Volume 5 , Issue 16

Oakie's NW Corner

Do you believe in Ghosts? There are a few ghosts that haunt a certain location in Avard, Oklahoma. Some say the Old Avard Gym is a portal for those ghosts that haunt that area.

I am not sure what all buildings have occupied that place where the Old Avard Gym is now. Vina Rae's Grill & Graze Cafe occupies a part of the Old Gym at the present. If you are ever in the Avard area, stop by and chat with Nan while you graze during your lunch hour. There resides some interesting stories and ghosts with unfinished, unsettling business.

One of those ghosts is the charred, smell of the young lady that was charred to death in a fiery car incident on a lonely country road (Old Avard road) one mile south of Hopeton and 2.7 miles west of highway 281, about 1.25 miles from Mildred Ann Reynold's home near Avard. One of her legs was completely burnt off at the knee.

Mildred Ann (Newlin) Reynolds, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Newlin, Lambert, Oklahoma, was born December 25, 1933 and died 13 March 1956, 1:40 p.m. at the age of 22. Mildred Ann was a petite (5' 2", 100 lb.) nice looking, young lady and a senior attending Northwestern State College. College faculty described her as "rather shy" and a good student.

Mildred Ann Newlin married R. D. "Dee" Reynolds nine months before her violent , fiery death. Dee Reynolds was a basketball coach and teacher at the Avard High School and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Homer Reynolds of Freedom, Oklahoma. Mildred had a brother, Eddie Newlin. Mildred's body was burned beyond recognition inside a 1949 Chevrolet Tudor Sedan. Her body was lying across the frontseat with her head away from the steering wheel. The question is Why and Was it Murder or an accident?

I would like to thank all of you who have come to my assistance and helped supply me with death dates, and other information. I have started a Cast of Characters, News Clippings on the Unsolved Mystery of Ann Reynolds' Death. As you read through it, if you know of something, someone who might have some factual clues and would like to help the ghost of Mildred Ann Reynolds find the answers to this unsolved crime, I would love to hear from you. I want to assure you that if you would prefer to remain anonymous, I will protect your confidentiality. Just let me know.

I am going to leave you here to view the Readers Mailbag and contemplate some of the evidence as reported in the local Newspapers of 1956 and Steve Gilbert's Study of the case. Was this an accident or murder? There have been lots of rumors, gossip about this case, but nothing that can be published -- An intriguing, suspicous, fiery death of a young lady, married for nine months and a Northwestern College senior on her way back home to Avard about 13 miles SW of Alva. Some reported that she left Alva around 12:30 p.m. after having lunch with her 18 year-old nephew, Jim Hucklebee.

Thanks for helping us with our 1956 Unsolved Mystery. Here is hoping you have a Good Friday and Happy Easter! This is also the 8th Anniversary Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Bombing (19 April 1995) in Oklahoma City and a Memorial to those who died.

Have a great Easter weekend. See you all next weekend. Thanks for your help this week.

~~ Linda "oaKie" ~~

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