The Armstrongs lived in a house on the hill just north across from where Vonda
and Greg Goad’s drive is located today on what is now called Big Bend Road. Their family leased
the place adjoining the land my grandparents, Calvin Callcayah and Gladys
Rainey Smith, rented from Lora Kirk Betts.
Sidney Armstrong, the patriarch of the family, along with his sons, Leo,
Buster, Cecil, and Arlo, farmed the tillable land and raised cattle. One summer, my mother, Bernyce Smith Gates, recalled the concern she
witnessed in her parents when some of the Armstrong family's cattle ate Johnson grass
with nitrite or prussic acid toxicity and died. In the Depression of the
1930s, livestock loss devastated the already tight family budget
One day my grandparents heard a loud blast from the Armstrong place. They
hurried over to see what had happened at their neighbors’ farm. What a sense of
relief, to realize, it was just a pressure cooker that blew its lid!
Thankfully, Laura, Sid’s wife, was uninjured, just startled.
My grandmother enjoyed telling of Laura’s opinion of Sid’s commitment to
punctuality. She commented to Grandma, “The sun and moon may vary, but Sid’s
watch never does.” I don’t know about Mrs. Armstrong, but my grandmother seldom
worried about being on time, no matter how frequently Grandpa consulted his watch.
The Armstrong family and my mother’s family attended church services at
the Belford School building. Mr. Armstrong led the music as my grandma played
the piano. He read music and as another blog posting told, Grandma had taught
herself the musical staff and the note names as a young girl. Their church services were filled
with music.
P.T. Stafford, a World War I army chaplain, and his wife, a former army
nurse, founded a daily radio broadcast, Daily
Radio Revival in 1936, on WBBZ, the first radio station in Ponca City,
Oklahoma. The station had been in operation in Ponca City for less than 10
years.
Reverend Stafford, as a guest minister, preached to the Belford School
congregation. He invited the singers from the church to sing on his broadcast. My
mother said Mr. Armstrong, his daughter, Laverne, and his sons, Leo and Buster,
sang on the WBBZ program that aired live. My grandmother sang and played the piano. Mother,
a preteen, sang with them and also did The Beautiful Garden of Prayer
as a solo.
How interesting that the Benders once again were on the cutting edge of
technology! Mr. Armstrong died before I was born. I recall a visit by Mrs.
Armstrong to my grandma and remember how they seemed to enjoy reminiscing about
earlier days in the Bend.
I enjoyed teaching several descendants of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong at Crowder Elementary School and Woodland Elementary School. Many fulfilling years were spent as teaching colleagues with Denta Wayman Carter
and JoLu Renfro Mashburn, both descendants of Sidney and Laura Armstrong. Both of their grandmothers, Ada Armstrong
Frank and Dessa Armstrong Martin, had already married and no longer lived in
the Armstrong home at the time of the radio singing.
My father recalled fondly hearing Ada, Denta’s grandma, sing with her
sister-in-law, Melva Smith Frank, the mother of Jewel Dean Frank, in the little Pentecostal churches in the west
Bend. Dad would say, “They could make those hollers ring!”
Dad said that Ada had a strong, clear voice that carried for miles. Mother noted that she had a soprano voice similar to Karen Peck, Sue Dodge, or Vestal Goodman (now deceased) in the southern gospel music genre.
Dessa, JoLu’s grandma, sang alto and harmonized with her sister, too. I
remembered hearing Dessa singing with the “Over the Hill Gang” in her latter
years at the Ralston Bible Church. Otis “Babe” and Lucille Goad also sang in
that little group. What precious memories!
Based on Dad’s memories, I delighted telling Denta and JoLu, when we teachers
had to sing, that I knew they could sing. It was in their DNA!
A typewritten memorial acknowledgment was found in my grandma’s scrapbook. Evidently, she and Grandpa had contributed to some Christian ministry in Mr. Armstrong’s memory and this appeared in the ministry’s publication. She had written this tribute to accompany the contribution.
PIONEER GOSPEL WORKER PASSES
ON
In sacred memory of our
beloved brother in Christ, S.L. Armstrong who departed this life at his home in Ralston, Okla. July 27,
1947. Bro. Armstrong loved the souls of men and women, and suffered much persecution to try to rescue
them for the Lord. As he was preparing to attend Sunday School, he suddenly passed away
with
a heart attack, leaving his wife and 8 children. He leaves a fine Christian record of consistent living
for his Master and may God bless the bereaved.
Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Smith,
Ralston, Okla.
As I reflected on the small tribute written by my grandmother for Mr. Armstrong, a couple of phrases leaped from her scrapbook page. One phrase was loved the souls of men and women. May we always love people more than things, knowing God so valued humans that Jesus sacrificed His life for them. Another phrase that caught my attention was record of consistent living for his Master. May we desire that consistent living for Jesus to bring all glory to Him.
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This photograph was found in one of Gladys Smith’s albums. This is a photograph
of the seven living children of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong when Gladys and Calvin Smith attended the Armstrong Reunion held in Ralston at Dessie Armstrong Martin’s home in the 1970s. They are from left to right standing: Ada, Leo, Dessie, Eathel, and Laverne. Kneeling left to right: Arlo and Buster. Mother noted that there was an older brother, Cecil. Coincidentally, Cecil married Nola, the oldest daughter of Perry and Ruth Woods, the dear friends of my grandparents. Mother recalled how difficult it was for Nola, with two little girls, when Cecil was suddenly killed. Yet on Tuesday, November 2, 1982, during my grandfather's funeral service, Nola Woods Armstrong sat faithfully, in Hillcrest Rehabilitation Center, by my grandmother who had experienced a devastating stroke just weeks earlier. Only a true friend, widowed so many years earlier, would recognize how much a woman, in such a frail condition, who had lost her husband of 59 years needed support and love at that very hour. In my mind, even though Nola had moved from the Big Bend many years earlier, Nola sitting with Grandma poignantly illustrates that she still had retained the compassion and caring of a true Bender. Lots of former residents of the Big Bend remain Benders in their character. |
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