William Marion Rainey

Father of Daisy Rainey Rice, Lewis Rainey, Gladys Rainey Smith, Della Rainey, Alice Rainey, Emma Rainey Buckley, and Eugene Rainey

William “Bill” Marion Rainey, a fun-loving man who could dance a rousing Irish jig according to his youngest daughter, Emma, was the patriarch of the Rainey family who eventually settled in the Big Bend area west of Ralston, Oklahoma. He was the only child born to Thomas and Mary Rainey. Bill was born in Missouri, on July 15, 1868. In the 1910 Census, Bill listed his father’s birthplace as Kentucky with Tennessee as his mother’s birthplace.

Rosa, his wife, first recalled seeing him riding a horse before even meeting him. Given her meager upbringing, it seemed Rosa had encountered her knight on his charger.

My mother recalls him as a fun-loving, jovial man. This probably attracted Rosa to him since Mother remembers her beloved grandmother as serious, one who could laugh and enjoy herself but never the “prankster” that Bill was. How frequently do opposites attract!

One of the more memorable pranks that my mother recalls from her parents involved a night when they were spending the night with her grandparents. Her Aunt Alice and Uncle Gene were also living there. Thinking it would be grand fun, Grandpa and Gene planned and staged an elaborate ruse. The two of them sneaked outside and began throwing stove wood from the woodpile at each other, raising their voices, and using “colorful” language. They came into the house, with their battle scars, and told their wide-eyed guests that they had been attack outside of the house. Their guests, as well as Grandma and Alice, were terrified and sat up all night talking about what had happened—not daring to close their eyes for a wink of sleep lest the intruders that terrified Grandpa and Gene would return to break into the house and harm all of them. However, Grandpa and Gene slipped off to bed stifling their giggles. The next morning, their laughter could no longer be contained, and they spilled the beans to their weary family that they had faked the whole thing. Unfortunately, no one appreciated the antics they staged and the lengths to which they had gone to entertain themselves: in fact, let's just say, the women folk in particular were downright ticked off!

William Marion and Rosa Jarrell Rainey with their granddaughter Bernyce Smith  - taken in the late 1920s.*

*This is the only photograph my mother has of her grandfather. She says there was a wonderful portrait of him that Aunt Emma Buckley took to a professional photographer to have enlarged. Aunt Emma was dissatisfied with the results and refused to pay for the enlargement. That prompted the photographer to refuse to return the original photograph of her father. However, I am indebted to Aunt Emma Buckley for taking the above photograph.