Friday, February 11, 2022
Valentine's Day Edition
Refurbished love Darren Shrum remodels OSU regents truck into tailgating site
Chris Becker Editor-in-Chief
Love at first sight Abby Cage
Darren and Kayse will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary this year.
The Shrum’s Story
Dru Norton News Editor Darren and Kayse Shrum’s love story began 32 years ago at an unlikely place: Walmart. After graduating from the University of Central Arkansas in 1989, Darren accepted a job with Walmart at the corporate office in Bentonville, Arkansas. Part of Darren’s training as manager required him to work at one of Walmart’s many store locations. This brought him to a Walmart in Broken Arrow, 20 minutes away from Kayse’s hometown of Coweta. Darren remembers the moment he saw her. “I was standing at the front with the store manager, Mike, and there she was, just walking through the door,” Darren said. “I told Mike, ‘That’s the one. I’m going to marry that girl right there.’ And he starts laughing, saying, ‘You don’t even know her.’ I didn’t know her, but I knew she was the one.” Since that fateful day, they
have been together ever since. After almost two years of dating, Darren and Kayse eloped. They had a small gathering, surrounded by close family, at an old historical church in Van Buren, Arkansas. “We actually got married in shorts and matching shirts, which is really funny,” Darren said. “We got married by 1 p.m., then took off to Florida for our honeymoon.” As Kayse attended medical school at Oklahoma State and Darren was manager at Walmart, they welcomed their first child into the world. Over the years, the family of three grew into a family of six. “From the birth of our biological kids, to the day we adopted three boys and took them home, to Kayse graduating medical school, it has all been a blessing,” Darren said. Throughout Kayse’s accomplishments and honors, she has always kept her fun-loving nature, Darren said. “We’ll laugh at some of the dumbest things,” Darren said. “She starts laughing uncontrollably, which makes me laugh, and I can’t stop.” Darren said one of his favorite memories with Kayse was snowmobiling at Beaver Creek, Colorado. “We had a guide for this snowmobile tour, but Kayse
ended up going a mile ahead of us,” Darren said. “She finally pulls up beside me, and in slow motion, she just falls right off into the deep snow, never taking her hands off the handlebars or anything. She and I still laugh about it to this day.” On May 22, Darren and Kayse will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Darren said he looks forward to their future together. “We’ve shared so many memories and milestones together,” Shrum said. “I’m excited to see what the future has in store for us.”
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However, the importance isn’t the help it provides, it’s the stitching. Not only is it orange, the stitching is done in a way to resemble the stitches on a baseball, a nod to Athony’s past. “The coolers in itself have a little table that folds out all inside it and it works like a charm. And we have the number one parking space there at the stadium,” Anthony said. “So everybody’s new dog, you know, comes by, it’s perfect. “I bet we’ll average every game probably 100 people.” While the truck itself has seen the turn of decades a few times over, amenities are modern. “We decided we wanted to be able to use it, you know, get out on the road with it. It’s got power steering, power brakes and automatic transmission,” Anthony said. The truck, originally wasn’t it’s now illustrious orange, but during the restoration process, Shrum sprayed the car. The paint had to be precise and it took a couple of attempts to make it the perfect orange body that now lights up the football tailgating scene. “It’s harder to paint one of these because you have to get it right the first time,” Shrum said. “When I first sprayed on the other side it had wrinkled and had an interaction with the primer.” Inside, the truck comes to life. The orange interior is paired with two brown leather couch-like seats. The steering wheel, which remains the same style as the original, like the rest of the vehicle, is, of course, orange. To cap off the interior of the decked out ride is an OSU logo protruding from the roof. “I was really really proud of it’s really pretty,” Shrum said.
Newlyweds Kyndall and Guthrie Meyer drove away from their wedding in a different kind of ride. It wasn’t a limo, a carriage or even one of their vehicles. It was a bright orange 1948 Ford two-door pick-up. Kyndall, a daughter of OSU president Kayse Shrum and First Cowboy Darren Shrum, and her husband were in the truck of Calvin Anthony, a truck her dad refurbished. “The boys wanted to put stuff on my stuff underneath. You know, so they took a piece of something and hung off some cans,” Darren said. “They did a good job.” Anthony, a former baseball player and current member of the OSU/A&M Board of Regents, is the owner, but Darren is the creator of the vibrant masterpiece. Anthony brought the truck to him and Darren did the rest. “Calvin did the most important part, he paid for it,” Shrum said. “That part was the easiest part, he (Shrum) did that,” Anthony responded. The truck may seem small; it packs a punch with tailgating equipment, featuring an insertable rack, which can carry two coolers and a table. The truck is a popular attraction on Saturday’s of football season, as it’s hard to miss. With its glowing color and perfect parking place people flock to look at Shrum, and Anthony’s, creation. Attached to the back of the bed are brown leather and chain link handles to help unload and load tailgating items. news.ed@ocolly.com
Abby Cage Calvin Anthony (left) and Darren Shrum (right) partnered to create an orange truck.