A Happy 4th to You

I’m a city girl, but I lived the first half of my childhood in and out of a tiny town in southeastern Oklahoma. I love the story of my great-grandfather’s birth in a tent on the ridge above that town. They had to keep a fire lit overnight to keep the wolves away.

The town existed because of farming, local coal mines, and a natural gas boom in 1914. By 1936, “there were five grocery stores, five general stores, seven dry goods stores, two drugstores, five cafés, seven service stations, a lumber company, a bakery, a hotel, two motor companies, and an ice company, among other small businesses” (okhistory.org).

We used to be able to see remnants of the Fort Smith and Western Railway that ran near the town, but I couldn’t find it the last time I was there in 2024.

Truck Stop Honey Buns & the Zinc Smelter

It’s a sleepy little town these days. The two grocery stores I knew of are now gone… one burned down a long time ago, and the other seemingly went out of business. The typical small-town Dollar General is now serving the 800 or so remaining residents, along with the one surviving gas station, which is now a truck stop.

We ate heated honeybuns with butter at that truck stop when it was a diner way back in the 1900s. Good times.

There was a five-block long zinc ore smelter across the street from our house. It closed in 1939, so by the time my little brother and I came along in the 1970s, it was a jungle gym of cement remnants that we loved to climb on. It has since been plowed over, I’m sure for safety reasons, and is now an empty field. I’m not sure how many times we played over there… things seem to be grander in my memory than they were in real life… but it was fun, like walking through someone else’s history.

Four Blocks to the Cafeteria & the Bible Lady

There were only two schools in our tiny town, one for elementary and the other for junior/senior high. The two schools were four blocks apart, and the shared cafeteria was at the high school. I’m not sure what we did on rainy days… maybe it was PB&J sandwiches… but I do remember walking in straight lines with my grade the four blocks to the cafeteria every day for lunch.

Every month in the little elementary school, the “Bible Lady” came to tell us Bible stories in flannel graph fashion. Afternoons after lunch, classroom lights turned off, the Bible Lady turned on her special lamp and shared with us about Jesus, adding flannel-backed images to her flannel-lined board as she spoke. I remember she was kind and had the softest voice.

It was in this town that I first accepted Jesus and was baptized in the little Church of God. I did it because my brother and cousin were doing it, and I didn’t want to be left out. I would go on to be baptized two more times since then, but once is really all you need. If you haven’t done it, I highly recommend it!

Robbers’ Cave State Park

My mother and grandparents worked at the old café in Robbers’ Cave State Park for a time. A portion of the new café and Lake Carlton in the center of the park are shown in the photo above, taken last summer on our family vacation.

I have lots of memories from that park over the span of my childhood. It was the center for swimming, hiking, exploring, and family reunions. Paddle boats, camping, and watching old home movies from the 60s on a sheet tied up between two trees.

I loved the tree-lined roads, the cliffs above Lake Carlton, and the old-time bathhouse. Built in 1935, the bathhouse is a gift shop now, but you can still see the remnants of what it once was. It was all creepy dark showers, dirt dobber wasps, and daddy long-leg spiders when I was a kid, but I still count the memories as good ones.

My grandpa Bud took us to swim at Lake Carlton, there by the café. He had a wooden leg, so he didn’t swim with us, but he watched us and laughed at our goofy tricks and tales. He was the one who taught me to whittle off the back porch, drive a riding lawn mower, and catch a pop fly ball. It was time well spent.

He was the one positive male influence in my life at that time. He passed away when I was in the sixth grade, but I remember him spending lots of time with us and having such a fun and caring personality.

A Happy 4th

I guess I’m reminiscing because we’re headed back down to that part of the state for July 4th weekend. We may stay couped up in our lakeside cabin rental cooking out, playing games, and shooting fireworks for the weekend, or we may venture out for a walk down memory lane like we did last year. Either way, it will be a great time of rest and relaxation with family.

A happy 4th of July to you, and God bless America!