Volume 8 , Issue 13

Era Ends in Waynoka with Tragic Death...

Death of Frank's Department Store Owners
by Sandie Olson, Waynoka Historical Society

(Frank's Old, New Drawings & Facade) - Waynoka was stunned the evening of Thursday, November 3, 2005, when the news spread that Kamell and Dee Cohlmia were involved in a terrible car accident in nearby Alva, and that they did not survive. While family and friends adjust to a great personal loss, the business community bids farewell to an era that spanned more than a century in Northwest Oklahoma.

Many Lebanese Christians immigrated to America around the turn of the 20th century. The area from which they came was then known as Syria, but the specific region is now called Lebanon. Lebanese immigrants opened stores in many American towns, including several in Northwest Oklahoma - Waynoka, Alva, May, Shattuck, Fairview, Cherokee, Selman, Avard, and probably others. The Cohlmia family were the first Lebanese to arrive in Waynoka, followed by the Courys, who had been their neighbors in Lebanon.

Waynoka was a thriving railroad town on the Santa Fe line. The Lebanese immigrants quickly put their business acumen to work and opened grocery and drygoods stores around the downtown square.

Shafik N. "Charley" Cohlmia (1894-1974), and his sisters, Adele (1890-1980) and Edna (1899-1997) came to Waynoka. Their brother, Frank Cohlmia (1888-1973), and his wife, Almas (Mady) (1898-1976), had a store in May, Oklahoma. The store burned, and Frank and his family moved to Waynoka. Frank opened a drygoods store, Frank's Department Store, on Cecil Street in 1902.

Frank and Almas had six children: Leenda (Razook), Mitchell (1915-1957), Kamell (1917-2005), Margaret (Gabriel), Lorine (Mady) (1919-1968) and Don (1931-1990). Only Leenda survives, and lives in Cherokee.

Kamell Cohlmia was about fourteen years old when he had his first job as a bus boy at the Harvey House in Waynoka. He said that he lost the job when he was told to unload a load of coal, and told his boss that unloading coal was not part of his job.

Frank and Almas' daughters worked at Frank's as teenagers. Two of Frank's sons, Mitchell and Kamell, joined the family business after high school. Kamell served in the Army during World War II. Mitchell passed away in 1957, and was survived by his wife, Louise, and two young sons.

Kamell married Wadia "Dee" Barkett (1928-2005) in 1950. After the death of his father, Kamell and Dee operated Frank's Department Store for thirty years until their deaths. Their daughters, Gayla Purdum, Stevie Taylor, and Michele Nelson, plan to keep Frank's open until early 2006.

In 2001, the Oklahoma Historical Society produced a video, A Night of Oklahoma Legends: Airlines, Rail Lines, and Hemlines, telling the story of transportation history in Waynoka. They interviewed individuals with first-hand knowledge of the Santa Fe Railroad, Transcontinental Air Transport, and the Harvey House. Kamell was filmed in the shoe department at Frank's, telling about his experience of working for Fred Harvey.

Charley Cohlmia, brother of Frank, was in the grocery business, Cohlmia's Store, on Main Street. Charley's store was later renamed Bob and Gene's when the sons of Charley and Mary ran the family business. They also had a daughter, Marquette "Keta" (Swyden). After Mary's death, Charley married Adele Kraker.

(Albert & Adele's wedding photo on the left.) - Albert Cohlmia (1878-1970) arrived in the United States in 1900. He peddled hairnets, thread, ribbon, and fabric across Kansas out of a suitcase with a horse and wagon. He arrived in Waynoka and opened Albert's Department Store in 1907. He married Frank Cohlmia's sister, Adele, in about 1913.



(Photo on the right, Sam & Florine in Cart) - Albert and Adele had five children: Florine (Razook), Pauline (Maddox), Sam, Madeline (Ruffin), and Genevieve (Cohlmia). (photo on the left, Sam in uniform) - Sam (1913-1968), was active in his family's business until his death. His sister, Madeline, worked at Albert's while Sam served in the Army in World War II. Sam married Marguerite "Marge" Razook, and they had three daughters: Debbie (Sizemore), Cindy, and Becky (Whitaker) (1954-1991). After the deaths of Sam, Albert, and Adele, Marge continued to operate Albert's Department Store until its closing in 1997.

Today, Marguerite "Marge" Cohlmia, daughter-in-law of Albert and Adele, serves as a docent at the Waynoka History Museum, and manages the Museum Gift Shop.

Tom Coury (dates unknown) immigrated from Lebanon to America, followed by his brothers, Sam H. (1870-1946), William (1874-1928), and Nicholas (1880-1930). They settled in the Waynoka area, and opened a general merchandise store. Some of the family later moved to Avard. Tom returned to Lebanon, where he married and had two children, Joe and Mary. Tom died, and his brother and sister-in-law, William "Bill" and Nessira (Waken), adopted Joe and Mary. Joe Coury became a grocer, operating a Red Bud Food Store in Alva.

Sam Coury met his future wife, Rosa (1886-1965), at Ellis Island when they were both entering the country. They returned to Beirut for their wedding. After the births of their first two children, Sylvia and Annis, they returned to America, and Sam, Rosa, and the children moved to a dugout east of Waynoka. Three more children, John, Alyce, and Annis, were added to the family. Their first-born son, Annis, had been killed in a shooting accident at the age of 11. They named their youngest son Annis, in memory of their first-born. Sam Coury was a builder, and built a home for his family at 107 North High Street in Waynoka, on the same street where his friends from the old country, the Cohlmias, lived.

At the age of 10, John Coury, son of Sam and Rosa, began working at Albert's Department Store. Albert was a good teacher, and John a good student. John borrowed money and opened his own store, Coury's Department Store, at the age of 16 across the street from Albert's in a rented building. He bought the building in 1926. John married Quantella "Quennie" Wehba in 1935. Their store had groceries and meat, as well as clothing for men, women, and children. Eventually, they sold the large fifty-foot-store-front building, opened a Red Bud grocery store about two blocks east across the street from City Hall, and bought the Oldsmobile dealership on Main Street. John, nearing 98, and Quennie, 88, parents of Ameel "Sam", Jeannette Ackal, Sharon Kay Moss, and Alice Sue "Suzie" Homsey, have been married for 70 years. They live in Oklahoma City.

Much has been written about the immigrants from Lebanon. The Lebanese in America, a rare out-of-print book written by John G. Moses, is reviewed online by Samir Mattar. Mattar writes that the book "is about the tides of Lebanese who left Mount Lebanon during the repressive Ottoman Empire before World War I and crossed borders and oceans for lands unknown. They were escaping persecution and desperate conditions, apprehensive but full of hope and faith. They fled poverty and destitution, filled with the prospect of a new life of plenty in freedom. Many of them began as door-to-door peddlers, traveling the country, hawking their wares from Manhattan to the dirt roads of Iowa and beyond, selling clothes and other necessities to remote farms. It was strenuous work and required long hours of walking, carrying a heavy suitcase of merchandise, usually bedspreads, shirts, combs, and brushes. It was as hard as the work they had left behind, but in America they discovered a robust sense of challenge and fulfillment in boundless opportunity. An early Lebanese immigrant once proposed that a statue be erected to the dauntless Lebanese peddler. Moses records many legends about the Lebanese peddler .... The portrait that emerges from these pages is that of a good, proud, fiercely independent yet gregarious, affable family person struggling to make the most of opportunities. They maintained awareness of ancestral origins through the institution of the family, preserving ties to the "old country" by sending financial support or sponsoring relatives to join them. Moses' affection and admiration for the resolve, the nerve, the courage and the strength of the first Lebanese immigrants is evident throughout the book." The full review of The Lebanese in America may be read at www.aljadid.com/reviews/0737mattar.html.

To read the full obituaries of Kamell and Wadia "Dee" Cohlmia, visit the online web site of Marshall Funeral Home.
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