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| Josie receiving recognition as the 4-H Individual State Champion in Livestock Judging |
We are celebrating our
Benders’ performance at the 2019 Tulsa State Fair this week. Josie and Landee
Doshier live not far from Mother’s farm with their parents, Scott and Shelly Bledsoe Doshier. Their grandparents, Bill and Delores Ratliff Bledsoe, live in
the southwest area of the Bend. The girls are the sixth generation of their family residing in the Bend.
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| Landee showing her showmanship skill. |
Josie competed on a 4-H Livestock Judging Team and won 4-H
Individual State Champion. Landee placed 6th in state in her
division of Swine Showmanship with Josie placing 3rd place in her
division of Swine Showmanship. The whole Bend is proud of your accomplishments,
Josie and Landee!
Another highlight of this year’s Tulsa State Fair involved
Kenny Endl. I taught Kenny in 3rd grade the last year I taught prior to my retirement.
Mother and I attend church each week with him. Kenny showed Asher, his Dexter
bull, at the Tulsa State Fair. Asher garnered Grand Champion Dexter Bull
for Kenny. Way to Go, Kenny!
Kenny lives southwest of
Ralston. Even though Kenny isn’t a Bender, his great great grandparents, Charles,
Sr. and Ethel Beaston ventured regularly to our farm for eggs when I was a kid.
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| Kenny Receiving Congratulations on Asher being recognized as the Grand Champion Dexter Bull. |
After these students performed so well, I decided to revise and
republish a 2015 blog post of Mother's recollection of her time as a
preschooler at the Tulsa State Fair in 1930.
During the first half of the 20th century,
the Big Bend was comprised of two communities and school districts. Belford
School had the smaller school population while Woodland, on the western side of
the Big Bend, “always had more kids” according to my mother, Bernyce Smith
Gates. It is almost unfathomable to realize that Belford at its zenith had
around 80 students, with Woodland boasting a student body of around 100. In a
rough calculation, I figure that the Big Bend’s population exceeded 200 easily
in the late 1920s and early 1930s!
My mother and her parents lived on the east side of the Bend – Belford
community. They lived in the "new" house on property owned by the ancestors of Lisa White Crabtree, another of our cherished neighbors. Mother recounted some experiences at the "new" house in the blog post at:https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2017/03/fleas-and-friendship.html (An interesting blog posting discusses the "little" house at the site, the first house my mother remembers. To access the blog post go to https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2014/07/miracles-at-little-house.html)
My grandmother relished being active in the community and getting as
many others involved as possible. She prided herself on producing the best of
the best in anything she attempted. Most of the time, my grandfather supported
her - although sometimes begrudgingly since she was a workaholic and an
overachiever.
In the late summer
of 1930, my grandparents took the Belford Agriculture Display to the Osage
County Free Fair. The display exhibited various grains and crops grown at that
time in the Big Bend. Grandma had the vision of how it should look, and Grandpa
helped her make it a reality. The Belford display won first place, so my
grandparents with my mother, aged 5 (almost 6), in tow, packed and headed to the
Tulsa State Fair.
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| As Mother told about Fred Ahrberg, I thought of our Extension Educator for Osage County and/Pawnee County, Rick Clovis. He joined our family when he married Barbara Clark Gates. |
The Osage County Extension agent, Fred Ahrberg, assisted my grandparents,
Calvin Callcayah and Gladys Vivian Rainey Smith, in preparing for their state
display. Mother recalls that Mr. Ahrberg located a mechanical attention-getting
doll to create even more interest in the Belford Agriculture Display. The
little mechanical professor who moved his teaching pointer served as an eye-catching
prop, attracting state fair goers.
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| This photograph was in the 1931 Osage County Free Fair program that Grandma had saved in her keepsake box. This display had won in 1930. As Dad would say, "Benders can compete with the best of them." |
Mother did an obligatory displays
walk-through. Grandma always valued learning so I am sure she encouraged my
mother to learn as much as she could from the innovative booths. Mother zipped
through the county displays in the building where the Osage County booth was.
She was a bored little girl and looking for some action!
When quizzing Mother
about her attendance at the Tulsa State Fair 89 years ago, the subject of
livestock entries came up. Her reply to me indicated a low interest level in
this area of the fair. Her exact quote at aged 94, “You’ve seen one cow, you’ve
seen them all. I could see cows all day long when I was back home.”
Her keen interest was
sparked by the midway rides. To my amazement, she rode all the rides, except
the ferris wheel, by herself! Recently, we heard a report on the noon news from
a Tulsa television station that a wristband could be purchased for $70 that
would enable children to have unlimited rides on all midway rides (except the
extreme ones and the Sky Ride) for the entire eleven days of the 2019 Tulsa
State Fair. With her dry sense of humor, she exclaimed, “I would have been a
Dizzy Lizzy because I would have ridden those rides all day long!”
My independent mother at
age 5 (almost 6) rode as many rides as she could or as frequently as she could
get the nickel or dime. In 1930, each ride was paid for individually. Less than
one year after the stock market crash of 1929, the nickel and dime were hard to
come by from her parents. She admits that she probably rode more rides than
most kids that year because she was an only child.
In our present day, when
a child is old enough to comprehend who a stranger is, the concept of “Stranger
Danger” is drilled into each little one’s mind! Yet my mother ran around the
midway willy nilly, riding the rides at her own discretion by
herself, while her parents manned the Osage County booth. What a different
world we live in!
Mother even admitted to
getting lost frequently on the fair grounds. She indicated, in that era, only
rich families feared kidnapping and glibly spouted, “We were so poor that my getting kidnapped wasn’t a worry.” Very seldom was it heard that sexual
predators kidnapped children. To return to her parents, she would
merely ask an adult or those who operated the rides to direct her to the
“building with the booths” and she would calmly meander back.
It was such a different
day and time. Mother said they slept on pallets right there in the pavilion
where the award-winning booth was. The only fair food Mother remembered was the
pink cotton candy. Her mother provided their food while there, primarily sandwiches.
No fried-whatever-on-a-stick for them!
Often people ask about
my mother's condition, at almost aged 95. She continues to rule the kitchen,
insisting on preparing breakfast, lunch, and supper.
Mother's mind remains more
inquisitive and thirstier for knowledge than most people I know, no matter
their ages. She continues to memorize chunks of God’s Word. (In my opinion, her
commitment to memorization of scripture has contributed to her healthy mind.
Plus she laughs a lot.) God has graciously
blessed us with her.
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