Early childhood memories of Oklahoma (Tulsa, Shawnee: relocation, apartment, vacation)

[redbird4848]

Another poster gave an excellent post of what she remembers about Oklahoma from her early childhood. (the water tower)

The floor is open for any others who would like to share their impressions from the olden days.

I have many as my parents moved to Los Angeles during the Indian Relocation days in the late 1950's. But we would move back to OK from time to tiime and made annual trips to OK for summer vacations.

My impressions from about age 3 were:

My grandma's house always had buckets of water by the front door and a ladle to get fresh clear well water!

I remember my great grandfather who did not speak english. He was 100 years old and would sing Indian songs all day while lying in bed and would fan himself with a giant eagle feather fan. Imagine, no air conditioners!

My grandpa had horses, and my grandma had chickens. Horney toads and turtles were my friends. It was an endless world of adventure and mystery.

[Choctaw2]

Oh my, I remember living by the Red River, taking a jar of water and looking for holes in the ground so I could drown out crickets for for my dad to use as fish bait. Then going to the river for a day of fishing and fun frollicking in the water, pick nicking on the banks and picking wild grapes for mom to make jam and jellly, I even remember her making green grape pies.

I remember working along side my parents in the cotton fields, having our own vegetable garden and Sunday dinners when the pastor and his family came to our house. I remember feeling free and alive, able to walk down the road to a friends house without being afraid.

I have so many memories of Oklahoma but the best of all was when I lived in Shawnee after marrying my Navy sweetheart. That was just the nicest place I have ever lived and I would love to live there again. I went Home to Shawnee in 2003 and I can't even begin to describe the feeling that came over me when I crossed the border into Oklahoma. I was home and I wish I could have stayed. When I got into Shawnee, Down town area was just like it was way back then 50 years ago and the people were all wonderful. Memories are hard to share, but better than any TV show or movie I have ever seen. I'm so glad I spent my childhood growing up in Oklahoma.

[Synopsis]

Great thread.
I remember shelling peas out back under the big walnut tree.

Running out in the morning during the summer and not coming home until dark (out playing in the creek and woods; lucky I survived).

No air conditioning, not even an indoor toilet until I was 11!

I remember working out in the garden and fields with my father, gathering watermelons from the old watermelon patch.

Halloween and wandering all over town after dark, collecting candy and watching all of the other ghosts and goblins wandering to and fro.

So many good memories.

[LadyRobyn]

Hmmm... I could use a walk down memory lane right now.

I didn't get to grow up here, but I do have memories of coming back to visit when my Grandpa passed on. (in Waurika) My Gramma had an outhouse (that was really scary to me! ) but she kept a Coffee can under the kitchen sink for overnight 'needs'.

Her Mama cat had kittens while we were there and she let me name them. I picked Larry, Moe and Curly.

My Dad decided to get out his old 22 cal. and go hunt some jackrabbits... Of course I wanted to go along, so he carefully explained that I had to stay real close and be VERY quiet. He told me that I should cover my ears if he raised the gun to his shoulder... Well, things didn't work out so great... I don't remember much, but he said I panicked just as he pulled up his gun and I took off running faster than the jackrabbit in the opposite direction, straight for the barb-wire fence in the back pasture. He says he caught me just short of running head-long into the fence which saved both our hides... my Mom would have had a FIT if I'd got hurt.

I remember only bit and pieces of that whole trip, like the outhouse, and the kittens and one of my cousins 'throwing-up' right in front of everyone...

But I loved it, and I always wanted to come back...

[Goodpasture]

Does anyone besides me remember the clear water swimming hole between 36th St North and 46th St North on Mingo Creek? Or the Pecan orchard near Owasso where you split your pickings with the orchard owners? Or the ice cream stand in Dawson? I spent many a day hunting squirrels and rabbits along Mingo Creek, riding over to the rodeo grounds in Mohawk Park, going out late at night with my grandfather to frog hunt, running trot lines on Grand River, cat fishing on the Verdigris, helping an uncle in Perry clean his guns for a trip to Turkey Creek in Kingfisher County, the Okeene Rattlesnake Hunt, getting up before sunrise to help buck straw bales for another uncle outside of Hennessey, the smell of my other granddads barber shop in Hennessey, The prayer meetings in the house where Eastwood Baptist first met followed by a singing fellowship. I don't remember all the people who came to those, but My mothers dad was there playing guitar and ukulele, a private pilot named Bruce Crockett who was really good on guitar, my dad who was decent on guitar, once in a while Johnnie Lee Wills would attend, but mostly it was just a bunch of "old folks" who fellowshipped and had fun. Dad had a barber shop where Ike's is now, on east Admiral. Next door was a bar called Annabell's. I remember the arguments between the patrons of the barbershop when the liquor laws were changed to allow hard liquor in the state. Then there was the big to do about the semi-centennial in 57......

Johnny Hardens Hamburgers on east 11th....Johnny the Gyp....tried a new concept one time. Seems he bought a franchise to sell fried chicken and was selling it through a window out of his kitchen. He still made great hamburgers, but his rolls and gravy was the best I ever had. One night us kids (there were five of us) and mom had dinner at home, then picked dad up to go visit dads folks in Hennessey. Dad, not having had supper, decided to stop at Johnny's for something to eat before the 3 hour drive west. Johnny took dad's order and asked if anyone else was eating. Mom, with a perfectly straight face said "No, we ate yesterday. It's his turn tonight." Johnny laughed with mom and dad.......then when dad's dinner came out he brought a platter of chicken wings (this was before they left a tablespoon of breast on it so they could call it white meat) and said he couldn't stand to watch us watch dad eat, and he didn't sell that many wings anyway.......

Johnny Lee Wills Tulsa Stampede.........hanging out around the stock pens, trying to stay out of the way of real cowboys.....granddad worked with the stock as a part time job during the rodeo.....and once it got busy down there we had to sit in the stands and not move, but walking around real cowboys, listening to the guys from Bob Wills band warming up and laughing and telling stories.

Yeah, Tulsa has a lot of memories for me........

[cindycat]

Hmmm. I've never thought of my childhood as being in the "olden days", but since I'm 62, I guess it was! I lived with my mother and grandmother. My parents divorced shortly after I was born. That's common today but back then it was very unusual.

Our house sat on a double lot, with a large side yard that became the neighborhood baseball field. We played baseball during recess at school, but on the weekends, it was at our house. No broken windows, fortunately. Only a hole in the siding.

At one time we had a large garden in the back by the alley. My grandmother would hire someone with a mule team to come in and plow it. She had our garage converted to an apartment. One of the tenants was Mickey Mantle, just before we went up to the Yankees. He knocked a hole in the closet wall - we never knew how, but it was always fun talking about it.

I loved horses but never had one. A friend's family would take us to the Indian Village Tourist Shop in Quapaw, where a man brought a few horses that we could rent for trail rides on Sundays. My friend later got a horse, so I spent a lot of time with her at the fairgrounds stable.

My uncle was a veterinarian and I loved hanging out at his place, playing with the dogs, riding the big draft horses that he boarded. In 1951, during the worst flood in Miami history, they took the dogs to my other grandmother's house and tied them to trees, put them under the house, etc. The water got to the yard of the house next door but didn't get to Grandma's. I remember going to Riverview Park and putting sticks in the ground to see how fast the water was rising.

Mother and Nannie both worked at our family store downtown, so, until I got old enough to cook, we ate out a lot. I thought I was hot stuff when I'd go to the diner across from the store and "I want the usual" - a cheeseburger steak. One of my summer jobs was selling snow cones in front of the store.

We went to Tulsa for the Christmas parade one time. I got up very early and I didn't understand why it was dark in the morning. I called it "daynight". I still have the plastic sleigh and reindeer Mother bought me that day.

We had the Coleman, the Miami and the Ottawa Theaters. I remember being very disappointed when my mother had to work and couldn't take me to the Ottawa one time. You had to go every week for a certain period, then you'd get a free ticket. I missed my free ticket. The movie I missed starred Monty Hale. (Why in the world do I remember that?)

Later I'd watch Little League baseball when our neighbor started playing. The star pitcher of the league at that time was Steve Owens, who won the Heisman Trophy at OU and played for the Detroit Lions.

I'm missing all the Centennial celebrations this year. (We moved to western Washington in 2005 and I'm ready to move back.) The Semi-Centennial was the theme of our city-wide sixth grade graduation. I still have a bolo tie commemorating that year.

[redbird4848]

We lived far out in the country!

When I was about 3, my brother talked me into chasing the chickens. I took off when he said go and as I approached, I slid on the gravel and slid right up to a mother hen with baby chicks.

She jumped on my chest and gave me a whoopin-pecking at my chest and scratching my belly! I screamed in horror! And what made it worse was everyone thought it was the funniest thing in the whole world!

I remember being introduced to yellow jackets, 3 of them hit on my achilles tendon. I think by then my mom and grandma were used to me screaming at the top of my lungs!

The best fun was being allowed to go hunting with my dad and grandpa. We hunted ducks and I remember driving through the pasture with the ducks making a ruckus in our trunk.
Then my grandpa took the ducks to a stump and raised the hatchett real high and paused.... my two older sisters covered their eyes while my eyes were WIDE OPEN!! Then the headless ducks did the crazy dance. ha. Oh, those were good days.

No TV in those days. I remember kerosene lamps at night and the coolness of the cellar in summertime.

[Choctaw2]

What a wonderful thread, to be able to share (not just memories) but Oklahoma memories with all of you. I had to laugh too redbird about the mama hen getting you. It reminded me of our old rooster. He was the meanest thing I ever saw and attacked me every time I got near the hen house. Daddy always said he could sense my fear and that was why he went after me. My family always laughed at me too.

and goodpasture,

said he couldn't stand to watch us watch dad eat, and he didn't sell that many wings anyway

....... that used to be the worst part of the chicken, beside the back that is, Now they are more expense than chicken breast meat. I wonder whose idea it was to put hot sauce on them and call them buffalo wings. It costs almost $9.00 to buy a 3 # bag of wings here. The gizzard was always my favorite.

[peggydavis]

I remember days at Lincoln park. The cutest little chipmunks lived there.

Summers were hot when we had no A/C. After a few summers we finally had a window unit.

We moved to a new development on the NW side of OKC. Our house was surrounded by open fields, and some old sand pits were nearby. We would play in the creek nearby, catch turtles, snakes and horny toads. In the winter we ice skated on the "swamp" and on the Deep Fork near Penn Square. Summers were Wedgewood, swim in the pool and ride all the rides.

[jessaka]

My earliest childhood memory of Oklahoma was when I was 16, and we were driving to Missouri from California and came upon this very red soil, and it was so interesting to me. I had never seen red soil.