Once Upon a Time: Mystery Man at Kimmel’s

Mystery Man at Kimmel’s

Decades-Old Photo Has Local Writer Stumped

by Rita Thurman Barnes

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

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

I love it when members of my “Bartlesville group” post their personal Bartlesville photos and follow up with the explanations of date, time, names, etc. I always learn something new about the member or his or her family or neighbor or their memories of the history of our city. And, such it is with me. I love to share my photos that I or friends or family have taken – one in particular, very much so. It’s the photo you see with this story. I call it the Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Drug Store. I write about it today because I have been posting it in one or the other of the Facebook groups I’ve had about Bartlesville history for many years. I always get the same answer over and over – No!

And I wouldn’t be too surprised with the answers to the negative I’ve received to my eternal question except for what happened a few weeks ago as we were once again cleaning out closets. Some boxes held items from my childhood or that of my sons or my husband and I was once again happy to know of their whereabouts. I also found this or that old trinket from a summer vacation or from holidays past and shed a few nostalgic tears for all those remembered blessings. But, was I ever shocked and surprised when I reached into the bottom of a box and pulled out a 3 by 4 inch black and white photo. I refocused my eyes as I looked down to lay my hand on the very photo I’d been trying to identify for eons – it was the Mystery Man at Kimmel’s Drug Store.

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