Volume 7 , Issue 5

Clebit, Dierks Lumber Co & SE Corner Oklahoma

"I would like to sign up for your newsletter.  You have already published one of my pictures of Clebit, OK, where my mother grew up.  A book has just recently been published about Clebit and the Dierks Lumber Co.  Viewing your website, I saw where your Uncle Bob was in WWII at the same time as my dad who is from Ludlow, OK.  My mom graduated from Battiest High School in Battiest, OK, and my dad attended Smithville High School in Smithville, OK.  He was a farmer as a boy and didn't graduate from high school.  After serving in the Army in WWII, he returned to my mom and they both attended Southeastern OK State College in Durant, OK.  I think my family is from the opposite corner of the state from yours.  They eminate from McCurtain and Leflore counties in the beautiful Ouachita Mountains of OK.

The 'Okies' I have known all my life refer to themselves as 'Okies.'  My aunt lives near Muskogee and she proudly calls herself an Okie.  I often heard my parents refer to themselves as Okies while we lived in Dallas.   I look forward to reading and sharing 'Okie Tales' with you.  The OK that I knew from visiting my grandparents as a child was very different from the one of hard scrabble that I learned many of the people lived during the depression and lean years of WWII.

Recently my Oregon cousin relayed to me that her dad had said that they always had food, meat, to eat.  The tale my mom told me is that there were times when her mom and dad would go without so the kids could eat and that was beans and cornbread because grandaddy had a garden and the farmers were able to raise corn.  The people I grew up knowing lived a very simple, uncomplicated life which leaves me with many precious memories. It is just amazing how tiny the internet has made our world." -- Brenda - Valley Station, KY (very near Ft. Knox)   |  View or Add Comments (2 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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