on Nazi Germany involving over 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft.

One of the paratroopers who drops into enemy territory is 20-year-old Bill Holbrook of the U.S. Army’s 17th Airborne Division. He is a long way from his home in Three Rivers, Texas.

He’s also a long way from his future home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

The son of a Baptist preacher and carpenter, Holbrook was one of twelve children who grew up in a tiny town 75 miles south of San Antonio. After marrying a hometown girl at 18, Holbrook joined the Army in 1942. He had no way of knowing that three years later he would be part of history. Operation Varsity was the largest airborne operation that was conducted on one day in one location. He also didn’t know that he would still be in Europe for several months after Germany surrendered. However, his time overseas would lead him to America’s heartland.

Following the fall of Nazi Germany, General Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered that U.S. military divisions form their own football teams with games to be played in various soccer stadiums. Holbrook was a tight end on a team comprised of former and future players from both college and the NFL. Despite being the only high school player on his team, the muscular Holbrook was one of three to play in an all-star game during which he scored a touchdown.

Holbrook eventually returned home to his wife, Mary, and attended SMU in Dallas. However, football led him to the University of Tulsa as a student, and football led him to Bartlesville’s College High School (BHS today) as a coach. In 1950, Holbrook became an assistant under Burl Stidham. In December 1961, he was named head coach of the Wildcats. Two years later, he earned Oklahoma 7 Conference Coach of the Year honors.

After the opening of a second high school across town, Holbrook was tapped as head football coach and athletic director for Sooner High School (Madison Middle School today) in 1968.

“He was a lot of fun to play for,” said Washington County Commissioner Mike Dunlap who was an offensive lineman under Holbrook from 1968 to 1970. “We all had a lot of respect for him. It’s difficult to put into words. Just the way he carried himself. It was a different time back then.”

Indeed. The handsome Holbrook always wore a gold sports coat, tie, and fedora on game night. But he was also a methodical, innovative coach, especially when it came to defense. In 1971, Holbrook’s Sooner Spartans battled top-ranked Booker T. Washington at a crowded Custer Stadium. The Hornets eked out a 12-7 win, and went on to capture the state title. Years later, Holbrook met a man who was a student manager on the opposing sideline that night. He told Holbrook how impressed the BTW coaches were with the Spartans’ defense and the program in general.

Holbrook is also credited with starting the high school wrestling program in 1962. To generate support, he brought to town OSU’s wrestling great and coach Myron Roderick. Three short years later, Col-Hi took first place at the distinguished Tulsa Edison tournament.

Today, the 96-year-old Holbrook lives in a log cabin in Leakey, Texas, northwest of San Antonio. Mary, his beloved wife of 72 years, passed away about six years ago. Holbrook still enjoys hunting and occasionally guides hunts for his nephew nearby.

Coach Holbrook is now a long way from his former home, but the small town Texan left a big impact on Bartlesville sports.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

One-Room Schools The Backbone of American Education

by Debbie Neece, Bartlesville Area History Museum

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE Living off the profits of the land and teaching children the manner in which to better produce for the family was a necessity in the late 1800s; therefore, early education was a haphazard affair until the development of one-room schools. Peppering the landscape of Washington County, approximately 75 one-room schools offered early education for kindergarten through eighth-grade graduation, serving scholars as young as four years of age and as old as needed to graduate.

Obtaining an eighth-grade education in the late 1800s and early 1900s could prove challenging. Schools were conducted as private enterprises when a teacher and a gathering space were available. Often the space was a home, church, building supplied by a family or merchant, or under the trees along the Caney River.

School Masters and Marms were sometimes just slightly older than the students they taught and possessed a greater knowledge of elementary education than the students but rarely a college education. The classroom rarely had sufficient educational materials for the entire class; most students shared slate writing boards, chalk pencils, and textbooks. School classes were held seasonally when crop demands freed the children and between heavy rains and winter weather events that hampered travel to the school. Tuition was generally fifty cents to a dollar per student which could be reduced by in-kind payments of food or lodging; however, the Cherokee government paid the tuition for Indian children.

Beyond reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, U.S. history, and orthography instruction, education offered an opportunity for socialization through holiday programs and box suppers or pie socials which often doubled as fundraising opportunities. Young ladies poured their hearts into creating attractively deco-

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

GARFIELD SCHOOL CLASSROOM

rated boxed meals to be auctioned to the highest bidder. Then, just before the auction began, word would leak to her “smitten fellow” which box he should bid upon so they could share the picnic together under the school grounds tree.

Teachers served under a mandatory “Code of Conduct” and expected no less from their scholars. Manners were taught and strictly practiced. The motto “Spare the rod and spoil the child” was also practiced. Students displaying unwanted behavior resulted in punishment as light as wearing a shameful dunce hat in front of the class or as drastic as corporal punishment which made a deep impression on the minds of all students.

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Passing an eighth-grade exam was “no walk in the park.” In the testing span of five hours, the students were required to complete: Grammar (1 hour): • Give the nine rules for the use of capital letters.

• Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.

• Define verse, stanza and paragraph.

• What are the principal parts of a verb?

• Give principal parts of do, lie, lay and run.

• Define case. Illustrate each case.

• What is punctuation? Give the principal marks of punctuation.

SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

•

Write a composition of about 150 words and show there in that you understand the practical use of grammar.

Arithmetic (1½ hour): • Name and define the rules of arithmetic. A wagon box is 2ft. deep, 10ft. long and 3ft. wide. How many bushels of wheat will it hold?

• If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 pounds, what is it worth at 50 cents per bushel, deducting 1,050 pounds for the tare?

• District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?

• Find the cost of 6,720 pounds of coal at $6.00 per ton.

• And five additional difficult questions.

U.S. History (45 minutes): • Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.

• Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.

• Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War. • Show the territorial growth of the United States.

• Tell what you can of the state of Oklahoma. And more…

Orthography (1½ hour): • What is meant by the following: Alphabet, Phonetic, Orthography, Etymology, Syllabication?

• What are elementary sounds? How are they classified?

• What are the following and give examples of each: Trigraph, Subvocals, Diphthong, Cognate, Linguals?

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

•

Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd and more.

County. In 1871, the Silver Lake Delaware School opened with thirty-seven students in attendance. Often buildings served the church congregation each weekend and the educational needs of children during the week. Such was the Silver Lake Baptist Church building where Miss Irby taught both Indian and children of pioneer families.

One-room schools often had a dictionary onsite but students were not allowed access to the reference book during testing.

Could you have passed this exam without Google or a Nelson Franklin Carr This is a brief history of Washington County one-room schools. calculator? After completing established a subscription If you want to know more, the Bartlesville Area History Museum their eighth-grade education, school about 1874 near his staff has compiled a book, Over a Century of Schools in Washsome students were sent to home at the Black Dog Ford, ington County: Gone But Not Forgotten. boarding schools for further southeast of the current Oak education while others returned to the family farm.

Park addition. Coffeyville maiden, Mellie Smith was hired to teach the Carr children and about fifteen neighboring children. Miss In the area that became Washington County, one of the earliSmith resided with the Carr family as part of her salary until she est documented subscription schools was established at Silver married John Seidle in 1880. Her parents settled near Cherokee Lake, south of Bartlesville. When the Osage tribe settled at Silver Freedman Sam Beck’s place, at the end of Young Avenue, off Lake, they built a walnut building which was sold to the Delaware Tuxedo Blvd., and her mother taught at a subscription school tribe when the Osage vacated to establish Pawhuska in Osage

FISH CREEK SCHOOL 20

bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

MIDWAY SCHOOL

SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE COLE SCHOOL

attended by the Whiteturkey and Beck children and Joe Bartles, son of Bartlesville and Dewey founder, Jacob Bartles.

Schools were unpainted or white-washed slab-sided wood, stone, brick, or even earthen sod construction and school locations were often noted by Section, Township, and Range, donning names of the property owner or geographical location.

The experience was primitive by today’s comparison … water was carried from a nearby well and students shared the tin cup drinking vessel, a wood-burning pot-belly stove heated the space, students walked or rode horses to school and tied their animal to trees while awaiting the return trip, and the necessary room was an outhouse.

Some early schools left no records of attendance or names of teachers. Their existence has only been noted through memories, family histories, and obituaries. Such is “Uncle John Young’s

School,” a log school on a one-acre plot of land near Copan. The school was surrounded by a wooden fence and old-timers said when class was in session, the school was encircled by “hitched” horses. This school was also recognized as the Caney Forks School due to the nearby confluence of the Little and Big Caney Rivers. When the log structure became unsound, it was replaced by a structure moved from California Creek and continued to serve the children of the area until about 1930 when the school was annexed into the Copan School district.

Several of the schools had more than one name. Occasionally, an accident with the wood-burning stove or lantern used as lighting burned a school building to the ground due to a lack of firefighting tools. After being rebuilt, the schools were often assigned a different name. In addition, some schools were consolidated or annexed to other districts which prompted a newly assigned name. For example, Cole School, in the Hogshooter

POST OAK SCHOOL

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

area, became Midway School, which was consolidated with Hillsdale School to become Middale. In 1950, Limestone School was annexed to Middale, retained the Limestone name, and the Midway/Middale School building was moved to the Limestone grounds and used as a kindergarten. How confusing is that?

Bivins School was an early subscription school southeast of Ramona, I.T. and located on Louis Allen Bivins’ homestead. Approximately twenty-eight students attended including three Bivins children. In 1912, a new building was built and known as East Side; and, in 1917, the Ramona School District became consolidated.

In 1907, along Stick Creek, east of Ramona, was a settlement of Cherokee Freedmen families with about twenty children and the Cherokee 22

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BLUE MOUND SCHOOL

government sent Fanny Taylor to teach the children in a small church building. When the building was deemed unsanitary, the county built the Daniels School on an acre of allotment land donated by Frank Daniels. In 1922, the Daniels School was annexed into Oglesby and the school closed when the Freedmen children were integrated. Another “separate school” was the Martin-North Separate School which was established in 1911, southwest of Oglesby. By 1919, attendance began to wane and, in 1921, the school was annexed to Ramona.

Shortly after Jake and Nannie Bartles founded the town of Dewey, they established a one-room frame school building. In 1900, the first teacher at the Dewey subscription school was Miss Vi Duminiel, who was paid one dollar per month per student.

SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

Susie Keefer received her education at the Silver Lake Delaware School and attended the Northeastern Teacher’s College at Tahlequah. She then returned to teach at the Silver Lake subscription school and Rice Creek School before marrying PLEASANT VIEW SCHOOL Walter Allen in 1897. The couple moved to Dewey in 1901 to teach at the large “open concept” Dewey one-room school, which was equally divided with Walter teaching the older children on one side of the school, while Susie taught the younger students on the other.

As attendance grew, the school was organized as a “town school” in 1906 with a five member school board. James William Green was Dewey’s first eighth

grade graduate in 1907. Green then took a two-year business course at the University Preparatory School in Tonkawa. Afterwards, he returned to Dewey where he was involved in creating and documenting some of Dewey’s early history.

Eventually, the wood-frame school was replaced by a tworoom stone structure at the location of the current Dewey elementary school. According to J.W. Green, “The stone for the school came from Post Oak Creek and father, who was a stonemason, supervised the construction.” Many Dewey men volunteered to drive wagons to the quarry and hauled rock to the building site. The two-room rock school was outgrown when the AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

oil boom hit Dewey. Soon after statehood arrived, bonds were approved to replace the rock school. The new building was completed in 1912. Unfortunately, the new school burned less than two years later. At that time, classrooms were established in churches and spaces around town and the students attended half-day classes until the school was rebuilt.

The Allen daughter, Ida Grace Allen, was Dewey born in 1902, attended elementary school in Dewey, and graduated from Dewey High School. She then received her B.S. degree from the Central State University Teacher’s College at Edmond. Three weeks before her eighteenth birthday in 1920, Ida Allen began teaching second grade at Dewey, a position she held until her retirement 46 years later. To this day, family stories contain memories of Miss Ida Allen who taught generations.

The oil and gas boom fueled the establishment of “Lease Schools” in oilfield areas and the Steel’s Camp and Truskett Schools, in the Hogshooter area, were greatly influenced by the influx of oil boom fortune seekers.

The Wayside/Ayetla School, northeast of Dewey, often reached student overflow capacity; therefore, the Blue Mound School was established in 1912 and the Scudder School in 1914.

The schools were strategically placed to ease the growing pains of the Wayside one-room school. Scudder School classes continued until 1939 when the students attended Wayside before being annexed to Dewey in 1949 with the Blue Mound School. The Blue Mound school building was eventually moved to Dewey, occu-

24

bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

pied by the Assembly of God Church at Highway 75 and 9th Street, and later became an antique store.

An early forerunner to Fish Creek School began in the 1880s two miles east and south of Fish Creek. In 1902, a wood-framed Fish Creek School was built and burned northwest of Oglesby.

A third Fish Creek School was built further southeast and that building was badly damaged by a tornado in 1909. A woodframed school was then rebuilt south of Bartlesville along present Highway 75 at Road 2400. In 1939-40, President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) built stone structures for the Fish Creek and Limestone schools. In 1950, the Middale and Limestone Schools consolidated; joined by Rice Creek in 1958 and Fish Creek in 1959. The Fish Creek building became the Moose Lodge in 1960, which was destroyed by fire on January 7, 1996.

Washington County subscription schools began slowly fading into the sunset with the passage of the Curtis Act of 1898, which authorized the establishment of free public schools. Then, in 1899, a Bartlesville city ordinance was passed to levy taxes to support public schools and word spread quickly that Bartlesville would be providing free education. The result was an influx of rural families moving into Bartlesville to take advantage of this educational opportunity. Many of the rural one-room schools continued to be utilized until towns were formed and then the schools were consolidated.

The Bartlesville school board was presented with the challenge of quickly locating rooms or buildings to house the first

SUTTERFIELD FINANCIAL FEATURE

free school session which began October 1899 at the Methodist Church. Some students had been introduced to the “Three Rs” in a home school setting offered by parents or older siblings but for some children, this opportunity was their first access to education. By the end of 1908, there were twenty school districts and eighteen substantial school buildings in Washington County.

In the 1920s, horse-drawn school busses allowed easier access to schools in further locations and prompted consolidation. Luckily, on October 15, 1921 the Washington County Superintendent of Public Schools, Miss Mary Richards requested Elmer J. Sark perform a “County Photographic Survey” of 32 schools to include all school buildings, teachers, and pupils in Washington County. Between October 15th and 21st, Sark and local photographer, Frank Griggs, joined forces to photograph the Owen, Wiley, Cotton Valley, Pleasant View, Pleasant Grove, Antioch, Vera View, Vera Central, Sequoyah, Riverside, Oak Grove, Tyner, Oglesby, Pleasant Valley, Ochelata, Matoka, Fish Creek, Copan, Hillside, Rice Creek, Steel’s Camp, Truskett, Midway, Hillsdale, Blue Mound, Scudder, Wayside, Limestone, Highland Park, Lake View, Oakland, Circle Mountain schools. The results of their effort became a detailed pictorial history of early Washington County schools at that time.

Gone is the sound of the school bell, ringing to summon the students to class, but one-room schools will forever hold their place in history as the Backbone of American Education.

For a unique one-room school experience, please visit the Nelson Carr One-Room School at the Bartlesville Area History Museum, the Diamond Point One-Room School in Nowata, the Caney Historical Society Museum One-Room School in Caney, KS or the Scudder One-Room School at Prairie Song, I.T. (built-in memory of three notable one-room school educators: Susie B. Keefer, Ida Allen, and Eva Rider).

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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FEATURE SPONSOR STORY

Coach Custer Former Teacher & Coach Did Much for Bartlesville Students

by Delaney Chidester Friday nights in the fall, high school football fans file into Custer Stadium to spend the evening cheering on the Bruins. I cannot think of a better way to pay tribute to a man who devoted his life to coaching and teaching young people.

Cecil Cicero “Lefty” Custer was born in Hooser, Kansas to parents Thomas and Rachel Custer on January 4, 1894. He graduated high school in Cedarville in 1915 and went on to serve as a Marine in World War I. In 1922, he received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Kansas. During his time at the university, Custer studied under Forrest “Phog” Allen, who history remembers as the father of basketball coaching. Following his college graduation, Custer began coaching and teaching math in Augusta, Kansas — where he would stay until moving to Bartlesville in 1924, when he took a job at Central as a junior high coach. Shortly after moving to Bartlesville, he married Esther A. Rape on January 3, 1925.

Custer coached various sports at the junior high level and later became the head football and head basketball coach for Col-High. He went on to become the athletic director for Bartlesville Public Schools, and received his master’s degree in 1931.

In the 1981 book This We Remember, created by Central students, Custer’s former students remembered him as an outstanding coach and teacher. One of his former students recalled “punishment befitting the crime was often used by Lefty Custer …

As a method of discipline, Mr. Custer once sent a few students who were looking out his window during class to sit outside on the curb and just sit there and look at nature..”

Custer enjoyed being a part of his community. He was a member of the First 26

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Methodist Church, Masonic Lodge, Hillcrest Country Club, Oklahoma Education Association, National Education Association, and the “K” Club or lettermen at the University of Kansas. He enjoyed playing softball and golf in his spare time. He and his wife managed the Sanipool.

Custer served as athletic director until 1948, when he decided to take a step back from coaching. He resigned and took a job in the science department at Tulsa Central High School.

Custer passed away too soon, on June 21, 1953, at the age of 59. His obituary looked back on his long career as a coach in awe, stating that during his time as a coach, “Custer gained state-wide renown as a developer of outstanding basketball teams.” The following year, in 1954, the new high school football stadium was opened and dedicated. It was called “Custer Stadium” as a tribute to the man who’d given so much of his time to the student-athletes of Bartlesville. He was interred at White Rose Cemetery Mausoleum. Esther passed away on October 20, 1994, and was entombed next to her husband.

Next time you’re sitting under the bright lights at a high school football game, take a second to pause amid the cheers of the crowd and remember Coach Custer and all he did for Bartlesville students.

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank You!

by Bob Fraser What a privilege and honor to have served for almost 16 years as the CEO of The Frank Phillips Foundation and to have been able to remember, share, and secure the history of Frank and Jane Phillips. I cannot begin to list the people around me who have shared my wonderful journey for fear of leaving someone out ... I cannot list the memories for fear of omitting a special one.

“Thank you” seems so shallow for what I feel but it will have to suffice.

And now, it is time to welcome new leadership and I do so with pride and excitement for what they will bring. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Woolaroc and The Frank Phillips Home.

“Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.”

— Dr. Seuss

“There are no goodbyes for us ... you will always be in my heart.”

— Gandhi

Photos by Kathryn Peaster AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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AUGUST CALENDAR SPONSORED BY 2

Bruin Softball vs Kellyville

9

Noon; Bruin Softball Fields

3

Bruin Volleyball Scrimmage 9AM; Bruin Fieldhouse

10

Noon; Bruin Softball Fields

Storytime for Babies & Toddlers 10AM; Bartlesville Public Library

11

Storytime for Babies & Toddlers 10AM; Bartlesville Public Library

Storytime for Babies & Toddlers

Storytime for PreSchool & Up 11AM; Bartlesville Public Library

Bruin Volleyball vs Stillwater

11AM; Bartlesville Public Library

Wee-Cycle Presale

12

5:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (JV) 6:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (V)

13

Storytime for PreSchool & Up 11AM; Bartlesville Public Library

bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

First day of School Times Vary; Bartlesville School District & St. John’s Catholic School

Summer Movies Under the Stars - Aladdin 8:45PM; Tower Center at Unity Square Hosted by Bartlesville Film Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing movie lovers together to explore important classic and contemporary films.

Storytime for Babies & Toddlers 10AM; Bartlesville Public Library

28

6:30PM; Frank Phillips Home Barbershop Quartets will be perfroming on the lawn at the Frank Phillips Home on Tuesday August 10th starting at 6:30 pm.

Storytime for PreSchool & Up

11AM; Bartlesville Public Library

5

Music on the lawn

10AM; Bartlesville Public Library

Storytime for PreSchool & Up

4PM; Washington County Fairgrounds At Wee-Cycle, you'll find amazing prices on baby equipment, newborn essentials, clothing and maternity items!

Open to new parents, grandparents & foster parents.

12

2PM; Bruin Softball Fields (V) 3:30PM; Bruin Softball Fields (JV)

Bruin Softball vs Tahlequah

4

Bruin Softball vs Tahlequah

17

Bruin Softball vs Tahlequah 5PM; Bruin Softball Fields (V) 7PM; Bruin Softball Fields (JV)

18

Storytime for Babies & Toddlers

28

Food Truck Monday

10AM; Bartlesville Public Library

Mondays in July at 11 AM Every Monday at Tower Center at Unity Square food trucks will be parked in our parking lot every Monday until Labor day. Bring your picnic blanket & friends and enjoy delicious cuisine that varies from week - week.

Storytime for PreSchool & Up 11AM; Bartlesville Public Library

19

Bruin Softball vs Putnam City North 5PM; Bruin Softball Fields (JV) 7PM; Bruin Softball Fields (V)

24

15th Annual Samaritan Sports Spectacular

Bruin Volleyball vs Jenks

6PM; Hilton Garden Inn The Samaritan Sports Spectacular is a kick off to Fall and Winter sports in our community. It serves as the largest annual fundraising event that seeks to generate funds to support the work of the Samaritan Counseling and Growth Center.

Reserve your seat and/or sponsorship now. This has grown to be a sold-out event and one of the most popular fundraisers in the community.

Grab your friends and family, dress in casual sports attire and plan to have an evening of fun, laughter, and camaraderie as everyone celebrates their favorite sports team.

5:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (JV) 6:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (V)

26

BHS School Pictures Times Vary; BHS

Bruin Volleyball vs NOAH 5:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (JV) 6:30PM; Bruin Fieldhouse (V)

27

30 31

Bruin Softball vs Bixby 5:30PM; Bruin Softball Fields (JV) 7PM; Bruin Softball Fields (V)

BHS Back to School Night 5:30PM; Bartlesville High School

BPS District Virtual Learning Day All Day; District-wide

Bartlesville Farmers Market Saturdays in August at 8 AM Every Saturday at Prank Phillips Park you can find a variety of fresh produce, baked goods, homemade items and more.

The farmers market has a wide variety of fresh produce, grassfed beef, pasture-raised pork, fresh eggs, baked goods, raw honey and homemade goods.Enjoy music and shopping! There is something for everyone at the farmers market!

Weekly Virtual Storytime 10:30 AM Every Wednesday on Bartlesville Public Library's Facebook page.

BAA 2021 Art Show & Sale From August 6-27 at the Bartlesville Community Center’s Lyon Gallery. Entering artists’ work will be on display in the Lyon Gallery during regular business hours. The Artists will be competing for awards and prizes. Artists may also offer their work for sale.

There is no addmission to view the art work.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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AUGUST EVENTS CALENDAR

Know of an upcoming event you would like to see on our calendar? Visit us at www.bartlesvillemonthly.com to submit a free listing!

Mon, Aug 2

Tue, Aug 3

Wed, Aug 4

10 AM

Wesleyan Christian School 1780 Silver Lake Rd.

1840s Mountain Man Camp Open Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve 1925 Woolaroc Ranch Rd. Woolaroc's Mountain Man Camp, led by brothers Wes and Roger Butcher, is a living history event that recreates the life of a fur trader in the 1840s. Guests can get a hands-on experience of life in the 1840s and learn everything from how to throw a tomahawk, how to shoot a black powder rife, and how tipis were constructed. The camp is open during regular operating hours, Tuseday through Sunday.

11 AM

TBA

Holiday Retirement Luau Tallgrass Estates 2633 SE Mission Dr.

11:30 AM

State of the Schools Luncheon Bartlesville High School Commons 1700 Hillcrest Drive Join the BPS Foundation and hear from Bartlesville Public Schools Superintendent Chuck McCauley as he reviews this past school year and highlights priorities for next year. Tickets are available for $30.

Food Truck Mondays Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

A variety of food truck are located at Tower Center at Unity Square every Monday, 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

4 PM

Wee-Cycle New Parents, Grandparents & Foster Parents Presale

6:30 PM

Washington County Fairgrounds 1109 N Delaware St., Dewey

Celebrate Recovery Grace Community Church 1500 King Dr. Looking for a safe place to find healing in your life? You’re not alone! Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered, 12-step program for anyone with any hurt, habit, and hang-up of any kind! Join us every Monday night from 6:30-8:30 p.m. We have programs for adults, teens, and kids to learn how to cope through lifes particular steps, principles based of the beatitudes, and the freedom of finding healing in community with others!

4 PM

Chamber Business After Hours

10 AM

Animal Barn Open Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve 1925 Woolaroc Ranch Rd. One of the most popular places at Woolaroc is the Animal Barn — originally the dairy barn for founder, Frank Phillips.

Over the years, the barn has been home to many different animals, including rabbits, chickens, goats, and calves. The Animal Barn is open during regular operating hours, Tuesday through Sunday.

This presale is free and only for new or expecting parents, grandparents, and foster parents. Get everything you need for baby without breaking the bank!! At WeeCycle, you'll find AMAZING prices on baby equipment, newborn essentials, clothing and maternity items!

Thu, Aug 5 TBA

BHS 9th Grade Chromebook Checkouts

Throw on your best Hawaiian shirt, grass skirt, or flower lei and cool off with a tropical beverage. Try some hula dancing or simply enjoy some island tunes and demonstrations as you indulge in festive food and games.

Fri, Aug 6 9 AM

Bartlesville Art Association Annual Art Show & Sale Bartlesville Community Center Lyon Gallery 300 SE Adams Blvd.

The Bartlesville Art Association will be hosting its annual art show and sale.

Artists' work will be on display at the Bartlesville Community Center Lyon Gallery from Friday, August 6 until August 27. An opening reception for the public will be held on August 6 at 5:30 p.m.

12 PM

Bartlesville Artisan Market Washington Park Mall 2350 SE Washington Blvd.

Indoor market where you can shop locally, stay warm, get fresh baked goods, homemade products, and more. The market is held from noon until 4 p.m. every Friday and Saturday.

Bartlesville High School 1700 Hillcrest Drive

Eastland Center • 918-335-2940 AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

31

EVENTS CALENDAR

8 AM

Bartlesville Farmers Market Frank Phillips Park 222 SW Frank Phillips Blvd.

6 PM

Sizzlin’ Summer Series: Salsa North of Tulsa Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

Enjoy All Star Ballroom’s Salsa Dance Demo, followed by free Salsa dance lessons for everyone. Then, practice your new dance skills as the talented band, Zodiac, perform on the main stage. Enjoy free samples provided by those in the salsa-making contest, and purchase a bottle or two of salsa to take home.

8:30 PM

Live Music wityh Larry Newsom Platinum Cigar Company 31501 US Hwy 75, Ramona 9 PM

Live Music with The Back Roads Band

Featuring fresh Produce, Baked Goods, Local Honey, Grass-Fed Beef, Fresh Eggs, Handmade items, and more. The Bartlesville Farmers Market is held every Saturday through the month, from 8 a.m. until noon.

9 AM

Makers Market on 2nd Street Crossing 2nd 215 E 2nd St..

A makers market is a place to meet local artists that create things with their hands.

You can find anything from pottery, paintings, wood carvings, or even earrings created with paper. We have multiple vendors for you to shop from and guarantee you will be sure to find handcrafted and unique goods. Come meet our great artists and help support local talent!

8 PM

7:00 PM

History and Haunts at the Dewey Hotel

Summer Lecture Series presents The Melting Pot of Bartlesville

Dewey Hotel Museum 801 N Delaware St., Dewey

Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

Spend an evening at the Dewey Hotel.

They will go over some of the hotel’s unique histories and take a lantern guided small group tour. You will go into some of the rooms, usually blocked off access to guests. Each journey will be unique, as you can never predict what our fellow specters will do during the tour, or what you might hear or see. Tours are held every Saturday.

The Bartlesville Area History Museum is excited to invite you to join us for the inaugural Summer Lecture Series at Unity Square. Bring your lawn chairs and picnic blankets and listen to guest speakers Kay Little of Little History Adventures and local author Joe Todd speak about Ellis Island and the history of immigration in Bartlesville and Oklahoma as a whole.

Mon, Aug 9 10:30 AM

Live Music at Food Truck Monday Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

5:30 PM

Bruin Camp for Incoming Freshmen BPS Freshman Academy 18th Street & Shawnee Ave. Graduating 8th graders who will be high school freshmen in August, along with their parents, are invited to participate in the free Bruin Camp on Monday, August 9, 2021 from 5:30-8:30 p.m. at the Freshman Academy at 18th Street & Shawnee Avenue.

Tue, Aug 10

4 PM

7 AM

Cherokee Casino Ramona 31501 US Hwy 75, Ramona

4th Annual Triple 7 Car Show

School Bond Election

Sat, Aug 7

Food trucks will be on hand, along with DJ’s Southern Snow. DJ Brandon will be performing at the pavilion, and the splash pad will be open for the youngsters. Specialty awards and with the Top-25.

Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

8 AM

Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Clinic Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) 399519 US 60 Limited spots available. Call 918-766-0991 to register.

Wed, Aug 11

12 PM

Feast Your Mind - Wanda Clark The Constantine Theater 110 W Main St., Pawhuska Feast your mind and come spend your lunch break with us as we listen to Wanda Clark. Wanda was the personal assistant to Lucielle Ball for over 30 years. Cost is $25 per ticket.

Thu, Aug 12

Precincts around town

4 PM

Barrel Racing Osage County Fairgrounds 320 Skyline Dr., Pawhuska 8:30 PM

Live Music with Robbi Bell Platinum Cigar Company 31501 US Hwy 75, Ramona

6:30 PM All Day

Music on the Grounds & Ice Cream Social

First Day of School

Frank Phillips Home 1107 SE Cherokee Ave.

Bartlesville Public Schools Districtwide

Enjoy live music and free ice cream on the lawn of the Frank Phillips Home, presented by the Jane Phillips Society! Pack a picnic, games, and your lawn chairs for this free family event. Entertainment will be provided by the Tulsa Tones Quartet, 6:30 - 7 pm, CODA Quartet, 7 - 7:30 pm, and Bartlesville Blend, performing 7:30 8 pm. Prairie Fire Grille will also have delicious food for sale.

THE MOST-READ MAGAZINE IN BARTLESVILLE Advertising Opportunities: 918-214-4968 • keith@bartlesvillemonthly.com

32

bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

EVENTS CALENDAR Fri, Aug 13

Thu, Aug 19

8:45 PM

7 PM

Summer Movies Under the Stars

Concerts in the Park Series

Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

Hosted by the Bartlesville Film Society, the August movie will be Aladdin. The movie starts at dusk. Bring your picnic blankets and lawn chairs (and some bug repellent, those mosquitoes can be nasty).

Bartlesville Film Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing movie lovers together to explore important classic and contemporary films.

The third concert in the free summer series. The evening boasts live music, open mic, and karaoke with PartyTime DJ.

Boulevard Color Company’s 3rd Anniversary

Sat, Aug 14

Boulevard Color Co. 107 SE Frank Phillips Blvd.

8:30 PM

Live Music with Gino Medina Platinum Cigar Company 31501 US Hwy 75, Ramona

Mon, Aug 16 10:30 AM

Live Music at Food Truck Monday Tower Center at Unity Square 300 SE Adams Blvd.

7 PM

Marketing on a Budget Bartlesville Area Chamber of Commerce 201 SW Keeler Ave. There’s a common misconception that marketing requires a huge budget. In this workshop, we will help cut through the noise and provide small business owners with the information they need to succeed at marketing, even with the smallest marketing budget.

2 PM

Imagine Patsy Cline The Constantine Theater 110 W Main St., Pawhuska Remembering the iconic songstress Patsy Cline featuring renditions of her timeless songs performed by Patricia Louise Brady.

Tickets are $10 per person.

Fri, Aug 27 All Day

BPS District Virtual Learning Day Bartlesville Public Schools Districtwide

Sat, Aug 28

Tue, Aug 24

Fri, Aug 20 5 PM

Come help us celebrate 3 years in business! Our new stylists will be there for everyone to meet. We will have new products to check out and specials on Kevin Murphy and Usmooth.

8:30 PM

Live Music with Garrett Brown 6 PM

Platinum Cigar Company 314 S Johnstone Ave.

11 AM

9 PM

13th Annual Empty Bowls Fundraiser for Agape Mission

Live Music with Let It Ride

Bartlesville Community Center 300 SE Adams Blvd.

Cherokee Casino Ramona 31501 US Hwy 75, Ramona

Sat, Aug 21 8 AM

Live Music at the Bartlesville Farmers Market Frank Phillips Park 222 SW Frank Phillips Blvd.

Tue, Aug 17

The fundraiser supports the mission’s “Food for Kids Program.” About half of Bartlesville’s elementary and junior high kids qualify for free or discounted school lunches. For just $3.50 per school snack pack, Agape Mission ensures with its “Food for Kids Program” that more than 600 kids have food to eat every school weekend. Empty Bowl tickets are $25 each and can be purchased at the door.

Wed, Aug 25

6 PM

7 AM

Canvas Painting Party: Painting in the Osage

City Special Election

Pawhuska Business Development Center 1225 Virginia Short St., Pawhuska What's more fun than getting to paint on a canvas? Getting to paint with your friends! Come join in on the fun and create a masterpiece! Cost is $5 to enroll then $35 for supplies, paid directly to the instructor.

15th Annual Samaritan Sports Spectacular Hilton Garden Inn 205 SW Frank Phillips Blvd.

The Samaritan Sports Spectacular is a kick off to Fall and Winter sports in our community. It serves as the largest annual fundraising event that seeks to generate funds to support the work of the Samaritan Counseling and Growth Center. Reserve your seat and/or sponsorship now. This has grown to be a sold-out event and one of the most popular fundraisers in the community. Grab your friends and family, dress in casual sports attire and plan to have an evening of fun, laughter, and camaraderie as everyone celebrates their favorite sports team. Former NFL and NCAA head coach Barry Switzer will be this year’s featured speaker.

Precincts around town

8:30 PM

Thu, Aug 26

Live Music with Matt Cowell

TBA

Platinum Cigar Company 314 S Johnstone Ave.

BHS School Pictures Day Bartlesville High School 1700 Hillcrest Drive 2 PM

11:30 AM

WFC Wrestling in Dewey

32nd Annual Chamber Legislative Golf Tournament

Washington County Fairgrounds 1109 N Delaware St., Dewey Wrestling For A Cause (WFC) is an indy wrestling organization that stages events to raise funds for families of children battling childhood cancer or other ailments.

Adams Golf Course 5801 Tuxedo Blvd.

“Friendly dealers, great showroom and vehicles, very accommodating. Really appreciate being called by name.” — Matt from Wichita, KS

Hwy 75 in Bartlesville • (918)333-8010 • gopatriotauto.com

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

33

The Choice is Yours!

Choose the team that provides physical, emotional, and spiritual support to you and your loved ones.

Locally owned and operated.

Serving the Bartlesville area for 15 years. www.comfortinghandshospice.com 918-331-0003

Sandra Brown, Administrator

Affordable apartments where you can enjoy new friends and feel right at home!

We have independent living apartments available to rent for those ages 55 or older.

All apartments are unfurnished, 1 bedroom, $850 per month and include: • • • • •

All utilities paid; including basic cable 24-hour emergency response Fully equipped kitchen Patio with sliding glass door Restaurant-style dining or you can have meals delivered directly to your apartment • Planned activities; to include regularly scheduled happy hour • Scheduled transportation for shopping

• • • • • • •

Housekeeping On-site laundry On-site beauty shop Daily exercise classes offered Year-round building & grounds maintenance Interior maintenance Pet-friendly

3434 Kentucky Place • 918-333-9545 • www.bartlesvillehealthandrehab.com 34

bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

A GOOD WORD

When Contagious is a Good Thing We All Have the Power to Touch and Change Someone’s Life

by Dawn Marie Colaw Some amazing stories of courage and compassion have surfaced during this COVID-coping season. In upfront venues and quiet corners of our community, many dedicated people have sacrificially stepped forward. Our family was personally blessed by some caring (I’ll call them) “contagious” heroes*, who touched us with hope, healing, and comfort.

“Contagious” comes from CON ‘together’ and TANGERE ‘to touch.’ In our daily conversations, emails, texts, written notes, facial expressions, handshakes, or even a wink, each of us touch others. When we do, there’s the potential to touch and change someone’s day, maybe even their life and future. That’s exactly what some “contagious” heroes from family, church, and community did for us.

Three major events occurred in our family. First, my mother suddenly died of a very rare and rapid brain disease. Then, during the week of funeral preparations, our grandbaby girl was born 640 miles away, under a strict hospital quarantine. While grieving the loss of life, we rejoiced over brand-new life, all at the same time. But what was to come, we could have never guessed…

Three months later, our very fit and healthy 39-year-old son had a fatal heart attack in the middle of the night! His wife raced him to the hospital just in time. While in the ER, he died two times.

Both times they were able to bring him back to life! Praise God! We were stunned! Many questions still linger in our minds.

Understandably, the impact of each incident has had pivotal implications. It reaffirmed our faith, the power of prayer, the value of family and friends, the fragility of life, and the absolute certainty of a life beyond.

When dealing with unwelcomed challenges, upsetting disappointments, repeated blows of bad news, and other cruel realities of life, some tried-and-true “contagions” have helped anchor not only us, but also others who have had similar, or even worse, experiences.

Attitudes are Contagious.

Attitudes have a sizable impact on us and can quickly spread to others. Even amid stressful situations, a good attitude can prompt clearer thinking, cooperation, and a general sense of well-being.

Affirmations are Contagious.

Going a step beyond just thinking thankful thoughts to expressing them reframes everything. Affirming others lets them know they have blessed us. Wrapping words around our appreciation becomes a most treasured gift we can give and receive.

Associations are Contagious.

Who we associate with, who we listen to (in person, online, through media, literature, music, news, etc.) influences us, even changing our minds and maybe who we are! Relationships can be highly contagious. Proverbs 13:20 reminds us to carefully choose

our friends. “Walk with the wise and be wise, walk with fools and suffer harm.” Having and being a wise friend is contagious.

We are Contagious.

What we think about most, impacts us most. Let’s catch and spread compliments, optimism, forgiveness, love, courage, humor, gratitude, ideas, confidence, enthusiasm, and even a contagious smile … with or without a mask and a fist bump! God Bless! ~~~~~ * A special thank you to our family’s contagious heroes: Dr Jason King, Dr Ron Hay, Dr Jeff Grishim, Comforting Hands Hospice, Apollo Services, Journey Home, Davis Family Funeral Home, Lorie, Ashley, Nina, Christine, Jenny, Miranda, Richard, Larry, congregation of First Wesleyan Church, Wednesday Women’s Bible Study Group & Friends, and Sojourner’s Sunday School Class.

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LIFE OF SERVICE

Chief Banks Retired Fire Chief Served 42 Years with Fire Department

by Delaney Chidester July 1 marked the end of Fire Chief John Banks’ 42-year career with the Bartlesville Fire Department. He looks back on his time with pride and gratitude.

Born in Bartlesville on July 20, 1956, Banks is the son of a Bartlesville native and a British woman. The two met and married during WWII, and decided to begin their new life together in the little community of Pruneville, west of Bartlesville in Osage County. Banks completed his early education at Osage Hills School before attending Central Junior High. He graduated from College High in 1974.

In 1979, Banks followed the suggestion of family member Rocky Banks and joined him in working for the Bartlesville Fire Department. Banks started as a firefighter and had a passion and aptitude for the job and worked his way up the ladder. In 1989, he was promoted to equipment operator, and in 2000 he was promoted to captain.

In 2014, he began his time as fire chief, serving the community in that role for seven more years.

Banks has reason to be proud; he has done a lot for the community during his time with the fire department — but he humbly shares credit with the entire fire department. When asked what his greatest accomplishments were, he responded, “My time as chief was short compared to my long career, but we have made some great accomplishments for the community. The department has taken delivery of three new pumper trucks, a swift water rescue boat, and several support-type vehicles and safety equipment during my time as chief. We also have a new ladder platform pumper that will be bid this fall to replace a 1975 Snorkel truck. We were able to reduce the city’s ISO rating from a Class 3 to a Class 2 department, which puts us in the top 10 percent of the state.”

One of the biggest challenges of Banks’ career has been recent. He led the Fire Department through the COVID-19

pandemic and all of its unprecedented challenges. When asked about it, he did not hesitate to share credit. “... I am proud to say that during the struggles and everchanging circumstances over the last several months, all of us in city management never had anything but the best of intentions for everyone.”

When asked what his favorite things about being fire chief were, he didn’t bring up his awards and accolades.

Instead, he talked about seeing how happy new recruits were when he gave them the news they had been chosen to be a firefighter, and also securing new equipment to help keep everyone safe.

One of his favorite memories, he said, happened before becoming captain. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but being a senior firefighter and getting to help train and pass on firefighting skills to the rookies coming onto the department was what I enjoyed most. Taking the lead on the hose line and entering a structure fire, dragging the younger recruits behind you and showing them how it’s done —

those were some of the most fun times working in the department.”

Banks is looking forward to taking it slow for a while. He and his wife are excited about traveling and relaxing this summer. He said after that he will see what comes next for him. Banks is also looking forward to time with his grandchildren, Banks, Rhett, Emma, Chandler, and Jackson, —and teaching them more about fishing and getting their hands dirty.

I believe I speak for all of Bartlesville when I say that we are extremely grateful for Banks’ dedication over the past 42 years. He has led the Bartlesville Fire Department with courage and dignity.

Thank you for your service, Chief Banks.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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NOW YOU KNOW

Story Time With Miss Ruth Winifred Brown

by Debbie Neece, Bartlesville Area History Museum

What did Benjamin Franklin and Ruth Brown share in common…no, not the kite and key. They both had a common goal of sharing education and conversation through library access, benefitting people who might not have had access to books otherwise.

Beyond being one of America’s founding fathers, Ben Franklin’s name has been etched in history for his many “firsts,” including the establishment of the first lending library, the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731, where he served as librarian from December 1733 to March 1734.

Franklin adored philosophical conversation and the ability to freely share with others in search of intellectual improvement.

This became his inspiration for the Library Company of Philadelphia, America’s oldest library at 290 years.

In Bartlesville, organized access to reading material, outside the daily Magnet newspaper, was found in Mrs. Filkin’s Millinery Store on East Second Street. On June 1, 1898, the reading room was established by the ladies of the Fortnightly Club, later known as the Tuesday Club.

In 1908, the Tuesday Club Public Library Room had limited access; open Friday’s from 2:00-5:30.

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American who granted funds to establish over 2,500 Carnegie Libraries; among them, one in Bartlesville through the 40

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work of the Tuesday Club. Carnegie believed in granting enough funds to construct the building but required a “buy-in” from the community to create a sense of pride in the library. Thus it was, November 1908, the Bartlesville City Commission, the Tuesday Club and a selected Grant Committee requested a grant from the Carnegie Foundation for a public library building. A site was designated at the southeast corner of Seventh Street (Adams Blvd.) and Osage Avenue. By 1912, the funding and construction contracts for the new library were secured and March 1913 Bartlesville’s Carnegie Library opened with 1,250 books on the shelves. This building is currently the Kane law offices and the Tuesday Club has since disbanded.

In 1919, 28 year old Ruth Winifred Brown was hired as librarian on the heels of World War I. At that time, the Carnegie Library held just over 2,000 books and within eight years, the collection swelled to over 10,000 books. Rapidly outgrowing the Carnegie building, the City Commission and the Library Board moved the library to the north wing of the Bartlesville Civic Center in 1927 where the collection flourished to 25,000 volumes by 1936.

Miss Brown addressed Bartlesville Public Library patrons by name as they entered the library because they were her family.

She never married, preferring to focus on her service to the library visitors often crossing the lines of segregation to help children learn to read.

She had long worked to bring equal rights to all citizens and shared story time with children of all races.

According to my dear friend, Flo Messall, “It didn't matter what color you were…

The Carnegie Library building, now the Kane law offices.

NOW YOU KNOW

white, black, blue or green, Miss Brown was always kind, helpful and well liked.”

In 1950, a group of citizens became the proverbial “squeaky wheel” and brought activities at the Young Women’s Christian Association (Y.W.C.A.) and Bartlesville Public Library to the attention of the supporting boards and the City Commissioners, citing an effort to promote integration. As a result, the Y.W.C.A. board established an interracial program welcoming all teen students to hold club meetings at the facility. However, the outcome for Miss Brown was much different.

The citizen committee appeared at a meeting of the City Commissioners to voice their concerns that Miss Brown had also purchased “subversive” material for the Library which had been banned by entities like the New York City Board of Education. When the governing body supported Miss Brown, a near riot ensued. After review of the three publications in question, two were retained and one removed. But this was not the main goal of the citizen committee; they wanted Miss Brown fired for befriending black children and promoting equality. Through a series of political maneuvers, Miss Brown was indeed fired on July 25, 1950.

Ruth Brown’s situation became a case study and received national attention in newspapers across America. In 1956, the movie, Storm Center, featuring Bette Davis, portrayed the events that tarnished our community. And, in 2000, Louise Robbins wrote her book detailing “The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown.”

Then, finally tributes came. In 2007, a bronze bust of Miss Brown was unveiled at the Bartlesville Public Library and the Bartlesville Women’s Network established the Ruth Brown Memorial Scholarship recognizing her 30 years of equal rights service to the community.

Libraries are the nucleus of a community. The modern library has evolved to be much more than a place to check out a book.

It is a quiet place to study, a place for children’s activities, a place to gain citizenship or learn a new language, a place to hold a meeting, a place to get help with your taxes, a place to read a magazine or newspaper, a place to research your genealogy, a place to borrow “things” that you might only need once in a while, a place to borrow entertainment or educational DVDs or books on tape, a place to access free Wi-Fi or use a computer for email or research and much, much more.

In appreciation of Miss Ruth Brown and her passion for surrounding all library patrons with literary opportunities, the Bartlesville Public Library and Phillips Petroleum Company have designed and installed a wall mural tribute to Miss Ruth Brown’s vision of story time for all children.

Ben Franklin would be proud!

Did You Know?

The honor of being portrayed on the first U.S. postage stamp was Benjamin Franklin’s and he has been on more stamps than any other American, except George Washington.

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FROM THE HEART

Be a Cupcake Maker You Never Know When a Nice Gesture Can Change a Life

by Lori Kroh I was thinking about the first day of school. All the new shoes, backpacks, and shiny supplies.

It’s a big deal and everyone takes notice. Then, I thought of the last day of school, and how everyone is ready for it to end. It came to me that no one notices the shoes or the backpacks on the last day, as they are only concerned with the final bell.

This leads me to the middle, the mundane. The day-in and dayout, where a lot of times many things go unnoticed and nothing is new. It’s a routine and the kids mark off the months by holidays, birthdays, and school breaks. The middle is what forms us. Our life takes on meaning through our relationships, duties, and gestures in the day-to-day occurrences with each other and the community.

Maybe because I like frosting, or maybe I’m an enthusiast for all things happy. I share this next story because it’s true and shows what one gesture can do for others.

There was this little boy at school who did not have a mother.

His father worked many hours and was never around. He was always the one without the clean clothes, the dirty-smelling boy who no one talked to at school ... he was the outcast. He was on the fringe and the teachers did their best, yet he wasn’t included in parties or at recess. He was an outsider.

going to be the only one who never brought cupcakes and he felt ashamed and hated himself and his life.

As he got near the school, a lady waved to him from her front door. He didn't know her ... but she looked nice and smelled good.

He told her hello as he wiped his tears with his sleeve.

She asked him, "Isn't today your birthday?" He nodded. Then, she opened up a bag and pulled out a container of cupcakes. They had the most beautiful designs and sprinkles on them and the frosting looked to be three inches high. "Would you like to take these to class since it's your birthday? I made them just for you.”

He stared at the most beautiful frosted cupcakes he had ever seen — and he would get to carry them in. He would be a part of the class and he knew the kids would know he was loved, even though he didn’t have a mother.

He took them and thanked her and he walked into the class with his head held so high. His entire life had just changed and he felt the worry and weight of the world fall off his shoulders. This was the very first time he ever felt a PART of something. EVER. He would get to be included and not rejected and it was on his birthday. Cupcakes. Those little ol' cupcakes changed his life forever. You just never know when the little gesture you did for someone could alter their path of life. You just never know that by taking the time with someone, you rescued them from shame, saved them in their despair, and encouraged them with hope.

Let’s look around and see if anyone needs a cupcake maker for the first day and last day — and mostly in the middle.

He was walking to school one morning and each step was slower and heavier than the last. Today was the boy’s birthday and it was customary to bring cupcakes on your birthday. You shared them with the class and for one day you got attention like no other. The teacher taught them why celebrating is important — because everyone is special. Today was the boy’s birthday.

His father forgot all about it and had left for work early that morning. He was trying to think of a story he could tell so he wouldn’t be embarrassed. If only a dog would bite him or he could fall down the manhole, anything to avoid the shame of showing up without cupcakes. He had tears flowing down his cheeks and his anger was rising inside of his heart. He knew he would face teasing at recess and he was looking forward to having the teacher give him attention all day. He was

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EDUCATION

State of Schools Superintendent Chuck McCauley Discusses District

by Chuck McCauley The Bartlesville Public School District has again been recognized as a Project Lead The Way (PLTW) Distinguished District for its outstanding STEM program at every district school. This meant all six of the district’s elementary schools, both of its middle schools, and its high school each earned Distinguished School status for 2020-21. Bartlesville is one of just 17 districts across the U.S. to receive this honor and the only district with that status in Oklahoma.

Many projects will be completed over this summer while the buildings are empty.

New Promethean ActivPanels are being installed at Hoover, Jane Phillips, and Richard Kane elementary schools to replace decade-old projector-based electronic whiteboards; the other three elementary schools had that upgrade last summer. Central Middle School is being outfitted with new porcelain steel whiteboards. Richard Kane, Ranch Heights, Plant Services, and Bartlesville High School will be receiving new carpet. The soccer fields at Bartlesville High School are being renovated, as well.

Crosswalk signals will be placed at Richard Kane, Wilson, and Ranch Heights elementary schools. New playground equipment is being installed at Central and Wilson, while Jane Phillips will be getting upgrades to its playground surface and drainage systems.

Fire alarms will be upgraded at Richard Kane and Jane Phillips, plus the elevators at Bartlesville High School and Madison Middle School will be modernized.

Districtwide, elementary restrooms are receiving upgrades and refinishes, playgrounds will be receiving new mulch, there will be various improvements of concrete and asphalt areas, and some new HVAC systems will be installed.

Preparations are being made to issue new Chromebooks in always-on cases to 6th graders who register at Central on July 28-29, 6th graders who register at Madison on August 4, and incoming freshmen who register at BHS on August 5. Additional Chromebook carts have been outfitted for elementary classrooms as we staff up to reduce average elementary class sizes across kindergarten through fifth grade.

Behind-the-scenes work includes transferring district network connections from the former Will Rogers school in the Pennington Hills neighborhood to the expanded Education Service Center at 11th & Jennings. A network switch replacement project is also being scheduled for the high school.

Most of the above improvements were funded by past bond issues. Voters will go to the polls on August 10 to vote on two bond issue questions as part of our new normal of having school bond issues every two years which are designed to NOT increase the property tax rate. Details on the proposals are at BRUINBOND.COM. Patronapproved school bond issues are how we can control our own destiny versus being dependent on fluctuating state and federal funding, and bond issue funding was essential in providing technology and curricular support to help us expand virtual offerings to give families choices and support in weathering the pandemic. The deadline for requesting an absentee ballot is August 3, and there will be early voting at the county courthouse on August 5 and 6, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as regular voting at all district polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 10.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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OUT & ABOUT

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OUT & ABOUT

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ON THE OSAGE

Story Behind the Jewelry Prairie Sky Jewelry Co. Founded on Determination & Talent

by Kelly Bland Remember Monday nights on NBC, back in the day when prime time TV was Little House on the Prairie? Michael Landon was Pa, Melissa Gilbert was Half-Pint, and all was right in the world in Walnut Grove. You know, I was told the other day that Laura Ingalls Wilder had a little bit different life in the real story behind the series. It seems she took parts of her life and made them what she would rather they had been instead of making the Little House series a true autobiography.

That’s what I would do if I were writing a book about my life.

Why write it like it was, when you could write it like it should have been. You know, the power of the pen is the power to “write” any wrong. 😉 I’m saying all this to say — that to every story, regardless the person or place — there is always a back story to the main story. Every life has it’s “rest of the story” chapters.

Take Kenyon Lomax for example. Her jewelry has been on the pages of Cowboys and Indians magazine. Her photo shoots to promote her array are stunning. Her creativity is original. Her ability is remarkable. Her creations exude old west personality and speak womanhood that can brave the storm and yet keep a man warm at night. Standing maybe 5’4” with a smile as big as Texas, you would think her an entrepreneurial mogul, a trendsetter, a go-getter — and she has all those attributes — but she also has a prairie story behind the jewelry.

One night as I was scrolling through Facebook, a post by Kenyon caught my attention. It spoke of the first beginnings of her business — how it wasn’t handed to her on a silver platter.

How she worked long hours in tough conditions just to scrape by — holding on by a thread. Her other posts showed a project she and her husband were doing together — renovating an old homestead that would become their home. From my first impressions of Kenyon in her storefront in Pawhuska, I had thought she was probably someone blessed with abundance who knew what to do with it — and I was impressed. But after reading her posts as time passed, I started to become even more impressed, as I realized she was anything but a child of the silver spoon.

I contacted her and told her I wanted to hear her story and asked her to sit down and do a podcast with me for an episode of Osagin’ It. Kenyon arrived at my office in the Pawhuska Chamber a few afternoons later wearing an emerald green flowing

skirt, a classic faded denim shirt, and a willingness to open up the screen door to the front porch view of her life. Two and a half hours later, we walked out on the chamber porch together and said goodbye. I was touched by her attitude, her gratitude, and her honesty. You never really know what a person’s life is truly like until you take the time to get to know them. Prairie Sky Jewelry Co. is a company founded on determination and talent, coupled with the confidence of a gal who decided to be someone who would overcome the odds — and keep smiling.

I hope you’ll take time to pull up the Kenyon Lomax interview on Osagin’ It. It’s available on all podcast platforms, or you can just google “Osagin’ It” to find it. When you’re over our way out here on the Osage Co. prairie, plan a stop in Prairie Sky Jewelry Co. and tell Miss Kenyon that The Tourism Gal sent ya! 😊 Y’all come see us in Osage Co. where we still believe in happy endings – and pretty jewelry! VisitTheOsage.com AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK

by Jay Webster

Hello, Friends. It’s good to see so many of your faces in the reading audience again this month.

So, how are things? You can be honest. It feels like a lot of us are on the struggle bus right now. There are obviously plenty of reasons, but for many there’s a gray they can’t quite put their finger on. I’m right there with you.

And many of the things that used to numb that struggle don’t seem to be helping as much anymore. Most of my creative pursuits have run aground on Frustration Island. I used to enjoy home projects, now they just feel like a dogged “to-do list.” I’ve lost interest in many of the things that used to entertain me. And over the last several months I’ve been suffering from spiritual neuropathy, where I feel disconnected even from the divine (despite my best efforts).

I know. I would be surprised if I were you, too. I mean, take the overwhelming success of this I mean, take the overwhelming success of this monthly monthly column alone and you column alone and you would think I had the world on a would think I had the world on a string, but I struggle sometimes. I mean not like you… string, but I struggle sometimes. I but I struggle. mean, not like you … but I struggle.

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“So what to do with the rest of today’s afternoon?” Maybe this will help. In a rare moment of tranquility a couple of days ago,

FUNNY YOU SHOULD ASK I heard this encouragement in the upper chambers of my soul: But even in all that, there’s this perverse silver lining: We’re “There is still so much beauty to be had.” Isn’t that refreshing? Yes, not alone in the suck. Lots of people feel the way we do, and admittedly things are not all “fine” in our world, our neighborthat’s an encouragement — because otherwise it would mean hoods, our bodies, or even our something was wrong with us.

Yes, admittedly things are not all “fine” in our world, our minds, but there is still so much Instead, because a lot of these neighborhoods, our bodies, or even our minds; but there experiences are universal, it beauty to be had. Our lives are is still so much beauty to be had. Our lives are not means we’re normal! Aren’t we not painted using only one brush. painted using only one brush. lucky? We may be on the strugHere’s what I mean. Yesterday, gle bus, but at least all the seats I was driving downtown on my way home and a kid, probably are filled. about 12, was crossing the street to the OnCue, and he was walkAnd, there are some things you can do to lessen the suck-age. ing in just such a way as to balance a brilliant pair of knock-off The first is being honest with yourself. When the clouds begin to Ray Bans on his face. His first pair of cool sunglasses and he build up on the outskirts of your mind, it’s easy to befriend denial wanted the world to see them and attest to his shared coolness. because it’s scary and you don’t know where this thing is going I so remember that feeling, that intense desire to look and feel to go. The problem is, both you and your new friend, denial, know cool. I remember having to cock my head just right to keep my the clouds are really out there. glasses on (I looked a little like Anthony Michael Hall in Breakfast Club) and knowing I was going to wear those sunglasses until it Next, do the thing I hate. Talk to someone. I’m not a fan of volwas literally too dark to see. As long as there is a desire and want untary vulnerability. I always feel like I’m going to share too much to be cool, there is still so much beauty to be had. and from that point on, people are going to look at me with the To me, kids are like the canaries side eye, wondering if I’m going to crack. Find a spouse or friend in the coal mines. Remember or someone you can trust who doesn’t have a side eye. I’m saying how they used to take the this as someone who has been forced into this over the last year. little yellow birds down (See … still not voluntary.) I even found that in “my own spiritual into the mines? As long journey” where I usually enjoy just my own company … others are as they continued to sing, the making it better. miners knew everything was And finally, I’ve decided on two things: One, I will be okay. That’s the way it is with kids. intentional in acknowledging beauty (goodness, life, As long as kids chirp with adoleshope) when I come in contact with it (even if I have to cent frenzy, as long as girls lean say it out loud). And two, I will make my thoughts and bend in indiscriminate ballet agree with what I know to be true and when moves and boys pinch and pull and “grayness” tries to approach, I will refuse to tickle in awkward displays of affection, entertain it. At this point, if you come to there is still so much beauty to be had. my house, you will likely hear me sayThe air in the coal mine of the world is still ing audibly, “Nope.” (Sometimes in suitable for life and work. succession, “Nope. Nope.

As long as artists are still inspired to paint Nope.”) It’s ridiculous, and mold and write, or plant colorful steel but it helps. And, as flowers in beds of concrete at Unity my father-in-law Square … As long as musicians still hear melodies says, “All we’re lookand lyrics … As long as there is still awe and enjoyment … then ing for is effective.” the lyrics of the band Modest Mouse ring true: “You're not wrong, This feels very Mister Rogers-ish today, but for whatever reathings are a mess…But there's much more than this.” There is still son, I don’t mind. Tune in next month for my annual installment so much beauty to be had. of “What I did over my Summer Break” … when I As long as people are falling in love and taking that first kiss will interview my nineand risking it all on togetherness … As long as newborns still year-old daughter again. smell like hope, there is still so much beauty to be had.

It’s always good for a little Look, the last year (maybe even the last several) has been insight and a few laughs hard on many of us. There’s no getting around that. We’ve seen (and proof that the the frailty of life and have been confronted with the limitations of canaries are still chirping.) many of our most treasured pursuits: possessions, promotions, Until then — see the dreams, sex, and romance. None of these things have managed beauty, acknowledge the to bring the happiness or peace of mind they once did. The words beauty, and enjoy the of King Solomon (noted as the wisest man on the Earth) come to beauty — there’s so much mind: “Life sucks, then you die” (1980s translation). It’s amazing more to be had. he didn’t get hired to write for Hallmark.

Cheers my friends.

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KNOWING NOWATA

Different Times in Education

by Carroll Craun Schooling in Nowata County has gone in cycles, along with other parts of our country. Early times found students studying at home (homeschooling), staying at boarding schools, or attending subscription schools (where you had to pay to attend). Some schools were established on ranches for the owner’s children and those of the workers, and eventually oneand two-room schools were built. Over time, local communities established Boards of Education, with superintendents and teachers hired to teach students.

Salaries were very low, resulting in the need for the teacher to secure paying students in order to have a livable salary.

Bonds were passed to fund the construction of school buildings. Segregation resulted in separate schools for white, black, and Native American students. Fast forward to today and we are back to inhome learning, private schools, and state-supported places of higher education. Salaries are still pitiful (writer’s opinion here). Schools are now integrated. The current pandemic has resulted in a greater appreciation for the work teachers perform.

Comparing Rules for teachers in 1894 Nowata County with those of 1950 & 60s: 1. Teachers each day will fill lamps and clean chimneys. Turn on electric lights.

2. Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the day’s session. Adjust the thermostat on the propane, gas, or electric heater.

3. Make quill pens to the taste of the pupils.

4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church.

In the 1950s, male teachers were becoming rare in one-room schools and public grade schools; church attendance was not required but expected.

5. After spending 10 hours in school, the teacher may spend the remainder of the day reading the Bible or other good books. 1950s teachers could read, shop, or visit friends after school. Better transportation, roads, and telephones made this possible.

6. Women teachers who married or engaged in unseemly conduct were dismissed. In the 1950s, most female teachers are married, rules for conduct were not so rigid, but teachers were expected to set good examples for students.

7. Each teacher expected to set aside a portion of earnings to be used when older so as not to be a burden on society. In the 1950s, Oklahoma State Teacher Retirement and Social Security benefits were made available, making retirement income more stable.

8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or (male teacher) get shaved in a barber shop will give reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity, and honesty. In the 1950s, rules were more relaxed, but rural areas were still very conservative.

9. Teachers who perform labor faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in pay, providing the Board of Education approves. By the 1950s, the State of Oklahoma had established a salary schedule based on education level and experience.

10. Female teachers could not be seen riding in a buggy with any man unless it was her father or brother. By the 1950s, most female teachers drove cars and could be seen with any male.

Student Conduct and Discipline in 1894: Discipline must be strict. Students will stand in a line to march to and from classes. Students stand to recite. If the student wishes to ask questions, hands must be raised, then wait to be recognized, stand and address the teacher as Ma’am or Sir. Discipline took a variety of forms: The teacher used a ferula, or rod 15 to 16 inches long, on the child. If children giggled or were not attentive, they received three or four light blows on the meaty part of the palm. Bad behavior resulted in sharp raps across the shoulder. Older boys received whippings. Girls were sent to a corner and had to sit on a onelegged stool called a uniped. It children littered or spit they had to clean the floor. If they misbehaved they had to write a sentence “I will not…” 100 times. If they talked, they had to stand with their nose inside a circle drawn on the blackboard. If they were late, they lost their recess. If they did not recite well, they had to wear a dunce cap.

The worst punishment of all for boys — they had to sit beside a girl!

Student Conduct and Discipline in the 1950s & 60s: Discipline was still strict. Students entered the classroom quietly.

Students were usually called to recite in small groups around a table.

Students raised hands to ask a question, waited to be recognized, and addressed the teacher as Mr., Mrs., or Miss.

Common forms of punishment included: Notes or phone calls to the student’s parents to discuss the student’s misbehavior. Bad behavior was punished by a spanking with a wooden paddle. Students spanked at school usually received another spanking at home. Other forms of punishment included writing “I will not ...” 100 times, being kept in from recess, standing in the corner, or being sent home.

Current teachers and students operate in another world in many respects. Dress codes for teachers and students are very relaxed except for private schools that require uniforms. Entrance into classrooms is casual but quite, if possible. Questions are acknowledged with a raised hand by the student. Punishment no longer involves spankings. The advent of mass communication systems and computers has resulted in instant responses to teachers and parents.

Students can still be removed from class or sent home, but there are usually student counselors to work with the students. Teacher pay is still the pits!

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HEALTH & LUXURY

The Spa Treatment Ignite Offers Physical Therapy In a Resort Setting

by Maria Gus How far would a patient travel to receive top medical care in a resort environment? According to Heather Smoot, director of business development for Ignite Medical Resorts Adams PARC (Ignite), Bartlesville is becoming a more popular destination all the time.

Ignite, which specializes in short-term rehabilitation and nursing care, offers varied clinical specialty programs and enhanced services in a five-star medical resort environment. Its dedicated team of in-house therapists uses the latest technology to create customized rehab plans, helping people get back on their feet as quickly as possible.

Many in Bartlesville were already familiar with Adams PARC and their focused care prior to Ignite Medical Resorts purchasing the facility in 2020. Now, word about the service and the luxury amenities that Bartlesville residents have come to expect is traveling throughout the region.

“We have had patients travel miles to have access to our experienced, professional staff,” said Smoot. She and Rachel Shearer, general manager of Ignite, shared about a patient who came from McAlester last year during the height of the pandemic. “The patient was unable to see her husband during her stay,” said Shearer. “She recently brought him to the facility just so he could meet the incredible staff for himself. Our patients really do become a part of our Ignite family.”

Ignite physicians, therapists, and nurses use their experience, compassion, and skill to help patients get back to doing the things they love.

Upon entering the newly-renovated facility, guests and patients can enjoy a delicious beverage at the LuxeCafé, proudly serving Starbucks coffee. Ignite staff have created a relaxing environment where anyone can stop in for a visit with friends or a quiet break. Ignite takes great care to serve patients physically, emotionally, and mentally. With a beautiful environment and quality food and drink, Ignite is able to provide just another service to their patients.

Ignite now has three facilities in Oklahoma, including Bartlesville. In the last year, the company has made purposeful changes to their facility which help them provide even more comprehensive care. The therapy gym is customized with state-of-the-art equipment and is designed to allow therapists an inviting space to converse with patients while they are providing treatments, with efficient built-in workstations for streamlined progress documentation. This allows patients more time to ask questions and be an active part of their own recovery process.

Ignite is also pleased to have added an Activities for Daily Living, or ADL, Suite as a part of the remodel. This space is designed to

allow patients to practice the skills they will need when they return home. Equipped with a standard queen bed, full kitchen area, and full bathroom, the ADL Suite gives patients the opportunity to practice the skills they have been working on in a more “home-like” environment. “Patients think they’ll be able to do what they have always done when they get back home,” said Shearer.

“The ADL Suite allows them to have some real-world practice cooking dinner, washing dishes, or stepping out of the shower. It makes a huge difference in their recovery.”

Ignite Adams PARC has increased technology at their Bartlesville facility as well. With EarlySense, a contact-free solution to monitor patients in post-acute settings, Ignite utilizes continuous monitoring technology to reduce re-hospitalizations.

They have also partnered with the Safekeeping-How’s Mom app to keep families connected and informed of their loved one’s progress while they are rehabilitating and recuperating at the resort. “It’s another way that we try to keep in contact with families, which was especially important during COVID,” said Smoot.

“The app allows questions to be asked, compliments or concerns to be addressed, and provides peace of mind to families.”

Smoot and Shearer cannot stop smiling when talking about the staff, remodel, and vision of the company. The facility is anchored by strong teamwork, and every employee greets patients and guests with a warm welcome. “Ignite Adams PARC is a hidden jewel,” said Smoot. “And we want to ensure all the Bartlesville community knows we are here.”

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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LOOKING BACK

Oil & Water Mix in Copan

Lakes & Oil a Boon to District

by Kay Little, Little History Adventures

When the Delaware moved to this area in the mid-1800s, many of them settled in Copan. The community was first called Lawton, then Weldon, and finally changed to Copan in 1904.

In 1896, Mrs. Dell Martin held school in her home north of Copan. She taught her children and a few other area children. In 1899, they went to the St. Louis School.

In 1899, the first subscription school in Copan was established where the city hall and park are now. It was a one-room school and was for the in-town students. The teacher, Nell Truskett, from Caney, drove her horse-drawn buggy to school every day. The building was also used for church whenever a circuit rider preacher came through town. Most families lived in the surrounding country, and the children attended one of the many one-room schools close to them.

A small one-room school, Cotton Valley, was built in the 1880s, east of Copan. In 1954, the students went to the newly-abandoned Pleasant View School. In the 1960s, a new school was built for Cotton Valley, ¼ mile east of the former school. Eventually, it consolidated with the Copan Schools and the “new” building was transformed into a home.

The first school in the area was a sod house on Pooler Creek, north of Copan. On Sundays, the building was used as a Baptist Church.

Pleasant View was established June 1909 in District #2, but by October, the community petitioned to be separate from District #2 and became District #20. They built a nice two-room brick building, the first of its kind in the county. The school met for 44 years before annexing into Copan in 1953.

Before statehood, the Antioch School was held in the home of A.C. Kneisly. After statehood, residents built a one-room school east of Copan. As the community grew, an additional room was added and a 3-room home was built for the teacher. In 1941, they built more additions, but the last class met in 1956, because of annexation to Copan. The building burned in 1966 and all that is left is a marker.

Owen School was established in 1907, two miles south of the Kansas border and five miles north of Copan, on old Highway 75.

The school met there for 45 years, annexing to Copan in 1952.

Pleasant Grove was built on Falleaf Land, just south of Cotton Creek, in 1911. In 1916, it became Blackbird School. Classes were suspended in 1947, and the students assimilated to the Cotton Valley School. In 1952, the entire area annexed to the Copan School District. This building eventually became the Pleasant Grove Church and is still standing. It sits empty now, just waiting to be used.

The St. Louis School was an early subscription school established in 1894, three miles northwest of Copan, and was

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LOOKING BACK

constructed of logs, had two windows, a dirt floor, and handhewn log seats. Within a year, students were meeting in a small frame building built in the same area, about a mile south of the first location. They met there for several years, then moved to Rockford, a new school built in 1909. It was also called Wilson School, because the land surrounding the site belonged to a Delaware Indian named Wilson. They annexed to Copan in 1919.

school board gave the church desks and chairs for the students to use while meeting there. In the 1970s, some classes met in the Methodist Church during a growth spurt of the school. When the Baptist Church experienced a fire in 1962, the church met in the school until they were able to rebuild. At one time, teachers were required to attend one of the churches in town and the board tried to hire equal numbers of Baptist and Methodist.

Another area school was the Caney Forks, also called Young’s, which is discussed in Debbie’s Neece’s Feature story about oneroom schools, starting on page 16 of this issue.

The large growth caused the district to need transportation for all the area children to attend school. In 1910, Fletcher Pomeroy built a horse drawn school bus for Copan, the first in the state of Oklahoma. He eventually built seven. This caused even more growth. Several years later, he built several motorized buses for the school.

The discovery of oil in this area meant there was a need for a place to store the oil. Tank farms built in Ramona and Copan were the largest in the state. This made Copan very prosperous, which helped the schools. The people in the community were not thrilled with the tank farms until they realized it would mean money in taxes for the schools and towns.

The oilmen who came to Copan usually came from the east, brought their families, and expected the schools to be on par with schools back home. They helped build the first modern school in 1910, on land donated by J.C. Sheets, a local prosperous oilman.

All of this growth caused Copan to be one of the best schools in the state.

With the growth from the tank farms, Copan was incorporated in 1906. With growth came churches and schools.

The Methodist Church was the first church in town, and the school met in the church while a new school was being built. The

Because of this growth, The Sheets family donated more land in 1919, so the school could have a separate elementary and high school. Four cottages were built for the faculty. They named them after the wives of school board members. Eventually, the family donated more land for an athletic field and the vocational agriculture building. The football field is named Sheets Field. By 1963, the family had donated 35.70 acres. The only stipulation was that the land be used exclusively for school activities.

The Copan School became a consolidated and incorporated district in 1914. By 1953, all the surrounding rural schools were annexed into Copan. The school experienced much more growth again in the 1970-80s because of the building of Copan and Hulah lakes and dams. I was blessed to be able to teach in Copan Elementary during some of this growth.

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When the world says give up, … try it one more time.

Downtown Bartlesville at 117 W. 5th St. Suite 200 Ph: 918-203-3313 Email: contact@bartlesvillehopepediatrics.com

www.bartlesvillehopepediatrictherapy.com Speec ech/Language/ e/Feed eding Ther erapy Chandra Hindman M.S., CCC-SLP Suzanne Lauritsen M.S., CCC-SLP Abigail Petermann M.S., CCC-SLP Heather Shoesmith M.S., CCC-SLP Emily Thill-Dearman M.A., CCC-SLP Nikki Walsh M.ED., CCC-SLP

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Occupatitional Ther erapy Abby Adams COTA Destinee Figler COTA Aspen Golemboski COTA Zane Greer COTA Kristi Denny OTD, OTR/L Catherine Pauls MOT intern Laura Rix OTR/L Holly Trumble MOT/L Kristina Thompson MOT

Phys ysical Ther erapy Leslee Gaston PTA/L Courtney Townsend PT, DPT Jenna Zervas MPT Off ffic icee Sta taff ff Clinical Manager Danica Moles Medical Billing Kasey Anderson Office Administrator Kylee McGee

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Hope Pediatric Therapy When the World Says ‘Give Up’ ... Hope Whispers ‘Try It One More Time’

by Lori Just Bartlesville Hope Pediatric Therapy is a team of local therapists with a mission to provide HOPE to families who may feel helpless and overwhelmed when they receive unwelcomed diagnoses, and struggle with their child’s developmental delays.

When Bartlesville Hope opened their doors two years ago, there was no pediatric therapy clinic offering occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy in one place for children and families. Families had to drive out of town for these services. Bartlesville Hope wanted to provide a team approach to therapy — coordinating services with their physicians, families, children, and therapists to holistically serve each child as their unique self.

“We have a team of experienced pediatric therapists that provides speech and language therapy, feeding therapy, physical therapy, and occupational therapy for ages birth through 20,” said Laura Rix, OTR/L and owner & founder. “We strive to be experts in our fields, providing the best up-to-date and evidence-based treatment.”

The biggest challenge Bartlesville Hope has overcome in the last two years — besides the pandemic — was growing pains. Nix took her time to seek and hire the very best pediatric therapists who are passionate and invested in serving their clients to the best of their ability.

“Our greatest success is truly watching our clients meet milestones and overcome challenges every single day,” she said. “We have grown and expanded to provide more local services, and each child’s progress brings us immense joy. We also pride ourselves on interdisciplinary mentorship, which builds learning within our amazing team and in turn helps us meet the diverse needs of the children we see.”

Therapists evaluate a child by their own unique and individual differences and strengths. A therapy plan is built based on those strengths that meets families where they are and developes goals that continue providing just-right challenges for each child.

“My daughter, Bridie, age three, was referred to Bartlesville Hope by our doctor when she was a year-old and having milestone delays,” said Katie Russell. “They really are as invested in my child as I am, and it feels good to have that kind of support system outside of the home. My joy with her first steps was their joy. My tears at her eating her first finger foods were also shared by her team of therapists. They treat us like family, and she has progressed so much since early 2020!”

“He goes every Thursday to see his therapists and looks forward to the fun he will have. We tried other therapies that just weren’t working, but with Bartlesville Hope, he has gained new skills and is hitting a lot of new milestones. His therapists are warm and friendly, so it feels like play for him. We are thankful to have this wonderful group here in Bartlesville. This was a missing link for our family.”

Bartlesville Hope wants to help each child grow developmentally, play, explore, engage in new activities, develop new life skills, interact with the world around them, and ultimately grow in independence.

This therapy team is not only passionate about kids and families, but also likes to celebrate the big or small victories, while having lots of fun.

“We want to be a resource to empower parents, families, and the community in areas like child development, positive growth mindset techniques, and ways to encourage your child — not only developmentally, but emotionally and socially,” said Rix. “We have loved seeing the change in our clients and community in the past two years, and cannot wait to see what the next 20 bring!”

“My son, Jet, age 13, has a SATB2-assocated syndrome and is non-verbal with low IQ, so everything is hard,” said Lela Patton.

You can find out more about their evidence-based practice at bartlesvillehopepediatrictherapy.com.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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ONCE UPON A TIME

Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Decades-Old Photo Has Local Writer Stumped

by Rita Thurman Barnes Every now and then, at my age, an old photo can prompt a question or two – when was the photo taken? Where exactly was I or my family or this group of friends? There’s nothing unusual about the idea. Everyone who takes lots of pictures probably suffers from my predicament from time to time. I wrote for the local Bartlesville newspaper for almost two decades and I’ve been doing my current job for several years now. But, alas, either my memory is worse than I thought or what I’m thinking about a particular photo may actually turn out to be true.

I have a Facebook group called Once Upon a Time in Bartlesville which has over 8000 members. I’ve probably turned down half that many requests for various and sundry reasons such as inappropriate photos on their home page or people who try to sneak in to sell this or that – all which are against the group rules. But, pictures are worth a thousand words and I tend to hang onto them whether they are saved on my computer or in boxes stacked sky high in an extra closet. And that brings to mind what happened to me just recently.

I love it when members of my “Bartlesville group” post their personal Bartlesville photos and follow up with the explanations of date, time, names, etc. I always learn something new about the member or his or her family or neighbor or their memories of the history of our city. And, such it is with me. I love to share my photos that I or friends or family have taken – one in particular, very much so. It’s the photo you see with this story. I call it the Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Drug Store. I write about it today because I have been posting it in one or the other of the Facebook groups I’ve had about Bartlesville history for many years. I always get the same answer over and over – No! And I wouldn’t be too surprised with the answers to the negative I’ve received to my eternal question except for what happened a few weeks ago as we were once again cleaning out closets. Some boxes held items from my childhood or that of my sons or my husband and I was once again happy to know of their whereabouts. I also found this or that old trinket from a summer vacation or from holidays past and shed a few nostalgic tears for all those remembered blessings. But, was I ever shocked and surprised when I reached into the bottom of a box and pulled out a 3 by 4 inch black and white photo. I refocused my eyes as I looked down to lay my hand on the very photo I’d been trying to identify for eons – it was the Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Drug Store.

I have no idea who he is. I didn’t go to school with him or grow up with him and I never dated him but his photo was in the bottom of a box in my house. There is no date on the photo or any ID of the developer so I’ll return once again to my insightful readers to take a stab at it. It was taken around Christmas apparently in the mid-1950s. Let us know if you recognize him.

Someone surely will.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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BREATH OF RELIEF

The Crawdads Celebrated . . . When the Little Boy’s Bike was Found

by Rudy Taylor It was late in the afternoon when I turned the corner near our home in Caney, Kansas.

ful looks on their faces. Firefighters talked on their radios, calling for a pump to help lower the water level.

I took note of a small bicycle lying in a ditch that was churning with runoff water. The ditch was a popular place for kids to search for crawdads after a spring rain.

Then, a firefighter who lives nearby said, “I’ve got an idea.

There’s kids who live in those apartments up north about three blocks. They’ve got boys — and bikes. They often play along this street.” So, he left to start knocking doors and talking to parents.

I parked my pickup in our driveway, then walked out to the ditch — which was starting to drain down. The boy’s bike was still lying there, near the corner where the water was fierce. I walked a half block to check it out.

Surely, a little boy wouldn’t leave that bicycle there, would he?

The scene of that bike remained on my mind after I returned to our house. I told my wife, Kathy, about it and we both walked out to check again, hoping to see the bike gone.

But it was still there.

I called 911 and told the dispatcher my concerns. “I will tell the chief,” he said.

I saw our police chief, Kevin Kitterman, driving alongside the ditch, and talking on his cell phone.

He stood in our lawn and looked in all directions.

“Something’s not right. A little boy wouldn’t leave his bike like this,” he kept repeating. He called in the Caney Fire Department.

Soon, there were trucks and firefighters on the scene, along with another police officer. Red lights on the vehicles caused plenty of concern from people who drove by. “You know whose bike this might be?” the chief asked neighbors and motorists who stopped by. The mystery grew grim as a firefighter got in the ditch near the opening of a large pipe that runs underneath the street.

A long pole with a hook on the end was used to reach into the culvert pipe, as all of us standing nearby held our united breaths and prayed silently. Everyone had fear-

Bingo.

A mother answered the first door he knocked. “Do you have several kids, and are they all here?” he asked.

“Yes, all four are here — why?”

“Do they have bicycles?” the firefighter asked.

“Yes, four of them.” she answered.

“I only see three bikes out here,” the firefighter said. “Is there one missing?”

That’s when a young son poked out his head and said, “My bike is down the street somewhere. I left it down there when it started raining.” He identified the bike, and the crisis was over. The firefighter’s voice cracked as he called the police chief on the radio. “We have located the owner of the bike,” he said. “We can go home.”

Strangely, there were no cheers that went up from the small crowd that had gathered — only smiles and the shaking of heads. “Praise the Lord,” one quietly said.

My own evening changed. I said a thank-you prayer as we ate supper. The gnawing feelings inside the stomachs of the firefighters, police officers, and neighbors were slow to go away.

The best sight I saw was the firefighter who picked up the bicycle and put it in the bed of his pickup. “I’ll take the bike back to the little boy,” he said.

And soon, the corner with the flowing water in the bar ditch, was back to being the home to crawdads that, surely, will attract little boys tomorrow.

This column was penned

by Rudy Taylor, longtime newspaper editor and book author from nearby Caney, Kansas.

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THE TREE THAT ESCAPED THE CROWDED FOREST

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT ARCHITECT

HOPE & BELIEF

Community Bible Study Women’s Group Offers Caring, In-Depth Bible Study

by Carol Hudson & Mindi Gaut What do Rwanda, Austin, a Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda, Los Angeles, Myanmar, and Bartlesville all have in common? Community Bible Study classes that are seeing lives transformed through in-depth study of God’s word.

Community Bible Study began in Maryland in 1975, and celebrated its 45th birthday in 2020 with a worldwide study of the Gospel of John. Today, CBS lessons are taught in 75 languages in over 100 countries. A Bartlesville class just for women was started in 1983. Diane Holland, a former CBS teaching director, remembers being in the first class.

Bartlesville continues to be blessed with a thriving CBS class that meets weekly, September through early May. Community Bible Study classes worldwide follow the same format. Members complete a lesson during the week, then attend a two-hour weekly class. Those include a core group discussion led by a trained leader, followed by a teaching presentation from the teaching director.

Then there is an insightful commentary to read at home. Bettye Williams, former assistant teaching director, said of the format, “CBS has helped me stay anchored in God's word for many years. It is easy to do if you follow the daily lesson schedule.”

Women of all ages, stages of life, biblical knowledge, and backgrounds attend CBS. Some women have been attending CBS for decades, and first-time members join each year. Cathy Archambo, a former teaching director who has attended CBS off and on for over 35 years, said “When I joined, I had been in church all my life.

After two weeks of Community Bible Study, I realized I knew nothing about the Bible. It is the best way for anyone, old or young — whether well-versed in scripture or with no knowledge at all — to learn about God’s Word.” Merry Shepard was invited to CBS after moving back to Bartlesville two years ago. Merry said that “CBS was a Godsend for me! Intro-

Front row: Cathy Archambo, Barbara Ayenian, Linda Befort, Rissi Soderstrom, Katrina Eash, Carol Hudson. Middle row: Noelle White, Vernell Jones, Theresa Bradley, Carla Lyle, Amy Rogers, Kadilyn Hourigan, Jessica Manning, Deana Holman. Back row: Jenny Fields, Cathy Johnson, Mindi Gaut, Arlene Wheeler, Paula Giore, Lana Smith, Laura Jones, Jen Brown.

duction to CBS has lead me to begin attending church regularly, and I have become an enthusiastic student of reading scripture daily.”

There are CBS classes from birth to age 18. The children’s department, led by Vernell Jones, is Biblically strong. Mindi Gaut, assistant teaching director, said she joined in 1999 when her daughter Kyleigh

Bartlesville Teaching Director Carol Hudson speaks during a CBS meeting.

was two, after hearing of the great children’s ministry.

Kyleigh learned foundational Biblical truths that have been built on throughout her life. Mindi continued in CBS because of the incredible adult study. Katie Burris, who has been in CBS for two years, said “Our three children look forward to CBS every week! I am impressed by how much they learn about the Bible. CBS helps build a love for learning God’s word.”

The Bartlesville CBS Class will begin its 2021-22-year on September 1, from 10 a.m. - noon at the current host church, Grace Community Church.

The Bartlesville Teaching Director is Carol Hudson, who has served in this position for the past four years. This year they will study First, Second, and Third John, Philemon, Jude, First & Second Peter, and James. Registration fee is $35 and includes all materials. They would love for you to come join them as they come together face-to-face after a year of liveonline study. To register, or for information, visit https://bartlesville.cbsclass.org or call Deana Holman, the class coordinator, at 918-214-0688.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

Recruiting for the Future

by Lori Just For more than two decades, Primary Care Associates has established itself as a privately-owned clinic in Bartlesville specializing in primary medical care for the whole family. In addition to minor emergency and routine care, their facility, at 4150 SE Adams Road, conveniently provides on-site labs and takes great pride in providing quality, comprehensive, and compassionate care to the community. A few of the doctors are looking to lighten their schedules, and the difficult task of finding additional physicians is PCA’s next goal.

“We look forward to bringing in some new doctors,” said Mark D. Erhardt, D.O. “We have a few that have been with us since the beginning and now they want to slow down and enjoy the later part of life. Most clinics go through a recruiter, but as a private practice, we have the ability to go old-school and recruit directly from regional family practice residency programs.”

Dr. Erhardt said that PCA has sent out recruiting packets to these residency programs that include information about the community. They are hopeful to find a few residents willing to do a rotation at the clinic, while also living and engaging in the Bartlesville area. “We will lodge these residents downtown and encourage them to get out and see what Bartlesville has to offer while they are

here,” he said. “We hope after their rotation experience they will want to join our practice and relocate here.”

PCA is the largest, privately-owned family practice in the state of Oklahoma.

All of the physicians focus on family care and provide a hands-on approach to medicine. “We all practice medicine here a little differently based on our personality,” said Dr. Erhardt. “When someone visits our clinic and likes the doctor they saw, they can keep coming back to that doctor.

If they want to try a different doctor on their next visit, they can do that, too. No matter who you are, you will find someone at PCA that you click with and feel most comfortable.”

Another benefit is that PCA can react to situations must faster without having to wait on a response from a larger parent company located several states away.

For example, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, PCA was able to adjust their clinic operations to ensure the health and safety of all of their patients seeking medical care.

“We want these new residents to come in and understand that taking care of patients is our most important priority,” said Dr. Erhardt. “We keep ourselves on the forefront of medicine and participate in various programs to improve quality of care, while hiring the best staff to support

all of these initiatives. Technology is important, too, and we recently changed our electronic medical record provider to help with quality-of-care measures. We want to make sure the patient’s health journey is taken care of, too. We have increased our focus on coordination of care for patients after discharge from the hospital, along with a renewed focus on ensuring Medicare annual wellness exams are being performed.”

Packets went out to the family practice residency programs a few months ago, and PCA is hopeful to hear back from interested candidates that want to know more about Bartlesville and participate in the care of our community. “We want to keep our commitment of quality health care moving forward as Bartlesville continues to move forward.”

PCA was founded by a group of five local, independent doctors who came together to form a loosely associated group in 1999. That collaboration of the same management company, nurses, staff, and administrators became known as Primary Care Associates. Over the years, PCA has remained progressive in their approach to practicing medicine. As new technologies have become available since the mid-90s, the clinic expanded to offer patients the best possible all-inclusive medical environment. Find out more at primarycareassociatesbartlesville.com.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

INTRODUCTIONS

Meet Coach Cody Price Bruin Baseball Coach Enjoyed a Strong Season

by Mike Wilt Always do your best, and always do it right. Two simple rules for baseball and for life.

“Stick to those and you’re bound to have success,” said Cody Price, head baseball coach for Bartlesville High School. He knows of what he speaks.

Born in Ada, Price played basketball and baseball while attending Marlow High School. After graduating in 2004, he attended Mid-America Christian University (OKC) on a baseball scholarship. The 6’1” right-hander earned All-America honors as a freshman pitcher. Unfortunately, he later suffered a cartilage tear in his shoulder. He was forced to sit out the next season with a medical red shirt, but he returned to pitch his final two seasons.

In 2009, Price graduated in with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. In September of that year, he married Blanchard native Courtney Sorrels, who was a two-time All-American basketball player for MACU. Today, the Prices are proud parents of two daughters and one son: Kennedy (age 10), Kylie (age 6), and Carter (age 3).

In July of 2019, Price was hired as the Bruins baseball coach after enjoying success elsewhere. He started as a lay coach for Westmoore High School and later spent eight years at Mustang High School. The Broncos captured the 6A state title in 2017.

Price’s parents, grandparents, and cousins all live in Nowata, so the idea of coming to Bartlesville was instantly attractive.

“We love it here,” he said. “I think very highly of our schools. We have great leaders who truly care about the kids, the employees, and the community. We have really enjoyed our time here.”

But Price’s first season wasn’t all that enjoyable.

“We played about two weeks and then COVID hit.”

However, the Bruins were able to play a full season this year. The team finished 24-14 after losing to a very tough Tulsa Union team in the 6A regional final.

“We had a good team, but we fell just short of accomplishing our goal of winning a regional title.”

Setting clearly defined goals is an integral part of Price’s approach.

“My job is to get the players to work hard at something and to pay attention to details. I want each of them to be the best player and the best person they can be.”

He is quick to credit his wife for allowing him to be the best coach he can be.

“Even though our season isn’t until spring, we begin prepping when school starts. And once baseball season hits, my wife is essentially a single mom. She is a real trooper. I couldn’t do this without her support.”

Price also tipped his hat to his assistant coaches and his players.

“I am blessed to have a great staff as well as some very fine young men. They do such a good job of including my children and making them feel welcome. My kids are my players’ biggest fans.”

Having graduated a large senior class this past year, the 202122 Bruins will be a young bunch.

“That’s not necessarily a bad thing. We’ll have time to build them up. Plus, we adapt to what we have rather than stay locked in to one way of playing.”

Price also has confidence in his players.

“I have all the faith they are going to work hard because I am going to work hard.”

In other words, Price is doing his best and is doing it right.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Music Festival a Hit OKM Music’s 37th Season was an In-Person Success Organizers of OKM Music are celebrating the success of its 37th season.

June 10-17, Bartlesville and Tulsa enjoyed an eclectic music festival encompassing everything from classical, Americana, crossover, and even Reggae pop.

The 37th season performances included Canadian Brass, Jack Settle Band, Dallas Brass, Dallas String Quartet, Tina Guo, Jenny Lin, TAKE3, Wynona Wang, Grady Nichols and Baha Men, as well as a special opening performance from the Booker T. Washington String Quintet.

Mary Lynn Mihm-Howk, chairman of the OKM Music board and event chair, said the “Festival was a week filled with remarkable artists, brilliant music, delicious food, and beautiful art. It was wonderful celebrating our 37th season in-person after a difficult year due to the pandemic.”

The festival saw impressive numbers for many of its mainstage performances, especially Canadian Brass, the Jack Settle Band, and Dallas Brass, to name a few.

From June 5-9, OKM held its Especially for Kids series for local youth. Traditionally held the same week as the OKM Festival, this year the children’s events were primarily held the week prior, with a few events scheduled during the festival week, as well. Events included the popular Tea Party, Songbox with Jacky Manning and Michel Duncan, a Delaware Tribe cultural event, and story time music and art projects with librarian Ms. Laura and Tamika Straw.

OKM leaders are now busy planning its year-round events, such as its Oktoberfest, Christkindl Market, a wine and cheese tasting, and of course the annual summer festival.

“OKM certainly hopes for another 37 years of music festivals.

However, this can only be possible with the support of the city, the arts community, tourism, schools, businesses, and most importantly, the citizens of Bartlesville,” said MihmHowk. “The arts are important to a community and provide a quality of life that has a ripple effect on the economics, community pride, and uniting citizens.”

“We have had out-of-town guests who have been coming to the OKM Music Festival for 37 years, and this year we saw a large turnout of guests visiting from other states.” Mihm-Howk said. “There were guests from Alaska, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Tennessee, and New York, to name a few. ” In addition to its main-stage performances, OKM hosted other series that were free to the public, including its Especially for Kids and the Community Showcase series.

This year, the showcase lineup included local musicians from around the region, and had something for everyone who attended. Showcase performers included: Tulsa Honors Baroque Orchestra, Ann-Janette Webster and the Evolution, Ryan & Ryan piano duo, Wade Daniel, Keeli Droege, Merz Trio, and Hugo Salcedo.

“We had an exceptional showcase season this year, with artist’s of the highest caliber. The community support of these local performers was fantastic to see during the week,” said Ryan Martin, OKM’s marketing director.

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Kiwanis Club of Bartlesville thanks our

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We look forward to a bigger and better event in 2022!

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MEETING A NEED

Empty Bowls Agapé Mission Event Raises Funds to Feed the Hungry A special feature of the 2021 Agapé Empty Bowls Fundraiser that supports the mission’s “Food for Kids Program” and the on-site meal program will be the raffle of a specially-commissioned painting by local artist Rod Bailey. The painting is based on a photograph taken by Dr. Bob Palmer, who headed the team of artists that came to Bartlesville in 2012 to paint the historical mural on the side of the Southerland Abstract building, across from Rogers State University.

The piece is an original oil on canvas that measures 16x20 inches and is valued at $850. Only 125 tickets will be offered at $20 each. Raffle tickets will go on sale the first of August at Agape Mission. They can also be purchased by contacting Brenda Williamson, event chairperson, at 918-766-1007.

Watch for more information regarding ticket sales at pop-up locations to view the painting and to buy raffle tickets, as well as Empty Bowl tickets.

The annual Agapé Mission Empty Bowls event is set for Tuesday, August 24 at the Bartlesville Community Center. It is a come-and-go lunchtime fundraiser, held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., where folks eat lunch, buy a raffle ticket, bid on silent auction items, and take home a decorative keepsake empty bowl.

The Agapé Mission is located at 555 SW Cass Street. It serves more than 4,000 on-site meals to hungry Bartlesville adults every month with the aid of community donors, churches, civic groups, and the Bartlesville Regional United Way. The mission’s programs include prepared meals served six days a week for all ages

of no-income to low-income families, and meals prepared and delivered six days a week by authorized volunteers for elderly, shut-ins, and Food for Kids.

For more information about Agapé Mission, or to purchase Empty Bowls tickets or raffle tickets, please call Brenda Williamson at 918-766-1007 or go by Agape Mission at 555 SW Cass Street.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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bmonthly | AUGUST 2021

LEADERS IN EDUCATION

Salute to Coach Benne Former Teacher & Coach David Benne Touched Many Lives

by Debbie Neece, Bartlesville Area History Museum Fredrick David Benne, AKA Coach Benne, was Colorado Springs born and came to Bartlesville with his family at two years of age. His father worked at the Union Machine Shop near Highway 123 before securing a job at REDA Pump.

“Teaching is not about the money, it’s about the memories and the kids.”

— Coach David Benne

David attended first through fourth grades at Lincoln and Dewey Elementary Schools; then attended fifth through eighth grades at St. John Catholic School, graduating the eighth grade in 1958.

Along his academic travels, he acquired some ornery memories. At St. John, Sister Gabriel caught him throwing paper airplanes out the window resulting in a 500 word story about why that act was inappropriate.

He attended Madison Junior High School the fall of 1958, the year the school opened, and graduated from College High School in 1962 before attending four years at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. At that time, he married his wife Carolyn and two children, Scott and Shelley, joined their family.

brothers were teenagers and somehow something was missing. Coach and his wife, Carolyn, took me under their wings. They didn’t have kids yet and we became close friends. They kinda adopted me that year. The next year, I was at Madison and lost touch with them. However, about 1984, I returned to Bartlesville, working for Phillips Petroleum, when Coach Benne asked me to coach the 7th grade offense at Madison with him as head coach. I agreed and the following year, I took over as head coach for the 8th grade team. Let me just say, we had athletes on those teams and Coach Benne had a hand in making them great. In their senior year, that class made it further than any other class in Bartlesville High School history, all the way to the state semi-finals. Names like Mark Gentry, Mark Nash, Mark Miller, Ted Pugh and a host of other names made history their senior year thanks to Coach Benne.”

Although now retired, Coach Benne hasn’t slowed down much. He loves collecting license plates and hats…lots of hats, much to his wife’s growl. And he treasures the gems of memories with which he retired much richer than most. Thank you Coach!

Even in his youth, David was an avid sportsman…he played football at Madison and at the Y.M.C.A. In fact, he played football and basketball up to his sophomore year when climbing Custer Field’s wooden fence caused a sidelining leg injury.

He was a principal, teacher, coach and mentor for all. He said, “I had friends who retired as millionaires from Phillips Petroleum Company but for me, it was all about the kids.” For all the years Coach Benne invested in his students, he finds most rewarding the comments of grown students.

In the words of Randy Standridge, “In the 6th grade at Highland Park elementary school, Coach David Benne came into my life. He coached me in football and basketball that year and he also was a mentor to me. My parents both worked, my three older

Thank you Randy Standridge.

Coach David Benne now, and as a 1962 College Hi graduate.

AUGUST 2021 | bmonthly

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COMMUNITY

A Community of Support Local ELL Student Felt Support & Help From Bartians

by Lizet Almendarez I was born in Bartlesville. My family has been here for almost all my life. But when I was about one year old, we moved to San Luis Potosi, Mexico and lived there for almost an entire year. I was raised in Bartlesville because my mom wanted to move back so I could get a better education, and also because she was pregnant with my sister. I live with my mom, Olivia; dad, Jose Antonio; my three sisters, Yazmin, Esmeralda and Perla; and my dog, Simba. I am the oldest out of my sisters and have no brothers.

My parents decided to move here because my grandpa and uncle were living here at the time. Now we have a lot of family living here, and my parents really like the Bartlesville community.

They have met a lot of kind people here who have helped them whenever they needed it. I learned Spanish as my first language and during my childhood I was surrounded by people who only spoke Spanish — this made it a bit hard for me whenever I started school. I was shy and quiet to the point teachers thought that I was mute, because I didn’t want to speak. Eventually, with practice and help from my English Language Learners teacher, I started speaking English.

I got an internship with bmonthly with help of the W.E. Prosper program, which is a requirement of the Lowe Family Young Scholars. I am very thankful to have both of those programs because they have taught me a lot, from finances to job interviewing. In five years I plan to graduate college to become an ELL/ESL teacher for elementary kids. The reason for this is because my ELL teacher was the one that really made an impact on me. She taught and helped me and was for some time the only one I could communicate with at school. I want to have the same impact on kids who were like me and need someone to help them learn to speak English. I also plan on being trilingual. Currently, I am learning French and although not many people speak that around this area, it could still be a good thing to put on a resume.

Bartlesville has had a positive impact on me, I love the community that helps others. Even though it is small,

there are still interesting things to do. The thing I like most is that I can still connect with my culture while being here through my church. Our parish hosts events that would usually be celebrated in Mexico, such as Day of the Dead and a parade celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe. Another thing that I like is that Bartlesville is a small enough city to make it easier to get to know everyone. I am currently in band and everyone seems to be supportive of it, which I think we are fortunate for because in other schools the fine arts are not supported as much. In general, this community supports one another and helps others.

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LET FREEDOM RING

The Cold War & Radar Hill Site Just West of Bartlesville was Air Defense Command

by Jay Hastings The first atomic bomb dropped by the United States was on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. A second bomb was dropped three days later on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. The bombings killed more than 100,000 people, many of whom were civilians.

The war with Germany was over by then; however, the war with Japan raged on. There is little doubt the attack on Pearl Harbor played a role in America striking back. Some say the bombings, in spite of their tragedy, helped lead to the end of World War II, and also the moment the “Cold War” era would begin.

The first successful test of the bombs developed by the United States occurred in the desert of New Mexico in July, 1945, just one month earlier. The bombs suddenly brought the realization of fear on a global level never before seen.

By 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race began. Soon after the Korean war started in July, 1950, the installation of 28 United States Air Force, Air Defense Command, surveillance radar sites were constructed across the United States. One such location was Radar Hill, an area just west of Bartlesville.

The 796th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron would be based on Radar Hill. The main purpose was to create a network of radar sites across the country as an early warning defense for attacks by air. There were two smaller “filler” sites associated with the Radar Hill complex: one in Ottawa, Oklahoma, just east of Miami, and another at Winfield, Kansas, southeast of Wichita.

The Radar Hill installation was only in place for 10 years and was deactivated in June of 1961. The reason, at least in part, was that threat of the United States being bombed by airplane gave way to Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM), missiles which could travel long range. The two ICBM missile sites closest to Bartlesville were those assigned to the Air Force Bases in Little Rock, Arkansas and Wichita, Kansas.

On June 22, 1960, the United States Air Force announced plans to establish 18 Titan II missile launch sites north of the Air Force Base in Little Rock, Arkansas. The sites were secluded and scattered throughout small communities in rural northern Arkansas.

One may be surprised to know how many missile silos were located across the United States. There were several missile sites located in central Kansas, including 18 connected to McConnell Air Force Base, scattered across rural communities southeast of Wichita, Kansas. Many more silos were located in southern Okla-

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homa near the Altus Air Force Base. The silos remained active until October 2, 1981, when Deputy Secretary of Defense Frank P. Carlucci ordered the inactivation of the Titan II weapon system. By then, longrange nuclear submarines played a large part of the US defense system.

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