upfront
Welcome to September friends! This is the month where Fall wants to take away summer and the days of 100 degree heat and humidity. September is a busy month for most of us with school having started - whether it’s elementary or college. Our Gracie girl is a freshman at Ottawa University and about to start her next chapter in life. We are also starting our next chapter of being empty nesters for the first time in over 19 years. Fall also means all football is here. Whether it’s pee wee football, highschool or college football, I love it ALL! If you didn’t know by now, I’m an Arkansas Razorbacks fan…Go Hogs!
For this month’s feature story I had Abigail Singrey write about “Oklahoma Outlaws” which I have been wanting to do for a few years. At one time before we were a state, Oklahoma was Indian Territory, and it was wild! The only law at the time was the law you made up. The US Marshals were the only law enforcement who had any effect in this new land, which would one day be called Oklahoma. Our state’s name means “Red People” and comes from the Choctaw Indians. The six outlaws who are in the feature came through Oklahoma and some right through our backyard… Bartlesville.
September is a very busy month for Christy and me. On September 5th, 6th, and 7th we are having a massive garage sale at B the Light Mission. This is during the KanOkla 100 Mile Sale which runs alongside Highway 75 through Oklahoma and Kansas. We hope to raise $6000 for the Mission so please come out on one of those three days and support us. Also, Keller Williams Realty owned by Shelley Koster has made B the light Mission a beneficiary of their annual golf tournament on September 20th.
Please go to our website b-thelight.org to find out more about this event. The goal is to raise $40,000 for the Mission. You might have heard the news lately about our beloved Price Tower designed by one of the most historic architects in the world… Frank Lloyd Wright. A few weeks ago the Price Tower management notified us and others that we needed to move out of the building. We have officed here since 2018. The view from our office was second to none. We pray that the situation will work out, and this architectural wonder will be back open soon.
We also want to let you know that our daughter Madison had her first baby, Hans. He was 9 pounds 12 ounces and 22 inches long. He is beautiful. Hans makes our 5th grandchild. I can tell you that the holidays will be a little crazy at Lolly and Pop’s house. Congratulations to Conner and Madi on this beautiful baby boy!
I’m writing this Upfront on Tuesday, August 20th. As I wrote last month, this is the last day our daughter Grace will be here at the house. Tomorrow morning we will take her to Ottawa Kansas where she will start her new chapter. We both are struggling with this. I know when we drive away tomorrow, it will hit us the most. This day really came a little fast. It was just yesterday I was teaching her to drive. Now that time is here and she will not be here at the house. She won’t walk in, and I say “Hey Gracie Girl”. Change is good, but in this case this change will take us a while to get used to. Embrace everyday you have with your kids because this day will come for you. That room they once were in is now empty and dark. God bless, Keith ...and by the way Gracie your lamp in your room will always be on! Love you baby girl! Dad!
Volume XV Issue IX
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
Tim Hudson Calendar/Social Media calendar@bartlesvillemonthly.com
Contributing Writers
Debbie Neece, Kay Little, Kelly Hurd
Aaron Kirkpatrick, Jay Hastings, Torrey Martin Brent Taylor, Keith McPhail, Jay Webster Abigail SIngrey, Josh Wright, Mike Tupa Maria Gus, Lori Just, Miriam Walker
Contributing Photographers
Bartlesville Area History museum
Josh Wright, Debbie Neece, Brenda Williamson
Kids Calendar
Jessica Smith
ABOUT THE COVER
A look back at some of Oklahoma’s notorious outlaws.
Creative concept by Keith and Christy McPhail
Design by Engel Publishing
Grace’s lamp in her bedroom, which will always be on.
Dr. Anderson P. Mehrle
by Lori Just
Anderson P. Mehrle grew up on a 1,500-acre row crop farm near Lambert, MS. He is a board-certified cardiologist with long standing commitment and empathy to the community. He attributes his work ethic and compassionate nature to his upbringing on his family’s farm in the Mississippi Delta. There he learned the true meaning of empathy and the dedication required to provide quality care as seen in his practice today.
During his formative years, Dr. Mehrle was shaped by the values and standards set forth by his parents and grandparents. He was very fortunate to be raised by both of his loving parents and have his grandparents right next door. His father and mother helped set the groundwork for his morals and compassion. His dad coached him and his siblings in little league while also farming. While his mother was a piano teacher and truly the foundation of the household.
“My grandfather’s work ethic and the love extended to us from my grandmother and the determination she had to see that we did what we were supposed to do left that invisible impression,” he said.
His maternal grandfather, Ed Anderson, he called Da, started the farm in the 20s through the Depression and provided him and his siblings life lessons about contentment and the betterment of your own world. His grandmother, Mary, who he called Nana, had two brothers that were doctors. She encouraged Anderson and his brother, Kerk, to attend medical school. Ultimately, all the Mehrle siblings attended Millsaps College in Jackson then Dr. Anderson Mehrle and Dr. Kerk Mehrle went to medical school at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine about a half mile from the college. His brother then went into orthopedics and still practices in Jackson and his sister, Elizabeth, is a speech pathologist in Jackson.
“One of my best moments was at my white coat ceremony on the day I was accepted into medical school, my grandma was in attendance, and I proudly put that white coat on for her. She and I were quite happy about that,” he recalled. At his grandmother’s eulogy years later, Dr. Mehrle shared that his grandmother had not really seen the world and nobody else in the world knew of her necessarily but she was the biggest thing in their world;
there was no figure larger than his grandmother.
Dr. Mehrle completed his residency and was a chief resident of internal medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center. He did a four-year cardiology fellowship with one of those years being an interventional cardiologist. He was one of two interventional fellows, along with a colleague, Dr. Walter Woody. They were the first intervention fellows at the University of Mississippi and were pioneers for the program. He stayed on staff at the university and taught fellows for one year. Although he enjoyed teaching, he then moved to Montana to hunt and fish prior to ultimately relocating to Bartlesville.
“I went into cardiology because I liked the idea of having a relationship with patients that carried on through the years to get to know people and understand them and how best to help,” he said. “Cardiology allows for continuity of care but then it also allows you to perform life-saving procedures to improve their quality of life. You see something you fix it, so I like the idea of being able to fix things and see patients for years after to follow them and keep them healthy.”
He said what brought him to Bartlesville in 2008 was a conversation with the late Dr. Stanley P. DeFehr who was part of the Bluestem Cardiology group at the time. The private health center had established a team that included Dr. DeFehr, Gary T. Dykstra and William P. Tinker that covered the hospital’s inpatient cardiac problems and developed an outstanding reputation in the community.
After the initial conversation with Dr. DeFehr, he said they didn’t talk about money or what kind of procedures he would do. Instead, Dr. DeFehr wanted to talk about him, his plans for family, settling down, baseball and shared life experiences. Dr. Anderson Mehrle said they all had the style of leadership and commitment to their work that you couldn’t help but to soak it in.
“I thought, this is the man I want to emulate my personal and professional life after,” he said. “I was lucky to have good people along the way, that between my parents, grandparents and those three men, made me who I am today.”
He says he’s most proud of continuing that culture of not only compassion for the patients but a sense of family and dedication to the community. Dr. DeFehr, Dr. Dykstra and Dr. Tinker paved the way for a strong sense of community and family. Dr. Anderson Mehrle has continued their legacy by exemplifying those same standards in his practice now.
“It’s one thing to see them once and another to get involved in their life and see them at church and be able to recognize people in the community,” he added. “My partners did that well and built an atmosphere in the clinic. It’s spilled over to everyone working there. I think that is the most desirable legacy that you can have; continue the compassion, the integrity and quality of care that you hope to have started.”
When someone approaches him and expresses their gratitude for saving their life or the life of a family member, he finds it hard to put into words how much that means to him.
“When you get a compliment that is so sincere and meaningful, you almost get shy like a child that you just have no idea how to answer,” he said. “This is more than just a passing compliment about your appearance, they are expressing how forever grateful that you saved their family member. It’s humbling and reminds me of the impact of the work we do. These patients have families that count on them, not just someone’s name on a chart, and we’re trying to get these people back healthy and to their family. I’m happy and proud to have the honor.”
He believes that every patient he sees, he has an honest conversation with them about their cardiology journey and potential obstacles to overcome. He wants them to know
what they are up against, so the decision-making process can be a joint effort. This also allows the patient to make the most informed and collaborative decisions for their healthcare journey.
“It’s always with a great relief and joy when you go out to a family nervously waiting, and you get to say how great it went,” he said. “There’s always the bigger picture with every patient.”
When Dr. Mehrle is not wearing the hat of Interventional Cardiologist, he wears the hat of dad. He and his wife, Laurel (Hadsell), have five kids together, Tyrus, 10, Parker, 8, Kersey, 5, and twins Henry and Elleigh, 3, that keep him busy in his personal time.
“They do not let you bring anything from work to home,” he chuckled. “When they hit the door and run to daddy you’re off doing piggyback rides, looking at forts they built or playing cards. So whatever stress was on your mind that day, it quickly goes by the wayside.”
Dr. Mehrle met his wife when he was working a rotation in the ER with Dr. Thomas Britt. Laurel was a nurse in the ER. On one rotation, Dr. Mehrle looked over, saw a huddle of nurses and asked Dr. Britt who the nurse was that stood out from the rest. She had a bright smile and beautiful eyes.
“I was the hopeless romantic, in my mind, she was going to come over and take my blood pressure, we’d hold hands, lock eyes and run out of the hospital,” he laughed. “Later, she told me she begrudgingly came over to oblige thinking ‘I have work to do, I have no idea why this doctor cannot check his own blood pressure, and I don’t know why Dr. Britt asked me to do this.’ So that’s how we met. Conversations ensued, and we got married in 2013.”
Dr. Mehrle is proud of the community outreach and expansion over the years as the practice has evolved into the Ascension St. John Jane Phillips Medical Center and expanded into SE Kansas and Pawhuska. He is proud of the work they can do now in the hospital setting such as high-risk coronary interventions with up to date equipment and technology that provide life saving measures. He also has a vast knowledge and experience in carotid and lower extremity revascularization as well as aortic aneurysm repair. Dr. Anderson Mehrle has a passion for continuing his education, staying up to date with current cutting-edge medical practices and procedures.
“I hope to keep seeing our patients as people in the community that trust us, and we like taking care of them,” he added. “We want to be here for them because we know how important they are to someone else in this community such as family, friends and church members.”
Dr. Anderson Mehrle has a strong passion for the community he serves and strives to give them the highest standard of care and commitment possible. He goes above and beyond for his patients and is looking forward to serving them for many years to come.
Blood and Money . . . Stories of Oklahoma’s Wild West Outlaws
by Abigail Singrey
In the years before and just after statehood, Oklahoma’s hills and mountains hosted a variety of outlaws. It was a different time, where lawlessness was common, and the outlaws became famous, with every citizen knowing their name. In those days, justice would be carried out by a posse or the U.S. Marshals, and the outlaws were as likely to be shot dead as captured for a trial.
Here are the legends of six of Oklahoma’s notorious desperados.
Henry
Wells: Frank Phillips’ favorite bank robber
The authentic 1869 stagecoach carrying Frank Phillips’ guests lurched up the steep “44 Hill.” Just as they reached the top, a masked gang of outlaws with six-shooters surrounded them, stopping the stage. The outlaws pointed their six-shooters at the guests and demanded they hand over their wallets and jewelry. As soon as the outlaws left, a debate broke out: Had they really been robbed or was it part of the experience?
As soon as the stage arrived at Woolaroc Lodge, the guests tumbled excitedly out to be greeted by Frank Phillips and a table full of their belongings. The stick-up had indeed been staged, by none other than Frank Phillips’ part-time employee and former bank robber, Henry Wells.
Wells got his start in crime when he ran away from home at age thirteen and built a hideout in the Lost Creek area of the Osage Hills west of Bartlesville. Here, he met other gangsters such as Al Spencer.
In the spring of 1922, Wells joined Spencer’s gang, robbing a bank and a local bootlegger. After a shootout, Spencer and Wells fled back to safety in the Osage Hills. The gang then went on a spree of bank robberies, some turning bloody. Then, on Oct. 18, 1922, three masked outlaws locked the staff of the Dewey bank in the vault. They escaped with $2,500, thinking they had made a clean get-away. However, one of the bank employees picked Wells out of a lineup. Wells offered up an alibi, and the trial ended with a hung jury.
Wells went on to rob 32 banks and was tried fourteen times, but only convicted once. As his notoriety grew, many banks
would close their doors if they heard he was nearby. However, Wells grew tired of his life of crime, committing his last robbery in 1934. In 1946, he announced his retirement from robbery after a lawyer told him he could no longer be tried for any of his previous crimes. From then on, Henry Wells was on the straight and narrow.
Frank Phillips and Wells serendipitously met playing poker and soon became friends. Wells added his notoriety as a guest at Phillips’ Cowboys and Outlaws Reunions, a carefully negotiated gathering where criminals and law enforcement alike partied together. Wells was soon on the payroll at Woolaroc, and the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise reported that Frank and Jane Phillips attended Wells’ 72nd birthday party.
At Woolaroc, Wells rubbed shoulders with people who he had once been at odds with. Washington County Sheriff Grif Graham was astonished to find out that he had once shot a horse out from under Wells during a bank robbery in Avant. At another gathering at the Frank Phillips Ranch, a banker bragged that Wells had robbed him once.
“Say, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Wells replied. “What did you ever do with that $22,000? You told the bank examiners I got $25,000, but I just counted $3,000. Where’s the rest?”
The banker choked on his drink, and Wells walked away laughing.
Wells still kept suspect company at times, which led to him
getting wind of a plot by “Pretty Boy” Floyd to kidnap Frank Phillips. Wells rode straight to the ranch to warn the staff. When Floyd arrived, he was driven off by gunfire from the ranch hands.
“It was the only time I ratted out any of the boys,” Wells said. “But I told Pretty Boy Floyd I’d rather someone would have kidnapped my daddy than Frank Phillips.”
Wells became a well-known and notorious figure around Bartlesville, ending his days in a small room above the pool hall in 1962.
Al Spencer: Oklahoma’s last train robbery
Al Spencer was the last Oklahoma outlaw to commit his crimes on horseback. He got his start in Nowata County in 1916, when he was arrested on four counts of cattle stealing. He then robbed a clothing store in Neodesha, Kan., but was arrested with most of the stolen goods still with him. He pled guilty and was sentenced to three to ten years in prison in McAlester. Here, he met outlaw Henry Wells and the two became fast friends.
Spencer worked his way up to becoming a trustee in prison for his good behavior. One day, he was sent to do electrical work in a home outside the prison. Spencer put down his tools and walked off, gaining his freedom.
A gang formed around Spencer, hiding out in the Osage Hills. Over the next eighteen months, they robbed around twenty banks. Eventually, however, they had hit all the banks within easy riding distance of their hideout. Instead, the Spencer Gang turned their attention to the trains.
They received word that $20,000 in Liberty Bonds were going to be shipped by train. It was the perfect opportunity for the gang to make some serious money. After much contemplation, they decided the Okesa station would be the perfect spot for their raid.
At 12:25 a.m. on Aug. 21, 1923, the train pulled into the Okesa station. The train’s fireman, Byron Tower, was seated in the engine when he noticed two men jumping down in front of him. Tower told the Pawhuska Daily Capital that he saw “a big brutal fellow, who towered over me like a giant (and) jabbed a gun into my ribs and told me to lay down.” But Tower didn’t move fast enough, so the robber kicked him and hit him over the head with his gun. Tower briefly lost consciousness.
The outlaws forced Tower, engineer William Miller, the mail clerk and the express clerk from the train, telling them to sit on the tracks. One outlaw, who appeared to be giving the orders, wore a red bandana. The others wore stockings pulled over their heads with eye holes cut out. Tower thought they appeared slightly drunk as they fired their guns randomly to intimidate the crew and the passengers.
After securing the Liberty Bonds, the gang made their way to the passenger compartment, but the porter had locked the door and refused them entry. The gang, furious, discussed using dynamite to blow it open, but eventually abandoned the plan. Instead, they left with $20,000 in Liberty Bonds and $10,000 from the mail.
Miller told the newspaper the next day, “Last night was the worst ever. Imagine yourself at the mercy of a drunken outlaw who would not even listen to the leader of the gang.”
It was the last train robbery in Oklahoma and also Spencer’s last raid. Shortly after that, he was shot under mysterious circumstances. Some say a posse out of Bartlesville cornered him on a country road where he was shot by Deputy U.S. Marshal Luther Bishop, while others think it was a friend who betrayed him. Either way, outlaw Al Spencer had ridden for the last time.
Jesse James: The myth of buried treasure
Snow fell thickly as the burros stumbled and gave in to their exhaustion. Their precious cargo of $1 million in gold bullion would have to be buried. Luckily, Jesse James and his gang were near one of his hideouts in what’s now Robber’s Cave State
Park in Oklahoma. After the James gang robbed some Mexican guardsmen, they had fled back across the border with the gold.
According to the legend, Jesse James selected a narrow ravine to dig, marking the spot by nailing a burrow shoe to one tree and emptying his six-shooter into another. This gold has never been found, raising questions of whether it’s real or a myth.
Jesse and Frank James honed their ruthless tactics as guerrilla fighters under the infamous Confederate General William Quantrill, who once led his men to massacre every male in a Kansas town. After the war, the brothers became notorious outlaws, carrying out robberies across a wide swath of the country, from Iowa to Texas and Kansas to West Virginia. When a raid on the James family farm left Jesse’s mother injured and his eight-year-old half-brother dead, Jesse vowed revenge, coldly executing several of those responsible. This thirst for vengeance eventually led him to Minnesota, though he was unable to kill the man he was tracking.
The James Gang and Younger Gang who sometimes rode together settled on the First National Bank in Northfield, Minnesota, as their first robbery target. Several members kept watch outside the bank, while the rest made their way inside. Frank James told Joseph Heywood, the bank’s bookkeeper, to open the safe or he’d shoot him in the face. Heywood didn’t move. He insisted it was a time lock that couldn’t open, but Frank James knew that was a lie. They would need access to the funds during business hours.
On the street, a man realized what was happening. “They’re robbing the bank!” he shouted. It was the citizen’s money in the bank, and this was before the days of insurance. J.S. Allen, the owner of the hardware store, started passing out guns to every man he could find. They began shooting at the lookouts,
starting a raging gun battle. An outlaw fell off his horse, shot through the neck. Cole Younger, another lookout, assessed the situation and yelled, “Come out of the bank!” The robbers inside did not respond, as another outlaw fell, dead. Younger repeated his cry, this time adding, “They are shooting us all to pieces!”
In frustration, Jesse James wheeled and shot Heywood in the head. The gang never got access to the safe. Instead, they fled to their horses, with bullets striking them as they fired back. Six wounded men fled on five horses. Eventually, all would be captured except for Frank and Jesse James, who made their way back to Missouri, dodging posses and traps the whole time.
However, the escapade had put a large price on their heads. Jesse James was shot in his own home by a so-called friend for the reward money, leading to Frank James surrendering to the governor of Missouri to serve his time. Thus ended the James gang.
Belle Starr: A friend to every outlaw
The sixteen-year-old girl rode like the wind, until she was stopped by Union soldiers at gunpoint. It was 1862, and Myra Belle Shirley—who would later be infamous as Belle Starr—had just uncovered a Union plot to capture her brother, Captain Shirley. Desperate to warn him, she was intercepted by Major Enis, who suspected her intentions. He detained her at a private residence, where she furiously played the piano and raged at him while he watched and laughed. Finally, believing his soldiers had gained a sufficient lead, Major Enis allowed Myra to leave.
As she cut switches from a nearby bush to spur her horse, she declared, “I’ll beat them yet.”
She did just that, reaching home ahead of the Union soldiers, while her brother disappeared into the night.
Born into a family of staunch Confederate supporters, Myra’s brother was a member of the Quantrill’s raiders and may
have known the James brothers. Quantrill was a family friend who often dined with the Shirley family. It’s no surprise, then, that Myra Shirley fell in love with a man she called a “dashing guerilla,” Jim Reed. They married and had two children, but Jim Reed struggled to lay aside his lawlessness and introduced his wife to members of the Younger Gang and Tom and Sam Starr. Eventually, a bounty of $4,000 was placed on Jim Reed’s head, leading to an acquaintance shooting him in 1874 to claim it. Myra Reed quickly married Sam Starr, a Cherokee who lived in Youngers’ Bend, near present-day Eufaula, becoming the infamous Belle Starr.
Sam Starr also had a warrant out for his arrest, leading him to travel around the Youngers’ Bend wilderness, camping or hiding in various friends’ and relations’ homes. One time, two deputies received a tip that Sam Starr was at home. Instead of finding him, they found Belle Starr in a lookout she’d nailed to a tree. She invited them in for a meal, though she didn’t eat any of the food herself. When they finished, she told them, “That was an old rattlesnake I killed this morning. Now go and puke it up!” Both deputies became very ill but survived.
Rumors swirled around the Starrs, with the couple accused of countless robberies and crimes. What’s certain is that they were arrested and imprisoned for horse theft. Then, in 1886, Sam Starr encountered his nemesis, Frank Ward, at a dance. In a deadly standoff, both men shot each other simultaneously, dying where they stood. Once again, Belle Starr was a widow.
In the years that followed, Belle Starr’s home became a frequent refuge for outlaws. During their marriage, Sam Starr had selected a secluded piece of bottomland and forest from the Cherokee communal lands, which passed to Belle after his death. Her cabin was difficult to reach—riders had to navigate
a steep, boulder-strewn canyon and cross an open meadow, where they could be spotted long before they arrived. This made it an ideal hideout for those on the run.
Belle Starr is quoted as saying, “I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw.”
In 1889, an unknown killer ambushed and shot Belle Starr on her own land. Suspects ranged from a man she was feuding with over land to her third husband, but the mystery of her death was never solved. As newspapers blared headlines like “A Desperate Woman Killed,” Belle Starr’s life ended in shadow, cementing her place in legend.
Emmett Dalton: The gangster who was pardoned
A trick from a bank teller doomed the Dalton Gang.
In 1892, their signature move — holding up trains — had become harder for the Dalton Gang. Leader Bob Dalton and brothers Grat and Emmett Dalton had been met with wellarmed guards protecting the trains several times. Bob Dalton hatched one last scheme: rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kan., simultaneously, earning enough cash to flee once and for all to South America.
“No one had done this before, and we will become famous even beyond the James boys and the Youngers,” Bob Dalton is reported to have said.
The gang was supposed to ride into town, rob the Condon Bank and First National Bank across the street and make their escape. However, the ill-fated day got off to a poor start. They couldn’t find a hitching post, forcing them to tie up their horses in a narrow alley. As they walked towards the banks, a storekeeper, Alex McKenna, recognized the Daltons. McKenna immediately raised the alarm. Unbeknownst to the gang, the citizens began arming themselves, preparing to meet the gang as they exited.
In the Condon Bank, the Dalton Gang’s plan hit another snag. Grat Dalton demanded the bank teller open the safe, and the bank teller decided to lie.
“It’s a time lock,” he said. “It won’t open until 9:45 a.m.”
Instead of checking the safe himself, Grat Dalton decided he could wait, leading to crucial minutes being wasted.
Meanwhile, Bob and Emmett Dalton’s robbery of the First National went according to plan, and they exited out the back with a bag of cash. They immediately came under fire, however, as citizens grabbed Winchesters from Isham’s General Store to fight them off. Bob Dalton returned fire, heading towards the alley. But when the brothers reached the horses, the others weren’t there.
The Condon Bank group exited just then, but they had to run
past Isham’s General Store. In his memoir, Emmett said that “a tornado of shots broke out.” Emmett and Bob Dalton emerged to return fire as the rest of the gang retreated towards the alley. Wounded, they began to fall one by one. Emmitt managed to mount his horse before he lost consciousness. Emmett had been shot twenty times, but he was the only survivor of the raid. All the others lay dead in what was eventually renamed “Death Alley.” A sign marks the spot today.
Emmett Dalton was sentenced to life in prison but was released for a few months for a medical procedure in 1907. In Topeka for treatment, he told anybody who would listen that a life of crime did not pay. His story charmed the right people and led to a pardon from the governor. After receiving his pardon, Emmett Dalton married Julia Lewis in 1908 and settled in Bartlesville. Their former home can still be seen at 421 South Cheyenne in Bartlesville.
Emmett Dalton quickly became a celebrity, starring in a movie and touring the country promoting it. He was even encouraged to run for Bartlesville City Council. In 1909, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise reported, “Recently, Dalton has grown a mustache and is regarded as one of the handsomest men in Bartlesville.” However, eventually Hollywood called to the couple, and, in 1913, they moved to California for their remaining decades.
Nede “Ned” Christie: From Cherokee statesman to accused outlaw
Cherokee statesman and accused outlaw Ned Christie may have foreseen his death. In the weeks leading up to his final day, he had his wife Nancy ceremonially cut off his long hair with a kitchen knife. They then wrapped it with otter string and prayed before burying it, according to a biography written by one of his descendants.
Born in Wauhillau, Oklahoma, Christie grew up riding in the woods, learning to play the fiddle and becoming a gunsmith. Despite being acquitted of manslaughter as a teenager, he
joined the Cherokee Council, where he opposed the railroad and supported Cherokee traditions. Like many Oklahomans of his time, Christie engaged in bootlegging for extra income.
In 1887, Deputy U.S. Marshall Daniel Maples came to Tahlequah. As he and a companion used a fallen log to cross a creek, his companion saw a shadowy figure with a gun. Shots rang out, and Daniels fell, dying of his wounds. The Fort Smith Elevator stated, “the assassin quietly disappeared into the night.” Christie had been seen drinking in Tahlequah that night, as were a handful of others, who had criminal records ranging from whiskey peddling to horse thievery to attempted murder. Eventually, after numerous suspects were questioned over a period of several months, fingers were pointed at Christie. Christie refused to surrender, fearful of not receiving a fair trial with a “hanging judge” notorious for his death sentences.
“I would rather die at home, in my own Nation, with my people,” Christie said in a letter.
For the next five years, Christie remained in hiding in the Cherokee Nation. Despite there being no credible reports
of Christie leaving his home, newspapers accused him of committing most of the crimes in Oklahoma. The publicity around Christie reached a crescendo, with the Muldrow Register calling him “perhaps the most notorious outlaw and desperado in Indian Territory.”
Christie’s network of friends and supporters helped him evade capture, though he was once shot in the nose. A folktale emerged that he always escaped because he could shapeshift into an owl or razorback hog. But eventually, Christie’s luck ran out.
Before dawn on Nov. 1, 1982, a posse surrounded Christie’s cabin in Rabbit Trap, a Cherokee town in present-day Adair County. Christie helped his family escape through the root cellar but refused to surrender.
When the posse was unable to enter the reinforced cabin, they got creative. First, they tried flaming arrows, but the flames were too weak to ignite the cabin. Then, they telegraphed for a cannon from Coffeyville, Kan. It was quickly shipped by train and wagon to Christie’s cabin, but the cannon balls bounced off the reinforced structure and came back at the posse, forcing them to duck and cover. After night fell, they used a wagon to build a fortification to provide cover from Christie’s gunfire, allowing them to get closer to the cabin. Finally, at four a.m. the next morning, they decided to use dynamite. While reports differ on who placed the dynamite and where, they all agree on one thing: As the blast blew a hole in the wall and set the cabin ablaze, Christie came running out, guns drawn, then staggered to his death.
The legends of outlaws continue to captivate our imagination. The tales of daring heists, relentless manhunts, and lawless lives have become an enduring part of our cultural heritage, reminding us of a time when the frontier was wild and justice was often delivered at the end of a gun. While the world has changed, the stories of these notorious figures live on, a testament to the complex, often contradictory nature of the American West.
Around Town with Edgar Weston
by Debbie Neece and the Bartlesville Area History Museum
Welcome Back…Our next stop is the Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) at 417 S. Johnstone Avenue.
The thought process behind creating a Bartlesville Y.M.C.A. began at a 1914 “Order of Doers” sponsored banquet held at Bartlesville’s Carnegie Library. A funding campaign was set to gather the projected $65,000 with a contract in place November 1915 for just the building at $55,000, while the committee fundraised for furnishings. The cornerstone of the building was laid June 23, 1916 and on October 29, 1917, the public was invited to an open-house at the newly completed Y.M.C.A. building at the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Johnstone Avenue.
The ground floor housed the men’s game room, men’s lockers and showers, lecture hall, club rooms, lady’s parlor, lady’s lockers and showers, swimming pool with a gallery for visitors, and utility room. The first floor held the reception lobby, reading room, social room, boy’s game room, general offices, hand-ball court and gymnasium. The second floor was the upper floor of the gymnasium and handball court with a visitor’s gallery, sixteen dormitory rooms, shower/baths and lavatories. The third floor contained sixteen additional dormitory rooms, outdoor sleeping court, shower baths and lavatories.
The Y.M.C.A. began as a recreation and leadership program for Washington County youth, with the goal of instilling fourcharacter values…responsibility, caring, respect and honesty… and developing young men through mind, body and spirit.
The Y.M.C.A. established the first “learn-to-swim” classes; the Bartlesville Kiwanis Club sponsored the Ki-Y Boys Club; Junior High-Y and High-Y were leadership programs at the Y.M.C.A.; and the famed Phillips 66ers played their earliest games in the Y.M.C.A. gymnasium.
Some very devoted men were at the helm like Fenton Bisel, Jo Allyn Lowe and Pop Brewer and these men changed the lives of area youth. One of the most notable was an orphaned boy named Kenneth Pfaff. One of five Pfaff children, Ken said,
“I lived at the Y.M.C.A. from 1943 to 1946. Jo Allyn Lowe and Fenton Bisel guided me and gave me direction in my dayto-day existence and were not only role models, but warm friends.” Ken dropped out of high school in the tenth grade, joined the Army’s 82nd Air-Borne Division and had thirteen parachute jumps before his seventeenth birthday. He returned to the Y.M.C.A. and graduated from College High School in 1949 before graduating from the University of Colorado School of Medicine with a medical degree. All made possible because the Y.M.C.A. offered a helping hand.
In 1922, the Y.M.C.A. organized a funding campaign for the balance of the “Y’s” financial responsibilities and to acquire the home just north of the Y.M.C.A. building to create a future Young Women’s Christian Association building. In 1929, Frank Phillips established a $50,000 foundation to help fund Y programs. In addition, H.V. Foster created a campaign in which he matched dollar-for-dollar up to $25,000; $24,500 in pledges were secured and Mr. Foster presented a check for $25,000.
Architect Derry Ebert not only designed Bartlesville’s new Y.M.C.A., which was built at 101 N. Osage Avenue, he started and coached the Y.M.C.A. wrestling program for 19 years. The old Y.M.C.A. building on Johnstone Avenue was demolished July, 1978...a parking lot remains.
To Be Continued…
SEPTEMBER CALENDAR SPONSORED BY
Labor Day, No School District-Wide
Weekly Storytime Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Varsity Volleyball Tournament
All Day; Bruin Fieldhouse
Varsity Football vs Claremore
7 PM; At Claremore
JV Football vs Broken Arrow
5:30 PM; Custer Stadium
Varsity Volleyball vs Broken Arrow
6:30 PM; Bruin Fieldhouse
Weekly Storytime Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
JV Volleyball vs Ponca City
5:30 PM; Bruin Fieldhouse
Varsity Volleyball va Ponca City
6:30 PM; Bruin Fieldhouse
Agricultural Center Open House
2 PM; Bartlesville Agricultural Center
Varsity Volleyball Tournament
All Day; Sand Springs
JV Volleyball vs Sapulpa
5:30 PM; Bruin Fieldhouse
Varsity Volleyball va Sapulpa
6:30 PM; Bruin Fieldhouse
Weekly Story Time Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
JV Volleyball vs Broken Arrow Tournament
All Day; BAHS
Varsity Football vs Collinsville
7 PM; Custer Stadium
JV Volleyball vs Jenks
5:30 PM; at Jenks
Varsity Volleyball va Jenks
6:30 PM; at Jenks
September 24, 2024 – JV Volleyball, versus Jenks (Away), 5:30 pm
Weekly Storytime Babies & Toddlers
10 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Weekly Storytime Preschool
11 AM; Bartlesville Public Library
Mon, Sep 2
5 PM
Free Spanish Class
SEPTEMBER EVENTS CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER EVENTS CALENDAR
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Tue, Sep 3
5:15 PM
Foam Roll & Stretch with Ashley B.
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6PM
Johnstone Irregulars Book Club
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6:30 PM
Beginning ELL Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6:45 PM
Intermediate ELL Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Wed, Sep 4
9 AM
Tai Chi with Bee
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
12 PM
Yoga with Ashley N
Bartlesville Public Library
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Free Citizenship Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM Dance ‘N Define with Tarah Unity Square Thu, Sep 5
10 AM
FREE—Thursday Citizenship Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Zumba with Tarah Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
All Day
B the Light Mission Garage Sale
B the Light Mission - 219 N. Virginia Ave, Bartlesville, OK
The garage sale will run through September 7.
All Day
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK 5:15 PM
17rh Annual Kan-Okla Garage Sale
Between Kansas and Oklahoma along HWY 75
The garage sale will run through September 7.
Mon, Sep 9
11:30 AM
American Red Cross Blood Drive
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
5:15 PM
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Intermediate Spanish Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Pound with Tarah
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Tue, Sep 10
5:15 PM
Foam Roll & Stretch with Ashley B. Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Girl Scout Sign Up Night and Free Mini Golf
Sooner Jr. Mini Golf
146 S Madison Blvd, Bartlesville, OK
6:30 PM
Beginning ELL Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6:45 PM
Intermediate ELL Conversation Class
Wed, Sep 11
9 AM
Tai Chi with Bee
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
12 PM
Yoga with Ashley N
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
5:15 PM
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Free Citizenship Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Thu, Sep 12
10 AM
FREE—Thursday Citizenship Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Zumba with Tarah Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
7 PM
Theater Bartlesville presents John Cariani’s LOVE/SICK
Theater Bartlesville
312 S Dewey Avenue, Bartlesville, OK
The show runs through September 14
Fri, Sep 13
7 PM
Echoes of Time Black-Tie Gala
The Center, 300 SE Adams Blvd., Bartlesville, OK
Sat, Sep 14
8 AM
Elks Lodge Fundraiser Supporting B the Light Mission
Elks Lodge
1060 Swan Drive, Bartlesville, OK
Sun, Sep 15
3 PM
Sizzlin’ Summer: Jazz on the Plazz. Unity SquareSeptember 16 @ 5:15 pm6:00 pm — Rev + Flow with Ros
Tue, Sep 17
12 PM
Bartlesville Community Foundation Celebrate Together
Luncheon
Bartlesville Community Center
300 SE Adams Blvd., Bartlesville
5:15 PM
Foam Roll & Stretch with Ashley B.
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK Sooner Jr. Mini Golf
6:30 PM
Beginning ELL Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Wed, Sep 18
9 AM
Tai Chi with Bee
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
12 PM
Yoga with Ashley N
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
5:15 PM
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Free Citizenship Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Thu, Sep 19
2 PM
Gentle Reads Book Club
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Sat, Sep 21
9:30 AM
Fall Trail Ride
Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve
1925 Woolaroc Ranch Rd, Bartlesville
Mon, Sep 23
5:15 PM
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Intermediate Spanish Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Pound with Tarah
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Tue, Sep 24
9 AM
Nonprofit Coffee Club
McGraw Realtors meeting room
124 SE Frank Phillips Blvd, Bartlesville, OK
5:15 PM
Foam Roll & Stretch with Ashley B.
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK Sooner Jr. Mini Golf
6:30 PM
Beginning ELL Conversation Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Sat, Sep 28
10 AM
Convoy of Hope
Johnstone Park City Center
Pavilion
100 North Cherokee Ave., Bartlesville, OK
6:30 PM
Cow Thieves & Outlaws Reunion
Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve, 1925 Woolaroc Ranch Rd, Bartlesville, OK
Mon, Sep 30
11:30 AM
American Red Cross Blood Drive
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
5:15 PM
Rev + Flow with Rosa Unity Square Bartlesville
6 PM
Intermediate Spanish Class
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
6 PM
Pound with Tarah
Bartlesville Public Library
600 S. Johnstone, Bartlesville, OK
Caregiver and Home Care Services
Living the Kester Tradition
by Debbie Neece & the Bartlesville Area History Museum
One of our favorite creature comforts is food and there have been many iconic Bartlesville restaurants that have served a meal and left a memory. Such was the Log Cabin Drive In Restaurant, featuring hickory smoked BarB-Q at 1301 E. Frank Phillips Blvd., southeast corner of Frank Phillips Blvd. and Comanche. Mr. Ray Parks opened the restaurant in November of 1951 and sold the Log Cabin to Elbert Lawrence Kester in 1957.
Kansas native, Elbert “Ab” Kester came to Bartlesville with his parents, Jess and Anna Close Kester, in 1917. He attended Dewey Public School, Blue Mound School, Chimney Rock School and finally graduated from Bartlesville High School. He worked on the Howard Cannon Ranch, northwest of Bartlesville. Mr. Cannon was married to Nellie Johnstone, as in “Oklahoma’s first commercial oil well” in Johnstone Park. Ab was driven to be a rodeo cowboy and became well known for his bulldogging skills throughout Oklahoma and Kansas, especially bulldogging from an automobile. He worked various jobs before opening a “honkytonk” or nightclub called Trigger Beeler’s Dance Hall from 1937-1941, at the junction of Silver Lake Road and Nowata Road. That building is now gone.
In the early morning hours of March 6, 1941, a fight broke out at Trigger Beeler’s “Barn” over jealous dance partners. Ab stopped the fight with pistol in hand and evicted the guilty parties, including
George Blalack’s son, Bill. However, George Blalack followed Ab back into the bar where the altercation and bantering language continued. Blalack had told the parking lot full of patrons, “no man’s going to pull a gun on my son. I might as well die tonight.” Blalack stormed into the bar, stood face-to-face with Ab and then took about 14 steps from the bar and spun around to face Ab, who thought Blalack had a gun, so Ab shot in self-defense, fearing for his own life. Two gun shots, one dead patron, a not guilty plea, and a district court jury trial with 3½ hours of deliberation, resulted in a life-sized prison term for Ab Kester. However, he was paroled May 1947.
In 1955, Ab Kester married Orma Blanche Baker and they were blessed with eight children (Jess, Jeff, Sharlene, Joyce, DeLores, Virginia, Norma and Allen). Ab and Orma owned and operated the Log Cabin Drive In from 1957-1961. At that time, Ab’s brother, Amos Kester took over the Log Cabin Drive In and Ab and Orma pursued other business ventures.
Mr. Jay Orand, his wife LaVita, and daughter Judy moved to Dewey from Tulsa in 1952 and established Carpet City at 300 S. Osage in Bartlesville. On May 24, 1958, Mr. Orand established the family operated Jay Orand’s Carpet at Bartlesville’s Pennington Hills Shopping Center, while LaVita Orand temporarily operated the 92-seat Petroleum Grill and Dining Room in Dewey at 300 East Don Tyler Avenue. Mr. Clyde Sare owned this building at the southeast corner of Don Tyler Avenue and Delaware Street in Dewey.
On November 30, 1961, Ab and Orma Kester became the new managers of the Petroleum Grill featuring breakfasts, steaks, fried chicken, seafood, sandwiches, malts, and, of course, Log Cabin style hickory pit Bar-B-Q with the Log Cabin’s special barbeque sauce. The Petroleum Grill was THE meeting place for the Dewey Chamber of Commerce, Dewey Kiwanis and Dewey Lions Club. The Kesters operated the restaurant until 1963. At that time, Walter
and Judy Spencer Bell established Walt’s Grill at that location, beginning May 1963.
Ab and Orma Kester also operated Orma’s Pie House and Dairy Pam at 126 South Choctaw from February 22, 1961 until 1979; at which time they retired. The Dairy Pam served ice-cream treats, hamburgers, coneys, chili, hotdogs, plus the traditional Kester family Bar-B-Q.
Ab’s brother, Amos Kester married Evelyn Marie “Mary” Olsen and operated the Log Cabin Drive In as a team from 1961-1974, then retired. Their children were Farlin, Vol Dennis and Al Jay Kester, all of whom worked part-time at the restaurant. And, New Year’s Day brought a Bartlesville favorite, barbequed turkey with all the trimmings.
After Amos and Mary retired, their son, Vol kept the Log Cabin vibe going an extra year with frosted mugs, pool tournaments, foosball, pinball and juke box music at The ID Inn, 1301 SE Frank Phillips Blvd. Happy Hour was 6-9 each evening, seven days a week as Vol worked at Phillips Petroleum Company in the accounting department for 42 years as his day job. By 1976, the Log Cabin Drive In building was vacant and was soon thereafter razed.
Al Jay Kester saw no need for football in school; instead, he joined the Bartlesville Roundup Club and began bareback bronc and bull riding at the age of 13. His nickname in the rodeo circuit was “Cocklebur.” He was a serious contender and entertainer, recognized as a Professional Rodeo Cowboy and for boxing in the Oklahoma Golden Gloves. He said, “I was the youngest professional bull rider in the world — didn’t go to school. I traveled all over the United States with guys rodeoing in Albuquerque and South Bend, Indiana.” A.J. married Solidad Lopez and settled down. He exited the rodeo and boxing careers to join the family, working at the Log Cabin Drive In.
When you say the family name Kester, ole timers smile in admiration with a story in mind. The Kester
family had deep Washington County roots. Community and food service were in the Kester family blood, even after their restaurants closed. Vol once told me, “On Sundays, dad would cook up fifteen pounds of meat for chili, and me and Ab would deliver the food to the elderly neighbors. My dad could cook Sunday
Fried Chicken like none other because he put taste in it. His chicken dinners were finger linkin’ and lip smackin’ good.” Living the Kester tradition!
Did You Know?
There have been an array of early “mom and pop” restaurateurs who offered a meal and left us a conversation of memories. Do you remember Eng’s Café, Brass Rail Café, Canteen Drive In, Coney Island, Reja Cafeteria, Fortune Restaurant, Marie’s Steak House, The Embers, Mr. Limey’s, Yocham’s Drive-In? Who do you remember? Now You Know *
Brag a Little ... Bartlesville
The Story of Don Doty
by Kay Little, Little History Adventures
I wonder how many of you have driven on Doty’s Dumps (Road 2700)? Did you know the road was named for a very prominent family in Bartlesville?
In 1933, a young family from Kansas moved to Bartlesville to work for Phillips Petroleum Company. Laton and Dorothy Doty brought a young son with them, Donald D. Several years later, Laton bought land south of town and built a ranch, known as The Rocking D Ranch. The road on the north side of the ranch was full of hills, which was inviting to young drivers and became known as Doty’s Dumps. Laton’s son, Don, said years later that he wished they would change the name to Doty’s “Dips”.
Donald D Doty was born in 1928, in Independence, Kansas. After his family moved to Bartlesville, Don attended Garfield School and graduated from Col-Hi in 1946. As a young adult, he was active in the ranching and cattle business at the Rocking D Ranch. Don’s children eventually worked at the ranch also, making it a three-generation ranch.
In early 1952, Don met Cheri Montgomery, who was teaching Pre-School in the Adams Building for Phillips employees. Don and Cheri married June 1952. In 1953, because of an Air Force reserve commission, Don had to report for active duty. This was just two months after their first child, John, was born.
Two years later, Don was relieved from active duty. The Dotys went on to have two more children. After his time with the Air Force, Don decided he needed a different occupation and went to work for First National Bank. By the time he retired in 1993, the bank had changed names twice; to WestStar and then to Arvest. He was President and Chief Operating Officer of the bank when he retired.
Don was very active in the community. In 1957 he was named Outstanding Young Man in Bartlesville and in 1958 he was named Outstanding Young Man in Oklahoma. In the 1960’s, he was named Chairman of the General Committee of the Bartlesville Historical Commission. This commission was set up to furnish, equip and operate the History Room in
the old library. It was at this time the first replica of the Nellie Johnstone oil well was built. Don was also chairman of the fund drive for the new library in the 1990’s.
BRAG A LITTLE…BARTLESVILLE was a slogan created by Don Doty to raise awareness of the great community of Bartlesville. He wanted everyone in the community to brag about Bartlesville every way they could, to build it up to those here and those in other communities, hoping to get them to move here. As it said in the paper on August 23, 1985, “There is no room for negative thinkers with a “can’t do” attitude.”
A local friend of Don’s, Charles Kittrell, went to visit Don in 1990, to tell him he was participating in the International Peace Climb on Mount Everest. Don thought he was crazy, but Charles talked him into going with him. It was a peace climb involving the U.S., China and Russia. The participants planted a flag of peace, with a representative from each of the three countries. Don was not able to climb as high as he wanted because of altitude sickness. After recovering, Don traveled around the world, on his way home.
Don and Cheri fell in love with Italy and visited it at least once a year. But they loved living in Bartlesville and had no desire to live anywhere else. We are a blessed community because of the Doty family.
BOYS AND GIRLS OF BARTLESVILLE CLUB
KIDDIE PARK FUN
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS BIG EVENT
COOPER DOG PARK SWIN
We live, work, and play in Bartlesville, and we’re proud to serve our neighbors with integrity
Experienced, Honest, Local
by Jay Webster
Well friends, as promised, it’s time for another installment in our annual column entitled “What I Did Over My Summer Break.” This is where I interviewed my daughter Evanjalyn about her summer activities. It’s become a fan favorite - which of course hurts my feelings a bit since it’s the column I do the least writing for. But who am I but your humble entertainment servant? So…
Me: You had a pretty active summer break, but even before you left school you went to two theme parks. Right?
E: Yeah, we went to Silverdollar City for Orchestra and Frontier City for Band. And, we liked Frontier City so much and it’s like so close to where we live, we got season passes. It’s pretty nice. Just the size and everything.
Me: What rides did you like the most at Frontier City?
E: The Wildcat is a very fun roller coaster. It doesn’t have any
loop-to-loops or anything, but it still has some pretty big drops. So, if you’re like nervous about going on roller coasters and things, but like you’re also kind of excited - that’s a good one to try.
Me: It’s a great roller coaster to kind of cut your teeth on.
E: And the Ferris wheel is huge.
Me: Oh my gosh. You can see Texas from the Ferris wheel. It’s amazing. And I don’t mind telling ya, I am a grown man and we went as chaperones… but it is a big deal. You go way, way, way up. Depending on how crowded the park is, they will stop you to let other people on or off the Ferris wheel and you might be suspended at the very top. Right?
E: Yeah. But like the reason we decided to go on the Ferris wheel in the first place was like to scout out all the rides and look at all the different stuff. But like I ended up not looking at anything
and just looking at my feet because we were like above all of the trees and all of everything.
Me: I just remember crying a little bit.
E: (laughing)
Me: And so, they finally let you out of sixth grade and what was the first thing you did?
E: The first thing I did was an art camp with the Bartlesville Art Association. That was really fun.
Me: What kind of stuff did you do at art camp, just like nudes and stuff?
E: (Laughing) Not necessarily nudes… We did learn how to draw bodies though.
Me: Oh. So they were clothed bodies.
E: Yes…
Me: Well, that’s probably for the better.
E: Yeah, that was sorta the main thing. And we learned about different styles of art. And we learned about shading. That was really cool.
Me: So you finish art camp and you’re summering and you’re summering and then what happens?
E: Then we start Cinderella for CMT. This was my fourth mainstage show, but this was my seventh year with CMT.
Me: And how many weeks of rehearsal did you do?
E: We did like five weeks of rehearsal, but then like show days were kind of like another extra week.
Me: So, did you have a good director this year?
E: Yeah! She was like my favorite director we’ve ever had at CMT.
Me: Hopefully, the other directors aren’t listening. Who was this director?
E: Caitlynn Caughell.
Me: Was this her first time to direct a show?
E: (Laughing) No… She is Tracye Caughell’s daughter and Tracye Caughell is the one that founded CMT and started the whole shebang. And so her daughter has been on Broadway and has directed a bunch of shows. She had a lot of experience. And, she’s very very nice and very kind.
Me: And did she have any connection to the Cinderella show?
E: Oh yeah, thank you. (Laughing) So the first musical that CMT ever did 25 years ago was Cinderella. So, Caitlynn Caughell was in that production. And so was our choreographer and so was our music director.
Me: So what roles did you play?
E: Ummm, it was mainly ensembles, but I did have like a small little solo because I was Second Lady of the Court. Which is obviously very impressive. (Laughing)
Me: That’s the most coveted role.
E: (Laughing) I was the lead.
Me: You were the Lead Second Lady?
E: Yeah. (Laughing)
Me: So you do all your rehearsals at a school gymnasium and then finally, it’s opening night. What’s it like for you when you come out on stage for the very first time and then there’s a big live audience out there?
E: What I kind of try to focus on during the shows is the audience. I try to like feed off their energy. Sometimes you’re like
pretty tired because you didn’t get much sleep the night before, but there’s an audience out there so I have to try my best and that helps a lot.
Me: Can you hear the audience?
E: I can hear them respond. I can’t hear their private conversations or anything.
Me: That’s probably for the best.
E: Yeah. (Laughing) They’re like - Wow. Evanjalyn’s really bad…
Me: So, after the play wrapped what was your next summer activity?
E: We went to Chicago!
Me: What kind of stuff did you do while you were there?
E: So we went to see “Wait. Wait. Don’t Tell Me.” recorded live with Bill Kurtis, cuz we know people who know people. (Laughing) We know Bill Kurtis and he got us tickets and all of that. That was really cool.
Me: Did you do any baseball games?
E: So, I personally went with my family to two Cubs baseball games. That was amazing. I sorta of started crying a little bit when we got there. (Laughing)
Me: Did anyone else go on the trip with you?
E: My grandparents.
Me: Right. So, they joined us about halfway through the trip, right? What was that like?
E: I think they’re very used to the Oklahoma way of life. So when they got there, especially my grandma, she was like - whoa. It’s like it’s very busy.
Me: What kind of thing does Mimi like to do in Chicago?
E: Shopping. She likes to do a lot of shopping. We also went to high tea at the Drake, which is very fancy.
Me: What kind of things did they have there?
E: They had two harpists.
Me: Wow. Dueling harpists…I didn’t know that was a thing.
E: (Laughing) Well, they played at separate times. And also, they had a lot of tiny, fancy sandwiches.
Me: So, you come back from Chicago. And now at the time of this recording, you are just a few days away from starting seventh grade. What are you looking forward to the most this year?
E: Probably like band and orchestra and like just hanging out with my friends and stuff. I like new teachers.
Me. There’s still time if you want to quit school and start earning some bank…
E: See, you say this every year.
Me: OK, I’ll take that as a “No.” Is there anything else the at-home audience needs to know?
E: Ummm, drink water because it’s really hot out there. And, keep being you.
Me: “Keep being you.” You heard it hear first, friends. Peace out.
(Hear MUCH more of my interview with Evanjalyn on the DreamersLive podcast or DreamersLiveNow on YouTube.)
B the Light Update: Partners With a Purpose
This month’s update is full of upcoming activities that will bring us closer to becoming open full time. Welcome to September!
B the Light is highlighting our PARTNERS WITH A PURPOSE!
This is just one of the ways we use to fund and facilitate what we do here at our Poverty Reduction Center.
Trust me when I tell you that our city always seems to have our back. There are many residents of Bartlesville who volunteer their time on a regular basis. We have volunteers that come in during the temporary warming shelters, many help with set up for our garage sales and other fundraising events, and still others are helping us prepare for being open full time.
We are thankful for the First Church of the Nazarene and all the other cooling shelters. They stepped in this summer to keep our homeless friends from suffering with heat-related issues as we navigated the complexity of the chillers on our air conditioner.
The truth of the matter is, the homelessness issue in our city will never be helped by just one single non-profit group. It takes many groups and many individuals to work though the steps, so that we can continue to help our homeless neighbors on a regular basis. We are grateful for those that realize this is a purpose far greater than any one individual or just one group.
Partners with a Purpose is another way our neighbors from near and far, can help to keep us open with a monthly donation of just $20. The purpose we have for our neighbors on the street, is to create in them a will and a desire to be a productive member of our city. Their past experiences have created their present reality and without help, they’ll remain stuck in this life of lack and emotional despair. We remind them of their purpose often, but the tangible resources and help needed often costs more than words alone. The goal of Partners with a Purpose is to do just that.
Homelessness is a complex issue; a puzzle with the pieces
dumped out everywhere. There’s trauma, abandonment, poverty, addiction, and mental illness. There is never just one answer for those that come to us for help. They come to B the Light and they turn over their box of puzzle pieces in front of us and we take it from there.
I liken it to one of our neighbors that showed up last week needing help to get to rehab in a different state. This woman had nothing of any value to take with her, so we purposed to get her what was needed for her journey towards a fresh start.
B the Light provided her with clothing, underwear, new shoes, toiletries, a suitcase, and a couple of books to motivate her along the way. And as we watched her load up her suitcase and leave B the Light that morning, we were firm in the conviction that what we did in that moment, was due to our Partners with a Purpose.
OUR PARTNERS WITH A PURPOSE HELPED SEND HER TO REHAB. Without your help she would have been stuck in the old journey, full of displaced puzzle pieces.
Below is a barcode that you can scan to help us, help them. The donation is only $20, and it will come out once a month either by Paypal or the banking institution of your choosing. With your help, we can begin to put their puzzle back together again.
ALSO!!!
Our garage sale is set for SEPTEMBER 5th, 6th, and the 7th. This year’s sale is during the same time as the Kan Okla 100 Mile Highway Sale. Drive your truck! The B the Light garage sale proceeds will help to open us full time!
Don’t forget about our Keller Williams GIVES BACK Charity Golf Scramble! IT’S HAPPENING September 20th at the Adam’s Golf Course here in Bartlesville. Proceeds benefit B the Light Mission.
Have a great month, and thank you again for all your support.
First Church of the Nazarene Wednesday Night Prayer.
The Traveling Minister...
And the Compass
by Miriam Walker
“It was either death on the streets of Bartlesville, or the Lord.”
I’ve met many people throughout my life and I’ve written more stories than I can accurately recall. Truth be told, I don’t believe I’ve met anyone that enjoyed talking about their past, especially when that past is riddled with trauma, pain, and darkness.
Like many who have come out of a past like the one Mario Russo came out of, they try to think away the thoughts that go back in time to those hidden away places. Mario doesn’t like to focus on the past. He’s not back there anymore…
A reverse compass isn’t a thing, not really. But wouldn’t it be nice? You hold this magical apparatus into the air and it tells you the way you SHOULDN’T GO. I could have used something like this many times over, perhaps you could have too.
Sometimes the compass is a person.
Living with an undisclosed amount of time, life affords us no do-overs on our way to where we’re going. A map can tell you which way to go, but if we don’t know where we’re going, then a map is wasted on the journey.
A compass will set you in a direction of course, but is it the right one?
These days Mario travels as a Minister. But not too long ago, he had no idea where he was going, only that it was in the wrong direction; and the wrong place.
And also the wrong time.
Mario doesn’t look back, except to glance at the path that was carved out by his comapasses. Fortunate is the man who has the kind of friends that show up to illuminate a dark path. When you shine a light into the darkness, it gives others an opportunity to see that they aren’t alone in their struggles. Visiting these dark places show the faithfulness of God. They show evidence of a life that was almost lost, but also proves that with help you can always come out of the darkness.
Mario was fading out fast. “I was dying on the streets of Bartlesville, literally.”
He had been on drugs for 30 years, hanging out with bad women and dangerous men. He underwent an assault so violent that he sustained a massive head injury that left him unable to speak for 8 months. But
still he ran the streets until prison became his home. He went to rehab numerous times to try to overcome his addiction to meth and alcohol. The vices were fueling Mario’s demise.
“I went to rehab 12 times and still I got back on drugs. But you know what? You can’t be as far gone as I was and survive without Jesus. The reality of my situation?
I was going to die on these streets and I almost did, until I met some people.
There are two types of people in everyone’s life; the givers and the takers. The takers we better recognize right away, as they’ll inevitably lead you along a dark journey, wasting precious moments you’ll never get back.
Ahh but the givers, keep them close. Mario had many givers in his life, and many people that served to direct him down the right path. But it wasn’t until a very cold and dark season, that he began to live. Slowly for certain, but life began to come back.
“I was living in a dark alley in an old raggedy trailer, freezing with no electricity. I had my dog and a bible. I felt the Lord in that very moment and He told me,
‘It’s not about you, it’s for somebody else. This is enough of you dying.”
ENTER THE COMPASSES, AND THE GIVERS.
By Mario’s own admission, God sent out an army to rescue him from the hard unforgiving streets. Keith and Christy McPhail, Rando and Shiloh Gamble, Ms. Geraldine, Mrs. Willie Mae White, and his mentor Mr. Ray Dixon, are just a few of the people that God orchestrated into his life.
Mario went from staying in the homeless warming shelters, to being one that was helping to run the warming shelters. He went from fighting and doing drugs on the streets of Bartlesville, to preaching the Saturday night services at Get Real Ministries for many years. “I was in a very dark place but God saved me, He turned on the light.”
Mario recently graduated from Rhema Bible College with a straight A grade point average. It was the army of people God used in Bartlesvilles that not only rescued him, but also helped to send him to Rhema. God continues to bless Mario in ways even he can barely comprehend. At 47 years old, he now bases every decision he makes on the word of God.
“If you base your decisions on the word of God you can’t go wrong. He has blessed me tremendously and further than I could have ever imagined. It’s no longer about my past, I don’t live back there anymore. I’m a Bible teacher now, and it’s about the people.”
Thank you Mario for sharing all of your story. You are a living testimony of the faithfulness of God.
Scary Territory
by Kelly Hurd
You’ve heard it said, “the peace that passeth understanding,” – maybe from a pulpit, or maybe just as a cliché’, but did you comprehend it? Jump in with me and let’s go down a road I really didn’t want to travel – but one where those five little words gained greater understanding and guided me through some pretty scary territory.
I’m not one for mountain passes. The edges of cliffs are a phobia of mine. I feel like if I even approach the edge, I’ll uncontrollably tumble forward and just fall – to my death. So, when I was a kid in the back seat and we were on vacation in Colorado, you’d find me in the floorboard with my eyes closed until we got on safer ground. They’d say, “Look, how beautiful,” and I’d say “I’m not looking!”
However, sometimes in life we face uncontrollable circumstances that feel, well, edgy - and no matter how much we close our eyes, we’re forced to stand on the edge and stare our worst fears in the face. Buckle up, this may touch a nerve or two.
For months, we’ve wanted my mom to get her knees replaced. She’s 83. It’s time. But my mother is not the best at forging those trails, so it was taking some coaxing and creative encouragement from me and my girls to get her to make an appointment to start that process.
In the midst of the MRIs on her knees, the medical team did one on her back as well to check her spine, and the nightmare that simple x-ray generated, began a season of silent tears soaking my pillow and even uncontrollable sobbing coming from behind the doors of the master bedroom at Charley Creek in the midnight hours.
From knee surgery to a mass on her pancreas, how could this be?? My Googling of symptoms and life expectancy for pancreatic cancer patients fueled greater concern ahead of her appointment with a gastro specialist. Waiting on that appointment seemed like an eternity…
Ever been down this road before? I had.
My dad passed away in 1992 from a malignant brain tumor when I was only 24 years old. He had gone through a 7-year battle with this unrelenting enemy. Also in 2015, my mother had a battle with colon cancer – but came out the victor – or so it had seemed.
Repeating nightmares are my least favorite form of nightmares. Once was enough. Twice was too much. And here it was wanting to haunt me in the nights again – while I was wide awake…
But then one day – ahead of her specialist appointment – just like driving out of a tunnel into the gorgeous sunlight, the Lord spoke to my heart – and brought me peace. What He spoke was,
“This is not meant for her destruction and demise.”
No one called me and said those words. It was just a still small voice on the inside –one I have come to recognize because I’ve heard it before and I’m getting better at recognizing it. I knew Whose voice it was –and it definitely wasn’t mine. I was still whiteknuckle gripping my pillow in my make-shift floorboard of this unwanted journey along life’s road of hair-pin curves.
I wasn’t on safe ground. We were still trekking across the cliffs. Her appointment was over a week away – and just like if this were a fork in the road, I knew I had a decision to make. I could believe it – or not.
On my way down to Texas last week to take Mom to her appointment, I was visiting with an older lady from church and decided to disclose to her what was going on. She then began praying down heaven for the next 30 miles as I drove – and again, even though this was rough country, there was that same peace.
You see, it didn’t make sense in my natural mind to have peace that this was going to all be ok and that my worst fears were not going to flood my life. In the natural, it looked pretty bad. They had even measured the mass in the MRI, so we even knew its dimensions ahead of the appointment with the specialist.
Yet, on our way home from her appointment – in which they ran some tests to check for cancer and said they would call us this week with the results – I told Mom about that word from the Lord and spoke to her what I believed. As I told her, she said warmth came over the top of her head, and I also felt a stirring inside me, sensing that Someone Else had hopped in the car with us on this ride back to Munday, Texas. The peace prevailed – for both mom and me.
Just this morning, my phone rang and it was the gastro specialist’s office. They were calling me with the results so I could relay the news to my mom and daughters. They found NO SIGNS of cancer!!
See, ahead of the dawn, we saw the Light. Before the diagnosis, when all signs looked bad, we got a Word from the Great Physician – and chose to believe it – and peace ruled and reigned over our natural understanding of the situation. It was like a foot-race to the finish line between our own understanding and peace that came with believing what God had to say – and peace passed understanding and took the tape!
If we’re called to be “more than conquers” in life, we most likely will have a battle or two along the cliff edges where we have to face our fears along some roads we wish we could avoid. May peace prevail when things get confusing - or when they seem clearly terrifying. You have some unexpected company making the journey with you as well – His name is Jesus – and He still speaks today.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7.
Is This the Real World
by Torrey Martin
What if this is the “real” world? A question that has profoundly reshaped how I view the world in the last ninety days. It was posed to a group of us—myself, two of our incredible Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) students, and several others from all over the United States. We were on a mission trip in Mexico where we spent the better half of a week building a home from the ground up for a family who had never known the reality of having a roof over their heads. A humbling experience, to say the least!
It was the last night of our trip, and we were gathered around the table for one final team debrief session when asked by the trip leader to reflect on the entirety of our experience, specifically how it has changed not just us personally, but how it has reshaped our view of the world around us. One of the other people on the team chimed in, explaining how they desperately wished the way they felt during this experience was something that could somehow be bottled up and brought back with them to the “real” world. Without putting words in their mouth, I believe the point being made was something along the lines of this thought: I wish it was possible to take what has been an incredibly eye-opening, life-changing experience of serving the Lord and meeting the practical needs of the world and bring that back home to my every-day life. I think if you would’ve polled the room to see if anyone else felt the same, there would’ve been a resounding consensus. What came on the heels of her reflection shared with the group was unexpected but needed. It was pushback, in the form of this question: What if this is the “real” world? More importantly, what if this, here, is what you were made for?
While I don’t believe our trip leader was making the argument that everyone is called to pick up their life and move to Mexico for a life of missionary work, I do, however, believe he was inviting us to shift our perspective in how we view our everyday life. To see the places we work, live, go to school, engage with others as an invitation to experience that same level of deep, existential satisfaction, the same we felt while serving complete strangers in Mexico. In short, the
thesis of his claim was that Jesus made it very clear in scripture that His earthly purpose was to serve, not be served. Totally counter-cultural. And you and I, as scripture says, are made in His image, created to live life after the example He set for us. In short, we are called to model our life after His: serve others unto the glory of God!
If you’ve spent any time around OKWU over the last half decade, you’ve likely heard the phrase “Be One Sent.” What was once a fun play on words (our graduates get a penny to represent one “cent” at graduation as a reminder of this phrase…they get a diploma, too! And yes, we know it’s spelled differently!) has become central to our institution’s DNA: Be One Sent. In other words, live life on purpose, on mission, to make a difference. Understand that every day is an opportunity to leverage our life and the influence that comes with it to lead and love like Jesus. We do this by making a difference in the world around us by simply echoing the example of Jesus and putting the needs of others above our own. That’s what we were made for. Perhaps, we could make the argument that’s the “real” world. It’s not reserved for far-away places, one-off mission, or humanitarian experiences. While those certainly matter, it’s also the everyday opportunity to see the needs of the world around us and do something about it. To live into the fullness for which we were made: to serve the Lord and serve others, all for the glory of God. Perhaps in this, we come to understand this way of living as the “real” world.
A Driving Adventure
by Aaron Kirkpatrick
When I turned 16, I was chomping at the bit to get my driver’s license. After a year with my permit, I passed my driving test on my birthday and proudly left the DMV with my newly minted license. For the first few months, I was thrilled to drive anywhere—running errands for Mom, hauling stuff for Dad, and even chauffeuring my little sister.
But when summer came, I realized I had a problem. Sharing my parents’ vehicles was fine most days, but it became a real issue when I wanted to go on dates. No girl wanted to go on a date in a gunboat gray station wagon, and no dad wanted his daughter to be picked up in a conversion van with a backseat that folded down into a bed. I needed my own car.
I proposed to my parents that if I saved up half the money, they’d cover the other half of a car. They agreed, and I spent the summer mowing lawns and babysitting, eventually saving up $500. With a $1,000 budget, we found a family selling a 1984 Suzuki Samurai. If you’ve never seen one, it’s like a Jeep Wrangler, but half the size.
I made the arrangements, and on the day I was to sign the title, my grandparents flew in from California to surprise me. They were so excited about my first car they decided to cover my half of the investment. Cash in hand, Dad, Grandpa, I drove out to buy the Samurai.
Though we knew the family selling the car, Dad and Grandpa insisted a take it for a test drive. There was only one problem: the Samurai had a manual transmission, and I didn’t know how to drive a stick.
We collected the keys and Dad drove us to a school parking lot on the edge of town. There was no one around except for one old man in overalls, slowly making circles around his pasture on his riding lawn mower. Dad swapped seats with me, and it was time to learn how to drive a stick.
Dad explained how to slowly release the clutch while applying pressure to the gas pedal. I put the car in first gear, eased off the clutch without giving it enough gas, and the Samurai promptly died. “That’s fine,” Dad said. “Nobody gets it on their first try.” I restarted the car and tried again, but with a lurch, the Samurai died once more. My grandpa chimed in from the back seat, “Give it more gas.”
Restarting the engine, I muttered “third time’s the charm,” and I floored the gas as I popped the clutch. The Samurai lurched backward, surprising me so much that my foot slipped off the gas, causing it to screech to a halt and die a third time. At this point, I was getting frustrated and embarrassed. Determined not to kill the engine again, this time as I released the clutch, I floored the gas, and the Samurai accelerated.
Samurais are geared for torque, not for speed. That little car could go up the steepest incline you’ve ever seen, but it couldn’t go above 55 mph unless I was drafting behind a semi. So when I floored the gas, the Sammy didn’t roll forward, it JUMPED like a startled deer, throwing me back against the seat. My foot slipped off the gas, causing it to lurch forward violently, but before it could die, I slammed on the gas, and the Samurai leaped forward again. Now I was stuck in a loop, unable to find the balance, jerking the car forward and backward.
My dad grabbed the door handle with one hand and the roll bar with the other. He rode the Samurai like a bull, experiencing whiplash with each jerk. In the tiny back seat, Grandpa was being held in place by the lap seatbelt. As the Samurai bucked across the parking lot, he was tossed around like a rag doll, arms and legs akimbo. He was thrown back against his bench seat and then slammed face first into the back of my dad’s seat so abruptly his toupee flew off. With a white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, it was all I could do to not lose control entirely. Finally, my dad yelled, “HIT THE BRAKE!” I did, and the Suzuki screeched to a stop and then died.
Dad and Grandpa were wheezing with laughter. Reattaching his hair, Grandpa exclaimed, “That’s the best roller coaster I’ve ever been on!” Dad was wiping tears from his eyes laughing at me, and I was just thankful no one else was around to witness my embarrassment. Then I noticed that the mower had gone silent. The old man had stopped mowing, fallen off the mower, and was doubled over in the grass laughing.
It took a few days, but I did finally learn to drive the Samurai. I had a ton of adventures in that little car, but the first experience will always be my favorite.
Grace and peace be yours in abundance!
Aaron K.
Roofing With a Mission
Local Roofing Company Returns from Mission Trip
by Matt Conley
What started as an overheard conversation one day after church nearly three years ago has grown into a local business that just recently returned from a mission trip to Uganda and Kenya.
Brian Engel and Eric Mills, co-owners of Mission Roofing, spent two weeks in Uganda and Kenya last month to help an orphanage get started on the planning of a medical clinic. After previous work to assist the impoverished group in improving their food production, they also helped them deal with the surplus crops.
“We introduced them to new farming techniques, which resulted in their harvest this year being 5X what they were accustomed to,” said Engel. “Their cultural way of planting and growing wasn’t producing enough to meet their needs, so with this trip one of the things we did was to start construction on a storage facility with hermetically-sealed containers to hold the harvest much longer.”
And the orphanage is certainly reaping the benefits of the increased harvest!
“With their last harvest, they are now able to provide the children with two meals a day, plus a snack or porridge,” said Mills. “That improves their overall well-being by having more food to eat on a daily basis, and we are looking to help them harvest even more going forward.”
Mission Roofing sends a portion of every roofing job it gets to help with those missions through Faces With Names International and others. They provide a holistic approach to care by providing housing, food, clothing, healthcare, education, even clean water. And that is in addition to the support they give to several local charitable organizations.
“Right now, we are in the process of planning and laying out a new high school and medical clinic,” said Mills. “Currently, they are only able to educate these orphans to the 7th grade level, so when we are able to complete the new high school, they will be able to fill that gap and finish their high school education, which will open so many more doors to them in the future and improve their quality of life as adults.”
The business started in 2021, after an overheard conversation one Sunday after church.
“We were at church, and I was telling some friends about
a trip I had just returned to from Uganda,” said Mills. “I was sharing stories about our trip and Brian happened to overhear. He said ‘let’s go to lunch sometime and talk about this.’ We ended up having lunch and discovering that we had a lot of common interests.”
Common interests like remodeling houses, the roofing industry, and — most importantly — a passion for mission work in East Africa.
“I had been involved in mission work in Kenya, and learned that Eric was also involved in mission work, in Uganda,” said Engel. “I had been involved in some renovation work, and had been looking at starting a roofing business for a while. I found out that Eric’s dad owned a roofing company in California, and that he had been roofing nearly all his life. Everything just came together and really felt like a God thing.”
Every roof that Mission Roofing constructs for their customers not only helps them protect their most valuable investment — their home — it also allows them to provide food, shelter, and more in Kenya and Uganda, and even right here in Bartlesville.
“It is both of our life’s calling to further the Kingdom of God’s purpose,” said Mills. “We are thankful to the residents of Bartlesville and surrounding communities for entrusting us with their roofing process. Our motto is Best is Better than Good, and I feel like our customers would agree.”
Mission Roofing is the only GAF certified roofing contractors in the Bartlesville, which means a lot when it comes to peace of mind and quality.
“We use only the highest-quality materials, and offer an increased warranty backed by the manufacturer,” said Engel. “When you choose Mission Roofing, you ot only are choosing the best quality for your home, you are choosing to help local charities and orphans in Uganda and Kenya.”
Coming up on our third full year, we are pleased to serve
residents of Northeast Oklahoma and Southeast Kansas, and have many happy customers,” said Engel. “Our motto is “Best Is Better Than Good” and we take the same integrity and moral standards that we have in dealing with our mission work and apply them to the customers we serve. We never cut corners, and when you get a quality roofing system from us you are also helping meet the needs of so many East African widows and orphans that would otherwise go without these basic needs.”
And that mission is what led the local company to support the efforts of Faces With Names.
With a mission statement of “To help orphans & widows move beyond a life of survival, and thrive to fulfill their Godgiven purpose,” Faces With Names International is the nonprofit organization Mission Roofing most often uses to carry out those projects in Kenya and Uganda. The organization’s vision is to allow you the opportunity to care for orphans and widows in their distress. And by getting a high-quality roof from Mission Roofing, you can know that you are doing exactly that — helping those who need it most.
To learn more about Mission Roofing or to schedule a complimentary roof inspection, call Eric at 918-332-2828 or email him at eric@missionroofing. us. If you are interested in learning more about Faces With Names International, you can check them out at faceswithnames. org, email them at eric@ faceswithnames.org, or call 605-212-4989. You can also visit the Faces With Names website if you felt led to make a financial contribution.
The Bruins of 1984
by Mike Jerry Tupa
They were the Bruins of 1984, Teenage passion bursting with grizzly pride.
It’s been 40 years since they hit their stride. Crabtree smashing free to Custer’s mighty roar,
Gottardi’s trained toe reversing the game’s tide,
Wise a human can opener in the pit, Nash slicing through holes — a jet wearing cleats.
These were Mickey’s boys, these warrior athletes
Hudson, Page, Pugh, and others never said quit,
Iglehart’s mishap lost them a golden piece.
But they kept fighting, these knights of ’84.
40 years later, their glory still gleams, Both in Bruin history and in their dreams.
The heart measures decades not by the score, When autumn breezes blow, they are young once more.
They’re in their latter 50s now. Can it be 40 years ago they wore the Bartlesville High Blue & White — and pieced together one of the greatest football seasons in Bruin history? Their numbers were impressive — An 8-3 record — Holding five teams to single-digit points — Outscoring opponents 277-119 (regular season) — Mitch Nash becoming the team’s all-time leading ballcarrier for decades.
“I’m not just proud of myself, but I’m proud of my teammates,” Nash said. “We were just 22 guys that worked hard. I owe it to those guys (Mike Wise his fellow offensive linemen). As a team we were dedicated every single day to doing our best. To me it was a team effort.”
Bartlesville in the 1984 playoff opener, 34-28. Washington — led by Mr. Everything Melvin Gilliam — won it all. Of the 84 points allowed in 14 games by Washington (13-1), Bartlesville scored 38 of them — in a regular season matchup and the playoff clash.
The ’84 Bartlesville team enjoyed superior talent. Four of its players went to Division I football — Wise (Oklahoma, OL), Nash (Oklahoma State, RB), Darren Worrell (Arkansas, OL) and Rick Page (Wichita State, DE). Tight end Tim Pugh became a Major League Baseball starting pitcher (mostly for the Cincinnati Reds). Among the rest, fullback Jerry Crabtree “was a horse,” Wise said, also heaping praise on the full team.
Greatness had been a process. “We knew each other well,” said Nash. “We had a lot of camaraderie and there was a lot of energy and spirit at that time around Bartlesville in sports. The Boys & Girls Club did a good job of preparing us for the next level. We had grown up playing against each other at Madison and Central (middle schools),” Wise said. “We knew we had a lot of talent out there.”
The 1984 team included a combination of former College and Sooner High School student-athletes — after the schools merged in 1982 to create Bartlesville High. The 8-2 regular season record would be the best until 2009 (8-2) and 2015 (91). Some of the highlights from 1984: Nash rumbled 80 yards for a touchdown in a near-upset of Tulsa Union and ran for 198 yards against Sand Springs; Kirk Hudson’s 27-yard picksix helped the Bruins topple Tulsa Edison; Crabtree powered for 134 yards against Okmulgee and later reeled off a 75-yard scoring burst against Ponca City; Iglehart hit on 7-of-9 passes (101 yards) against Tulsa Hale; and Jim Gottardi’s 47-yard field goal caromed through the uprights against Sand Springs.
Coming off an excellent season in 1983 (7-5, including a playoff win), big things were envisioned for the 1984 team, marshaled by head coach Mickey Ripley. “Expectations were high from the community and the players,” said Wise. If not for a bad break — a late-season injury to quarterback Jon Iglehart — the 1984 Bruins might have captured the 5A state gold ball. “In my mind, if Jon wouldn’t have broken his collarbone, I believe we would have won a state championship,” Nash said. With Iglehart sidelined, Tulsa Washington beat
Some of the Bruins excelled in college. Wise was part of a national championship team at Oklahoma. After thinking his role was “riding around on airplanes and watching games,” fate propelled Wise into the starting center’s spot in 1988 — where he excelled for two years. Nash’s experience at Oklahoma State remains surreal. He was sandwiched between two future NFL Hall of Fame running backs, Thurman Thomas and Barry Sanders, but still scored seven touchdowns and accumulated more than 825 yards of total offense.
MITCH
NASH
MIKE WISE
Stepping Up for Breast Cancer
The Impact of Miles for Mammograms
by Abigail Singrey
For Emilie Sanchez, beating breast cancer was just the beginning—now she’s racing to help others through her service as honorary co-chair for Miles for Mammograms.
Held on Sept. 28th, the Miles for Mammograms 2K/5K Breast Cancer Fundraising Race will begin at 9 a.m. at the Tower Center at Unity Square in downtown Bartlesville.
The money raised from Miles for Mammograms is used for breast cancer awareness. Family Healthcare Clinic offers breast exams and free coupons for mammograms to any woman that doesn’t have insurance and would struggle to pay for it. In 2023, the clinic gave out 16 coupons saving local women $13,600 in out-of-pocket cancer screening costs.
“This is a service we offer to any woman in our community,” said Janice Shippy, executive director of Family Healthcare Clinic.
The need for cancer screenings continues to be great. In 2024, it’s estimated that over 3,400 women in Oklahoma will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
“By supporting breast cancer screenings, we can save lives with early detection, improve the quality of life, and reduce the financial and emotional impact of breast cancer on individuals, families and society,” Emilie said. “I encourage everyone to empower themselves and our loved ones by taking responsibility for our health and encouraging regular screenings.”
Emilie understands all too well the importance of regular screenings. Her own diagnosis of aggressive HER2/Triple Positive Breast Cancer, known as Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, at the age of 37 on Sept. 22, 2022, came as a shock to her and her family. She did not realize that she had the hereditary gene for breast cancer, the BRCA1 genetic marker.
“My husband and I went to the first few appointments looking like two deer staring deeply into the headlights of a steam-rolling 18-wheeler,” Emilie said.
One of the hardest conversations Emilie and her husband, Miguel Sanchez, had was sitting down with their family to prepare the kids for what was coming in the next few months. Emilie will never forget the moment her son Isaiah asked, “But what if you don’t win the battle?”
“It sent chills through me,” Emilie said.
After reassuring him that she never lost, she realized that moment set the tone for her fight. This battle wasn’t just about her—it was about showing her children the importance of never giving up, even when facing something terrifying.
Her treatment plan was aggressive, requiring a double mastectomy with reconstruction, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation and a
preventative hysterectomy. The first step — a port installation — was completed just days before her youngest son’s first birthday. All through her eighteen week course of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, she continued to report into work every day as Arvest Bank’s Loan Training Program Manager, overseeing all consumer and commercial lending training.
Finally, on Feb. 14th, 2024, Emilie was declared cancer-free. She felt a mixture of gratitude, relief and astonishment at what her body had been through as she got to ring the iconic bell celebrating her remission status.
Given her recent experiences, getting involved with Miles for Mammograms felt like the natural next step.
“After getting to the flip side of things and being considered now in remission, I wanted to give back to those who helped me and give support to those starting their journey and those still truckin’ through it,” Emilie said. “. . . There is not a day I don’t advocate for self-exams.”
Without Miles for Mammograms, Family Healthcare Clinic would not be able to provide services to women in the Bartlesville community needing breast exams and mammograms. This event helps provide a better outcome to women in our community by providing the resources needed to diagnose breast cancer sooner.
Ignite Elevating the Standard of Care
by Maria Gus
For too long, skilled nursing facilities have been boxed into a stereotype, quiet, sad, a place where people go to live their final days. Despite the fact that many skilled nursing facilities have come a long way in care and technology, people are unfamiliar with the full scope of services they provide. In Bartlesville, the only strictly skilled nursing facility in NE Oklahoma has gone above and beyond to elevate the standard of care.
Ignite Medical Resort Adams PARC is not what most people envision when they think of skilled nursing. With state-of-theart equipment, a dedicated team of therapists, and a positive environment, Ignite is taking rehabilitation to a whole other level.
Mat Thengil, MA OTR/L is the Chief Therapy Officer for Ignite Medical Resorts. Thengil oversees physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy across Ignite’s entire portfolio. A passionate advocate, Thengil says he knew there could be so much more to the patient experience. “In 2017 I was stuck with this thought of where do I want the direction of skilled nursing and rehab to go,” Thengil stated. “How can we differentiate ourselves from the other skilled nursing out there?”
Thengil says that across the country, people are making vast changes to skilled nursing. Improvements to food, accommodations, and support have been moving at a rapid pace. “One thing that hasn’t changed as quickly is therapy,” added Thengil, “many lack advanced technology and that became our focus.” Ignite Medical Resort Adams PARC is trailblazing the market in skilled nursing.
That’s where the Andago comes in. A 100% Swiss technology, custom built piece of equipment, the Andago makes the lives of therapists easier and gives patients the ability to stand and walk. Thengil’s enthusiasm for the Andago is obvious, and it’s the exceptional care and treatment it provides that helps therapists care for patients. “It can be used anywhere in the building,” said Thengil, “it can go in and out of doorways, staff can take patients out of their room, down the hall, and all while 100% safe with one therapist.”
“You’re not going to find better equipment, it’s the gold standard,” said Thengil, “we want people to rehabilitate in all areas - physically, emotionally, and even outdoors in our courtyard. We are here to help them meet and succeed with any challenge patients will meet when they go home.”
Speaking of state-of-the-art, Ignite Medical Resort Adams PARC has also partnered with a new company to give patients even more opportunities to practice the skills they need as they rehabilitate. “We have also partnered with a virtual reality company out of Dallas,”
Thengil added, “Neuro Rehab VR creates a virtual reality headset with a simulated environment. Place the headset on a patient and we can make them feel like they are on a beach, catching a baseball, playing soccer, or on a nice walking path.” Thengil says patients can have the VR experience sitting or standing, focusing on whatever they need to improve, be it standing, walking, bending or reaching. “They don’t know they’re doing rehab because through the headset they may be fishing! We have the ability to give someone an alternative method and take them out of a healthcare facility.”
Ignite Medical Resort Adams PARC strives for an exceptional experience whether it’s therapy, food service, environment, or even a cup of coffee. Their coffee bar makes patients feel like they’ll never miss their favorite latte or cappuccino while in rehab.
All therapy at Ignite is in house, no subcontracted care and every patient has access to luxury amenities. Patients can experience the best of care with the Neuro Rehab VR, Andago, and Accelerated Care Plus - the same equipment that U.S. Olympic teams are using.
Thengil invites anyone to take a tour of the facility to see the technology. Often, patients may not feel they have a choice, but Thengil encourages those in need of post acute rehab to do their homework and shop for care, just like you would buying a new house or car. “Tour several places and ask questions. How much therapy will patients receive? What technology do you have? What tools are they using?” Thengil stated, “when you ask the right questions, you will be able to see beyond just the façade and recognize what else it has to offer.”
At Ignite Medical Resort Adams PARC, the staff is confident the experience will be like none other in the area, and they are eager to get patients healthy and living their best life.
Title Sponsor: Ascension St. John Jane Phillips
$1000 Per Team | Sponsorships Available Register by 9.15.2024 | Check-In at 11:00am Lunch | Shotgun Start at Noon | Prizes Four Person Scramble | Mulligans Included SCAN ME! All proceeds benefit the TCT
Progress & Excellence
Celebrating Highlights at Tri County Technology Center
Tri County Tech (TCT), established in 1968 as the first technology center of its kind in Oklahoma, has earned its reputation as a nationwide leader in technical and career education. As they begin a new school year, TCT has exciting additions and noteworthy achievements paving the way for student success.
Serving high school and adult students throughout Washington, Nowata, and Osage counties, TCT has added courses, undergone some renovations, and improved programming. The Adult Flex program has been revamped so that students can choose only the courses they want to take from each program, resulting in a much quicker completion date. Some courses are completed in just two or three months. Courses beginning in October include CNC Mill, Welding, Accounting, HVAC, Basic Computer Courses (Microsoft Excel Beginner), CNA evening, and Basic Phlebotomy. As always, TCT offers in-house financial assistance for several programs and 90% of students qualify.
“Our FLEX courses are designed for adults wanting to upgrade their skills or get new ones,” said Jeannette Slater, TCT Instructional Director. “The availability of short-term classes help adults advance quickly in their career field or jump into a new career.” According to Slater, the tailored course offerings can help students focus on developing the specific skills they need. “With our new format, we can accommodate more students who are eager for an exciting career change,” added Slater.
The programming isn’t the only thing that has expanded at TCT. The cosmetology salon has been fully remodeled and is open for appointments. The Tri County Tech Cosmetology program runs a full-service salon, serving the public, performed by students and under the supervision of a licensed instructor. Customers can enjoy manicures, pedicures, perms, hair colors, facials, and haircuts. The public can also add a winning smile to their style. The dental hygiene renovation is underway and is also a service open to the public.
The quality services available at Tri County Tech are only as good as the staff and educators, and their awards and recognitions are impressive. The Oklahoma Association for Career and Technical Education (OkACTE) recognized several Tri County Tech educators at this year’s Oklahoma Summit. Practical Nursing Instructor Kebi Allen was named the OkACTE Postsecondary Professional of the Year. Medicine & Biosciences Instructor Casey Woods was nominated for New Teacher of the Year after recently being named STEM New Teacher of the Year. Construction Technology Instructor Jason Murphy was recognized as an OkACTE Fellow. Workforce and Economic Development Coordinator Rick Ryan was recognized for 25 years as an OkACTE member.
“On behalf of Tri CountyTech, I am honored to extend heartfelt congratulations to all our award winners. Their dedication, innovation, and hard work have set a new standard of excellence for student success for Oklahoma and Tri County Tech.” said Dr. Tammie Strobel, Superintendent and CEO at Tri County Tech
Earlier this year, Wyatt Gerth was named Region IV New Teacher of the Year. Also, Tri County Tech was recognized as a 2023-2024 Project Lead The Way Distinguished School. The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Program is also planning to kick off in September. Called “The Ultimate Sport for the Mind”, those interested can learn more on Monday September 9, 2024 at 4:00 pm in the Tri County Tech Strategy Center. While students learn new skills, they’ll also have the opportunity to earn some of the $80 million in scholarships made available to FIRST participants.
The success of Tri County Tech lies in the success of the students of Washington, Nowata, and Osage counties. With a winning team and ever expanding programming, Tri County Tech is working toward their mission of inspiring success through life-changing learning experiences for the 2024-2025 year.
Nelson F. Carr Memorial Bridge
by Debbie Neece & the Bartlesville Area History Museum
For many years, Bartlesville has been called the City of Legends. Why? Because this City was founded by men of outstanding vision and character; entrepreneurs who arrived in Indian Territory with not one skill but a multitude. These men nested on uncharted land populated by the Osage, Delaware and Cherokee Indians in an effort to stake a claim, work the earth and live cohesively.
History was exploding across North America in the 1800s and, before the Civil War (18611865), the Caney River was a life-sustaining catalyst for early pioneers. The Civil War changed the entire continent. Locally, not all men who abandoned their land improvements to “fight” for their cause returned to their former life. Prior to the Civil War, the Butler family held a trading post and post office at Butler Creek, near current Oak Park, and a small sawmill at the horseshoe bend of the Caney River. Post Civil War, the Butlers found other opportunities, leaving structures here in their wake.
Enter our Legends! Among first brave soul was Nelson Franklin Carr. After the War, Carr settled in Oswego, KS where he operated a trading post and served as postmaster. He married a Cherokee maiden, Sarah Ann Rogers, the daughter of Trail of Tears survivors Hilliard and Martha (Fields) Rogers. Nelson Carr was no stranger to northeastern Indian Territory, his Sixth Kansas Cavalry unit traversed this land during the Civil War; he knew
of the Butler post office and had heard tales of other soldiers stopping at the Butler sawmill for supplies or a meal. To enhance his trade offerings, Carr scouted northeastern Indian Territory and, finding Butler’s trading post abandoned, established his trading post at Butler Creek.
During one of Carr’s replenishing supply runs, his Butler Creek trading post was ravaged by a band of marauding Indians. Devastated, he relocated to the horseshoe bend of the Caney River where he established the Nelson Carr millsite. Jacob Bartles knew Nelson Carr from the Civil War days as they had trapsed across Indian Territory. While exploring the area, Bartles found Carr building a mill race across the Caney River with a two-story building to house his mill. Bartles offered Carr $1,000 for the millsite and Nelson Carr began the next chapter of his life; building a family, ranching, farming and oil interests.
In the meantime, other men laid their stake as Legends. Names that we see on street signs and buildings like William Johnstone and George B. Keeler. If you look at the north/south streets of downtown Bartlesville, you see the names Keeler, Johnstone, Osage, Delaware, and Cherokee. You see the legends recognized. Do you see the missing link? Nelson F. Carr faded silently into a quiet, but resourceful life. He was a hardworking, humble man, content to spend his final days in a rocking chair on the front
porch of his 301 S. Creek home with Sarah Ann by his side, having raised eight children whom married and filled their own history book pages.
The history of Washington County is deeply embedded in the Caney River. Leaving our life-sustaining Hulah and Copan Lakes, the Caney River meanders south, through Bartlesville, offering a foundation from which early settlement became rooted, the waters of the Caney River whisper tales of the past and wash them away to the Verdigris-Arkansas-Mississippi Rivers on their way to the Gulf of Mexico. Bartians of all ages have memories of picnics in Johnstone Park, the caretaker’s house, the bathhouse and swimming beach, the Johnstone Art Center, the Nellie Johnstone Oil Well, and boat rentals and canoeing the Caney River. Our memories remain and our photos document the history, yet progress must be made to catapult us into the future.
Not all losses are losses. Gone are the fords, ferries, footbridges/wagon bridges and our 418’ long, 3-span K-truss steel bridge with a rare double pedestrian sidewalk…replaced by a steel and concrete expansion bridge that not only connects Dewey and Bartlesville with improved safety, but once again
area of the Johnstone and Keeler settlement…bringing history full circle.
Bye of History: The first bridge over the Caney River was sufficient for light-weight horse-drawn vehicles and first crossed September 11, 1905. This bridge was replaced with a flat-top steel and concrete bridge under the Federal Road Act of 1916. And, finally in 1937, a steel and concrete arched-top bridge replacement was constructed with depression-era funding and open for traffic August 28, 1937. That bridge stood the spans of time for 86 years.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation performed a delicate dance to dismember our aged 1937 Caney River Bridge while protecting the Bartlesville Water Dam beneath with minimal traffic disruption. North Delaware Avenue, once home of lush green lawns and homes often ravaged by floodwaters, has been given new life surrounded by expansive parklike settings. Walking one of the pedestrian sidewalks that flank the new concrete bridge allows broad views of the Caney River and the Bartlesville Water Dam which has resulted in a serene place for reflection beside the calming waterfall of the dam.
Behind the scenes, ODOT, the City of Bartlesville, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the staff of the Bartlesville Area History Museum have been working to have the Carr/Bartles Millsite placed on the National Register of Historic Places…a goal yet to be accomplished. In addition, we have been working to celebrate the founding roots of Bartlesville by naming the new State Highway 123 Bridge…the Nelson F. Carr Memorial Bridge.
Nelson Franklin Carr was a Bartlesville founding father and he brought the first mechanized enterprise to Indian Territory. He was truly an adaptable pioneer who let no stumbling block deter him. And yet, true notoriety escaped him. For all of Mr. Carr’s pioneering contributions, he has become the “Forgotten Pioneer.” Please join Carr family descendants and friends at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Hensley Blvd., September 2 at 1:00, for Nelson Carr’s 180th birthday celebration, when we will unveil his state highway marker dedicating this new chapter of Caney River history in recognition of the Nelson F. Carr Memorial Bridge.
connects the area of the Nelson Carr/Jacob Bartles Millsite with the North Delaware Settlement
Into the Woods
by Brent Taylor
I grew up playing in the woods in Oak Ridge Heights just north of Limestone School. These woods were the orphaned fringes of residential development, unsuited for housing. Children ruled this world of pond and creek and woods. The woods were transected by a labyrinth of paths worn smooth by the feet of neighborhood youngsters. When my children were young I took them to this place because I wanted to show them where I once flipped over the handlebars of my motorcycle and cut my finger with a Bowie knife and ran my bike over a black snake longer than me.
a third place famous. We worked out our morality with fear and trembling while gathering in a clearing attracted by the flame rising from an old pipeline. The flame was rarely extinguished and we warmed ourselves on winter days mesmerized by its endurance. We built lean-to forts with thatched roofs in the event of an invasion by the Soviet Union or as a contingency if we ever ran away from home. The paths we trod upon as children in the woods helped form our personalities, careers, and ideas of how we would spend our time one day as taller humans.
The woods was our place of rebellion and awkward kisses, a fiefdom of creativity and social custom. It was love and hate and war and peace long before we understood what any of those things were. It was where the tough kids went to smoke and where the nerdy kids went to catch crawdads. In the woods we learned how to wander and explore and build things with remarkable ingenuity without the constraint of adult guidance.
It was the wild place my brother visited after he was baptized, just like Jesus when he went into the wilderness for forty days to contemplate what was to come. My brother went there after the perfunctory baptismal banana split celebration at Braums, filled his banana split boat with sticks, and floated it down the creek as he considered his decision to plunge into the watery depths with Christ. My brother went into the woods because that was where kids went to get away from the grown up world they didn’t fully understand yet.
Brian Kaller writes of this idea of how children have flourished in the outdoor spaces claimed as their own, in an article called, The End of Childhood Play, Front Porch Republic, January 6, 2021. “Recorded history is the history of adults–generals, statesmen, explorers and scientists–but all of those adults began their path as children. It was in this world that every future general first learned to lead, every future scientist first turned over logs to delight in the tiny nightmares underneath, and every future explorer first plucked up the courage to enter the haunted woods.”
The woods was our third place, long before Starbucks made
Neil Postman wrote in 1982. “A children’s game, as we used to think of it, requires no instructors or umpires or spectators; it uses whatever space and equipment are at hand; it is played for no other reason than pleasure, Kick the Can, Red Rover, and Hide-and-Seek, which was played in Athens more than two thousand years ago, has now almost completely disappeared from the repertoire of self-organized children’s amusements. Children’s games, in a phrase, are an endangered species.”
Brian Kaller again, “The decline began a few generations ago, when television steamrolled over children’s cultural traditions, and that screen has now multiplied into a billion hand-held ones. When children everywhere carry all the world’s pornography in their pocket, as well as electronic games psychologically designed to addict people as powerfully as heroin, few future leaders will organize their mates, and few budding scientists will turn over any logs. They grow up learning no lessons, organizing no peers, and exploring no territory, unless it be shifting electrons around a screen, and the screen becomes their world.”
We need parents to teach small children games from old books, and let the children take it from there. Take children into the woods and let them explore and learn. How this guerrilla action proceeds will depend on the situation, but it needs to be done. Otherwise, today’s children will live in a country filled with the most dependent and least self-sufficient humans who ever lived, polarized and paralyzed by their screens, and facing a difficult future. We will need a new generation of people who can strategize, negotiate, and work together again, and to do that, we need children to experience childhood once more.
PRETTY WOMAN
Monday, January 6, 2025 | 7:00 PM Recommended for ages 13+
THE
AND MUSIC OF GEORGE MICHAEL
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 | 7:30 PM Recommended for ages 10+
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Sunday, February 23, 2025 | 7:30 PM Recommended for ages 10+
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Thursday, March 6, 2025 | 7:30 PM Recommended for ages 13+
Broadway in Bartlesville!
2024-2025 Season Announced
The Center for arts, events, and community is proud to announce its 2024-2025 Broadway in Bartlesville! season. Four national touring New York based shows will perform at The Center throughout the year during the series’ twenty-second season. Purchase your season tickets today and mark your calendars for another outstanding run of professional, traveling Broadway performances.
The season opens on Tuesday, October 1 at 7:30pm with THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF GEORGE MICHAEL . The show is a brand-new theatrical concert event that chronicles the amazing journey George Michael had with music and his fans. The show captures the performance and sound of George Michael with staging and lighting while telling his story through early music hits from Wham! and his illustrious solo career. As one of the biggest international stars of our time, the show will have fans on their feet dancing and singing along to blockbuster hits including “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go,” “Freedom,” “Faith,” “Careless Whisper,” “Father Figure,” and many more. Spanning a four-decade career with over 115 million albums sold, THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF GEORGE MICHAEL shows his rise to fame as a member of Wham! in the 80’s. He went solo in 1987 with “Faith,” one of the biggest albums of all time which included multiple number one hits.
On Monday, January 6, 2025 at 7:00pm, enjoy a story based on one of the most beloved romantic comedies of all time, PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL is a modern spin on Cinderella. Vivian, a spirited diamond in the rough, dreams of a better life. A star-crossed meeting with Edward, a shrewd corporate raider from New York who is lost in Hollywood, turns a simple business deal into a week of romance and a journey of self-discovery for both Vivian and Edward. With a wholly original musical score by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance, this contemporary theatrical take on the iconic love story, will sweep a new generation off their feet and make them believe in the power of “Happily Ever After.” PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL features an original score by Grammy® winner Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance (“Summer of ’69”, “Heaven”), and a book by the movie’s legendary director Garry Marshall and screenwriter J. F. Lawton. PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL will lift your spirits and light up your heart. “If you love the movie, you’ll love the musical!” (BuzzFeed News). Are you ready to fall in love all over again?
Next in the line-up is, THE ADDAMS FAMILY slated for Sunday, February 23, 2025 at 7:30pm. A comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, THE ADDAMS FAMILY is the magnificently macabre hit musical featuring everyone’s favorite creepy, kooky characters. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man
her parents have never met. And if that weren’t upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents. On the heels of Wednesday, the third most-watched show on Netflix of all time, Big League Productions, Inc. presents THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a devilishly delightful musical comedy based on the bizarre and beloved characters by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams.
The series finale, DEAR EVAN HANSEN, plays on Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. This production is the deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it. A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. WINNER OF SIX 2017 TONY® AWARDS INCLUDING BEST MUSICAL AND THE 2018 GRAMMY® AWARD FOR BEST MUSICAL THEATER ALBUM. “One of the most remarkable shows in musical theater history,” says The Washington Post. The New York Times calls DEAR EVAN HANSEN “a gut-punching, breathtaking knockout of a musical” and NBC News says that the musical is “an inspiring anthem resonating on Broadway and beyond.”
Ordering a season subscription is the most cost-effective way to see all four shows from the same seat. Season subscriptions range from $115 to $376, include four shows, and save subscribers between $30 and $40 over buying individual tickets. However, if you cannot commit to the entire season, single tickets to each show go on Tuesday, September 3 at 9:00am. Single tickets range from $30 - $95 depending on type of ticket and seat location.
Financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts, Oklahoma Arts Council, and these local sponsors make it possible for The Center staff to present the 2024-2025 Broadway in Bartlesville! series: * Arvest Wealth Management * bMonthly Magazine * ConocoPhillips * Copper Cup Marketing * Cortney McClure Design * Mr. and Mrs. Paul Crawford * ExaminerEnterprise * 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 * Sparklight * Stumpff Funeral Home & Crematory * Ms. Terri Taylor * Truity Credit Union * Visit Bartlesville.
For more information or to purchase season tickets, call The Center box office at 918-337-2787. The Center is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and evenings and weekends during scheduled concerts and events, and is located at 300 SE Adams Blvd., in Downtown Bartlesville. You can learn more at www.bartlesvillecenter.com.
Reckless Hope 20-Year Reunion Show Set for October 5
Formed in early 2004, Reckless Hope was a group of students from Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) who shared a deep love for music. We spent much of our college years playing in various bands and contributing to worship teams at local churches. Influenced by acts like U2, Coldplay, Ben Folds, Travis, and The National, we brought a fresh take to the indie genre, blending introspective lyrics with powerful melodies.
Our journey began in the dorm rooms and local music venues of Bartlesville, where we found a community that embraced our sound and spirit. We were a diverse group of musicians, each with our own experiences, coming together with the shared belief that we were creating something truly special, music that resonated deeply. Our songs were often about the universal experiences of hope, love, and struggle, resonating with anyone who felt caught between the innocence of youth and the responsibilities of adulthood.
A Journey Back in Time
In the early 2000s, we were friends with big dreams, united by our passion for music. Our days were filled with writing songs, rehearsing, and performing in small venues across the Midwest. Every show felt like a significant milestone, not because of the size of the audience, but because of the connections we made. Our music was raw and honest, capturing the struggles and hopes we all experienced during that formative time.
Looking back, those were some of the best years of our lives. There was a sense of endless possibility and a shared belief that music could truly impact people’s lives. We weren’t chasing fame or fortune; we were chasing moments of pure, unfiltered connection with our audience. Every gig, no matter how small.
As the years passed, life led us in different directions. We pursued various careers, started families, and settled into new routines. The band eventually went their separate ways, but the memories of those days—of being on stage and creating music together—remained a highlight of our lives. Each of us carried those experiences into our new paths, always holding onto the lessons and friendships formed during our time as Reckless Hope.
Rekindling Old Flames
Now, two decades later, we’re coming together once more for a special reunion show. This event isn’t just about playing music again; it’s about reconnecting with a time in our lives when we were fearless and full of dreams. It’s a chance to relive those moments, not only for ourselves but for everyone who was part of that journey.
This reunion is not just a nostalgic look back but a celebration of how far we’ve come. We’ve all grown in different ways, yet the core of who we are—the passion for music and the bond we share— remains unchanged. It’s an incredible feeling to come back to something that was such a fundamental part of our identity.
Join Us in Celebration
The Reckless Hope 20-year reunion show is more than a nostalgic look back—it’s a celebration of enduring friendships, the power of music, and the dreams that never truly fade. We invite you to join us for this unforgettable night. Whether you’re a longtime fan or discovering our music for the first time, we can’t wait to share this experience with you.
This reunion show is a testament to the enduring power of music and the bonds it creates. It’s about honoring the past while embracing the present and looking forward to the future. We hope to see you there, to celebrate with us, and create new memories that will last a lifetime.
Saturday, October 5th at Crossing 2nd, starts at 7:30 pm with special guest Mike Colaw and Karaoke eminently follows.
See you at the show!
Learning Not to Sleep
by Abigail Singrey
The documentary “This Is Where I Learned Not to Sleep” takes retired police Lt. Mark Wynn back to where it all began. At his childhood home, he revisits the domestic violence that led him to his greatest work—saving lives.
Bartlesville residents will have a chance to watch the 38-minute film. Local nonprofit SAFE-NOW is hosting a showing at 6 p.m. on Oct. 3 at The Center in Bartlesville. After the showing, Wynn will speak, and local experts will give a panel presentation on domestic violence. The recommended audience is adults, and it may be triggering for some who have experienced domestic violence themselves.
“It’s an incredible film,” SAFE-NOW Board President Dr. Shelly Holdman said. “It’s very tasteful and very welldone. I think it will be eye-opening for a lot of people in our community.”
Domestic violence statistics in Oklahoma reveal a deeply concerning trend, with the state consistently ranking among the highest in the nation for rates of domestic abuse. In Oklahoma, 49.1 percent of women and 40.7 of men have experienced domestic violence at least once in their life, according to a survey by World Population Review. Oklahoma had 114 deaths due to domestic violence in 2022, according to a report from the Oklahoma Domestic Violence Fatality Review Board. SAFE-NOW provides support to those affected by sexual violence, domestic abuse and child abuse.
“We believe that education is at the core of prevention,” Holdman said. “By educating the public, law enforcement and other professionals in our community, we can make great strides in preventing domestic violence.”
It’s a conviction that Wynn shares. He found his passion through personal experience. From 1959-1966, Wynn, his mother, Mary Parrish, and his four siblings lived with a man who regularly beat his mother, triggering two miscarriages. One night, his father knocked Mary unconscious, then stepped over her to get a beer out of the fridge. When she came to, she knocked him unconscious with a baseball bat. Mary fled with the children—Wynn included— with only the clothes on their backs, leaving the state of Texas and Wynn’s stepfather behind.
Though many childhood victims of domestic violence grow up to perpetuate the cycle in their adult relationships, thanks to the strength and courage of his mother, Wynn and his siblings were able to break the cycle. Instead, he and his brother both entered law enforcement, using their lived experience to help them arrest perpetrators of domestic violence.
As a 21-year member of the Nashville Metropolitan Police Department, he served as lieutenant to the Domestic Violence division and a member of the Special Weapons and Tactics team for fifteen years. Wynn soon observed that many law enforcement personnel lacked the training to help domestic violence victims. He was encouraged to begin speaking to other law enforcement about his personal experience.
He’s found that many people have misconceptions about
domestic violence that he has to dispel.
“My work is classroom by classroom, student by student, officer by officer and prosecutor by prosecutor,” Wynn said.
Now, he’s spoken in all 50 states and 16 countries, bringing a message of justice and hope across the world. While his work has primarily focused on law enforcement, his late wife, Valerie Wynn, worked as a victim advocate and was frustrated at the lack of resources for women facing domestic violence. Along with other victim advocates, she founded the Mary Parrish Center in Nashville, Tenn., in 2002, named in honor of Wynn’s mother. To date, the Center has helped over 10,000 women, leaving a legacy of hope and healing for families.
For Wynn, the documentary provided the opportunity to reach more people with his message. Wynn encourages men to model for each other what healthy relationships look like and support those in the community that may need help.
“It’s important to share my journey and my family’s journey,” he said.
Get tickets for the documentary at https://kinema.com/ events/this-is-where-i-learned-not-to-sleep-xbuwd1
The Barrow Gang
by Jay Hastings
There are many stories out there about Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Between 1932 and 1934, the Barrow Gang were well known for a crime spree across the central United States. I have always been intrigued by this story, particularly their travels through our state. Through my research, I have uncovered some local stories as to how Bartlesville and surrounding communities were affected. As early as 1932, the FBI had positively connected the Barrow Gang to a stolen car abandoned in Pawhuska.
On April 1, 1934, Clyde Barrow and his gang encountered two young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas. Before the officers could draw their guns, they were shot. According to newspaper articles of the time, the gang was headed north into Oklahoma. Sure enough, just few days later on April 6, 1934, Commerce, Oklahoma Constable Cal Campbell was killed by Clyde Barrow and Raymond Hamilton. During that same incident, Commerce Police Chief Percy Boyd was wounded and kidnapped by the gang. Chief Boyd was held for 14 hours while the gang traveled to and through Coffeyville, Kansas, heading north. Eventually, Boyd was released in Fort Scott, Kansas. What a tale he would live to tell!
These events sparked fear in Bartlesville and just about every community around. It was well known the Barrow Gang had become increasingly violent and were known to steal cars, used to drive long distances through the night. There was no telling where they might show up next, and that put everyone on high alert.
As reported by the Morning Examiner April 8, 1934, “Barrow Rides into Oklahoma and Vanishes; Reach Osage”. Local officers headed to Barnsdall where two witnesses reported seeing Barrow and Hamilton eating at a local restaurant. The witnesses identified the two from photos and described the men as traveling in a V8 Ford sedan, black or dark blue in color, with two bullet holes in the windshield. Both men carried pistols in their pockets and the one identified as Hamilton carried a sub machine gun under his top coat. The pair were seen in the Ford driving toward Bartlesville. Osage and Washington County Officers responded to the area of Okesa in hopes of locating the pair but did not find anything. That same day, it was reported a Tulsa police officer, responding the Barrow sighting, wrecked his brand new Rockne police sedan in the area of highway 75 and Rice Creek after he failed to make a curve due to speed. That same Sunday newspaper reported several Caney, Kansas motorists were stopped by National Guardsmen looking for Barrow and his gang.
The Morning Examiner reported on April 12, 1934, “Search for Barrow Centers Here Again”. Three vehicles carrying heavily armed county officers reportedly sped north out of Bartlesville in response to a call from officers in Independence, KS. Barrow and Bonnie Parker had been spotted in the vicinity of Niotaze and Havanna, KS, and Everett True, a special agent with the Santa Fe railroad, was pursuing them. True had spotted the pair in a V8 Ford parked in a secluded area. Bartlesville officers checked the area from Owen, OK, to Wayside, KS, but never found True or any V8 Ford.
On April 17, 1934, the Morning Examiner reported “Desperado and ‘Girl Friend’ Traced Here”. A couple fitting the descriptions of Bonnie and Clyde were spotted on the west side of Bartlesville and there was a rumor the pair had planned to rob a bank here. For the next three days, heavily armed local law enforcement officers were seen by citizens staked out downtown near the banks.
On April 18, 1934, the Morning Examiner reported “Arrest Bonnie and Clyde”. Police Officers Swede Thompson and Ed Heslop, special police from Coffeyville, KS, had arrested a man and woman, believed to be Barrow and Parker, at the Cities Service Station at 2nd and Cherokee in Bartlesville. They’d been spotted in a Pontiac coupe at the Red Top parking lot at 2nd and Osage. While the couple was eating at the Red Top, someone spotted a 16-gauge pump shotgun in the back seat of their Pontiac, leading to the police response. However, once at the police stated, the couple’s identity was established and confirmed as Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Perry of El Dorado, Arkansas. The frightened couple was subsequently released.
On Saturday April 17, 1934, the Bartlesville Examiner “News Reel” by E.L.C. stated, “This Clyde Barrow flits about a bit it must be admitted, but I am inclined to doubt that he bought gasoline in Iowa, bought whiskey in Bartlesville and camped near Texarkana all in the same evening. Some of these officers are seeing things…. Barrow is the sort of outlaw an officer hunts for and prays he will not find.”
A Ford V8 was purchased by Jesse and Ruth Warren of Topeka, KS in March 1934. On April 29, 1934, the Warren’s V8 was stolen from their driveway. The car reappeared 25 days later on Highway 151 near Sailes, Bienville Parish, Louisianna. The car had an additional 7,500 miles on the odometer, over 160 bullet holes, and the bodies of the most infamous outlaw couple, Bonnie Parker, age 23, and Clyde Barrow, age 25. The outlaws had finally been found, and ultimately killed, by officers. All could rest a little easier in Oklahoma and surrounding states knowing the Barrow gang had finally met their match.
