Drumright, Creek County, Oklahoma

Special Section on my Hometown: 

 

They say you can never go home, however, Drumright will always be special to me even though I moved away, like many other young people of my generation, after graduating from high school.  I have two brothers who still live on the "old home place", a farm northeast of the city, that has been owned by members of our family for more than 100 years.  We were about 3.5 miles from town.  All five of my siblings went to Drumright schools.  We attended parades led by the Drumright High School marching band at Christmas time, and attended the annual rodeo and parade each summer.  We went to church in Drumright and carried home groceries from Drumright grocery stores.  There were a number of them back in "our" day; today there is only one grocery.  We occasionally went to the Tower theater for movies on a Friday or Saturday night.   Some of us played in the Drumright band or sang in the high school chorus, put in time on the yearbook staff, rode the bus to and from school.   Drumright will always be "home" because of the preponderance of memories associated with that small town in Creek County, Oklahoma.

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'You have to know the past to understand the present." Dr. Carl Segan

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Drumright Folks

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Dr. Orange W. Starr

Dr. Orange W. Starr was the doctor who delivered me.  He had a long history with Drumright.  Being of Cherokee Indian descent, he often rode in parades dressed in full Indian dress.  He kept in touch with his patients.  Here’s a card he sent to my grandmother, Eliza Jane Carroll, on Mother’s Day.

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Virgil R. Cooper - 

was my elementary school principal and coach at Edison elementary school.  Actually, he was principal and/or coach to all my brothers and sisters, though we didn't move into the Edison school district until 1952.  My oldest brother, Bobby, was in the eighth grade, Phyllis in the 5th, Donna in the 4th, and me in the first.  Jerry and Billy, my younger brothers, all attended and graduated from Edison to Drumright High School.  We all have specific and unique memories of Mr. Cooper.
 

 

 

Cooper named “Very Important Member” of county Retired Educators Association – published in Drumright Gusher, Thursday, October 17, 2002.

 

Virgil R. Cooper has been named as the Very Important Member of the Creek County Retired Educators Association for 2002.

 

He will be honored along with other retired educators and school employees at the annual state convention of the organization.

 

Cooper spent 34 years teaching school in Ofkuskee and Creek counties. He has been a teacher, coach and principal.  The last 29 years were served as principal of Edison School in Drumright.

 

Cooper earned his Master’s Degree from the University of Tulsa and has done graduate work at Oklahoma State University as well as Oklahoma University.

 

Since retiring, Cooper has served as vice president and president of the Creek County Retired Educators Association. He also does volunteer work for his church, delivers for Mobil Meals, and provides rides for people in need of transportation for doctor visits or other business. He ran for Congress in 1994 and in his spare time he writes and self publishes his books.

 

The annual Very Important Member program was begun in 1991 by the Oklahoma Retired Educators Association to recognize contributions made by retired educators in their local units.

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Rev. and Mrs. M.A. Malone 

My pastors at the First Assembly of God Church in Drumright.  

 

 

M. A. Malone's Funeral Set This Friday

The Reverend M. A. Malone, 65, Drumright Assembly of God minister for approximately 21 years, will be given funeral services at 2 p.m. Friday in the Assembly of God Church here.

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The Rev. W. J. Ellington, pastor, will officiate.

Burial will be in the Cushing Fairlawn Cemetery under the direction of the Smith Funeral home.

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Mr. Malone died Tuesday evening in the Cushing hospital. He was taken to the hospital from his home at 1123 East Walnut, Cushing, Sunday evening by Smith Ambulance of Drumright. He had been in ill health 13 years.

Born May 31, 1903 in Beaver County, Mr. Malone moved to Drumright 23 years ago from Wewoka where he had pastored 16 years.

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Active in the Drumright Ministerial Alliance, Mr. Malone was Drumright's oldest pastor in point of service when he retired in January, 1967. He moved to Cushing at that time.

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Survivors are his wife, Sarah Lydia of the home, one daughter, Mrs. Norma Jean Morris, of Woodward. His mother, Mrs. Alfa Malone, of Elmwood, Oklahoma. One sister, Mrs. Maude Stevens of Arlington California, and two brothers, Clarence Malone of Springdale, Arkansas, and Frank Malone of Elmwood.

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Brother Malone was my pastor from earliest childhood until I was a young man. It was during my teen years that I really began to get to know him. 

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He was always willing to allow me to spend time at the church playing the piano during those years when the piano became such an outlet for me as a young person.

 

Also, occasionally, on Sunday afternoons, I would stay after church to spend the afternoon playing the piano.  Bro. Malone would at these times invite me over for lunch.  We would sit side by side in his matching recliners and talk.  He was very interesting and he didn't talk down to me.  He would sometimes talk about his experiences as a young man starting in the ministry and other times we'd talk about Bible prophecy or some other Bible questions that I was struggling with. 

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Once, he asked me to drive him to Tulsa to visit his blind sister.  I got to drive his new Oldsmobile.  It was a real treat for a young person.  I also remember noticing a picture in his sister's home.  I didn't recognize the person in the photo, so I asked him who it was.  He said it was his first wife.  After my initial shock, I realized that he was talking about his first and only wife, Sis. Malone, as I knew her.

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Brother Malone spent a lot of time in prayer and Bible study.  His office he called his "study".  His preaching was old-time holiness style.  I guess that today I would find his preaching style quite foreign; but he blessed me in so many ways while I was growing up.  I remember that he used to sing a solo on request: "That One Lost Sheep".  In the middle of the song, which was a story in itself, he'd stop and give a short testimony of his conversion as a young man.  It always touched my emotions deeply when he would come in on that last verse: "It was there in the night, He heard a faint cry...from that lost sheep just ready to die; Safe in his arms to shield from the cold, He brought that lost one safe back to the fold." 

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Brother Malone was very encouraging.  He was a loyal and faithful pastor.  After he retired, I visited him again in Cushing just months before he passed away.  He was bedfast at the time, but he appeared so happy to see me and was a great encouragement to me in the situation of my own life at the time. He was a dear man and I'll always remember him and be thankful for having him as a pastor, for his loving counsel, and his faithful example.

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Sister Malone was also a great Christian example.  She was also a great cook and made the best mashed potatoes ever.  She built the Intermediate Boys Sunday School class from about 2 of us to over 30 by cooking hamburgers for us once a month.  I never saw her as anything but love personified.  She'll always be in my heart.  A few years after Brother Malone died, she married another A/G preacher, Bro. Nolen, continuing to be a blessing until her death.

 

 

Vacation Bible School of the 1950’s -

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 In 1952 I was six years old and most likely was one of the Vacation Bible School students that lined up to march into the Drumright Assembly of God church auditorium on a Monday morning prior to 9:00 a.m., probably in June.  We lined up by age groups, the youngest to the oldest, a teacher with each age group to keep us orderly.  I’d approximate that 150-200 children were assembled.

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The teachers and helpers had been working for weeks getting everything just right.  I learned as I grew up of the tremendous amount of energy that went into planning the two-week programs each summer.  Special study materials had been purchased for each age group around a central theme.   Each minute of the daily three- hour program was designed around providing a spiritual and fun experience for all the children.  Music, crafts, Bible lessons, and story time were fashioned to grab our tender hearts and show us the love of Christ.

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At 9:00 sharp the music would begin to play and catch the attention of everyone that the exciting adventure was about to begin.  In those days, there wasn’t air-conditioning in the church, so the church windows were open allowing the strains of the piano to signal us to begin our march through the double doors into the sanctuary.   The American and Christian flags were carried by volunteers from the older classes at the front of the lines as we proceeded into the church.   Once we were all standing at our assigned pews, the music would stop and we were led in our pledges.  First was our pledge to the flag of the United States; next the pledge of allegiance to the Christian flag, and finally our pledge to the Bible.

 

Many might not be acquainted with these Christian pledges:

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“I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to our Savior for whose Kingdom it stands; one brotherhood uniting all true Christians in service and in love.”

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“I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s Holy Word.  I will make it a light unto my feet and a lamp unto my path.  I will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God.” 

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After the pledges, we might be greeted by the VBS superintendent, and then led in a stirring anthem.  We’d hear about all the good experiences we were going to have during the next two weeks which would culminate with an evening commencement program on the last Thursday when our parents would be invited to come visit our classrooms to see all the interesting crafts we had made, peruse our workbooks which were designed to help us capture the content of the lessons, to hear our songs, and get a glimpse of the good times we’d all shared.  The final Friday, after general assembly, we all went to Whitlock Park for a fun-filled picnic.

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But, back to the opening day.  After general assembly, each group followed its teacher to the assigned classroom.  This was especially fun because during VBS we used the entire building, not just the normal Sunday School classrooms.  You never knew where you would be assigned.  Each teacher had come in early to decorate the rooms in a special way and though we were all thoroughly familiar with our church building, VBS was an adventure and the rooms took on a special aura.

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The classes were on varying schedules so that all could have a time of music instruction in the sanctuary and a Kool-Aid and cookie break under the trees in the back churchyard.  Each teacher would present their lessons, much like Sunday School.  They followed the lesson plan carefully and miraculously the mornings flew by and suddenly it was eleven o’clock: time to march back into the sanctuary.

All these activities were provided freely for the children and supplies were purchased out of the church budget; however, I remember each year of VBS the boys and the girls would be pitted against each other to see who could bring the most offering.  There was a set of balancing scales placed on the church altar.  We brought our pennies, dimes, and nickels and dumped them in the open cups that were designated either GIRLS or BOYS, hoping to see the scales tilting our way after the last group had passed by. (The girls always seemed to win!)

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After the offering was collected, for which there was much enthusiasm and rivalry, things quieted down as our VBS superintendent, Sis. Pearl Cargill, came forward to tell us a story using pictures pasted to construction paper which she held for us to see.  The pictures would be changed as the story progressed.  I always enjoyed the story about poor little crippled Jimmy who had been neglected for so many years and by so many people until one day he heard about Jesus who loved him so much that He gave His life to save him and make his heart clean, and to prepare a special place for him in Heaven.

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Many children, like me, found VBS to be two of the greatest weeks during the summer.  I understand that it was a different age and that what worked then wouldn’t’ work for today, but it is definitely something that made an impression on my childhood heart.  Even today, I can still hear the melody swell as we joined our voices in our VBS theme song: 

 

"The Bible is the Word of God, my guide for every day.

It shows me how to always live the happy useful way.

It tells me how to speak to God; through it God speaks to me.

It answers all my questions and it gives me Heaven’s key.”

 

 

Emma E. Akin - 

A teacher that taught at Lincoln School just before I started first grade.  She was a favorite of my sisters.  She also taught music at some of the elementary schools, including Edison where I attended.

She is mentioned in this interesting article from the Drumright Gusher, Thursday, February 20, 2003.

Early City History Intertwined with Black History Month
By D. Earl Newsom, Contributing Writer

 

February has been designated Black History Month.

Once, Drumright’s black population may have been as high as 200. Blacks had a church and a school called Dunbar, named for poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

 

Blacks first came to Drumright in 1913 about a year after the Wheeler No. 1 well became a gusher. More than 200 had come to Cushing as early as 1910 to work in a mill and a brick plant.

 

Some of them hoped to find a better life in the new oil town. They found no welcome mat at Drumright. They were driven out at night by angry whites. But others were eventually successful and settled on the northeast edge of town, north of Broadway and East of California street, a short distance east of Tiger Creek.

 

To cope with tensions between blacks and whites, the city council specified certain blocks where blacks could go unmolested and others exclusively for whites. The city also appointed a black officer to monitor the black residential areas. After a few months, these restrictions were removed.

 

Making a living was difficult for blacks. They were not permitted to work in the oil field. Some shined shoes in barber shops. Others worked in the service departments of auto agencies or as janitors. It was no secret that some were doing well selling whiskey.

 

Even into the 1930s, most Drumright homes still had no indoor plumbing. Three blacks were given jobs driving horse-drawn wagons down back alleys serving outdoor privies. They were listed as “scavenger men”.

 

Black housewives helped their families by doing housework for whites. Washers and dryers were unheard of then. Black women often walked from northeast Drumright to the west side, where they did washing by hand with a washboard, then hung the clothes on a line to dry. After the housework, they walked back home. Blacks were not permitted to use the high school gymnasium or attend local theaters.

 

Three individuals did m0st to help them through hard times.   D.H.(Henry) Smith and his brother, Bill, were the only blacks to open a business in the white district. The Smith Bros. Battery Shop was on North Harley, just across the street west of the Drumright Historical Museum. Smith Bros. remained in business for 48 years and was patronized by many whites. Henry Smith bought a movie projector to bring movies to the black community and did other civic tasks.

 

Joe S. Johnson became principal and coach of Dunbar school in the late 1920s. The school was located at Oak and California streets. He built the school to where it justified six faculty members and gave leadership to the black community. His basketball team won the state championship for black high schools in 1939, even though Dunbar had no gymnasium.

 

Mrs. Emma E. Akin was in charge in Drumright rural schools, then called wing schools. Dunbar was placed in this group rather than in the city system. Black children were at first shy and suspicious of her, but later accepted her as a friend. Mrs. Akin won national attention as she wrote a series of textbooks for use exclusively by black children, using blacks for the illustrations.

 

Two historic events profoundly affected Drumright’s black community. As World War II began, blacks quit shining shoes and driving scavenger wagons and headed for California and other areas to work in defense plants. And in 1956 as segregation ended in the nation, the last 11 d\Dunbar pupils were transferred to Drumright elementary schools.

I remember when the Dunbar pupils were transferred to Drumright elementary schools.  I was attending Edison elementary, in the 4th or 5th grade, and most of the black students came there because they lived in the same ward as Edison. We thought it was neat to have them with us.

Note: I found one of Emma Akin's textbooks on the internet on sale for $400 (1/21/2010)
 

Eileen Coffield Huff – 

 

Article from the Drumright Gusher newspaper

By Karen Geyer, Contributing Writer

 

Although Drumright is full of countless dedicated native sons and daughters, Eileen (Russell) Coffield Huff could be considered the ultimate Drumrighter. She was born and reared in Drumright and has always lived in Drumright.

 

But, more than keeping her residence here, Huff has never missed an opportunity to speak or write about her hometown.

 

She knows its history, and the history of many of its buildings. Her numerous articles have been published in the Tulsa Tribune, local newspapers, and magazines like the For Times, Oklahoma Today and more recently Route 66 Magazine.  Many of her magazine and newspaper pieces are enhanced by photos from her father’s collection taken during the oil boom days, when the Drumright field was the largest oilfield in the world.

 

Her writing has been applauded across the state and she was honored to receive the Oklahoma Heritage Distinguished Service Award for the Preservation of State and Local Histories in 1996. A series of 23 articles written for the Drumright Gusher titled “Drumright’s Unique History” spurred the award, as well as a lot of interest in the town.

 

“Writing has always been my passion and it seems no matter what else I do, I still find time to write.” Huff said. She does find time to do quite a few other things. She is a real estate agent and appraiser.  She was the first Director of Public Information at Central Tech.

 

“That was when it was growing from an undeveloped parcel of land into a beautiful institution, she said. “My job was to acquaint the public with this new type of vocational-education school in the four-county area that it serves, and to help the public become familiar with its new language and purpose. All I had to work with was a Polaroid camera and a typewriter,” she said. “My stories were published in nine area newspapers-daily and weekly.”.

 

Huff is a member of Drumright’s Hall of Fame and serves on the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce. She serves on the Library Board, the PEO Sisterhood, and is a member of the First United Methodist Church. The church is another historical landmark and she often gives tours and tells the entertaining story of the history of the organ there.

 

Huff is devoted to the Drumright Historical Museum. “The museum has always been a part of my life. One day I had a call from an out-of-towner, who wanted to know if there was anyone who could take him through the museum. From that moment on, the Drumright tours were born, and I served as tour director for about 10 years.” She said. “Travel buses with 35 to 45 people would schedule trips to Drumright, spend the day and, with the help of the Boom Town Theater whose actors presented a special performance on those days, the trips were a tremendous success.

 

“Our most exciting tour was perhaps when I got a call one morning and the tour director in Oklahoma City said, “I want to send 10 buses to Drumright on the Discover Oklahoma Tour and I want every person to see everything that is on the tour.” Five buses came on Thursday and five the following Thursday. I enlisted the help of five local ladies. We were waiting at the corner of Broadway and Pennsylvania, and as each bus rolled in, the Special guide stepped on and stayed with the bus through the entire tour.”

 

“Our biggest worry was that the Boom Town Theater could only hold 120 people. We had nearly 200 tourists on each trip. What did we do?  “We took the show to Central Tech’s Seminar Center. It was a shorter version of the acclaimed World War II Salute, but what a hit it was! Then we had Joseph’s cater the lunch rig That was a time to remember! there at Central Tech.

 

Huff’s Drumright stories make her a favorite speaker at local Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce functions.

 

Emma Akin, who had the idea to start the Drumright Historical Museum, was Huff’s first grade teacher at the Second Ward School, better known as Washington School.  She remembers there were 48 students in her class.

 

“By the time I was ready for the seventh grade, Drumright still had quite a large school enrollment and seventh and eighth grades were held at Drumright High School on the first floor.

 

“After graduation, I worked on the Drumright Journal as an editor. We had an extremely talented journalism teacher, Orville von Gulker, who helped develop writing talents in many of his students. He put a couple of us to work at the Journal. The other reporter-editor was D. Earl Newson, who wrote the Drumright Books,” she said.

 

Huff went on to attend the University of Oklahoma and upon returning to Drumright, managed the Gibson’s Dress Shop.  “While working at the dress shop, the first two-piece “mix and match” outfits were introduced. The public fell in love with them You could mix colors and sizes, so we could fit almost everyone. Before that, most of the clothes had to be altered to fit.

 

“We had big fashion shows that were presented on the stage of the Tower Theatre.”

(The Tower Theater was located about where the parking lot of Spirit Bank is today.)

 

Bridge was so popular in Drumright during those years that we centered one fashion show around four tables of bridge on stage with ladies modeling the latest styles for the occasion” she said.

 

Back when she was still working on staff at the newspaper, Eileene met a young dentist, Dr. Floyd D. Coffield They were married and had one daughter, Kim Coffield Clenney, who now lives in Sand Springs. She has one granddaughter, Camber Clenney, 21. Dr. Coffield died in 1979.  She married Howard Huff, who was a popular retired pharmacist, in 1986.

 

Together they worked with the Chamber of Commerce, the Drumright Historical Society, Arts and Crafts Festival and many Drumright activities. Mr. Huff died in 2000.

 

A conversation with Ms. Huff can take you back in time, but as you sit in her comfortable modern home, you can also discuss current events and the latest Chamber business or news from Central Tech. She, much like the hometown she loves, seems timeless.

 

 

Photo Source: Flickr - Uploaded on March 29, 2008
by Lynnola

(I was referred to Mrs. Huff for information about Drumright cemeteries when I was gathering genealogical information.  I later met her, probably in 2001, while visiting the Drumright Oil Field museum.  She immediately spoke of having known my uncle, Bryan Carroll, and later recalled knowing my grandfather, Ham Carroll, who had died almost forty years earlier.  Made me feel good to have them remembered.)
 

Bullfrog Charley –

 

We weren't the only family that had Bullfrog drop by for dinner, as you'll read about in the article below. Bullfrog also lived with us for a while helping Dad with chores around the farm.  Our "wash house" was converted into a makeshift bunk house.   Here's the article by Dan Fulkerson, a former Drumrighter.  The article was published in the Drumright Gusher on April 23, 2003:

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 “In Drumright, Oklahoma during the great depression of the 1930’s, a gifted fellow came along to help people forget the troubled times and smile. He did it by imitating animals – mad bulls, coon dogs, pigs, chickens, roosters, birds of any feather, and – you name it. All his animal imitations were exceptional, but he imitated  best and that’s why they called him Bullfrog Charley.

 

The nickname “Bullfrog” was probably first handed Charley by a genial emcee named Lou Allard who used to introduce him when he performed at the Drumright “Park Programs”. Crowds used to pack the long, wooden planks that stretched up the hillside and served as seats for the amphitheater at Way Memorial Park.

 

Those summer park programs in 1936, 37 & 38, made Drumright a Mecca for entertainment.  Visitors from Shamrock, Olive, Pleasant Hill, Oilton, Cushing and other surrounding communities regularly showed up to applaud the bands, singers, dancers, magicians, ventriloquists and a variety of dog-and-pony shows that came round to entertain. Bu the best act of all was Charley doing his animal imitations.  He could bring the cheering crowd to its feet. Visitors left town with memories of Drumright’s two outstanding natural attractions – Tiger Hill and Bullfrog Charley.

 

Charley used to come by our little farm on South Skinner Street. He had a knack for showing up at mealtime and was always welcome at our table. We always plied him with iced tea to keep chasing the fox.  It was more than one coon dog; it was a bunch of coon dogs, some with low, loud barks and some with high, ringing barks. The tide of the chase seemed to come and go as Charley turned the thing into an adventurous scenario that saw the fox cleverly outsmart the dogs and the dogs bark louder and faster almost like they were made.  But no matter how sophisticated the show, it was great to hear Charley top off a visit by doing the bullfrog imitation.  Charley was raised by my Uncle Dick and Aunt Josie on a farm near Pleasant Hill.  Uncle Dick would haul steel from Texas into the Drumright area with wagons and four-mule teams, a tedious trip that took six weeks. The steel was used to build bridges and was Uncle Dick’s business for several years. On one of his trips, about 1917 or 1918, Uncle Dick found a lonely lad whose stepfather had kicked him out of their home in LaRay, not far from Shamrock, Texas. Uncle Dick decided the eight-year old needed a home so he took him to Oklahoma and made him part of the Fulkerson family.  And although his real name was Charley Ayler, he was raised as a Fulkerson, right along with Uncle Dick’s big family. And for help in sorting out highlights of Charley’s life, I talked to my cousins Leland and Carl, and especially Billy Joe Fulkerson.

 

According to Billy Joe, Charley never went to school. Truth is, the kids had a tough time teaching Charley to write his name. But Charley never let the lack of schooling interfere with his education or his ability to get things done. He developed personal tastes and habits that set him apart. He didn’t wear overalls like the rest of the boys, he wore khaki pants and work boots. What’s more, he was careful about his personal appearance, always wore clean clothes and was always clean shaven.  As he grew, Charley’s voice developed a deep, resonant rasp. Someone once described Louis Armstrong’s voice as a lonely piece of sandpaper calling to its mate.  That’s how Charley sounded –  getting even when  he wasn’t imitating bullfrogs.
 

Along with his impressive deep voice, Charley had a memorable profile, a sort of bad case of Will Rogers, meaning the nose was a bit more angular and instead of a boyish grin, a smile that could stand in the middle of the week and reach both Sundays. His dark brown eyes sparkled and his heavy black eyebrows and shock of black hair completed his impressive appearance, except for his Adam’s apple which was a prominent as his chin.  Doubtless it grew big from all the exercise he gave it while imitating animals.
 

Charley had mysterious ways. He would vanish for weeks, even months at a time and seldom talk about where he’d been.  But there is no mystery about the joy he brought to people around Drumright. The coons on a fox hunt were only part of his repertoire. He had a delightful scenario of an old sow rounding up her piglets and scolding them every step of the way back to the pen. Equally entertaining was the mother hen rounding up stray chicks - you knew mama was angry. But really dramatic was the mad bull going to water – you wanted to get out of the way.

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The park programs were regular summer fare in the latter half of the 1930s, but for some reason they stopped, and before we knew it, World War II was here. We had food stamps and gas rationing and everyone was doing something to help the war effort. Charley worked an oil refinery in Texas with my cousin Orville. I never saw Charley again and it was years later that I learned he died in 1963 and is buried in Wewoka.

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Attending the alumni festivities every spring always gives me cause to remember Charley and the wonderful part he played in my childhood. On one of those visits I went out to South Skinner just to see where the old homestead once stood although I knew it blew away in the tornado of 1956. The front entire place was overgrown with new trees and shrubs and tall grass. A few wild roses decorated a spot her and there. The sun went down and the locusts started singing.

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Instinctively I waited to hear the frogs start calling from down by the little creek that ran along one side of the place. I didn’t hear one frog. I thought that maybe the creek had gone dry and the frogs had moved on, but then I thought of another scenario that’s a little closer to my heart. The big frogs, the smart ones that really know what a bullfrog should sound like, never attempt to call out.  Bullfrog Charley shamed them into silence a long time ago.”