Volume 11 , Issue 4

Searching For Info on Uncle John

Is there anyone out there in the Freedom area in northwest Oklahoma that remember Earl and Effie (Maxwell) Smith? I am searching for any information, news clipping that happened around 1928, perhaps in the Freedom, Northwest Oklahoma area when a tragedy might have taken their lives.

John G. Smith (1926-2009), Earl and Effie Smith's son, was two years of age when he was taken to an orphanage in Helena, Alfalfa county, Oklahoma, following a tragedy with his parents. Soon after entering the orphanage, Lawrence and Cora Kragh brought young John Smith to their home in Chester, Major county, Oklahoma where he began his school years at Gardenvale School.

At the age of eleven years, John went to live with Fred and Esther Strecker in Chester. John attended Seiling High School until the age of seventeen when he entered the United States Navy and served in the "Asiatic-Pacific Campaign" and the "Philippine Liberation Campaign" during World War II. john was honorably discharged April 20, 1946 at which time he returned to his home in Chester and was united in marriage to Geneva Paris August 2, 1947 at Alva, Oklahoma. John & Geneva made their home at Chester where they raised their three children: Jeanette Kay, Ronald Scott and Barbara Gayle.

Some of you might remember John Smith and his Mobil Service Station that he owned and operated for nineteen years that sat on the Southeast corner at Chester, Oklahoma. John was also a self employed welder and operated a Welding for several years. Do you recall stopping at the highway Jct in Chester and visiting, playing dominoes, cards and shooting the breeze with Uncle John and his family? We would love to share and hear your memories of those days.
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