Grandpa Bill McGill, The Teacher

grandpa Bill Mcgill - Riverside school 1905, a photo by NWOkie on Flickr.

1905 Riverside school, Oklahoma Territory - Grandpa is on the left side of the group of students.

Paris Reunion, 6 Sept. 2001

I was browsing through my "Oakiepics" (Webshots) in the "Paris Reunion 2001" and found the following photos I took that year of the Paris descendants that gathered at Cottonwood Corners (Chester, Oklahoma) sometimes referred to as "Tailholt."

Here is the slideshow and a link to Oakiepics (Webshots) Slideshow.
http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/21122024LFFQWltPZy

Paris Reunion 2001

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots

Oklahoma Politics of 1960s - Part III

Dad, Gene M. McGill, was State Chair of the Democrats in Oklahoma from the late 1950's into the 1960's. These photographs were scanned from his collection of 1960 political figures that passed through his lifetime and contributed to his political legacy.

Grandma's 1909 Trip To Colorado

My grandmother, Constance Estelle Warwick McGill, took a trip to Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods, and surrounding areas with a group of friends when she was 27 years of age during the Summer of 1909 in July. I scanned that scrapbook and put it into a movie file to share with other family members.

AHS - Class of 1925

1925 — Marjorie Hayward, Alva, and Eloise ‘Dude’ Ferguson Faull, Georgia, are two who graduated in 1925. Dude was a member of the national basketball championship team (The Goldmiddies). While her good friend was in NY playing the Croton-0n-the-Hudson team for the national title, Marjorie remembers sitting in the cafe listening to reports of the game on the radio. ‘Dude’ Faull, believed to be the only remaining member of the National Championship Goldmiddies team, will be in Alva for the reunion festivities. Faull resides in Georgia.

AHS - Class fo 1923

1923 — The earliest graduate of the group is Mary Barbara Korff who graduated in 1923. Mary Barbara is best known for her musical contributions to the community over the past many years. She regularly entertained the Woods County Senior Citizens with her piano skills until recently.

AHS - Class of 1920's

AHS Early Grads of the 1920s
Aftermath Reunion 2000 - Classes of the 1920's

The Graduates of the 1920s were the honored group during AHS Reunion 2000, Monday, 3rd July 2000, in downtown Alva, Oklahoma, 10:00AM. (SEE Reunion 2000 Pics for more photos of that 2000 reunion.)

This lively lovely ladies were invited to be the marshals of the Reunion 2000 parade held July 3rd, 2000, on the downtown streets of Alva, Oklahoma. Not all are shown in this parade photograph taken the morning of the parade. AHS names of 1920s… Marjorie Hayward (1925), Wilma Lee (1926), Elanor Sterba (1927), Vera Strasbaugh (1928), Mary Barbara Korff (1923), Eloise Ferguson Faull (1925), Addie McGuire (1926).

History of AHS Goldbug

Goldbug History -- It seems that in the early 1920’s, a high school principal, J. Allen Thomas, taught English. He was a great admirer of Edgar Allan Poe and especially like “The Gold Bug.”

According to the Reunion 2000 article appearing in the special edition of the Alva Review Courier at Reunion 2000, “Mr. Thomas conceived the idea of awarding beautiful paper goldbugs to outstanding students at annual honor banquets. The bugs, which were made by the high school students, went to those who were rated superior in their classwork and to those who were judged as being talented performers in music, debate, dramatics, and other school activities.”

After that in the late 1920’s the students began calling their athletic teams, “Goldbugs.” The idea continues to this day. The mascot, Goldbug, is the “Symbol of Excellence” in academic and extracurricular activities.

Friendship Oklahoma

FRIENDSHIP, OKLAHOMA – Verna Johnson & Don Butler

Friendship, in Jackson County, is a rural Southwestern Oklahoma Community with a unique, colorful history. At various times Southwestern Oklahoma was claimed by England, France, Spain, Mexico and the Republic of Texas. Before Oklahoma became the 46th state, Friendship was located in Indian Territory, Oklahoma Territory and Greer County, Texas. The Navajoe Mountains, located four miles east of Friendship, are a part of the Wichita Mountain Range.

Southwestern Oklahoma was once part of a vast sea of grass stretching as far as the eye could see, populated by millions of buffalo and claimed by Texas, but ruled by the Comanches and Kiowas. After the last free bands of Comanches and Kiowas were confined to the reservation at Fort Sill in 1875, the area became safe for cattle drives. From 1876 to 1892, millions of longhorns were driven from Texas to Dodge City and Ogallala, Nebraska, over the Western Cattle Trail which passed through the middle of what is now the Town of Friendship.

German POW story

German POW story stranger than fiction, 08/28/06 -- One war story, stranger than fiction, involved the first German prisoners captured even before the United States entered the war with Germany.

A book titled interned by James J. McBride tells and shows with excellent photos how and why this unusual story took place. War broke out in Europe on Sept. 1, 1939, when Adolf Hitler and Germany attacked Poland. The attack was so secretive, many German merchant ships were caught en route to various ports around the world. In instant retaliation to the attack, the Allies blockaded the Atlantic against ocean traffic to Germany. The SS Columbus from Germany, the largest luxury cruise ship in the Atlantic, was making a West Indies cruise when the war began. Berlin ordered Captain Wilhelm Dachne to off-load his passengers at the nearest port and take shelter at the neutral port at Veracruz, Mexico. After four months of escalating war, the captain was ordered to run the blockade and return to Germany to join the war effort. His orders also stated that if caught during the escape, he should scuttle the ship and set it on fire to prevent Allied use of the vessel.