upfront
Welcome to March friends. This month we are starting to step out of winter and into spring, which is just around the corner. Christy and I are looking forward to that. In January and February, we had our warming shelter open for a total of 18 days. That takes a toll on us, and it takes away from the magazine. Because of this last winter storm, we are running a little late on this issue but finally finishing it today.
The 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma Bombing is in April. Since we do the “Best of Pets” in that issue, we are acknowledging the bombing anniversary in March. April 19th changed the lives of so many, not just in our great state, but all around the world. I wanted Jay Hastings to write this story because I love how he writes about history.
In 1995, I was a freelance videographer. I was either traveling the world videoing resorts for my mom’s company or videoing national sporting events for ABC and other broadcast companies. That morning I was leaving OKC, although I can’t remember why I was there. I was about 5 miles from getting on I-44 when I heard on the radio that there was a horrible explosion downtown OKC. What did I do? I crossed the median, grabbed my big camera from the back seat (they were big back then), threw it in my front seat, and probably got downtown in less than 10 minutes. You could see the smoke as you got closer. When I turned down the street, all you could see was half the Federal building was gone. At first, I was in shock and I slammed my car into park. I started running towards complete chaos. Within a block away, there were pieces of concrete and rubble. As I got closer, I just
saw people running and some people carrying others. I threw my camera on and just started filming. There were things I saw that day that have scarred me for life and could never be put on TV.
I only got about 12 minutes of footage because my battery ran out, but I have a lifetime of memories that I don’t want to remember and rarely talk about.
Two years later in April 1996, I was a cameraman when President Clinton came to speak and dedicate the space for the memorial that was going to be built. What is today’s museum was the Journal Record Building, which was just a hull of a building then. I was on the top floor with my stationary camera with 2 Secret Service guys right beside me looking into the crowd. That broadcast was on CNN and was watched all around the world.
There are stories that we write to be informative and others we write to be a remembrance of what took place. This story is about Oklahomans who came together and made something so tragic a lasting history. The beautiful memorial stands today as does the tree that withstood so much on the day which shook the prairie. If you have never visited the OKC Memorial, you should. It is a sacred sight where 168 people perished. It is one of the most beautiful memorials you will see, especially at night when the chairs are lit up. It has been over 20 years since I visited it, and I plan on taking Christy to see it. Maybe I’ll relive that day and try to bring a little closure to the things I saw and experienced that still haunt me.
This March I am 18 years clean from my cocaine addiction. Thank you Jesus!
God bless, Keith
Volume XVI Issue IV
Bartlesville Monthly Magazine is published by ENGEL PUBLISHING
New office located in the B the Light Mission 219 North Virginia Avenue, Bartlesville, Oklahoma 74003 www.bartlesvillemonthly.com facebook.com/bartlesvillemonthly
Publisher Brian Engel brian@bartlesvillemonthly.com
Graphics Engel Publishing matt@engelpublishing.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 Dewayne Engel Calendar/Social Media calendar@bartlesvillemonthly.com
Contributing Writers
Debbie Neece, Kay Little, Kelly Hurd Jay Hastings, Brent Taylor, Keith McPhail Jay Webster, Abigail SIngrey, Mike Tupa Lori Just, Miriam Walker, Joe Todd
Contributing Photographers
Bartlesville Area History Museum , J.C_productions Oklahoma Historical Society, Charles Porter IV Jay Hastings, Jim Argo
Kids Calendar
Jessica Smith All Rights Reserved.
ABOUT THE COVER
Remembering the OKC bombing nearly 30 years later. This photo by Charles Porter IV won a Pulitzer Prize.
Creative concept by Keith and Christy McPhail
Design by Engel Publishing
We live, work, and play in Bartlesville, and we’re proud to serve our neighbors with integrity
Experienced, Honest, Local
Kary Cox
From Ranch Life to First Responder
by Lori Just
Born and raised on a family ranch in the panhandle of Oklahoma, Kary Cox was immersed in a lifestyle where selfreliance was paramount. From ranching and cowboying to farming and mechanics, he learned early on that thriving in such a remote area required a broad range of skills.
His journey to becoming a seasoned emergency management director started with his early interest in public safety, a passion he didn’t expect to turn into a career. Growing up, Kary had a front-row seat to the potential dangers of ranch life—ranch hands bucked off horses, injuries from equipment, or facing other emergencies. This motivated him to earn his EMT license.
“It was a practical choice that allowed me to help our ranch families and neighbors when accidents occurred in our isolated community until they could be taken to a hospital,” he shared. “That decision led me to volunteering for the Laverne Ambulance Service and, eventually, working with the local police department as a reserve officer.”
Each experience deepened his interest in public safety, even as he worked part-time for a county commissioner in a heavy equipment role to supplement his ranching income. By the mid1980s, Kary found himself at a pivotal moment in his career. As the emergency manager for Beaver County, he began building the county’s emergency management program and further expanding his training in public safety. It wasn’t long before a phone call changed the course of his career.
One of the county commissioners insisted that he oversee the new FEMA position in their area, and, despite initial reluctance, he took on the newly developed emergency management role. He didn’t know exactly what the job would entail but, with his handson experience in public safety, he quickly rose to the challenge.
The transition from ranch life to emergency management wasn’t just a career change—it became a calling. His most defining moment came with the Oklahoma City bombing in April 1995. Having been involved with the state medical examiner’s office in developing a mass fatality plan for Oklahoma, Kary found himself on the front lines.
“That plan I had helped see through to fruition had just been adopted shortly before this incident,” he continued. “When the bombing occurred, I had a couple of volunteers attending a training a few blocks away who rushed to the site. The next morning, I got a phone call from Alan Clark on behalf of the Medical Examiner’s Office. Alan was the disaster lead for the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association at the time. He asked if I could come down
to implement the plan and work at a temporary morgue and assist with disaster recovery efforts for several days after the tragedy.”
That experience left an indelible mark on him, both emotionally and professionally, he said. It guided him to further his training, prepare for future incidents, and understand the mental and emotional toll such events take on responders.
Not long after the Murrah building bombing, Kary’s family was dwindling due to family members passing, and the family ranch was getting split up. He began looking for new career opportunities. He considered positions in other jurisdictions and narrowed it down to Logan County (Guthrie) or Washington County (Bartlesville).
“We ended up choosing Bartlesville for a number of reasons,” he added. “My wife and I both liked the community on our initial visit. Bartlesville offered a lot of diversity, with well-established corporate partnerships and strong public safety organizations, including the Red Cross. The community seemed to have a solid infrastructure in place, which was appealing. Additionally, its close proximity to Tulsa and Grand Lake was a big draw for my wife and me, as we enjoyed spending time on the water and had been visiting Grand Lake since we were kids. All of those things added up and made us choose Bartlesville.”
Over the years, Kary’s career has taken him to some of the most significant disaster responses in Oklahoma’s history. From serving as Logistics Chief during the I-40 bridge collapse to aiding recovery after the Joplin tornado, Hurricane Katrina, and wildfires in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana, Kary’s expertise has shaped emergency management efforts far beyond his home county. Locally, he also experienced two significant floods events in 2007 and 2019. He became a recognized leader in the field, earning
accolades like “Emergency Manager of the Year” in 1998 and serving multiple terms as president of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Association.
“I’ve said many times that one of the most beneficial things for me in my position is having experience in every discipline of public safety,” he said. “That helps me have a better perspective when it comes to emergency management and planning.”
But it’s not just large-scale emergencies that Kary focuses on. He’s been instrumental in helping his local community navigate complex incidents, from wildfires to tornadoes, all while building a robust emergency management program in Bartlesville. One of the most important lessons he’s learned throughout his career is the value of community—both in terms of collaboration with neighboring jurisdictions and the support of local volunteers and corporate partnerships.
“The strength of Bartlesville’s volunteer spirit and philanthropic efforts has been a key component of my success,” he said. “We rely heavily on a roster of over 20 volunteers.”
Today, Kary’s role encompasses far more than what most would consider emergency management. With a small but dedicated team of around four paid staff members, they also manage floodplain administration, oversee the county’s 911 addressing system, and serve as the safety officer for the county.
“A lot of people think we’re just sitting here and waiting for the next tornado or fire, but that’s far from the truth,” he added. “Most of my days are filled with paperwork, grants, resource management, and even drug testing for county employees. The paperwork, planning, and resource management needed to prepare for the next incident is extremely time-consuming. Compared to larger agencies like police or fire departments, we rely heavily on grants, donations, and fundraisers. I find myself spending more time on grant work—searching for opportunities, filling out applications, and managing detailed reports. It’s a labor-intensive process that takes up a lot of my time.”
He continued, saying their team feels more like a family than just coworkers. He stressed the importance of this, given the emotional demands of their job with sometimes extended shifts.
“One of the most important lessons I learned early in my career was how incidents affect responders mentally, physically, and emotionally, and how to cope with that,” he added. “My time at Murrah played a pivotal role in shaping how I respond to future situations. Over the years, I became involved in critical incident stress debriefing and counseling responders. Despite the differences in events, the core approach—how you manage and
respond—remains the same.”
Another more modern and unlikely tool for someone in his field, Kary has embraced social media’s power to connect and inform, including live streaming.
“During the tornado we had in Bartlesville last May, we were on Facebook live at the emergency operations center while the storm passed through town,” he said. “We also use social media to show current road conditions during winter storms. If you manage it appropriately, it can be a good tool to keep people safe.”
Outside of work, Kary is just as committed to his family and community. Married to his wife, Paula, for 48 years, they enjoy traveling, exploring hobbies like golf and motorcycling, and unwinding at rented cabins in the Kiamichi Mountains. They’ve embraced a slower pace of life, with their two mini-Aussie pups in tow. But Kary’s heart will always carry fond memories of his ranching roots, and if given the chance, he says he’d probably still be out on horseback, living the cowboy life.
Despite his many years of service, Kary isn’t ready to step away from the job he loves. He’s found purpose in his work, and with his extensive experience, he continues to train others in emergency management across Oklahoma.
As Kary reflects, he can’t help but think that the challenges he’s faced, the people he’s met, and the work he’s done have shaped him in ways he never expected.
“Sometimes, I have to stop and remind myself of my age—it’s hard to believe how much time has passed,” he laughs. “My wife often jokes with me, saying she thinks I’m already retired. But I know this is where I belong, and it’s what I’m meant to do. I truly enjoy it and have a lot of passion for this work. I hope my efforts are helping others.”
He says that as long as he’s physically able, he has no plans of stepping away. But when the time comes for him to step aside, he’ll do so knowing he’s built a solid foundation for the future of the program, leaving behind a legacy of service to his community and his state.
30 Years Stronger
by Jay Hastings
Wednesday, April 19, 1995. The day began like any other early spring morning. Employees and customers alike began their commutes into downtown Oklahoma City, many headed for the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, located at 620 N Harvey Ave.
About two hours north, and after two years of planning, a young man named Timothy McVeigh was waking in the cab of a Ryder rental truck, where he’d spent the night sleeping, parked in the grass near a McDonald’s restaurant. A short time later, our state would be changed forever.
In April of 1995, I was in my eighth year as a patrol officer with the Bartlesville Police Department, assigned to the evening shift, 2:00p – 10:00p. I remember being at home that Wednesday morning when breaking news came across the television shortly after 9:00a. The first things I remember seeing were cars on fire and people running away from the building. The news reports only said there had been a massive explosion at the federal building. I remember fairly quickly the reports moved away from the explosion being accidental. Within the first hour or so they began to suspect it was an intentional incident.
I reported to work that afternoon at 2 p.m. Of course, everyone was on high alert and told to pay extra attention to the downtown buildings, and to watch for any type of rental trucks driving around or parking near any of the high-rise buildings. I remember in the days that followed, there were rental trucks all over the place and, of course, we would stop and check them out. I also recall Phillips 66 taking precautions to limit vehicle access to company buildings downtown. From that point, things would never be the same. They’d never again be as relaxed as we’d known. There was only before the bombing, and after.
I remember the shock, questioning how something like it could happen in the middle of America. How could foreign terrorists strike us right in the Heartland, and could there be more attacks
coming? That was the obvious initial assumption – foreign terror. To put that fear into perspective, you must understand America had witnessed its first attack on U.S. soil two years earlier on February 26, 1993. Foreign terrorist Ramzi Yousef and associates had parked a van full of explosives in the underground parking garage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. When the bomb went off, six people were killed instantly and over 1,000 more injured. Damage to the basement of the building was significant; however, the building did not fall. The attack was part of a broader radical Islamist ideology maligned against the USA.
I remember sometime Friday, April 21, 1995, two days after the bombing, the media started reporting “John Doe #1” had been arrested and was being held in the Noble County Jail in Perry, Oklahoma. I remember watching the television as FBI agents brought Timothy James McVeigh out of the courthouse to be transported to federal custody in Oklahoma City. It was at that time, with McVeigh identified, the assumption of foreign terrorism began to fade.
A large crowd had gathered outside the jail in Perry, many shouting “baby killer” as agents emerged with McVeigh. I remember for a brief moment the look of fear on his face as he heard what they were yelling at him. It was nearly impossible to comprehend how the attack in Oklahoma City could have come from within. Soon, the term “homegrown terrorist” developed to describe McVeigh and others involved in the egregious plot.
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, whom McVeigh met while in the military, packed a rented Ryder truck with nearly 5,000 pounds of explosives. Just before 9:00 on the morning of April 19, 1995, McVeigh parked the truck in front of his intended target, the Murrah Federal Building, and walked away. The explosion killed 168 people, including eight federal law enforcement agents and
19 children, the youngest of whom was four months old. Several hundreds more were injured.
In a matter of seconds, the blast destroyed nearly the entire nine-story building of concrete and granite, and damaged or destroyed another 300 nearby buildings. The area looked like a warzone. The FBI assumed the OKBOMB investigation, which remains one of its largest and most complex cases.
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building opened on March 2, 1977. The building was named after Federal Judge Alfred P. Murrah, who was an Oklahoma native. In 1995, the building housed more than 500 full-time employees, including those in the regional offices for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, and Vocational Rehabilitation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Social Security Administration, and military recruitment offices, as well as the America’s Kids childcare center.
In October 1983, a white supremacist militia in Arkansas, called the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) by its founders James Ellison and Richard Snell, plotted to park a van or a trailer in front of the Murrah Building and blow it up using a timing device. While building the explosive, it accidently detonated in a member’s hands. The group considered the incident to be divine intervention and called off the planned attack.
Richard Snell was later convicted for a murder in the state of Arkansas, and was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on April 19, 1995. In the days and weeks ahead, Snell taunted jailers
something drastic would happen on the day of his execution. Separately, McVeigh and members of the CSA spent time in Elohim City, a private white supremacist community located in Adair County in Northeastern Oklahoma. McVeigh is known to have telephoned Elohim City two weeks before the bombing of the Murrah building.
Timothy McVeigh was born and raised in New York State. He was raised primarily by his father and spent a good amount of time with his grandfather. He was quiet and socially awkward, and found great interest when introduced to firearms by his grandfather and endeavored to be a gun shop owner as an adult.
Following high school graduation, McVeigh attended but dropped out of college and in 1988 he enlisted in the Army, where he actively engaged in training and spent his free time reading about firearms, explosives, and the likes. It was during training in Georgia he first met Terry Nichols, and the two were later stationed together in Kansas. McVeigh was deployed during Desert Storm and was later presented several service awards, including a Bronze Star. He aspired to join the Special Forces but withdrew on the second day of the assessment. He was ultimately honorably discharged from service in 1991.
McVeigh became increasingly radicalized in his beliefs, primarily concerned the federal government was becoming socialist in function and that basic rights, specifically gun rights, would become infringed upon. He continued work within the firearm community, promoting gun rights and working at
gun shows across the country. He sought out readings such as The Turner Diaries and groups that aligned with his thinking. He took particular offense to the government’s involvement in the 1992 events at Ruby Ridge, which was further fueled by the 1993 Branch Davidian stand-off at Waco, TX, where he traveled to stand in solidarity against the “siege” by the federal government. That event largely unfolded on public television, culminating in the ATF launching a tear gas attack on the compound on April 19, 1993. A short time later, the entire structure was engulfed in flames, resulting in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians, including more than 20 children. The lead negotiator with the FBI, Agent Gary Noesner, voiced concern all along that an offensive attack would not be a good look for the federal government. Following the deaths of so many in the compound, Noesner repeatedly expressed concern for potential protests or, worse, retaliatory uprisings. His fears were realized two years later to the date.
it was very intentional, including the date on which he planned to set off the explosion.
On April 18, 1995, McVeigh and Nichols met at a Kansas state park where they assembled the explosives in a Ryder box truck McVeigh rented to carry out the plot. The bomb included about 5,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and nitromethane and was fashioned to be ignited with two fuses, one a two-minute and the other five-minute.
That night, McVeigh drove the truck into Oklahoma, parking not far off I-35 at the Blackwell exit. He and Nichols had noticed a fuel leak, so he intentionally parked in the grass so as not to draw attention. He ate at a nearby McDonald’s and, rather than staying in a hotel, he slept in the truck. He awoke about 7:00 am the morning of April 19, and headed on into Oklahoma City.
After spending time in Waco, McVeigh traveled to Michigan where Nichols was living. There, Nichols taught McVeigh about making explosives with easily obtained chemicals. As his anti-government beliefs intensified, McVeigh and Nichols started making bulk purchases of ammonium nitrate. McVeigh waffled with the idea of a series of individual assassinations of federal agents, but ultimately decided bombing a federal building could make a bigger, louder, impact. Nothing about his plot was haphazard. Rather,
As he neared the Murrah Building, McVeigh stopped to light the five-minute fuse. He parked in front of the building, lit the two-minute fuse, and walked away, making it about a block and a half before the bomb went off at 9:02a. He continued on to a previously stored get-away car, a yellow Mercury Grand Marquis, and calmly drove away.
It is unclear in what way or for how long McVeigh expected to remain free after perpetrating the event. He had removed the license plate from the Mercury, and was armed with a handgun and large knife. As he left Oklahoma City, he headed back north on I-35. The intentionality behind his planning and actions were consistent with intent to be recognized as a martyr.
Trooper Charlie Hanger began his career with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in September 1976. In April 1995, his assigned patrol included a 60+ mile stretch of I-35 in North Central Oklahoma. He was on duty the morning of the bombing.
Shortly after the bombing, Trooper Hanger was dispatched to Oklahoma City to help in whatever way he’d be directed upon his arrival at the command center. Accordingly, he headed,
lights and sirens, toward Oklahoma City. However, just south of Perry, he received an updated radio order to cancel his response to Oklahoma City and to instead remain in his assigned area. Accordingly, he turned around and headed back north on I-35.
As Trooper Hanger headed north in the inside lane, he came upon the yellow Mercury in the outside lane. The car caught his attention as having no license plate, so Hanger initiated a traffic stop. The driver, a white male, pulled over and exited the vehicle, meeting Hanger near the rear of the vehicle. As he reached for his wallet to retrieve his driver license, Hanger noticed a bulge under the light jacket the driver was wearing. At that time, McVeigh advised he was carrying a handgun, and that he had an extra clip for it on his person as well as a large knife in a sheath. Trooper Hanger pointed his service weapon at McVeigh, who advised his gun was loaded. Hanger responded that his gun was loaded, too.
Trooper Hanger disarmed McVeigh and placed him under arrest for failure to display a vehicle license plate, failure to carry insurance verification, unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon, and unlawful transportation of a firearm in a motor vehicle. From the stop on I-35, McVeigh was transported to the Noble County Jail in Perry. To that point, neither McVeigh nor the Mercury were identified in connection to the bombing at the Murrah Building.
Accordingly, the car was left on the side of the road at that time. Back in Oklahoma City, still before noon, a rear truck axle was located a block away from the site of the explosion. A partial VIN was located on the axle, which was used to trace it back to the Ryder rental truck. Although McVeigh had used a fake name to rent the truck, good ol’ fashioned police work developed a composite sketch that bore an eerie resemblance to McVeigh, who was identified as the primary suspect within 48 hours of the bombing.
In its investigation of the bombing of the Murrah Building, the FBI reports it completed more than 28,000 interviews, followed more than 43,000 leads, and collected more than three tons of evidence. Both McVeigh and Nichols were charged federally. McVeigh was charged federally with and convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosive, and eight counts of first-degree murder (the number of federal agents killed in the explosion). The conviction came fairly quickly June 2, 1997, and he was sentenced to death. One appeal was filed on his behalf, but the conviction and sentence were upheld. McVeigh sought no other appeals, and he was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.
Terry Nichols was convicted federally of conspiracy and manslaughter (as to the federal
agents) on Christmas Eve 1997. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after the jury deadlocked on the death penalty. He was also charged in state district court and in 2004 was convicted of 161 counts of murder (including one count of fetal homicide), first-degree arson, and conspiracy. Like with the federal trial, the jury deadlocked on the death penalty. As a result, he was given 161 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
At the time of the bombing, Keith McPhail was a 26-year-old independent videographer. He’d been in Oklahoma City filming for a project and had just started on his way home. He was about 20 minutes down the turnpike when he heard breaking news of an explosion in downtown OKC. He turned around and within half an hour arrived near the location of the bombing.
Keith immediately encountered what could only be described as unexplained tragedy and chaos. He began recording with his 1990’s 8mm camera, filming until both batteries died, probably 20 or 30 minutes in total. A Tulsa news outlet used some of his video from that morning in related newscasts, but McPhail recalled much of the video he shot was too graphic to be shown on television. Thirty years later, Keith remembers the unspeakable images he witnessed that day, and recalls the shock of such an event occurring in Oklahoma, in the middle of America and perpetrated by homegrown terrorists.
Five years after the bombing, Keith returned to the location for the dedication of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. President Clinton was onsite and provided a moving address. McPhail was again filming, but that time with Secret Service agents standing at his sides. During his speech, President Clinton celebrated the people of Oklahoma City. He acknowledged the evil committed against our state and commented that just as evil had made a choice, Oklahomans had made choices as well, “the choice to choose hope and love over despair and hatred.”
Bartlesville resident Joe Todd was living in Oklahoma City at the time of the bombing. At that time, he was a Captain in the U.S. Army Reserves, and worked on site perimeter security for four days following the bombing.
Joe recalled visiting the Murrah Building on several occasions prior to the bombing, and vividly remembered seeing children in the daycare center housed in the building waving from second-
floor windows. Joe had two friends killed in the explosion. Susan J. Ferrell was a 37-year-old attorney who officed on the top floor of the north side of the Murrah Building. Captain Randolph A. Guzman was a 28-year-old USMC recruiter. Guzman worked on the sixth floor where the recruiting office was housed.
While working perimeter security, Joe remembers he and others picked up several pieces of stained glass that had blown out of windows of a nearby church. He recalled the anger he felt and questioning why anyone would intentionally cause such catastrophic and deadly damage. He remembers a specific
crane operator, who put himself in a dangerous position to allow others to continue rescue and recovery efforts. Joe described that man simply as “a hero”.
Joe also remembered national news reporter Connie Chung interviewing an Oklahoma City firefighter, during which she asked the question, “Can the Oklahoma City Fire Department handle this?” Chung was widely criticized for asking the question. What the world came to know was that, even in the face of evil, Oklahomans, together, do more than “handle” a situation.
Locally, Ed House is widely loved and respected as longtime funeral director. He’s also a decades-long member of the Bartlesville Police Reserves. In 1995, House was dispatched to Oklahoma City through his affiliation with the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association. There, he spent seven days working with the Office of the Medical Examiner through the process of identifying bombing victims and preparing to notify next of kin.
Rich Moberly is also a long-time member of the Bartlesville Police Reserves. He and several others responded to Oklahoma City together with and under the direction of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. The group was led by (then) Deputy Dennis Nix. Nix had previously been with the Bartlesville Police Department and would later retire as the Undersheriff of the WCSO. Moreover, Nix had specialized training and experience as a bomb technician.
When the group arrived in Oklahoma City, Nix was assigned to work alongside other explosives techs, collecting evidence at the site of the Murrah Building. Moberly and the others, noted as being in uniform, were assigned to work security at a nearby church where a center had been established for relatives awaiting information on loved ones known to have been in or around the Murrah Building. By that time, news of the bombing was widespread and media outlets from across the globe had descended on Oklahoma City. Accordingly, the primary assignment of the reserves was to protect families from the media, both while inside the church and while coming and going. Each time a notification was made to a family, or if a family needed to leave for any other reason, the reserves escorted them to their vehicles.
Despite the devastation, Moberly quickly recalled evidence of the best of humanity. He said individuals and groups selflessly provided for the families in waiting at the church. Meals, snacks, and other supplies were in constant supply.
The Bartlesville Fire Department also sent firefighters to Oklahoma City. The first week, firefighters actually drove back and forth, making sure their shifts in Bartlesville were covered. The second week, they were able to stay in Oklahoma City and focus on helping with recovery efforts.
Some of the firefighters’ tasks included recovering victims from the rubble of the Murrah Building, looking for ways to help
the Medical Examiner’s office identify victims, and logistics. They were constantly rotated through different job tasks, reportedly due to concerns for the mental health of all emergency personnel dealing with such trauma.
The Bartlesville Fire Department holds a memorial service every year on April 19th at 09:01a in front of the Central Fire Station at 5th and Johnstone. During the memorial, they read the names of the Bartlesville Firefighters who assisted in Oklahoma City. All have since retired from the Department.
Washington County Emergency Management Director Kary Cox was the Beaver County Emergency Management Director at the time of the bombing. Cox explained he had just finished working on a mass fatality casualty plan for the State of Oklahoma about one year prior to the OKC bombing. Cox said the plan involved working with the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association and State Medical Examiner during any such event. Cox responded to the OKC bombing incident and worked in the temporary morgue set up in the Methodist Church, just to the east of the bombing site.
This April will mark 30 years since the indescribable violence perpetrated against our state and its people. Accordingly, the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum has adopted the slogan “A Day of Darkness. Years of Light.”
The museum has grown over the years, undergoing a significant expansion and transformation in 2017. My wife and I recently spent an entire day in the area, including an intentional journey through the museum. The current experience provides a living timeline of sorts, beginning with the recording of a Water Resource Board meeting that began at 9:00a that April morning, and captured the sound of the
explosion. Various recordings are available including those of survivors and first responders. Details of the investigation and resulting prosecutions are available in various forms, including audio recordings and physical pieces of evidence like composite sketches and the yellow Mercury. The Gallery of Honor contains photos and mementos representative of all 168 people who were killed in the bombing.
Outside, where the Murrah Building stood, is the reflection pool, with bookends marking 9:01 and 9:03, symbolizing the innocence before the attack, and the healing that began immediately after, and continues today.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum is also hitting the road. From September 2024 to December 2025, the Journey of Hope program is an educational program which will travel to all 77 counties in Oklahoma to teach the story of April 19, 1995, sharing the story and lessons of the Oklahoma City bombing with the next generation. and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the bombing.
I can’t help but be reminded of the many feelings upon learning the Oklahoma City bombing was perpetrated not by foreign terrorists, but by Americans. Veterans of the U.S. Army. Anger. Betrayal. Confusion. Disgust. Ultimately, whatever the intent of evil, Oklahomans stood together.
While there has been and continues to be much healing since April 19, 1995, we must also acknowledge, particularly in the current political climate, there are still those who seek to divide rather than unite us. Let us be mindful of our abilities to agree or disagree, without consenting to a climate that disables us from standing united, Oklahoma Strong.
The Legacy of Derry Ebert
by Debbie Neece
Some people muddle through life while others leave an undeniable legacy. Blackwell born Derry Braly Ebert was such a man.
Derry graduated from Blackwell High School and attended Oklahoma A&M at Stillwater before joining the Marine Corps, serving in the Aleutian Islands during WWII. At Charlotte, N.C., December 1944, Derry married his high school sweetheart, Carolee Kriter, and they resided at Wrightsville Beach, NC. After the war, Derry completed a Science in Architecture Degree at Kansas State University in 1950 and the couple moved to Bartlesville, where Derry built a successful architectural career, Carolee was the registrar for Sooner High School, and together they raised three children; Mike, Catherine and Mark.
That timeline sounds like a tightly wrapped package, topped with a bow; however, that is just the family side of Derry Ebert. He was an exceptional “Bartlesville Blessing” who left a heartfelt fingerprint on everything he touched.
Derry worked at Phillips Petroleum Company and Buck Architects before beginning his private architectural practice in 1966. Throughout his career, he partnered with Richard Cramer, Kent Phinney, Edward Keating and Dan Keleher; with Betty Mead as his faithful office assistant beginning in 1972. He officed at various locations before he established his architectural business at 245 SE Madison Blvd. from 1979-1994, when he sold the office but continued to work from his home…retirement was not in his DNA.
Throughout his extensive architectural career, Derry designed over 1,000 buildings, including homes, schools, banks, medical facilities, churches and office buildings. Once
he designed the Bartlesville YMCA, he continued to support the organization, visiting daily for his workout, meeting friends for a game of basketball or racquetball, coaching the YMCA wrestling program and serving on the YMCA Board of Directors. He was also a 15-year valued coach and encouraging mentor in Little League Baseball and Softball.
He was a member of the First Wesleyan Church where he designed the church’s sanctuary and Family Life Center. He also designed the gymnasium for Oklahoma Wesleyan University. For 20-years, he served the Frank Phillips Foundation as Woolaroc’s architect, designing the Y-Indian Center, ranch houses and renovations. His generosity was beyond measure; a member of the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Board of Governors for the State of Oklahoma Architectural organization. He was a Boy Scout leader and a world traveler. He traveled to Washington, D.C. to see the WWII and IWO Jima Memorials, visited all 50 states as well as Europe, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean.
Carolee preceded Derry Ebert in death in 1991. Derry joined her in 2011. In their memory, a scholarship was established in Derry’s name at Oklahoma State University; and, the Derry and Carolee Ebert Memorial Fund and the Richard Kane YMCA received donations. Derry’s funeral was held at the First Wesleyan Church and Carolee and Derry Ebert were returned to their childhood home and interned in the Blackwell Cemetery.
The Ebert children: Mike Ebert, is a builder in Stillwater; Dr. Cathy Ebert Jameson founded the Jameson Method of Management in Davis, OK; and Mark Ebert is a Doctor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Stillwater.
The Ebert Legacy!
The most-liked pet will be highlighted with a full-page picture in our magazine. The Judges’ Choice Winner will be featured on our April Cover!
• Although we love them all - scaly, slimy, feathered, and fluffyyour pet must be furry to compete.
• Pets MUST be currently living and pictured by themselves in order to compete.
Registration opens on February 28 at noon at bartlesvillemonthly.com. Facebook voting will be held March 7 at noon CST to March 14 at noon CST.
QUESTIONS? Visit us online at bartlesvillemonthly.com for more details. Entries are limited to the first 100 online reservations.
We can’t wait to meet your furry friend!
MARCH CALENDAR SPONSORED BY
Bruin Varsity Baseball vs Noah
12PM; Doenges Stadium
1 4 7 8 18 21 22 24 25 27 28 29 13 17 18 11
Varsity Bruin Soccer vs Union
6PM (G); Custer Stadium 7PM (B); Custer Stadium
Varsity Bruin Soccer vs Norman North
6PM (G); Custer Stadium
7PM (B); Custer Stadium
Shamrock the Ville 5K
9AM; Downtown Bartlesville
Bruin Varsity Baseball vs Oologah
12PM; Doenges Stadium
Bruin Varsity Baseball vs Broken Arrow
6PM; Doenges Stadium
Bruin Varsity Baseball vs Holland Hall
5PM; Doenges Stadium
Spring Break; No School
Through March 20
OKWU baseball vs Tabor
1PM; Doenges Stadium
Birds – Eye View of Spring Break Camp
1PM; Bartlesville Area History Museum Event runs through March 19.
OKWU Baseball vs Sterling 2PM; Doenges Stadium
OKWU baseball vs Sterling 12 & 3PM; Doenges Stadium
Bruin Varsity Baseball vs NW Classen
4PM; Doenges Stadium
Varsity Bruin Soccer vs Bishop Kelley
6PM (G); Custer Stadium
7PM (B); Custer Stadium
Bruin Varsity Baseball Bruin Classic
TBA; Doenges Stadium Tournament runs through March 29.
Bruin Home Track Meet All Day; Custer Stadium
Explorations: Featuring The 2025 Young Artist Competition Winner
7:30PM; The Center
Monthly Events
On the Rock Schedule
Camp Rock, 3rd-5th grade
Monday: Kane, Jane Phillips, Osage Hills, Ranch Heights
Tuesday: Wayside, Wilson, Hoover, home school/ private school drop off Rock buses pick up after school on your student’s appointed day, parents pick up at The Rock by 6 pm for all camps. Summit, 9th-12th grade Thursdays: Rock bus picks up at BHS after school. Nitro, 6th-8th grade Fridays: Rock bus picks up at Madison, Central, Osage Hills after school. Bartlesville Public Library
Storytime Babies and Toddlers
Tues., Wed., Thurs. 10:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
600 S. Johnstone Avenue Weekly Programs at the Bartlesville Public Library
Storytime Preschool
Tues., Wed., Thurs. 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
600 S. Johnstone Avenue
MARCH EVENTS CALENDAR
Know
Every Monday
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
FREE Beginning Spanish Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
FREE Intermediate Spanish Class
Bartlesville Public Library 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
Every Tuesday
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Price Tower Exterior and The Center Tour
Contact Visit Bartlesville, 300 SE Adams Blvd.
Every Wednesday
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
FREE Citizenship Classes
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
Every Thursday
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
FREE Citizenship Classes
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Crossing 2nd Trivia in the Garage
Crossing Second, 215 E 2nd Street, Bartlesville
Every Saturday
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Price Tower Exterior and The Center Tour
Contact Visit Bartlesville, 300 SE Adams Blvd.
8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
History and Haunts at the Dewey Hotel
Contact Dewey Hotel Museum, 801 N Delaware St., Dewey
8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Crossing 2nd Karaoke Dance Party
Crossing Second, 215 E 2nd Street
Every Sunday
8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Crossing 2nd Karaoke Dance Party
Crossing Second, 215 E 2nd Street, Bartlesville
Sat, Mar 1
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Theater Bartlesville – The Importance of Being Earnest
Theater Bartlesville, 312 S. Dewey Ave.
Tues, Mar 4
12:00 p.m. – 1 p.m.
In the Kitchen with Susan at the Bartlesville Public Library
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue, Literacy Office
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Johnstone Irregulars Book Club
Bartlesville Public Library,600 S Johnstone Ave.
6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class at Casa Hispana
Casa Hispana, 3850 Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville
Thurs, Mar 6
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue, Literacy Office
11:30 a.m. – Open
Bowl For Kid’s Sake
Phillips 66 Bowling Lanes, 411 S. Keeler, Bartlesville
7:00 p.m. – Open
Bowl For Kid’s Sake
Red Apple Bowling Center, 1414 SE Washington Blvd, Bartlesville
7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
Dear Evan Hansen – Broadway in Bartlesville
Bartlesville Community Center, 300 SE Adams Blvd.
Fri, Mar 7
7:00 p.m. – Open
Bowl For Kid’s Sake
Red Apple Bowling Center, 1414 SE Washington Blvd, Bartlesville
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Theater Bartlesville – The Importance of Being Earnest
Theater Bartlesville, 312 S. Dewey Ave., Bartlesville
Sat, Mar 8
All day
Shop Second Saturday Downtown Dewey
9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Shamrock The ‘Ville 2025 – 5K & Fun Run
Unity Square (Downtown Bartlesville at Dewey & 6th Streets)
11 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Time Travelers Indoor Market
Washington Park Mall, 2350 SE Washington Blvd., Suite 320, Bartlesville
5:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
A Room at the Inn
A Room at the Inn, 222 SE Washington Blvd., Bartlesville
7 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Theater Bartlesville - The Importance of Being Earnest
Theater Bartlesville, 312 S. Dewey Ave., Bartlesville
Sun, Mar 9
12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Time Travelers Indoor Market
Washington Park Mall, 2350 SE Washington Blvd., Suite 320, Bartlesville
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Theater Bartlesville - The Importance of Being Earnest
Theater Bartlesville, 312 S. Dewey Ave., Bartlesville
Tues, Mar 11
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue, Literacy Office
6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class at Casa Hispana
Casa Hispana, 3850 Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville
Thurs, Mar 13
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue, Literacy Office
11:30 a.m. – Open
Bowl For Kid’s Sake
Phillips 66 Bowling Lanes, 411 S. Keeler, Bartlesville
12:00 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Fast, Fresh & Fabulous with Chef Hilary
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S Johnstone Ave.
Sat, Mar 15
10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Monthly Lego Club at the Library
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
Tues, Mar 18
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class at Casa Hispana
Casa Hispana, 3850 Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville
Thurs, Mar 20
11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
Tues, Mar 25
5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
6:45 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class at Casa Hispana
Casa Hispana, 3850 Frank Phillips Blvd., Bartlesville
Thurs, May 27
11 a.m. – 12 p.m. |
Bartlesville Public Library ELL
Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library, 600 S. Johnstone Avenue
Sat, Mar 29
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Explorations: Featuring the 2025 Young Artist Competition Winner
Bartlesville Community Center, 300 SE Adams Blvd.
Home Decor • Gi s
With our MDVIP Program, we run on time at Primary Care Associates, PC.
Date: March 15, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM
Provider: Dr. Ben Gay 2:47 PM
Our patients spend their time with their physician, not waiting in the waiting room. It is one of our Superpowers. the Superpowers.
Providers
Primary Care Associates Now Powered by
Faith is Like a GPS
by Pastor Joe Colaw
Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Recently my wife, Dawn Marie, and I were invited to attend our grandson’s graduation from Air Force basic training in San Antonio, Texas. We were delighted to receive the invitation and discussed that we had never been to San Antonio. Soon we decided, yes, let’s go to the graduation and let’s visit the Alamo and the River Walk.
Soon we were making plans, reserving a room at a hotel near the Air Base and checking online information about necessary details, which included the best travel route. On the day of our departure I typed our hotel address into the car GPS system and pressed “Start.” In so doing, we were trusting that the voice, on the other end, knew what it was doing. While we couldn’t see the destination and we didn’t know the route ahead, we trusted the device to guide us, turn by turn, to the desired destination.
Faith in God functions in a very similar manner. We often don’t see the full picture. We don’t always understand why God leads us down certain roads. We don’t see that He may be rerouting us around a wreck or helping us avoid risky conditions. Sometimes He takes us on a longer route than we had expected. Other times we find ourselves on winding paths that just don’t seem to make sense. In fact, on our trip to San Antonio the GPS noted that there was heavy traffic ahead and promptly rerouted us. We were trusting our GPS to guide us through unfamiliar places. It takes a measure of faith, in the amazing technology behind the GPS, to continue
to follow the instructional prompts. Being led, to a place we have never been, reminds me of how important faith is. Faith is trusting that God is leading us on our journey, in the right direction, prompting us at the right time, to get us to the right place. A place we have never been.
A GPS is only useful if we follow it. Ignoring its instructions or deciding we know a better way usually leads to frustration and getting lost. Likewise, when we ignore God’s guidance or try to take shortcuts, we often find ourselves off course, struggling to get back on track. But when we trust Him fully— when we follow His voice even when the road ahead is unclear—He brings us exactly where we need to be.
God’s Word is our spiritual GPS (God’s Positioning System). Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Even when the journey doesn’t make sense, we can be confident that God knows the way. Faith isn’t about seeing the whole route in advance; it’s about trusting the One who does.
Consider these questions of reflection:
• Are you trusting God to guide you, or are you trying to navigate life on your own?
• What is one area where you need to let go and trust God’s direction?
Prayer:
Lord, I know You see the whole journey ahead, even when I don’t. Help me to trust You, step by step, following Your Word and Your leading. Give me faith to believe that You are taking me exactly where I need to go. Amen.
Dewey Royalty
Inda and Roberson
by Debbie Neece
Arriving in America during the early years of Civil War Reconstruction, Poland born Peter and Francisca Inda left their native land in search of economic and political stability. They stepped upon the SS Marco Polo at Breman, Germany, and crossing the pond to arrive at New York City, June 1, 1868. New York City was a melting pot of immigrants with scarce employment opportunities; however, Polish newspapers encouraged the immigrants to head south. So, the family migrated to Wayne County, Michigan before moving to Marche, Pulaski County, northwest of Little Rock in 1883, with five young children in tow and adding two more children to the family once they settled in Arkansas. The lure to Arkansas held the promise of cheap, fertile, uncultivated farmland…the immigrant dream.
Generation 1: Peter and “Frances” were married in Poland, traveled the bumpy seas to arrive in America and settled in Arkansas. Peter was a watchman for the Iron Mountain Railway Co. and became a Naturalized American Citizen in 1896. The couple raised seven children: Joseph Stanley, Micheal “Mike” Lawrence, John Andrew, Johanna “Janie,” Walenty “Valentine,” Jasper “Casmier” Nicholas and Pauline Apolonia Inda. The majority of the secondgeneration Americans stayed in Arkansas, except adventurous John Andrew Inda.
Generation 2 : The Land Run of 1889 in Guthrie,
Oklahoma was a pivotal event in the state’s history. It marked the beginning of Guthrie as a city and the territorial capital, briefly. Michigan born, John A. Inda married Agnes Makowski at Marche, AR in 1900, and they moved south of Guthrie, OK about 1912. They operated the first dairy in the city of Guthrie…the Inda Dairy Farm operated for nearly 43 years before John’s death in 1956. The couple birthed four children: Argenta “Edna,” Frank Romaine, Sr., Floyd and Marguerite. John and Agnes both died in Guthrie and were buried in Harrah, OK.
As one of the earliest self-sustaining entrepreneurial families, the Inda’s left a legacy in the Guthrie area. Their Dairy Farm was highly acclaimed and became an area staple. After the death of John Andrew Inda, the farm became a generational institution. John’s son, Floyd, and his grandson, Eddy, continued the Inda Dairy through about 1968. The buildings stood until Walmart cleared the land about 1992-1993.
Generation 3: Arkansas born Frank Romaine Inda, Sr. married Agnes Gross in 1924 at Guthrie and the couple relocated to Bartlesville/Dewey area about 1946. They lived at 102 N. Delaware in Dewey and Frank was an electric lineman for Public Service of Oklahoma through 1971. Their children were Francis “Frank” Romaine Jr., John “Jack,” Thomas Joseph “Joe,” Dorothy Lee, Robert “Bob,” Judith “Judy,”
Janice Elaine, and James Carter “Jim.” Frank, Sr. and Agnes Inda both died and were buried in the Dewey Cemetery, north of Dewey.
Generation 4: Their son, Frank Romaine Jr., joined the Navy, April 1944, just after his 18th birthday and high school graduation. He was reported missing after the USS Eversole was lost in the Philippines on October 29 that year. All hope was finally dashed when the Bureau of the Navy advised the family two months later, Seaman 2nd Class Frank Inda, Jr. was missing in action; his body not recovered. As a casualty of WWII, Frank Inda, Jr. was listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila, Philippines.
Generation 4: Their son, Thomas Joseph “Joe” was Guthrie born and graduated from Dewey High School. He attended Bartlesville Business College, worked at Phillips Petroleum Company and served as a Corporal in the U.S. Marines during WWII and then served during the Korean Conflict. Before an assemblance of over 300 people, Joe married Belva Lee Roberson in 1949 at the Dewey Journeycake Memorial Baptist Church. Together, they owned and operated a service station in Dewey for at least 20 years. This couple was seriously community service oriented. Joe served as President and Vice-President of the Dewey Board of Education, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Fire Chief of Dewey’s Volunteer Fire Department and many more activities. Belva was not a sit at home type of woman. She was a 1946 Dewey graduate and the “Organ Lady” at Bartlesville’s annual Winget American Legion Tournaments. She also played the organ for Dewey United Methodist Church services. She worked at Phillips Petroleum for a few years before she and Joe became co-owners in Inda’s Texaco.
They later owned and operated the Inda’s Phillips 66 a block north at 700 N. Delaware in Dewey. After Joe’s death, Belva continued the station for an additional seven years, then returned to Phillips in Exploration until retirement in 1995. To their marriage, three daughters were born: Debbie Jo, Lorri Beth and Melodie Kaye.
Generation 4: Their daughter, Guthrie born, Janice Elaine Inda was a 1957 Dewey High School graduate and married Thomas Dirkes that year. Janice won an extensive list of awards for her creative writing and volunteerism. Their children were Cynthia, Jani, Pamela and Marty Dirkes. Thomas passed away in 1994 and Janice followed in 2018; both are buried in the Dewey Cemetery. Anyone who had the pleasure of knowing Janice knew she was a special lady.
When Joe Inda and Belva Roberson were wed, another chapter of Dewey history blossomed. Belva’s father, Ben Roberson was born in Missouri and orphaned at a young age. In 1927, he married Hazel Marie Burgess in Bartlesville. Ben first worked at the Buy-Right Grocery at northeast corner of Keeler Avenue and Third Street/Frank Phillips Blvd. in Bartlesville, while Hazel worked at Bartlesville’s F.W. Woolworth department store. In 1941, Ben purchased the Southland Service Station on the old Dewey Road and operated the Ben Roberson’s Texaco Station. Then, he opened the Ben Roberson Drive-In Grocery and Market next door. After Ben’s death in 1955, the Landers Brothers grocery occupied the store at 514 Delaware in Dewey, allowing the Landers Brothers to operate at three grocery locations in Bartlesville and Dewey.
From the day Peter and Frances Inda stepped upon the soil of America, their union brought forth at least seven prospering generations. Beginning as humble Polish immigrant farmers, the Inda and Roberson families are not only pillars of the Dewey community, they are Dewey Royalty!
Did You Know?
Highway 123/Bartles Road through Dewey was originally Highway 75 North to Kansas, the perfect location for the Roberson and Inda service stations.
Now You Know *
THE NUTCRACKER
OKWU BASKETBALL
Thumbing Through the Playbook
In the Locker Room of Life
by Kelly Hurd
Did I really see a dad telling a Goldilocks-Three Bears bedtime story to his cute kids on a Super Bowl commercial?
Was that Brad Pitt stirring up patriotism and American unity in a pre-game preamble??
From my couch, other than the Chiefs losing the game and John Hurd winning our living room bet, this was one of the best Super Bowl evenings - ever.
No one lost their top (remember Janet Jackson). Nothing jumped out as overly offensive. Family-friendly was back and brought patriotism and respect along to enjoy the game.
Fans in attendance even cheered when they saw the current president on the Jumbo Tron.
It was a “take me home country roads, to the place I belong” kind of evening and it tasted like a glass of fresh water to my wokeweary soul.
Even a non-profit group called He Gets Us threw their eight million dollars up on the counter and created a commercial to reach the masses with a little Johnny Cash and Jesus.
In case you hadn’t noticed, there seems to be a bit of a game shift across the land where the silent masses have found their voice once again, have risen and awakened from the slumber of complacency, and have overwhelmingly taking steps to change what has been the status quo for far too long.
Can I get a “Hail Mary,” oops, no – I meant an “Amen?!”
Yes, it’s true. Mahomes may have been getting mashed. Travis Kelsey may have been stopped at every snap. But it became an evening of victory for all America as we took part in something truly worth watching, regardless the color of your jersey.
The Eagles soared. The Chiefs took a humble knee. What we
thought would be a tough and closely-fought battle, became a decisive victory – on more than just Super Bowl Sunday.
In America today it seems to be the season for upheavals and defeated foes in the wake of what was once a losing battle and insurmountable odds – almost as if it were a fairytale bed-time story – but it’s not.
In this reality world, Biblical truth comes echoing thru the ages like the sound of touchdown dances in the end-zone.
“When the righteous rule, the people rejoice,” is what Proverbs 29 tells us, and a righteous shift seems to be taking place in American leadership - not one man’s righteousness – but the righteousness of “we the people” in which “we” wake up, stand up, and speak up to create better culture, better neighborhoods, better families, and better futures.
Can someone shout, “Go Team!”
Now, if you hear the sound of clapping coming from somewhere, it’s me over here in Osage County.
I’m applauding FOX for putting together a great evening of American football for all of us to enjoy. I’m applauding the Philadelphia Eagles for playing outstandingly, even though I am a Chiefs fan. I’m applauding those decisionmakers/creative-thinkers who went with the unexpected, positive, wholesome messages in their advertising.
I’m applauding this culture shift that tastes so refreshing – and healing for all “the dreamers, warriors, builders, and believers” in the American huddle.
I see some righteous leadership taking place across our nation– and yep, you guessed it – I’m rejoicing!
Maybe there’s more to footballthan just football, y’all.
Thanks for going “On the Road” and around the gridiron with me this month!
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A Champion of Courage
by Mike Jerry Tupa
Sometimes fate and opportunity join hands to create a golden destiny.
There’s no syllogistic logical explanation when such miracles happen — that’s why we call it serendipity.
In 1985 an “accidental” connection between a Stillwater product named Steve Hesser — still in his late 20’s — and a struggling Bartlesville High School boys basketball team produced a dynasty.
It included six state tournament appearances in seven seasons (1985-92), four appearances in the Class 5A state final (1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992), and three state championships (1989, 1991, 1992).
Bartlesville — with no winning seasons prior to Hesser’s arrival — won 147 games (147-47) during his seven-year tenure, averaging 21 victories.
Bartlesville’s basketball fan support became legendary throughout Oklahoma. The Bruin Fieldhouse filled up during jayvee games, while hundreds of would-be spectators were turned away at the door. Bartlesville fans also filled up opposing gyms. On road game nights, a seemingly endless caravan of cars filled the highway to the Tulsa area.
Steve Hesser was only five years into his basketball coaching career — four years at Paul’s Valley High (two as head coach) and one season (1984-85) as a graduate assistant for the Elite Eight University of Oklahoma team.
In the spring of 1985, Hesser desperately needed to earn an income.
“I was starving to death,” Hesser said during a newspaper interview several years ago.
A chance encounter with Bartlesville High football coach Mickey Ripley — a former acquaintance — opened the door of opportunity for Bartlesville to hire Hesser.
He possessed a no-nonsense attitude toward his players and demanded a voracious work ethic and absolute loyalty to the team and to each other. His uncompromising demand for excellence — and a group of players tough enough to take it without complaining and to discipline themselves to bring out their best — produced a hoops empire.
“He demanded full effort and intensity,” his former Bruin assistant Rick Johnson recalled. “He was able to get kids to play exceptionally hard for long periods of time. They players knew if they were going to play they were going to have to give everything they had on the court. Nobody played harder than our kids.”
In addition, “We worked hard but also had fun together,” Johnson said about his years with Hesser. “I enjoyed being around him.”
A handful of Hesser’s early Bruin players who helped build the legacy included Aaron Bucher, Jason Skurcenski, Tommy DeSalme, Kenny Johnson, Jeff Wallendorf, Derek Lind, Michael Silas, Michael Ellison, Ron Johnson, Mark Miller, D’Angelo Joseph and many others.
Hesser also credits the Phillips 66ers tradition and former coaches such as Joe Holladay, John Phillips, Ken Bruno and others — for helping plow the ground in which to plant the seeds of success.
Following his time at Bartlesville, Hesser went back to coaching college ball at Western Illinois and then returned to the prep level with Stillwater (199399) and Glendale Springfield (Mo.) (1999-04).
Hesser then entered another glorious phase of his career as the head coach for Drury (Mo.) University’s men’s basketball team. In 2013, Hesser guided the Panthers to a national championship (NCAA-II). In the final, Drury rallied from 17 points down to beat Metro State, 74-73.
Hesser stepped down as Drury head coach in 2021 but would coach one more high school season before apparently hanging it up for good.
His total career record (prep and college) is 722-347 (.675). He has been inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame (2022), the Missouri Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame (2014), the Bartlesville Athletic Hall of Fame (2011) and the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame (2007).
At an early age, Hesser learned to work hard and not complain at his father’s full-service gas station.
“My dad wasn’t an athlete,” he said. “But he taught me a strong work ethic and accountability.”
Those lessons have lasted a lifetime — especially when March rolls around each year.
Hesser looks back with gratitude about his postseason coaching experiences.
“My family (including wife Patti, son Tyler) and I have been blessed to be with four teams that ended their season with a win,” he noted.
One of his favorite Bartlesville memories occurred during the 1988-89 playoffs when 5-foot-11 Ron Johnson chased down Tulsa Washington’s 6-foot-6 Richard Dumas — a future NBA superstar — from behind to pin a layup attempt on the backboard.
Hesser has seen it all on a basketball court. His path of destiny led through Bartlesville — and the echoes of the cheers still sound loudly more than 30 years later.
Stephen Forsythe ... Remembering His Service in Vietnam
by Joe Todd
Stephen Forsythe was born 25 December in Neodesha, KS. He graduated from Fredonia High School in 1962 and attended Kansas State University where he received a degree in Wildlife Biology in 1967.
While at Kansas State, Vietnam was heating up and many young men were being drafted. He went to the Army recruiter and was told with his background he would be good in the Chemical Corps but had to go through Officer Candidate School. He enlisted and had to go through Basic Training and Advanced Individual Training before OCS.
He was sent to Fort Dix, NJ for Basics October 1967. They were given shots in both arms, issued clothing, met new guys and was on KP, all in three days. After Basic and AIT, he was sent to Fort Benning, GA for OCS. He was commissioned August 1968 and applied for flight school because he talked to a pilot that had returned from Vietnam and asked if he slept in the jungle. He said, “No, only if you crash in the jungle.” Since chances were slim, he would sleep in the jungle, flight school seemed the best path. Plus, he was told the life span of an infantry lieutenant in Vietnam was not very long.
He was sent to Fort Wolters, TX for primary helicopter flight school for three months, then to Fort Rucker, AL for final flight training, where he learned to fly the Huey Helicopter. He received his pilot’s wings August 1969, sent to Fort Carson, CO, and assigned to the 4th Infantry in Operation Garden Plot.
This was the military that were trained to go anywhere in the country and quell any riots over the Vietnam War. They were on alert to go to Wounded
Knee when the protest started because their aircraft carried weapons with live ammunition. After Wounded Knee was settled, they returned to post.
He married his wife 30 Dec 1969 and received orders for Vietnam July 1970. Being a helicopter pilot, he knew he would be going to Vietnam, so the orders were no surprise. He was sent to the 90th Replacement Depot. He was sent to Vietnam and assigned to the 118th Assault Helicopter Company based at Bien Hoa, which was in III Corps. 118th was an aviation unit but attached to any unit. Their job was to take troops from different units and insert them into Landing Zones in Vietnam.
He said as far as he knew, he never flew into a hot LZ, that is where the helicopter was taking enemy fire while inserting troops. The commander of the unit would receive a request for troops to be inserted and the helicopter was directed where to insert the troops in the jungle.
Before insertion, the helicopter gunship would fire into the area because they always suspected there were enemy in the area or they wouldn’t need the troops inserted. After the troops had been inserted, they would fly back and pick them up that afternoon. He said on the insertion missions, there was always a command helicopter flying above that was in charge of the whole operation of insertion and extraction.
He had been in Vietnam eight months when the war was winding down and the US troops were being sent home. He left Vietnam July 1971, discharged 1972, moved to Bartlesville and worked for Fish and Wildlife for twenty-seven years.
Copan Restaurant & Truck Stop
Looking Back at the Area Icon
by Kay Little, Little History Adventures
If I mention the Liars Table, many of you know I am talking about the Copan Restaurant and Truck Stop, better known as the Copan Truck Stop. Where else can you go and be rewarded with a great meal for sitting at a Liar’s Table?
Let’s go back a few years. Bob and Kerry Chaney built the Copan Truck Stop in 1987. In 1993, they sold it to their nephew, John Chaney and his wife, Donna. Donna’s grandparents were the original owners of the Tuxedo Café and Donna was a long-time manager of Marie’s Steak House. So, you could say that running restaurants that serve good, homestyle food was in her blood. John was a cattleman and took care of his herd of Registered Angus Cattle while Donna took care of the restaurant. Their daughter, Julie and granddaughter, Morgan, also worked at the Truck Stop for several years, learning from Donna. They and John carried on the business after Donna died in 2019. Morgan eventually returned to college and after John died in October of 2024, Julie decided to sell the business. She was careful about who she wanted to buy it. She wanted to keep it local. That is where Copan natives, Jeremy and Sara Barnes stepped in. Sara has lived in Copan all her life and Jeremy since 1986. They both graduated from Copan High School. An interesting side note: I taught 4th grade in Copan, 1976-1979 and one of my students was Sara’s
aunt, Shelly Barnett McGlathery. It is a small world.
Jeremy and Sara grew up eating at the restaurant. Sara’s mom would order take out on Wednesdays for their dinner before church.
The Barnes have owned several businesses through the years, but wanted to own a local one, that had some importance to their family. It is very important to them for the Truck Stop to be owned by local people, keep the staff and serve the same great food. They like the small-town vibe of building traditions and family legacy.
Every morning before 6:00 a.m., 6-7 men are waiting in their trucks for Brooke to roll out the mats and unlock the doors. They then pile in to sit at the liar’s table. The saying is, “Don’t believe anything they say. They just want to stir up drama.” But it is all in fun. In fact, our beloved Santa, the late Ron Adams, was sometimes a member of the Liars Table.
Every Tuesday, the staff sets up a couple of tables with flags for whatever veterans want to come. The staff is very patriotic and love their veterans. The staff also accommodates standing reservations for cattlemen, cowboys, retired fire and law enforcement and local hunters. Patrons of the restaurant love that the staff knows them and even knows what they want to eat.
One thing I learned is people come from all over to eat at the restaurant. It is hard to go anywhere in this area without encountering people who know about the Copan Truck Stop. They come for the home cooked meals, sometimes just for a cup of coffee and a piece of Peggy’s pie, or maybe a cinnamon roll. Many of them go on Friday and Saturdays for Prime Rib. Truckers like to take advantage of the free parking and a place to get fuel. Even during Covid, a family brought their truck with a picnic table on a flatbed trailer so they could still eat at the restaurant, but stay outside.
After visiting with the former and current owners, the one word to sum up the restaurant is TRADITION!
Founded in 1998, Noblittpc has been a cornerstone of reliability and innovation in the tech service industry for over two decades; we have diligently served both individual homeowners and bustling businesses, always with a promise of exceptional quality. Recognizing the diverse needs of our clientele, we proudly offer house calls, extending our expertise right to your doorstep - be it a home or a corporate setting. And for those on the go? Our dedicated drop-off counter stands ready, ensuring swift and efficient break-fix repair services.
Green Country Village has helped seniors
Green Country Village has helped seniors in Bartlesville enjoy private,
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day from our family to yours!
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, $950 per month
Wing, Administrator
Bartlesville Health & Rehab Community provides a wide range of quality health care services. Locally owned, BHRC offers 24-hour licensed nursing care, skilled nursing services, long-term care, and in-house physical, speech, and occupational therapy. And now, BHRC offers memory care for those with Alzheimer’s disease or related disorders. This brand-new Memory Care Center (Memory Lane) is a secure 16-room unit with aroundthe-clock nursing care. For more information or to schedule a tour, call (918) 333-9545. 3434 Kentucky Place • 918-333-9545 • www.bartlesvillehealthandrehab.com
Every April, in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, CASA of Northeast Oklahoma hosts its annual Paper Doll Project: Battle of the Counties to raise awareness and support for children in foster care. Businesses, organizations, churches, and individuals across the six counties served can sponsor a paper doll—a wooden cutout representing a child in need. Sponsors dress their dolls in size 3T-4T clothing, name them, and display them in businesses or community spaces to spark conversations about the realities of foster care. While the identities of foster children remain protected, these dolls serve as powerful reminders of the many young lives affected by abuse and neglect that need stability, advocacy, and care.
For more information on the event or sponsorship opportunities, reach out to Mark Ogle at (918) 694-2510 or mark@casaneok.org.
Celebrating 30 Years
CASA of NE Oklahoma Advocates for Foster Children
by Abigail Singrey
When children enter foster care, they often leave with little more than a plastic bag of belongings and a heart full of unanswered questions. They’re losing their home and the family they’ve known and entering a life of uncertainty—their journey may end with reunification with their birth family or adoption into a new family. In every situation, their Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) is in the courtroom to represent the best interest of the child.
CASA volunteers are everyday people from the community who step up to make a real difference in a child’s life. After completing 30 hours of training and a background check, they’re appointed by a judge to be a steady presence for a child navigating the court system—often for a year and a half or longer. They get to know the child’s situation, monitor the progress of parents and caregivers, and assist with resources they need. Before each court hearing, they put together a written report with recommendations to assist judges in making the best decision possible for the child. But more than that, CASA volunteers provide stability, hope, and a brighter future for kids who need someone in their corner—helping to break cycles of abuse and neglect for generations to come.
“Currently there are more children needing a CASA volunteer than there are volunteers available,” CASA of Northeast Oklahoma Executive Director Emily Bowling said.
Last year, 39 foster children in Washington County had CASA’s assisting with their cases. Of these children, 10 were reunited with their birth families, 9 found their forever homes through adoption, and the rest remain living in foster care, with CASA volunteers continuing to advocate for them.
Now, CASA of
Northeast Oklahoma is celebrating 30 years of service. Tri County CASA was founded in May 1995 after a tragic child abuse death spurred citizens and community leaders into action. Now known as CASA of Northeast Oklahoma, the organization has expanded to serve Craig, Delaware, Mayes, Ottawa, Rogers and Washington counties, as well as the Shawnee Tribal Court.
“To everyone who has been associated with or supported CASA in some way over these last 30 years, we can’t thank you enough,” Bowling said. “It has been our honor serving Bartlesville since 2019. We look forward to the future to continue to do whatever possible to fulfill society’s most fundamental obligation to make sure that a qualified, compassionate adult is there to fight for and protect a child’s right to be safe, to be treated with dignity and respect, and to learn and grow in the safe embrace of a loving family.”
In addition to volunteering, there are other ways the community can support CASA of Northeastern Oklahoma. Every April, in recognition of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, CASA of Northeast Oklahoma hosts its annual Paper Doll Project: Battle of the Counties to raise awareness and support for children in foster care. Businesses, organizations, churches, and individuals across the six counties served can sponsor a paper doll—a wooden cutout representing a child in need. Sponsors dress their dolls in size 3T-4T clothing, name them, and display them in businesses or community spaces to spark conversations about the realities of foster care. While the identities of foster children remain protected, these dolls serve as powerful reminders of the many young lives that need stability, advocacy, and care.
“This awareness and fundraising event is held each year during April, which is National Child Prevention Month. It is an opportunity for everyone to join in and make an impact on improving the lives of abused and neglected children living in their communities for the better,” said Bowling.
For more information on the event or sponsorship opportunities, reach out to Mark Ogle at (918) 694-2510 or mark@casaneok.org. Visit www.casaneok.org or call (918) 923-7276 for more information about becoming a volunteer or making a financial donation.
B the Light Update: We Need You!
by Miriam Walker
At the writing of our B the Light Update, we are approximately 38 days away from spring. The wintery hands of time move slowly, as we countdown to warmer days and sprouting greenery. At this very same time however, we are also just 48 hours away from opening Warming Shelter number four of 2025.
During the past 49 days of this winter, B the Light Mission has been open as an Emergency Warming Shelter for a total of 23 days. This does not include the hours our volunteers spend setting up for our neighborhood guests, as well as tearing down and cleaning afterwards. This is an undertaking many don’t understand, but as fate and God would have it, many in our community are coming to understand.
OUR VOLUNTEER BASE IS GROWING! Bartlesville is so faithful with donations for our homeless neighbors. But it’s the craziest thing. The residents of this city come by to drop off donations, but nine times out of ten, they ask for information. The questions begin; what do you do here? Can anyone stay here? What else do you need? And as one of our faithful volunteers can be heard answering all the questions, my ears hear that other question - it’s my favorite question of all.
“This is great, do you guys need help?”
(I thought you’d never ask.) This is where I come in.
You’ve never seen anyone grab a clipboard as fast, as the person that can sense somebody wants to serve our homeless friends. It’s a radar that’s gotten more and more enhanced, as the problem in this city has not diminished, but has continued to grow. And before you ask and possibly wonder, yes please! We do need more volunteers.
Sometimes people don’t know they want to help, until they’re asked if they CAN help. It wasn’t until the pastor of the church I was attending, called for volunteers to serve at the Salvation Army, that I agreed to help.
“Sure,” I thought. I had no plans that night, so why not? I went to serve for the dinner shift on a Saturday night at The Salvation Army in Tulsa, because somebody asked me to. BUT HAD THAT PASTOR NOT ASKED, trust me, I would not have asked myself.
Two weeks later, our church held a service at the Dream Center. Our same group went, and by this time our numbers had already begun to dwindle to just a handful. That night I served out of obligation, as we were so shorthanded for that outreach.
Our skeleton crew of volunteers got into place, and I’m thinking of ways to remove myself from this skeleton crew. In my mind’s eye I pictured a skeleton standing there in a doctor’s office. I remove one bone and the entire statue falls to the floor in a loud crash. In real life however, something totally different happened. It was a
different sort of crash; quite literally.
I’m at the front door greeting the homeless as they get off the buses and come inside. Crash number two is etched in my memory, as the most impactful and life changing altercation that I have ever experienced in this lifetime. I open the door, advance a few steps out, and a man quickly rushes in.
My very own brother crashed into me at the door that night. Homeless. I’ll stop here, as the rest is his story to tell.
I’ll leave this narrative with the following; my brother had been homeless for six years by that time. I am here now, nearly 16 years later, because homeless really does have a name, and it belongs to my brother. And had my Pastor not asked me to volunteer that night, I might not have ever known. So you see, sometimes we just need to ask people if they want to serve.
Things are moving fast at the Mission this winter, and our volunteers can tell you there’s never a dull moment. The busyness of our Warming Shelters take up quite a bit of time, but we’re still making ready what’s needed to open full time.
WE HAVE GREAT NEWS TO SHARE!
We’ve finally been released to share that we have partnered with CTI here in Bartlesville! Their space at B the Light is complete, and we are thrilled to have them here on site to help our homeless guests. We’ve already had several of our unhoused guests from the Warming Shelter meet with them to set up their services.
CTI - The Center for Therapeutic Interventions, provides counseling, as well as treatment services for those struggling with mental health and substance use disorders. Their approach to treatment is focused on setting up the whole person for success, during and beyond that treatment. THIS IS HUGE. We don’t just want our guests to stay here and stay the same. My friends, these guys will never leave homelessness behind, without this exact type of help.
God is providing for His children at B the Light, and He continues to bring the volunteers and those that want to share in this journey. Make no mistake about it.
If you are one that God has been whispering to about serving, and if you’d like to learn more about how you can impact the lives of our homeless neighbors here in Bartlesville, please reach out to us. We’ll be here when you’re ready.
THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO SHARE, but as I type, we are now less than 36 hours away from Emergency Warming Shelter number four!! Busy busy!
See you next month!
If Not Us, Then Who?
by Miriam Walker
The space between everywhere you are, and where you want or need to be, can seem like an impossible gap; an uncrossable space. And what makes that gap even larger, is when the person standing at the edge has no idea where to start, let alone knowing how they’ll ever cross it. Our homeless neighbors, upon entering B the Light, are met with a Serve Team that helps close that gap. They won’t do it without help. They can’t do it without help.
Sylvia McFarland, who’s known Christy McPhail her entire life, shows up early every day, and has taken the time and the effort to actually meet and get to know the people we serve at B the Light. Slowly at first, she made a concentrated effort to know who’s walking through the doors at B the Light. Our homeless neighbors have come to appreciate her and her kindness. Sylvia is a jack of all trades so to speak, but at B the Light she’s become the kitchen guru. She runs that kitchen like a smooth sailing ship. Zero turbulence. She just might give the chef over at Agape’ Mission a run for his money.
“It is easy to write a check or donate, but I feel committed to being a boots on the ground help. I love seeing the progress in people’s lives when they make decisions to do better. God has a plan, and this was His plan for me.”
Having worked in the homeless communities since 2009, I moved to Bartlesville in the Spring of 2023, already outreach focused.
For me it took discovering that my very own brother had become homeless on the streets of Tulsa, sometime around 2003. His unknown and unexpected journey opened my eyes to the plight of those that have shared his same fate. You see, homeless really does have a name, and it belonged to my brother.
It was the largeness of his truth that set the stage for a calling. Volunteering is a choice, and I’ve done plenty of that. But serving the homeless is a calling, and one that began for me back in 2009.
My belief is this: When I see a homeless man on the street, I know without evidence or need for discussion, that there was definitely something that caused this man to land inside of this reality. And I know this because it happened to my own brother.
We have many tools at the Mission, and some of these tools belong to Ken Wright, one of our newest volunteers. By trade he’s a professional engineer, but he’s also worked in the gas patch industry extracting oil from the Norwegian Sea. Ken’s been extremely helpful setting up the systems to help our unhoused neighbors sign up for SSI and Disability. This will be invaluable at B the Light.
“I just like to volunteer wherever I can help out, especially if I have tools that others might not have.”
And he does!
Brett Price, AKA Lamar, met the McPhail’s while working at the
Price Tower as a guest coordinator. It was during that ten year stretch of working there, that he was able to see first hand the McPhail’s true heart for the homeless.
“A homeless man had come into the Price Tower, and he was in a pretty bad way. Christy found some clean clothes for him, she was nice to him, and she didn’t run him off. She was kind.” Brett says he has a heart for the homeless, and that is evident in the way in which he interacts with our unhoused neighbors that come to stay or drop by for services. Everyone feels a little bit safer with Brett on our Serve Team.
Brett also volunteers at the Westside Community Center, on the Planning Committee.
Last, but certainly not least, is Rhonda Daniel.
Rhonda has been an instrumental part of B the Light’s success in getting our building ready for opening.
She came in to volunteer for the garage sale and never left! We see her true heart, in the way she serves our guests during the Emergency Warming Shelters. They love Rhonda, and at that you can be certain.
“I wasn’t sure I was “cut out” for it, but learned that it’s really a matter of serving and caring for our neighbors in need.”
Rhonda is an invaluable member of our Serve Team.
Our unhoused neighbors cannot go back in time, anymore than you or I could. When they come to us, they’re bringing the sum total of all that’s taken place in their life. The unspeakable traumas that many of our homeless neighbors have gone through, is the horrifically sad reality of their situation.
Our team meets them with love, empathy, and patience. We are not doctors, nor are we therapists. Who we are, is a team of like minded individuals that have one goal in mind. That goal is a better life for the person walking through those doors.
At the completion of this feature article, our volunteers are hard at work for what is day 4, of the 4th Emergency Warming Shelter of 2025.
I’ve lost count of the number of hours our Serve Team has put in, as well as the other countless volunteers that have signed up to work.
IF YOU ARE IN THAT NUMBER- THANK YOU!
And to those highlighted in this feature, some who by now have become dear friends of mine, it’s been my complete honor to serve with you. You are truly the hands and feet of Christ.
So here’s to many more days of tracker, more days of set up, tear down, and mopping up melted snow, more days of laughter and jokes, and more days of getting ready to open full-time. Our friends that sleep under the stars thank you, I thank you.
TECH TALK TRI COUNTY TECH ALL THE TALK HAPPENING AT TECH
LPN APPLICATIONS DUE MARCH 15
Become an LPN in under one year!
The deadline to apply for the August Practical Nursing program is March 15, 2025. Graduates of the program are eligible to sit for the National Council of State Boards Licensing Exam to become a Licensed Practical Nurse. The program is approved by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing and accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). To learn more or apply online, scan the QR code.
Join us for our Career Fair on May 9! This is a come-and-go event. Morning session: 9-11AM Afternoon session: 12:00-2:45PM
Promote your business at our FREE event! Lunch, tables, and table cloths are provided. Companies or businesses interested in becoming vendors can sign up using the QR code below.
If you have any questions, please contact Randall Jones at 918.331.3269 or Randall.Jones@TriCountyTech.edu
We hope to see you there!
HAVE YOU HEARD?
DITCH THE DEBT! SHARPEN A SKILL!
Join us in June for our annual STEAM Summer Camp - a week of fun career exploration for kids currently in grades 3–9. Campers can explore exciting daily themes of their choice! The camp runs from 8:30am – 3:30pm and includes lunch, snacks, and a t-shirt. Registration opens soon! Scan the QR code below for more details.
SCAN HERE!
Mark your calendars! Tri County Tech’s Commencement Ceremony is right around the corner. Join us on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. We are so proud of our graduates and would love for you to celebrate with us. Tickets are required. COMMENCEMENT IS ALMOST HERE!
Tri County Tech offers affordable adult programs to get you into a higher-paying career fast! With our flexible evening programs, you can get certified in under a year! In-house financial assistance is available, and 90% of students qualify. Looking to gain a skill and head to college? Choose from courses in healthcare, computer, trade skills, and more! Classes start soon! Have questions?
Contact us at 918.331.3333 or EnrichingLives@TriCountyTech.edu
Did you know that Tri County Tech offers low-cost quality care in a state-of-the-art dental clinic, in partnership with the University of Oklahoma College of Dentistry. You receive a FREE screening appointment to identify any service you may need. Treatments are provided by students and are supervised by our faculty and a licensed dentist. Use the QR code or call 918.331.3218 to learn more and schedule your FREE screening today!
MORE!
A Beacon of Light
by Keith McPhail
A lighthouse…such as a structure or a tower with a powerful light that gives continuous or intermittent signals to navigators to keep them away from dangerous shorelines around the coast and to keep sailors safe. The first lighthouse was built in 285 BC in Egypt. Today there are an estimated 50,000 lighthouses around the world. If you sit back and think about it, do you wonder how many lives have been saved because of that one lighthouse standing just as it was when it was first built? How many ships were fighting the waves and storms to find that beacon of light to bring them to shore…and to bring them home? This story talks about the most important lighthouse in my life and how her light still shines today as bright as ever.
I want to talk about the lighthouse that is in my life - the one whose light has never burned out and the one who has kept me safe from crashing on the shores over the last 20 years. That lighthouse is Christy. I kept thinking about this story for the last couple of months. I was trying to find that one word that describes her best. She is my wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, and the light that not only shines on me, but on everyone who meets her. Through my darkest storms, her light never burned out. It was a constant beacon of hope and love that to this day burns as bright as when God lit it 55 years ago for us. Day after day, month after month, year after year her light is still shining. Lighthouses were built out of rocks and stones that could withstand the most severe storms that Mother Nature could throw at them. Storms and waves slamming against her, and this is what she has faced. Through my drug addiction - which lasted 15 months when we first married after being apart for 18 years - her light still shined. As the storms crashed in on our lives with 7 kids and barely making it by, the rocks that God had built her withstood the onslaught of the storm the enemy brought on us. Those rocks that had built her faith stood strong and never broke…they might have cracked but they never crumbled.
If you have never seen a lighthouse up close - hopefully one day you do have that chance - I want you to feel the stone and the rock that take the battering of waves and storms to stand tall in the most extreme circumstances. They have saved thousands of lives, and they have kept sailors coming home safe.
I want to thank Christy for being that lighthouse for me and so many others. Her light might have dimmed when we lost Tyler, but her glow never went out. Today her light shines so bright for so many people and for me. It always leads me back to that safe harbor of her arms.
My Old School
by Brent Taylor
I remember walking the halls of my old grade school in my early twenties when I was busily fulfilling the truth of George Bernard Shaw’s old saw, “Youth is wasted on the young.” The halls had mysteriously shrunk but the place still smelled of pine-scented cleaner on polished linoleum. They tore the school down in 2008, replacing it with Armstrong Bank. I thought of my old school as I walked into the lobby of Armstrong Bank recently and heard the echoes of a familiar tune: “Hey, look us over, Limestone is here…” Until that moment, I had never realized that our Limestone School Alma mater tune was a cover of the song made famous by Louis Armstrong, “Hey, Look Me Over.”
My first-grade teacher, Mattie Mayberry, inaugurated the WPA-built version of Limestone School when it opened in 1939. The clock in her classroom hung above the chalkboard and sometimes I thought that the hands had frozen and time was standing still. Was it wasted time? What did I truly learn at my old school? “I before E except after C”?
When the wrecking ball caved in the walls of my old school, I felt a tinge of sorrow. If walls talked, those weathered stones would tell stories of learning that went beyond textbooks. They would whisper about the sounds of children talking and laughing during playground recess, playing kickball and turning our faces to the sky when sonic booms rattled our ears, searching for the contrails of Air Force jets.
They would tell of the dignity and kindness of my fourthgrade teacher, Mrs. Karbosky. Her reading glasses hung from a silver chain around her neck, and she addressed us with precise diction and perfect posture. I was intimidated by her until the day my grandfather died. She pulled me aside and told me how sorry she was for my loss. In the fall of 1968, my St. Louis Cardinals were locked in a heated World Series battle against the Detroit Tigers. Stan Baughn and I approached her desk, hesitantly asking permission to listen to the game on the radio. To our astonishment, she said yes. We huddled in the back of the classroom with my transistor radio, hanging on every word as Harry Caray and Jack Buck called the game.
Our football team walked through the oil fields to play football
against Wayside School. We played basketball games against Ranch Heights and Wilson and once at Highland Park School, I shot from the top of the key, only to have the ball hit the ceiling. Mr. Tyner, our principal and coach, just shrugged and said that was why he always shot underhanded— granny-style, as we called it—to compensate for low ceilings. I loved to shoot baskets in our gym after school and Mr. Tyner would talk with me. I knew he had my best interests at heart. Not all teaching came from teachers with degrees. Rusty Mathews, our janitor, kept cinnamon and butterscotch candies in a coffee can in his supply closet. He was part Santa Claus, flinging treats to students, and part guardian angel, always watching over us. Rusty knew most of our parents, which was another reason to stay on the straight and narrow—though he still managed to catch me redhanded a few times. He embodied kindness and quiet grace. The world would be better if every child had a janitor like Rusty.
Limestone School was also where I first grappled with the fragility of life. Not only did I lose my grandfather, but a schoolmate drowned in an icy pond. I barely knew David, but sometimes when I drive Silver Lake Road near that fateful spot, I think of him and his family. In that moment, even as children, we confronted mortality and the weight of grief.
They gave me a certificate when I graduated, but I lost it somewhere along the way. I wonder what else I’ve lost from those days. I had no way of knowing that I would lose my school, that it would be demolished. If I had known, it would have bothered me. But on that final day of grade school, I walked across the playground, down to the crosswalk, turned north toward home, and never looked back. Stephen King wrote in Stand By Me, “I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve.” And I never had another school like Limestone.
by Jay Webster
I used to be a much younger man.
Maybe you wouldn’t know it by looking at me. Actually, even in high school (much to my then delight), I looked older than I was. I was often told I was “mature” for my age. Eventually, I even married young. We were just sophomores in college. I credit that fact for saving me from the traditional college hi-jinx (many of which I would enjoy at this later date given the opportunity). But still…I was younger. I was funloving... even passionate, some would say.
Now, maybe not as much.
I think I spent my youthful energy in my twenties and thirties. I didn’t realize it was like a savings account with limited resources. I assumed that it was based on personality or
drive and that my energy stash would somehow miraculously replenish itself (like the dirt in El Santuario de Chimayo in NM).
Some people certainly have bigger accounts than others. I would say my youthful bankroll was more substantial than most. But then, so were the withdrawals. Whatever “partying” we missed out on in college, we tried to make up for when we got our first home. We remodeled and rebuilt and reinvested in our humble abode so we could host large-scale Christmas Bashes, Summer Soirees, and parties with after parties and after parties.
We also invested in the Ville. For about a decade, we hosted the Heart of Town Market, a weekly street party with live music, food vendors, and local artists. After that, we
helped others establish the HOT Street Party.
During those same years, we renovated a loft space downtown, where we officed a production company that is now on the brink of turning thirty years old. That’s also where we shot movies and music videos and short films and hosted community events and (you guessed it) parties. We even entertained our extended family Christmas celebrations there for a couple of years.
Somewhere along the way, well, we got tired.
We continued to host events because it finally dawned on us that if you could post a starting time, you could also post a get-the-heck-out time. That social feature has kept us in the “hosting” game.
For a short minute, I had something even more brilliant working on our block: co-hosting progressive parties. We would create events with one or two other houses in our neighborhood: start with drinks and appetizers here, move to hardy snacks over there, and desserts down there. The key (as you can see) was to be house number one. Then everyone takes their stuff and leaves to hit the next spot. You’re free! You go to the next two spots, stay as long as you want, and then just walk home. (I was pretty proud of that strategy. It made you look hospitable and generous while also providing an escape route!)
I miss those days.
Recently, at family events, we’ve employed a not-soinconspicuous signal that it’s time for everyone to move on. It goes like this: You’ve been together for an extended period of time (or extended enough as the case may be). Maybe you’re sitting around the kitchen table or standing in the front yard, and there is a slight pause in the conversation. Maybe it’s a place that naturally falls on you to respond, and so you offer the “Welp...”
“Welp,” like its cousin, “Well,” is an exclamation, but here the “p” in Welp makes it definitive. It operates as a clear indicator: we’re saying goodbye now. Sometimes, if you want to be more gracious, you can compound the Welp to soften it, as in, “Welp, what time is it?” Or “Welp, I guess we better get a move on.” Or “Welp, we better get this kid ready for bed.” The last one may take some coordination. It won’t play well for you if your kid is in earshot and suddenly whines about it only being 5:30 PM. Bribing them with extra screen time if they offer up a yawn is well worth it.
Here are some other compounds you can enlist: “Welp, I guess those dishes won’t do themselves.” “Welp, we have got to do this again soon.” “Welp, this has been fun.” And “Welp, I guess we better call it a night. We’re getting so old. Remember when you could stay up all night. Welp, see you guys soon.”
The double Welp in this one can really be effective for those persistent, social-cue-impaired-long-stayers.
In terms of closing things out, Welp is the greatest invention since, “Gosh, I wish we could, but we have to get our baby home for her nap.” Man, I miss the nap schedule. That could get you out of just about anything.
I may be new to using Welp, but obviously, it’s been around forever. I can remember my Grandfather using it when we lived in Coffeyville, KS, for a short minute. The difference is he would use Welp as a conversation starter instead of a social-
gathering-ender as I do.
“Welp, looks like the Cardinals gave it away again in the 9th last night.” “Welp, looks like they voted to keep KS a dry state again. Guess we should toast that.” “Welp, looks like the forecast is clear, better salt the sidewalks. They never do get it right.”
I remember asking him once, “If we live in Coffeyville, what’s South Coffeyville?”
“Welp, the way I heard it, some folks were talking when someone spoke up and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got thirty people, two mules and a Dollar General and we’re on a highway…I guess we better name this place. Otherwise, people will just assume we’re part of Coffeyville up North.’
“And then Carl spoke up and said, ‘What if we just called ourselves Coffeyville because look, we’re in Oklahoma and the other Coffeyville is in Kansas. Kinda like there’s a Miami, OK and a Miami, FL and a Manhattan, KS and Manhattan, NY. No one ever gets them confused. We could just pronounce ours differently, like Coff-è-ville or Coff-a-ville.’
“Then one of the mules spoke up and said, ‘No, it’ll still be confusing. We need a way to say, “We’re cool like Coffeyville, but we’re also our own thing. Hey, what if we called ourselves South Coffeyville? Sorta like South of the Border because we are all the way down here in Oklahoma. It’ll seem exotic.’
“‘Perfect. Let’s go tell everyone down at the Dollar General.’”
At least that’s how my Grandfather used to tell it anyway. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it is entertaining.
Welp. I guess we better get going.
You need to get back to your lives, and I need to get to work on my column for bMonthly. Those things don’t just write themselves, you know. They take a lot of thought and organization.
Until I see you again, happy March. Be kind and do good, friends.
Dear Evan Hansen... Award-Winning Musical Coming to The Center
Broadway in Bartlesville! is proud to present the Tony® and Grammy® -winning Best Musical that connected the world, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, at The Center on Thursday, March 6 at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at bartlesvillecenter.com; 918337-2787; or in person at The Center Box Office.
Declared “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theater history” by The Washington Post, DEAR EVAN HANSEN is the first musical to take a groundbreaking look — from the point of view of both the parents and young people — at our complex, interconnected, and social media-filled lives.
Evan Hansen is a high school student who always feels like he’s on the outside looking in. Evan finally gets what so many of us are searching for—the chance to finally fit in. What follows is a poignant, funny, and powerful musical about how even though it can be hard, we can find each other—and ourselves—along the way.
Including some of the most iconic musical theatre songs from the last decade, including “You Will Be Found,” “Waving Through A Window,” and “For Forever,” DEAR EVAN HANSEN features an uplifting score by the Emmy ®, Tony ®, Grammy®, and Oscar® winning team behind The Greatest Showman, La La Land, and “Only Murders in the Building” Benj Pasek and Justin Paul,
and a book by Tony Award-winner Steven Levenson.
Watch your inboxes and socials in April 2025 for the 20252026 Broadway in Bartlesville! season line-up announcement. Purchasing a season subscription is the best way to get the lowest ticket prices; keep the same seats for each show; and guarantee those seats for future seasons!
The 2025–2026 Broadway in Bartlesville! season will be announced in April! Season tickets are the best way to receive the lowest prices and sit in the same seat for each performance in the series.
Generous donations from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Oklahoma Arts Council, and many local sponsors make current and future Broadway in Bartlesville! shows possible. This season’s sponsors include: Arvest Wealth Management; bMonthly Magazine; Cortney McClure Design; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Crawford; Examiner-Enterprise; Green Country Village; Keleher Architects; KGGF KUSN KQQR; KRIG KYFM KWON KPGM; Melody’s Creative Cuisine; Nowata Road Liquor; Phillips 66; Price Tower Arts Center; Robinett|King; Dr. and Mrs. Richard Rutledge; Dr. and Mrs. William D. Smith; Stumpff Funeral Home & Crematory; Ms. Terri Taylor; Truity Credit Union; and Visit Bartlesville.
Pathways to Independence Sweet Spot: A Snack Bar with a 50’s Vibe
Looking for a quiet, unique place to have lunch and enjoy pizza, sandwiches with locally sourced cheese, frito chili pie, or craft ice cream, and support the youth of Bartlesville. The Sweet Spot might be the ticket. This snack bar with a 50’s vibe is a part of the Youth Development Center at The Creamery and is run by Paths to Independence students. It’s located on 515 Frank Phillips Blvd just west of the railroad tracks.
The dream for The Creamery operated by On The Rock Ministries was to provide a place where high school students and young adults could gain life skills to become successful adults. The snack bar sputtered the first year it opened with great ice cream options and a developing menu, but not very many customers and not generating enough money to pay the students running the Sweet Spot. The Rock closed it at the end of the summer. That’s when Paths to Independence stepped in with an idea for a brilliant partnership that met the vision for the building.
The partnership fulfills the mission of The Rock and receives any proceeds beyond expenses, while PTI students benefit from working in a community environment.
At the Sweet Spot, adult and transitions students work a morning shift from 10-12 or an afternoon shift from 12-2. PTI’s transitions coordinator Ceclia Betterton, manager Emilia Medina, and job coach Allison Carey help the students take orders, prepare quality food, serve customers, run the cash register, make change, and keep the shop spotless. Students now make cinnamon rolls and pretzels from scratch and the menu is updated often as they gain experience.
Community support for the Sweet Spot will continue to grow with the help of a grant from the Bartlesville Rotary Club. The grant has allowed PTI’s graphic arts students to print Sweet Spot T-shirts for our student staff and to sell to customers.
Paths to Independence (PTI) was exploring options to provide more workforce development opportunities to prepare students to become contributing members of the community. PTI serves preschool through adult students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Clair Bartley, PTI Executive Director approached Ken Dossett, OTRM Director with a brilliant idea to design a program to meet the vision of both organizations. PTI would provide the labor and OTRM would provide the setting for PTI students to learn job skills.
Estimates suggest that only about 15 percent of adults with autism are employed in paying jobs. PTI provides job readiness/transition classes. Students have been employed or have volunteered at The Eatery restaurant, the SPCA, Mary Martha Outreach, and other sites.
Now The Creamery snack bar/restaurant, the Sweet Spot, has been a delicious addition to the students’ job training opportunities. The Rock provides the building, along with kitchen equipment, and PTI provides the staff, a manager, and job coaches.
As The Rock expands their programs at The Creamery, more Paths to Independence students will be able to train for a wider variety of tasks and to take on greater responsibilities, increasing their level of independence.
The Sweet Spot is open from 10-2, Monday through Friday, when school is in session. Come have lunch and ice cream, and support two nonprofits that provide unique opportunities for students in our community.
The Creamery, our newest addition to the Rock’s campuses is just down the street at 515 SW Frank Phillips Blvd. Here you will find in addition to the Sweet Spot, an Esports arena where students can compete on teams with other teams across the nation. In addition to having fun, our students learn sportsmanship and have opportunities for college scholarships. The High School Esports team also uses our facilities for their gaming. We have had teams earn top positions by placing as runners-ups nationally. Openings are still available for 6th grade students and up.
The Creamery also houses an education wing for classes, a movie room/venue center, a coffee shop, snack bar, fountain area for study, a living room with fireplace for hangout time, and counseling rooms. The facilities can be rented for special events, family gatherings, birthday parties or community events. For more information, contact Ken Dossett 918.336.2636.
