RUGIE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY PART II
Started December 1981
PART II: 1910 - 1927, from birth through high school:
Born in Union City, Oklahoma, an March 25, 1910. I was delivered at home by Dr. D. P. Richardson and who was not just my doctor but friend, banker, druggist, postmaster, and benefactor. He had faith and confidence in me, during depression days, to help me financially through medical school. I had no security, paid him 10% interest and Jewell and I were able to pay him in full in 10 years.
During my grade school days, I found a girl, Mary Sanders, and a boy, Ralph Morrison, who were born on the same day as I. We always celebrated our birthdays together. Since I have been in Chickasha, I had a patient, Otis Ash, who told me that he was born on March 25, 1910, near Cogar, Oklahoma, and that Dr. Richardson was the delivery doctor. If this is true, Dr. Richardson delivered 4 babies on that day. That was quite a feat for a horse and buggy doctor.
My mother, as of this writing, is past her 101st birthday. We call her Mardy. She came to Oklahoma in 1898 from Nebraska in a covered wagon. I have a special history of her life that she wrote for me.
My father, Harry Coates, was born in Chicago and came to Oklahoma to help build the Rock Island railroad bridge in Union City. He was the time keeper. He and my mother married in 1907.
I have two brothers, Woodrow G. and Charles L.
A sister, Grace Elizabeth, born between Woodie and Charlie, died in infancy and is buried in Union City.
I have a half brother, Harry Coates.
Woodie is 69 (1981) years old, and is retired due to disability. He was a registered and licensed X-ray and Laboratory Technician and lives (1981) in Duncan, Oklahoma.
Charles is still practicing dentistry in Houston, Texas.
I have a special history of my mother, Mary, live in another book.
Westlynne, Mrs. Benj. A. Tankersley, is a graduate nurse, and has other special nursing certificates. She lives in Oklahoma City.
Harry Coates is my half brother, I will give information later.
I was allowed to enter school at age of 5. I am told I always ran off to school so the principal said, "Let him enroll."
Childhood was ordinary. Father was always away from home as he had gone back to bridge construction. I never really remember him being home except for a few incidents that I would rather forget.
We were very, very poor and Mother had a very hard time raising us. My father deserted us when I was 6 years old. He brought divorce charges against Mother in Little Rock, Arkansas. Dr. Richardson and friends helped her get a lawyer and she was able to secure the divorce in El Reno and custody of we children.
We all worked, raised our own mild cows, gardens, and chickens to help Mother out. We were never poor in love or religious guidance. In those days there was a Methodist, a Catholic, and an Independent Church in Union City. Mother, raised a southern Baptist, took us to the Independent Church which met in the school house. An elderly preacher/farmer, the Rev. Charles Basker, was our minister. When he was no longer able to preach, we all started going to the Methodist Church. I think we were at the Church every time the doors opened.
I vaguely remember going to the Dallas fair and getting lost. I also remember going to an Old Soldier's Civil War reunion with my grandfather Garrett at Bridgeport, Oklahoma. Mother says I was about 4 years old. I do not remember starting school.
Most would now consider my grade school days to be uneventful. A large bell, which could be heard over the whole town, rang at exactly 9:00 AM and at exactly 1:00 PM. Classes were from 9 to 12 and again from 1 to 4. About 50% of the students lived in the country and either walked, came by horseback, or in a carriage.
The center of activity was Schnitz Livery Stable, where students and others kept their horses or teams. If a quarrel started, and a fist fight was proposed, the word would silently get around and most of us would go from school to the livery stable. We would sit on the wooden corral fence and watch the fight. I had many a sound whipping for doing this, even though I was just a spectator not involved in the fighting.
Mr. Schnitz, a German emigrant, and I became good friends and for many years my nicknames was "Schnitz". He had three sons, all born in the United States, who had to go to war during World War I. Then, all Oklahomans were sent to Ft. Sill for primary training. Transportation was by train. When a troop train cam by, and it was often, the telephone operators at Pocassett and Mingo could call the Union City operator. Then she, Mrs. Kirby, would put out a general alarm and many would run to the railroad tracks. Mr. Schnitz would ask me to go. He was in hopes he would see one of his sons going on his way to Germany. He never saw them and I can still see the heart-broken look on his face. Fortunately, all his sons came back form Germany alive and well.
Union City had a large German population and most had relatives in Germany.. The KKK and other subversive organizations constantly harassed them as unpatriotic or pro-German. One German US citizen, John Fuhring, a bachelor, took the windows out of the north side of his little home and had a large American flag painted on his house.
Our lives were full of activities, mostly working. I would get up early enough to milk the cows and drive them to pasture one mile east of town. In the evenings Mother would walk to the pasture, get the cows home, milk and feed them, and get our supper. Then we went to our studies by kerosene lamp light. Westleynne usually delivered the milk, which we sold for 10 cents a quart.
I would work for the farmers and tale my pay in hay and grain. I also carried the Oklahoman and Times. I had 25 customers, give or take a couple.
The main thing I remember was the sufferings of World War I. There was coal strikes, food rationing, the great influenza epidemic, war news, troop trains, soldiers being brought home to be buried. There was no radio or TV in those days, so news came through news[papers and through the Morse code used at the railroad station. American patriotism was greater than I ever knew during the remaining of my 72 years. No one complained about scarcity of food, money or anything else needed by the war effort.
I really feel there was greater unity among Americans then, than during World War II, Korea, or most certainly, Viet Nam. Wearing the uniform was an honor. Instead of saying, "The army got me!" people would say, "I am in the service of my country". We learned to knit, make helmets, face masks, scarves, mittens, and socks for the soldiers. Also, we made wrap leggings and cut up cloth for soldiers to clean their rifle barrels.
The influenza epidemic was one of the great epidemics of modern medicine. It spread over the entire United States and also ran through Europe like wildfire. Mother and all four of us children were sick, some of us unconscious, at the same time but some how, we all survived. The neighbors brought us food and wood for heat. The coal miners had gone on strike and wood and kerosene were our only source of heat.
The first cars had been invented before the Great War. The first car in Union City was owned by a neighbor, Cussin Chuck Brown. It was a two cylinder Case. We could hear him cursing all over town as he tried to crank his car. The engine could be heard a half mile away. We always played in the dirt streets and our mothers would always make us come inside until Cussin Chuck got by in his car. Cars final became plentiful after the war, and everyone who could afford on bought a model T ford, the old tin Lizzie.
We were never able to afford a car back then. I learned to drive while in medical school, at the rip old age of 25. Even then, I did not own a car until I wan 29 years old. I had it for one years and then sold it so I could go back to hospital work for my EENT residency. Really own my first car, a broken down old dodge when I returned from the South Pacific in October 1944, I was then 34 years old. Jewell learned to drive in 1950 when she was 35 years old.
In those days, we had no radio, no TV, not even a theater in Union City, so we had to make our own entertainment. We played games such as spiking tops. We flew kites, did rolling hoops, played marbles. We played group games like soccer, anti-over, run the sheep, and many other forgotten games. We make our own pea shooters and sling shots; we played mumble peg and jax. We had little chance to swim, hunt or fish. This was wheat growing area and there were few farm ponds or streams, after all, this is dry Oklahoma. We did live close to the South Canadian River, but this river was noted for quicksand and Mother felt it was too dangerous. I'll admit that sometimes we would sneak away. WE would tie ropes around each other and see how far we could sink in quicksand before other boys would pull us out. Since lakes, soil conservation and farm ponds were scarce, the South Canadian River would often go on a rampage after an upstream rain and we could hear the roar from over a mile away. This year, May 1982, was the first time in 30 years that the South Canadian got out of its banks.
The end of the First World War was a great event. There was first news of armistice, called the "false armistice", but on November 11, 1918, the real armistice was heard on the telegraph wires. A big celebration was spontaneously planned. Tom Armour, a German emigrant, had us kids help him make a Dummy of the Kaiser. We walked around town beating the Kaiser dummy with sticks. Many grown people joined in. That night they hanged the Kaiser dummy to a telephone pole and burned him. Mother wouldn't let us go, she felt it was not a Christian thing to do.
My father, Henry, lived in El Reno with his second wife. His health was not too good and the doctors advised him to be out in the fresh air. He was the general manager for the John Fox Construction Company which built bridges for the Rock Island Railroad. Mr. Fox had a rock crusher at Butterfield, Arkansas, where the crushed the rock for the railroad ballast. Mr. Fox sent my father there to manage it until his health improved. He took me with him and assigned me to carry spring water to the 15 to 20 employees. I would ride the caboose of a freight train into Hot Springs every Saturday night and come back to Butterfield on Monday morning. I stayed in the construction camp during the week. I was 11 years old and got paid 50 cents a day with room and board. I had many interesting experiences there. I remember going to horse races and baseball games in Hot Springs.
After that, in the summers and on weekends, I worked for Uncle Jess on his farm some 8 miles from town. Tractors were very few and Uncle Jess used horses. His farm was mostly alfalfa, corn, and wheat, so I learns to operate all types of now obsolete horse drawn implements. It was a lonely life on the farm. Uncle Jess was like a father to me, but did not take any newspapers or magazines. It was work and sleep. We would go to El Reno every other Saturday to take eggs, cream, and poultry to market and I would get to go to a 10 cent movie. They were all silent movies, serials that were like soap operas, we never know how they ended. On Sundays, we would go to Union City to go to Church and spend the day with Mother, my brothers and my sister. We usually had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Garrett's. Mother saves newspapers and magazines for me to read. I would pick them up on weekends. I also found some 15 to 20 year old papers in Uncle Jess's house that told of Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and other famous baseball players. There were also old articles of historical note.
When I was 14, my dad felt I should start working on railroad bridge construction. I was in high school then and would work as Weatherford and Elk City pushing wheel barrels, doing carpenter work, unloading cement, and doing all types of unskilled labor. I weighted only 130 pounds and worked 10 hours a day carrying 94 pound cement sacks. All the rest of the men were big men, 50% were large black Arkansaians. My boss, Jeff Hamer, was about 6'-6" tall, 250 to 260 pounds, a rough, tough red faced Irishman who was really a slave driver. His success as a foreman was to get most work out of a man for the least money. Wages then was 25 cents an hour. We paid $1.00 daily for room and board in small hotels in Weatherford and Elk City.
My father was the general manager. He told Mr. Hamer not to show me any favors and the Hamer really made me work harder than anyone. Some nights I would be near heat prostration and too sick to eat or clean up. One night, Mr. Hamer told me to clean up and eat. He said, "You just work half the time, the rest of the time you are walking back for another sake of cement". If I had had a gun, I would have shot him on the spot.
He and my dad would not give me any money or a railroad pass until the day school started. I would ride the train all night and get to Union about the hour that school started on Monday.
I only had $3.00 to $5.00 monthly for spending money. The rest would be put in the Bank of Union or given to Mardy. On looking back, maybe it was a good thing as I read books and spent nights in the libraries. I tried going to church, etc. and getting acquainted with other young people, but we were known as "bridge rats" and mothers and fathers told their children not to associate with us. I began to learn something about discrimination.
I was only a fair high school student. Good in math and the small amount of science we had in this small high school. I failed English my freshman year as I could not write a satisfactory theme. Our teacher, Miss Stokes, was a witch-like old maid who just didn't care for my sister or me. I also failed ancient history; I just was not interested.
I played all types of athletics. We had only basketball, baseball, and some track. My junior year, we had a new male teacher, named E. B. Hickman, from Utah. He wanted to start a football team. Only 18 boys were in high school and 15 went out for football. Only one boy had ever even seen a football game before. We had to buy our own suits. We had farmers and others to practice against us. We did not win a game those two years and we were often a bruised and battered bunch. In those days, the worst player was put at center and that turned out to be me. I always had to play against someone who was 50 to 75 pounds larger than I. We played our games in an old cow pasture because we had not stadium or seats. Football survived at our school until our uniforms wore out and then the team was discontinued ( I have a picture). I think Woodie played on the last team.
During those years, our agriculture class built a gymnasium. Before that, basketball was played outside or in a large hay barn owned by Dr. Richardson. Our basketball team was much better than our football team. Games had to be played in the afternoon as we had to use windows for light. There was no electricity except a weak Delco plant owned by Mr. Kirby who also had the telephone exchange.
I lived a good deal with Grandfather and Grandmother Garrett. They were in their late 80's. Westlynne and I exchanged night staying with them.
The first radio in Union came in 1925 when I was a sophomore. Our neighbor, Louie Fuhring, had the first set. All the tubes and dials were on an open board, no case. It had 3 dials and each had to be synchronized. We had to use ear phones to hear it. About a year later, Grandpa and Grandma Garrett were given a radio by their children. It was equipped with tow sets of ear phones. When they died, the radio was given to us. WKY, in Oklahoma City, was the first radio station west of the Mississippi. The favorite hobby was what they called "fishing". People wrote in to the Daily Oklahoman news paper to tell of the new stations that people had "fished" or tuned into. Surprisingly, we were able to pick up such towns as Chicago, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Dr. Brinkley's station in Mexico, across the river from Del Rio, Texas. Some of these powerful stations still exist.
Everyone in Union had a storm cellar or "cove". Since there were no refrigerators or ice, we kept milk, butter, fruit, and all canned foods in the cellar. There were no weather reports so mothers would watch the storm clouds. It seemed to me that we spent a good deal of our lives in the storm cellar. Union has been blown away two or three times. Keeping water, snakes, insects, and other creatures out of the cellar was a constant chore. When Mother (Mardy) thought the weather had cleared, she would awaken us and take us into the house. Fortunately the house where I was born is still standing (1982).
Our 1927 senior class of seven graduates was the first to wear caps and gowns. The whole town turned out to see us. Some of the old timers really had a ball laughing at us. We had our 50th reunion in 1977. Only four of us attended.. Six of the graduates were still living, one had died. Ruth Ellis Stevens, Mustang. My sister and I. Anna Albers had died. Henry Hutcheman was an invalid in a veteran's home somewhere. Anna Hutcheman lived in Connecticut and could not come. Brain tumor at early age. Was an registered Nurse.
About every 2 to 3 months, Mother would take us on a train to Pocassett and Uncle Garrett would give us haircuts. Finally, he gave Mardy a pair of hand hair clippers. We did not have electricity. The entire town would then know when the Coates kids were getting haircuts. Mardy would get the clippers caught in our hair and the yelling and screaming began.
For two years, Mardy rented a room behind the Post Office and ran a small restaurant. We ate there and she was able to make a little profit.
After I graduated from high school I left Union for good. Westlynne had entered nurses training in El Reno and had to go to Oklahoma City to complete her training at the Oklahoma General Hospital, later became Mercy Hospital but is now non-existent. Mardy, Charles, and Woodie remained in Union.
I started working on bridge construction at Dover, Oklahoma, in 1927. We were getting ready to move operations to a new job in Wellington, Kansas. I had usually sent my money to Dr. Richardson's bank in Union City but decided to put one paycheck in the bank at Dover. I deposited it one evening and the next morning I had lost all the money that I had deposited. About 4:00 AM, the entire town of Dover was up shouting, cursing, and in a wild commotion as the sign was put up during the night that the Bank of Dover had gone broke. The banker's brother owned the bank in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He came to Dover, had a public meeting and offered to buy up peoples deposits at 50 cents on the dollar. Many had to accept out of desperation. Most everyone lost everything they had. The back's officials had sneaked out of town. About 5 years later, I got my money back through the State Banking Commission.
There was not running water, plumbing or other modern facilities during my high school days. I think they have had those things for about 15 to 20 years now (1982). Everyone had cisterns to collect rain water from the roof. Water was a constant problem. Well water was not fit for humans. Every two or three years, we would pump the cistern dry to clean it out. You can't imagine what was in the water we drank. It's a miracle we ever survived. Water was so scarce that we usually bathed only on Saturday night in a #2 washtub and everyone used the same water.
For toilet facilities we used the outside "Chick Sale" outhouses, and a "Thunder Mug" for nighttime. There was not toilet paper, but we managed, thanks to newspapers, Sears-Roebucks, and Montgomery Ward catalogs. On Halloween nights all outhouses were turned over. We usually got out of school the next day to set them back up. One tragedy struck when an outhouse was turned over with a young lady school teacher in it. She was some bruised and badly scared. Adults had to help get her out. She did not renew her contract to teach at Union.
I would classify myself as somewhat of a loner. I had friends, but very few really close friends. During my school days, my closest friends were Shirley Fuhring, who graduated from Medical School at Oklahoma University in 1932. As far as I know, he and I were the only individuals from Union City who ever became medical Doctors. Shirley became a EENT doctor and pursued a career in the Navy. He was on three ships which were sunk of torpedoes in World War II. He survived them all and retired from the Navy in 1955. I ran into him at a meeting in New Orleans around 1950 (CORRECTION : THIS WAS ABOUT 1957. Another correction, next line indicates that 1950 must have been correct). He was still in the service and Chief of ENT at Great Lakes Navy Hospital in Chicago. I saw him again after his retirement. He considered starting practice in Shawnee, Oklahoma, but had married a California girl. They had six children. He finally started practice in Santa Maria, California. He died two or three years alter of cancer. Shirley was a devout Catholic, a great sportsman, typical German, descent, and very untidy in his dress. We called him "shirt-tail" because he just could not keep his shirt tail tucked in. I don't know where he is buried and never met his family. Even though he was 4 years older than I, we were very close. He always wanted me to go to Oklahoma city or El Reno with him. Often he would leave me stranded in some motel lobby until 3 or 4 AM while he was romancing some gal. He was a lady's man and a modern day Casanova.
Other close friends were Argolius (Babe) Stevens, Charlie (Tiny) Ellis, and Charlie (Bohunk) Zoubek.
-----------------End of Rugie's biography----------------
Notes on friends and family by Rugie
Babe Stevens:
Babe and I were inseparable. His family was one of the most affluent in Union City. He later became very wealthy and I understand he now (1982) resides in Sun City, Arizona. Babe had his name legally changed from Argolius. He was a great athlete, played football and basketball for Central State College in Edmond, Oklahoma. He went to college for only two years. He married a girl, Toots Frye, from Minco, Oklahoma. His wife and a 10 year old daughter were drowned on a fishing trip near Los Vegas, New Mexico. He remarried. I saw him the last time about 1972 as Los Vegas. He was essentially retired. He had the gas franchise for Phillips 66 for all the northern part of New Mexico, played golf, a prominent Methodist layman, and had lots of craft hobbies such as making rugs of carpets by hand. He had some beautiful rag rugs in his home that he had made himself.
His greatest income, or the thing that made him wealthy, was a contract to collect garbage from army camps, colleges, cafes, etc, and to feed hogs. My Grandpa Garrett always said that Stevens could make money blind folded. This is a case where he took slop and changed it into a fortune.
Charlie Ellis:
Charlie (Tiny) Ellis moved to Union City in 1924 or 1925. He was the son of a widowed school teacher. Since he was fatherless we had a lot in common. He had three sisters and one brother. He was very witty, could talk to you about anything, and I am quite sure he had the highest IQ of anyone I ever met. He could scan the newspaper and tell you most everything printed in it. He had a photographic mind. Another thing we had in common was poverty. He lived almost constantly at our house. Since we had a radio by then, we would often come in from play at night and find him in our house listening to the radio with the earphones. Charlie did not get his growth until later in life and is now an average sized man. With some financial help from uncles and other relatives, and by living like a miser, he was able to graduate from Oklahoma A & M, now Oklahoma State University. He took a degree in education and majored in Spanish. This was in the middle of the real depression days of 1929, 30, & 31, too. He got a job teaching school at a country grade school between Minco and Pocassett, Oklahoma. Since he was smaller, he had a constant problem with two bully kids who were larger and stronger than Charlie. They would gang up on him after school and beat him up. A college friend wrote him that he could get a job helping build the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. He managed to get to Frisco, but he was so small and looked so young that they would not hire him. He was left stranded in San Francisco without any money.
While waiting for money from home, Tiny learned that Civil Service Exams were being given to work for the U. S. Postal System. His broad knowledge was so good that he made the highest grade and became a postal employee in San Francisco. He later effected a transfer to Ardmore, Oklahoma, and later became a full time postal inspector in the Dallas-Ft Worth, Texas, area. He retired a few years ago and he and his wife live on Lake Mineola, east of Dallas. I have never been there but he says he can sit on his back porch and catch fish. We exchange notes at Christmas but rarely get to see each other. If I ever retire, I am going to see him and exchange old memories. Charlie could write a book about his experiences.
Charlie Zoubek:
Charlie was Bohemian (Czechoslovakia). He lived six miles east of Union City and came into Union for high school. He is a large, handsome, athletic type, a "Bohunk". He came from a large, industrious family of farmers. He was a very good athlete and we were almost inseparable classmates.
His mother and father were immigrants, could barely speak English, of limited education, but became prosperous even through the depression days, by hard work and by using diversified farming. They were so proud of Charlie and encouraged him to get an education. His father told him that he would give him a 90 acre plot of land if he would go to business college. Charlie agreed and went to Hills Business College in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, then started farming.
Charlie married a Czechoslovakian girl from Yukon, Oklahoma, area. He now owns several farms, lives in a very nice home in Yukon. He has traveled extensively, but now his health has broken like mine, and he is limited. He told me he was with another GROUP (medical care or insurance?) in New England when I had my near tragic illness. Charlie is active in the Bohemian Lodge, church, and other activities. He receives enough from the oil and gas production on his land to more than meet his needs. He has a lovely wife and family. It is a real joy to visit his home. We promised to get together more frequently but have failed to do so. (THIS WAS ADDED LATER:) Agnes, Charlie's wife, died suddenly about 12 months ago (1983) of a heart attack.
Charlie was the first and only person I knew of to have smallpox. Since I was constantly with him, and all the community was exposed, Dr. Richardson vaccinated the entire community.
Other friends:
As I mentioned earlier, I had lots of friends but few close friends. Later in my life I became friends with Wayne Wilson, Duncan, Oklahoma, deceased, 1972, who was my first college roommate; Minnard Murray, a now retired pharmacist of Duncan and Edmond, Oklahoma; Dr. A. S. "Apples" Appleby, of Skowhegan, Maine; Dale Hoover; Bill Sullivan; Dr. Dick Stoll and Carl McCormick, both deceased; Bill Richey; and lots of members of the GROUP, especially Ole Joe. These are all men I could confide in and ask for help in my personal problems. There are others but these are the closest. It is a tragedy that, in this busy world, we don't get together more often.
My sister Westlynne:
My only sister, now 74, and soon , June 20, 1982, will be celebrating her 50th, golden wedding anniversary. Even though she is two years older than me, we graduated from high school together. Illness for one year delayed her and the fact that I started school at five years old let us finish together.
She started nurses training in the old hospital in El Reno. In those days, student nurses had to do the janitor work, hospital laundry, cooking, etc. This program failed and she finished her training at the old Oklahoma General Hospital at 12th and Walker in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The hospital no longer exists, but the building, I think, is still standing.
She met Tank, B. A. Tankersley, who was an X-ray and Lab Technician and they married. She raised two boys, Charles and Jon, and a daughter, Marilyn.
Westlynne had an interesting life. She obtained many graduate degrees in Nursing.
They lived in Duncan, Oklahoma; San Antonio, Texas; Kensington, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D. C.; Columbia Missouri; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She has been retired for several years but still keeps active in the study of nursing and public health. (at this time, I think dad had already had his first stroke and mom did a lot of his care)
Tank has an exceptional mind for electronics and other scientific projects. Operating his own short-wave radio station and now has a hobby for weather reports.
Charles Tankersley, her oldest son, attended Central State College and does drafting and other scientific work for a large concern in Houston, Texas (in 1982 I was working for what is now Enron).
Marilyn Tankersley attended Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha, Oklahoma, which became known as Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts after becoming coed, and later received her degree from Central State College in Edmond, Oklahoma. She did post graduate work in Flagstaff, Arizona. (Mary, I did not know this, wow) She met Dick Smith in Edmond. He was a Californian, tall, handsome, and very intelligent, with an excess of talent and lots of common horse sense. For the past 10 to 15 years, perhaps longer, they have taught school in Priest River, Idaho. Dick and Mary built their own beautiful home. They raised two children. Danny, the oldest, is a professional teaching golfer in Spokane, Washington, and a daughter, Jeri, who is married and also lives in Spokane.
Books could be written about Jon Tankersley. He was an outstanding high school athlete, an army pilot (actually USAF fighter pilot), pilot in reserves, laboratory technician with the Oklahoma Health and Sciences, and many other hobbies and professions. He has a lovely wife and family and now lives in Newcastle, Oklahoma (1982).
Westlynne was our carpenter, mechanic, electrician, etc. She could repair anything. She had a mechanical mind and the dexterity, too.
Westlynne was the best athlete, boy of girl, for her age, in Union City. Whenever we chose up sides for baseball or touch football she was one of the very first chosen. For several years she was the champion sprinter in short 60 year dashes at our Canadian County track meets. She finally met her Waterloo when an unknown girl named Georgia Gardner beat her in the 60 yard dash.
One time, she contracted to build a concrete sidewalk and porch for Grandpa and Grandma Garrett. She hired two town loafers and boot-leggers by the name of Harve Matthews and Fats Lemons to mix concrete. When the job was done, they said; "Never work for that gal, she's a real slave driver."
My brother Woodrow:
Woodie graduated from Union City high school in 1931. He was small but exceptionally strong, athletic type. He could always out wrestle individuals twice his size. He attended Oklahoma University for two years but due to the depression, he could not continue. He also worked on bridge gangs and rode freight trains as I did.
Finances kept him from going further in school, but he became an exceptional X-ray and laboratory technician. He started in the old Weedn Hospital in Duncan, Oklahoma and work for the Lindley Hospital until health forced his retirement. The long years of X-ray exposure without protection caused extensive bone and joint deterioration, and also caused bleeding stomach ulceration. He has had to endure many operations and great, constant pain for many years.
Woodie and Lucille never complain, they are blessed with much wisdom and in spite of may disappointments have a wonderful life together. They have two lovely daughters, Ann and Jackie, and five grandchildren. I never have known anyone who has as many close friends as they do. They are very devout Christians and well respected by all. Their permanent home is in Duncan, Oklahoma.
My youngest brother, Dr. Charles L. Coates, DDS:
Charlie was born just two weeks before our Father deserted us and sue our Mother, Mardy, for divorce. He had a very sickly early childhood with a chronic intestinal disorder. I remember Dr. Richardson and Grandma Garrett saying; "If he survives the second summer, he has a good chance of living."
One day, a tramp looking, ragged bum came to our front door. He was trying to beg or sell something. Mardy talked to him through the always locked screen door. Emaciated, sickly Charles, in a dress, was standing by Mardy. He looked at Charlie and said; "You have a sick boy. Give him two ounces of skunk oil and it will help him." No one had ever heard of skunk oil. Mardy asked Dr. Richardson and others, they talked about it and decided it was worth a try, since nothing else seemed to work. The trick was getting the skunk oil, the medical or pharmacy book has yet to be found that mentions it. Finally we found an old trapper and boot-legger by the name of Oscar Fat Lemons. He rendered skunk fat and got an oil. It was given to Charlie, by mouth, and a miracle happened. We still cannot find anyone who can explain it's action. I have always felt, medically, that he must have had intestinal worms. After that, Charlie started growing and grew into the tallest, handsomest, and healthiest of us all.
As with the rest of us, Charlie took every kind of job he could find to help out. He had a good child's voice and won the county singing contest with a solo. The name of the song escapes me right now.
He and Mardy remained in Union City for 2 1/2 years after the rest of us had left home. Since we were all in Oklahoma City, we got Mardy and Charlie to move to the City, too, about the time Charlie was in the second semester of his junior year of high school. He attended Classen High school in Oklahoma City. Mardy, Charlie, Woodie and I had an upstairs apartment near Classen high school. Westlynne and Tank had already married.
A year later, in January, 1932, Mardy, Charlie and I moved to Norman, Oklahoma. Charlie graduated from Norman High School and, in spite of working to help support the family, was able to make the Norman High basketball squad. This was quite an accomplishment, since Norman High was usually prominent in state high school athletics.
I went to Oklahoma City for medical school and Charlie and Mardy stayed in Norman. Charlie started at Oklahoma University. He worked carrying newspapers, operating a telephone switchboard for the university, and also worked for Mistletoe Express. In addition, Charlie and Mardy helped Mrs. Hazel manage her apartments. When Charlie completed his pre-med. requirements, he was admitted to the University of Tennessee Medical School in Memphis, Tennessee. I was called into the service for World War II and Charlie felt his should be in uniform, too.
While I was in Australia, I got a letter saying he had dropped out of medical school and joined the Army Air Corps. He had his pilot, navigator, and bombardier training in several different locations in the United States. On completion of training, he married Dorotha. He had met Dorotha Crockard while she was serving a dietetic internship in Oklahoma City. She had been a Houston girls and had a degree from Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa. Following his training, he flew, or rather his squadron flew B-24 Liberators from the United States to Natal in South America, then on to North Africa, finally being stationed on the South East coast of Italy.
Jewell and I, in 1980, went through a lot of the Southern European countries that he had bombed. He told me they sued the Danube River to locate their Targets. If I remember right, his B-24 was the Whiskey Kid. He navigated to the target, located the site to be bombed, then took over as pilot to drop the bombs. I believe he flew his 52 missions and was rotated out. The Whiskey Kid was lost on the very next mission if flew.
Dorotha and Jewell lived together for a time in Oklahoma city while we were overseas. Kaye was born in Oklahoma City. Chuck was born in Chickasha. He returned to the United Sates before I did and were both assigned to Borden General Hospital in Chickasha, Oklahoma. His job was to classify hard of hearing Air Corps personnel and reassign them. His medical school training and Air Corps experience really qualified him for this assignment.
In September, 1945, he was discharged and admitted to the school of Dentistry in Houston, Texas. He has four children. Chuck or Charles, studied forestry at Texas A&M and Nagadoches, Texas. Kaye went to college at Denton, Texas (North Texas State, I believe) and became a registered nurse. Donna received a degree in art and archeology from Texas University. David attended Texas A&M and later trained in physical therapy and now lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Charles has practiced dentistry in Houston since graduation in 1949 or 1950. He now specializes in gold.
Half brother, Harry Coates:
Harry is a half brother but like a real brother. (there is a large ink blot covering some words here.) Born in El Reno, Oklahoma in 1920 or 1921, he graduated from high school there. He had entered Oklahoma University and was studying engineering when he was drafted for World War II. He was sent with other engineers to Armour School of Technology in Chicago for further studies. All of a sudden, the army discontinues this program and he was reassigned to an infantry division.
(here the writing in this notebook ended.)
Next (coming soon) Charles L. Coates exploits in in World War II
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