Volume 7 , Issue 7

Lindsay's Report on Oklahoma & Famous Okie

"Hi there! Our 10 year-old daughter, Lindsay, is doing her state report on Oklahoma. We are planning to visit Oklahoma in the Spring. Her Great-Great Grandparents were Oliver B. & Anna Lippincott and Renfrew & Josie James DeGeer.

Lindsay is also required to do a report on a famous Okie. She wanted to do it on her Grandma Thelma Lippincott. However, her teacher said the person must be famous with a biography. So after a little research, she decided on Woody Guthrie, since she loves music. (She played violin & piano at age 5 and currently sings and plays flute).

We've watched & read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. We are planning a short trip to the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California to see the 'Grapes of Wrath' exhibit. She is reading the Biography of Woody Guthrie and we are trying to get tickets to the Napa Valley Opera House in April to see Woody Guthrie's son, Arlo Guthrie. We also have the Pioneer Footprints Across Woods County - 1893-1976 as well as a copy of a newspaper article titled Lippincott Residence of 1912. The article does not have a date or newspaper name.

We plan to visit -- Gage, OK where her great-great Grandparents Oliver B. & Anna Lippincott built a home and had a hardware store. We understand they were buried at the Gage Memorial Cemetery.

Old Freedom, Farry, Alva, Enid where the DeGeers had lived, had business, or went to or taught school. (We understand that some of these towns no longer exist.) We would like to visit Bull and Anderson Creeks, the land that the Farry Post Office was on, as well as the Freedom Express newspaper , where the DeGeer homestead was located, Northwestern Teachers College where Thelma Lippincott attended college, schools that she taught at, information about Renfrew DeGeers days as a US Commisioner and Notary, etc.

Okemah where Woody Guthrie (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie) was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah, Oklahoma, a small frontier town in Okfuskee County.

Anyways, is there anyone out there that might be available to show us around in any of these areas? Do you have any historical information you can share with us about the Lippincott's, DeGeer's, or Woody Guthrie? Maps or directions for any of these places?

The last time I visited Oklahoma was back in the 1980's with Roger, Thelma and Linda Lippincott as well as my husband, John and our 2 older children, Tammy and David. Unfortunately, we didn't keep notes and we can't remember the places they took us. Roger and Thelma are both deceased now and Linda is in ill health. We're hoping to document more of our visit this time with our 2 youngest children, Lindsay and Kate-lynn.

Any suggestions as to where we should begin our Oklahoma journey? Places to stay? Places to dine? Places to see? Information to help her with her State Report? We are coming from Napa, California before June. We're also considering weather. Thank you!" -- Terry Kent, Napa, CA - Email: terrykent@sbcglobal.net   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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