Ralston's Tie With the Founding of Oklahoma Agriculture and Mechanical College

As I discussed the photo below with Wanda Rice Nix, at the Ralston Senior Citizens building where a copy of it hangs, she shared that James L. Mathews, an ancestor of Maxine Hines Rice* who is the mother of Wanda Rice Nix, Bob Rice, and Revae Rice Baugh, served on the search committee to select the site for the new college in Stillwater. I'm always amazed at how much I learn when writing a blog post! There is a book about James Langford Mathews that I hope to soon read. Here is a link to his obituary which includes a portrait of him: 

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=11736825 
A Surprising Connection Between My Mother and Oklahoma State University’s 125^th Birthday

                My mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, reminisced recently about her family’s friendship with the Bob Jarrell family. Bob Jarrell, a banker at the Bank of Commerce in Ralston in the 1920s, developed a close relationship with my mother’s parents. Bob and his wife, Bina, enjoyed spending time in the country with my grandparents.

Photo of the Ralston Bank of Commerce with J.O. Cales, A. D. Krow (possibly), Robert
 Jarrell, and Elizabeth_________(unsure of her last name.). The photo was in my grandmother's
 personal photograph collection.

                Occasionally, my grandparents, Calvin Callcayah and Gladys Vivian Rainey Smith, and my mother socialized with the Jarrell family in Ralston. One evening Bina Jarrell was going to serve my preschool-aged mother tiny sausage patties. My grandmother spoke up, “Oh she won’t eat any.” Predictably, Mother proceeded to eat most of the sausages to the horrified astonishment of my grandmother! (87 years later, Mother now recalls not really liking the taste that much but the miniature size certainly appealed to her!)

                The Jarrells’ older children were Ford and Virginia, both teenagers at that time. Billy, the youngest living child, often played with my mother since he was only three years older than her. True to form, my spunky mother sent the blood flying by whacking Billy in the head when he did something she didn’t like as they played together at the little house. (See the blog posting entitled Miracles at the Little House that published on July 20, 2014.) After tending to Billy’s cut, my grandmother corrected my mother’s behavior toward guests. It is mystifying that a banker and his wife would socialize with farmers who lived in such a tiny house.

                Bob Jarrell liked my mother’s maternal grandma, Rosa Jarrell Rainey, immensely. He swore they were related. Great-grandma Rainey insisted they were not. None of my research has found a connection between the two Jarrell families.

                One of Mother’s most memorable times with the Jarrells was a trip to Tulsa. Bob and Bina had invited them to spend time with them in a hunting lodge near Tulsa. On the trip to the hunting lodge, my grandparents' Model T Ford lost one of its tires. Mother recalled drivers they met pointed vigorously to indicate the location of the missing tire. Sure enough, the Model T's wayward tire had lodged between two sapling trees that were practically growing one on top of each other! This hardly seemed the transport of a family in the Roaring 20s that was “hobnobbing” with their banker friend and his family. Once they arrived at the hunting lodge, Mother was mesmerized by the heads adorning the walls and the enormous bearskin rug prominent on the floor.

                Before the stock market crash of 1929, Bob Jarrell took a position with a bank in the Tulsa area and the family moved. Coincidentally, Great-grandma Rainey lost all of her "nest egg" at one of the other banks in Ralston during the Great Depression.

                As I perused the Fall 2015 issue of STATE – The Official Magazine of Oklahoma State University, an article by David C. Peters entitled “Finding a Prairie Home" piqued my interest. The focus of the article centered on the series of events leading to the acquisition of land for Oklahoma  Agricultural and Mechanical College following its birth on December 25, 1890.

What a surprise to see the southwest corner of Oklahoma State University began originally as a portion of Alfred Jarrell’s homestead acquired in the 1889 land run! According to the article by Peters, the Jarrells received $50 for the 40 acres sold for the early day college. Alfred Edwin Jarrell, an older brother of my grandparents’ friend, Robert “Bob” Sanford Jarrell, graduated in the first class from Oklahoma A & M College. Both Bob and Alfred Edwin were sons of Alfred Jarrell who willingly sold part of his homestead to make the land grant college a reality for the young state of Oklahoma.
            What a neat connection between Mother's cherished memories of the Jarrell family and the Brightest Orange! 

Happy 125^th Birthday to my alma mater, Oklahoma State University! 

*To learn more about Maxine Hines Rice, access the blog posting about her at:
http://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/09/green-stamps-free-washing-machine-and.html