Volume 9 , Issue 25

Britton, OK Memories

"The early Kendrick Grocery was owned by my grandparents and was located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Western Avenue and Britton Highway (just west of the Santa Fe Railroad tracks). Left to right, starting with woman behind the counter is my grandmother, Martha Elizabeth (Burdick) Kendrick; my dad, J. Chasteen Kendrick; his dad (my grandfather) Ernest C. Kendrick; next is unknown but might be Roy Avey (for whom I was named); next two unknown; and finally my dad's twin brother, W. Chester Kendrick. The store was sold and torn down for new construction (the Britton City Hall, police and fire station) in about 1928.

The house where I was born (my grandparents Lewis) is still there. That address is now 900 W. 90th Street. The house where I lived became another 'Kendrick Grocery' (we tore out a wall between the living room and the front bedroom to create a small, family operated grocery store when I was a teen-ager). That house was located at 1129 W. Britton Road just about a block west of where the first Kendrick Grocery had been back in the 1920s. In the mid-'50s, our store was sold and eventually torn down to become a part of the present parking lot of the Britton Baptist Church (that's located just to the east of Sherman-Demuth Funeral Home).

The Sherman's who had the funeral home when I was growing up were all close friends to our family and bought all their groceries at our store. The daughter, Sandra Sherman, and her cousin, Janice Baldwin, were part of "the gang" (including my youngest brother, Allan) who went all the way through school (from kindergarten through 12th grade) together.

The first one of "the gang" to die was Danny Leazenby who fell on a grenade that exploded during basic training (thus saving the rest of the guys in his group). The second one to die was my brother Allan, of a car crash in Texas after he'd been discharged from the army. In the service he'd been trained as a Russian Linguist and assigned to monitor Russian military broadcasts from a base in the Aleutian Islands (Isle of "Shemya" just 3 islands from the Russian mainland). He learned scuba diving (in a wet-suit) in the icy waters there. After his discharge, he finished his education at Oklahoma City University (the same college that I and my other brother, Ray, had attended, and then he became a seismologist and worked in south Texas exploring for oil. On July 3rd, 1965 he and a buddy were hurrying towards Mexico to see the bullfights and were driving too fast in the friends Jaguar XKE and a Texas highway patrol officer tried unsuccessfully to stop them for speeding. They outran him but missed a curve and flew through the air. My brother flew out of the car at a speed in excess of 100 MPH and struck a tree. He died instantly of brain separation. We buried my brother at Rose Hill Cemetery at 63rd and north Western.

The photo of the later Kendrick Grocery with my mom and dad standing in front was taken in 1946. In the background (to the right side which is east) is a floral shop located on Western and between the two buildings you can see the supports of the Britton water tower which furnished water for the entire city.

The next photo is of the 1930 graduating class of Britton Highschool. That building was demolished shortly after the classes were moved into the new John Marshall Highschool building on north Military in 1950. In the class photo, my mom is the one wearing glasses, 2nd from right on the front row.

In the last photo, my grandfather, W. Orville Lewis is standing just behind the large lady who is 3rd from the left. I think the girl seated 4th from left is my mom's younger sister, my aunt Margaret Lewis who later married Otha Basey of Piedmont. I think that photo was taken near the Christian Church which was located (at that time where the parking lot is now) on NW 90th street." -- Roy K.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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