Just A Passing Through

By Thomas Edison Tippens, Jr

An autobiography to portray the life of a farm boy growing up in western Oklahoma, covering the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and the transition from the horse-and-buggy days into modern Agriculture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Edison Tippens, Jr
• Release date: Oct 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9780891125631

Thomas Edison Tippens, Jr

Thomas Edison Tippens 1925-2014

Book preview

PREFACE

I have written this small book to portray the life of a farm boy growing up in a western Oklahoma rural community. The events and stories recorded here are the ones I observed or were related to me by my grandparents, family, and friends. The episodes begin at my birth and follow with my very early life, my grade school, high school, and college days. I conclude with thoughts on teaching and raising a family. These times include living through the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl days, and the transition from the horse-and-buggy days into today’s modern agriculture.

Before these times were the horrible Civil War years and the events of the 19th and early 20th centuries as told to me by my grandfather, Stonewall Jackson Tippens and verified by Great Uncle Will Tippens. The beginning of what is now known as the Tippens Ranch properties began in 1898 near Panther Creek in western Custer County, Oklahoma.

As you read this account, you might at some point laugh out loud, but then you might want to wipe away a tear or two. The stories are real—without any fiction or fancy words—but the plot is loaded with just plain simple happenings. The only source of reference while writing this book was my memory bank and the Holy Bible.

Thomas Edison Tippens, Jr. November 30, 2007

DEDICATION

I wish to dedicate this story to the loving memory of my wife Patsy J. Tippens

And to my children

Terry, Darryl, Kathy, Tom, Doug, and Joe

I also wish to salute our pioneer forefathers

The Stonewall Jackson Tippens family

The Ben Smith family

The Lucien V. Rector family

The Joseph Calvin Morgan family

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 My First Years (1925-27) 11

Chapter 2 Life in Gracemont (1927-37) 13

Chapter 3 Life in Hammon to Graduation

(1938-44) 21

Chapter 4 Off to College and the War Years

(1944-46) 27

Chapter 5 Back to College (1946-49) 37

Chapter 6 Early Career in Colony (1949-51) 41

Chapter 7 Weatherford—Home for 30 Years

(1951-81) 47

Chapter 8 Reflections on the Beginnings 61

Chapter 9 Remember the Time 71

Chapter 10 The Duffy-Rector Clan 75

Chapter 11 Accidents and Incidents 83

Chapter 12 How to Join the Balloon Club 87

Chapter 13 Lifestyle and Politics 91

Chapter 14 What Is Agriculture? 95

Chapter 15 Heat and Droughts 103

Chapter 16 Tragedy and Deaths 105

Chapter 17 Vacations and Excursions 107

Conclusion 111

CHAPTER 1

MY FIRST YEARS

(1925-1927)

There have been times this past year when telling story,

pertaining to or about times past, that I have been asked

this question: Why don’t you write that down? I will attempt to do this, knowing that I am not an author, writer, or an English major. I hope these writings will not be too self-centered or boring and that others might be rewarded and honored by reading them.

There is a time in our lives when we should reflect on our past and honor those of so long ago. To honor others should give us some good memories and maybe bring some small measure of redemption.

What about the past? What about our future? What is life? James asks the question and then answers it: Life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (4:14). It’s amazing how quickly time passes. 'The older you become, the quicker the time accelerates. I was born on February 12, 1925, the only son of Thomas Edison and Janetta Ruth Rector Tippens. My name was also my father’s, so I have been called Junior, Edison, Ed, Tom Ed, and a few others.

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12 JUST A PASSING THROUGH

I began my life in the small village of Herring in Roger Mills County, Oklahoma. My life started in a house next to the Herring School, where both of my parents were teachers. Herring is located about eight miles southwest of Hammon, near the Washita River, and is named after the Herring Ranch and family.

The Yearling. Thomas Edison Tippens, Jr. at age 1.

At one time there were over one hundred schools in Roger Mills County. My parents were teachers in three of these, which were three Corners, Herring, and Midway. While at Midway, just north of Reydon, my parents heard of a school in Gracemont, Caddo County that needed a superintendent and a coach. This opening for a position in Gracemont came in 1927. Midway would be the last school in Roger Mills County where my parents taught.

CHAPTER 2

LIFE IN GRACEMONT

(1927-1937)

This Caddo County School was in Gracemont, a small town of

about 450 people. My father accepted the job, which meant

he would teach classes, coach the boy’s basketball team, as well as be the superintendent. This job lasted for nine years.

During this time we experienced really tough times— drought, the Dust Bowl, and a horrible Depression. The warrants teachers received—promissory notes from a school district that had no funds to pay teachers’ salaries—were not valid until money became available.

We lived on Downing Street, and my first recollection of life happened here when I ran off from home, got lost, and then lost a shoe. I got an attitude adjustment and behavior correction at the age of two and a half. I still need adjustments eighty years later.

When 1930 arrived there were better times because I was selected to lead the girls’ pep club at a ripe age of five. From a catalog Mom ordered a big G which was to be sewn onto my

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14 JUST A PASSING THROUGH

sweater. The G finally came in the mail, and I got it sewn on just in time for the first basketball game. I led the girls around the entire court as their mascot. What a big shot to be so small! I began shooting the basketball at this age, even though it was difficult to pull the ball between my legs and reach the goal.

In 1929 we moved to our new white frame house next to the school. This was a time of learning many things not to do. After learning not to run away from home, the next inappropriate thing I did was to play in a huge pasteboard box in the middle of the street. This was not so good an idea and a busting ensued. While in the fourth grade, my teacher, Miss Glidewell, used the paddle on me for running in her room during lunch hour. Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with Glidewell. I should have glided elsewhere. That’s not all the trouble that I was into. In the 5th grade my teacher, Mrs. Feaster, who married Dad’s super basketball player, gave me a good paddling for playing marbles for keeps. I am confident that the superintendent (Dad) conspired with the teacher to let me have that board of correction.

My parents, thinking that musical culture should be a part of my upbringing, went to the trouble to send me to Miss Popejoy, a well-known musical figure in the state. I started on a trumpet. Later Miss Popejoy thought