Volume 13 , Issue 20

Col Kirkbride Memories

~Merrill Schnitzer commented in our OkieLegacy Feature #3899 concerning memories of Col. Bob Kirkbride, "I well remember Col. Bob, including his taffy pulls. In the early '30's he drove a big Buick. In winter snows he would attach a large sled (as wide as the car and about 8 feet long) behind the car and slowly drive the streets of Alva. Kids would run, jump on and drive a spell. According to rumor he finally quit when one youngster broke an arm getting on or off. Col. Bob, an auctioneer, m.c.'ed Yahoo Night (similar to Bingo) at the Rialto theater on Wednesday nights. A large dial was projected on the screen; the pointer would spin, stopping on a number. When a person's card was filled, they would yell "Yahoo" and would win a sizeable (for those days) monetary prize. Needless to say, the theater was full every Wednesday evening. Without a doubt, he was the best known person in the county."

~Bill Barker also commented in our OkieLegacy Feature #6037, "Col. Bob Kirkbride and my father E. M. Barker were good friends. One time I was attending an auction he was conducting. I think I was about nine years old. He saw me look longingly at a magnificent ten gallon Stetson hat (like Tom Mix wore) that was in the auction. He asked me, 'You like that hat, little Bark?'
"I sure do." I replied.
He said, "How much money have you got."
I said, "$2.50"
He quickly knocked the hat down to me for that price. I spent the rest of the time I was there fending off disappointed bidders who had their eyes on that magnificent hat too. My Daddy took the hat with him when he went to work at the shipyards in San Francisco during WWII."   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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