The Christmas Tree at Woodland

  I initially posted this Christmas family story ten years ago while Dad was still living. The truth of it never becomes outdated and is worth revisiting.

        As a child, I would hear my parents and grandparents talk about the Christmas Tree – not as an object but as an event. In the 1930s, both schools (Belford and Woodland) in the Big Bend community held an evening extravaganza each December for the students and their families at each particular school.

        My father, Edmund Gates, Jr., recalled the enormous decorated tree in the Woodland (not to be confused with the district consolidated in 1990, also named Woodland) schoolhouse located where Lester Anson’s home is currently. The students would perform in the school Christmas program. Then the highlight of the evening was the children receiving gifts that decorated the tree. 
        The parents would purchase gifts for their children and then take the gifts to a designated lady from the community who would tie the gifts to the school tree. The children could hardly wait to have their names called and receive a gift from the Christmas tree.  As children living in the Great Depression, you can imagine their anticipation. 
        The most memorable Christmas tree for Edmund Jr. was in 1931 when his younger brother Jess at age eight received a rifle off the tree. To his delight, Edmund Jr. who was 12 years old received a watch when his name was called. It was a magical night filled with beautiful music, laughter, and delicious sweet treats which children of the Depression era seldom received. Then with elation the children shared with pride what the Christmas tree had given them.  In the excitement of the evening, Edmund laid his newly acquired watch on a school desk. Unfortunately, he only briefly enjoyed the first expensive gift he’d ever been given, before it was stolen.

Edmund Gates, Jr. in the 1930s

        As I visited with Dad about the stolen Christmas watch, my heart ached for a young boy who experienced such joy and delight over a precious gift only to have those feelings dashed into a million pieces a few minutes later. He described how he spent the rest of the evening in a futile search for his Christmas watch. 

        As I recounted the story of that night, a heartwarming realization dawned on me. Dad frequently thanked God in our nightly prayer time saying, "Thank You for the Lord Jesus." He so clearly understood that Jesus is the gift that once received can never be stolen or lost. What an amazing thought to bring perspective as we ponder peacefully when the hectic and harried pace attempts to sabotage this season!

He (Jesus) came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe on His name.  Taken from the Gospel of John, chapter one, verses eleven and twelve.                   

The Bend Story Merlene Morris Insisted Be Told

        When someone passes from this life to eternity, memories flood my mind. That happened upon hearing of Merlene Morris's death this past week. As far back as I can remember, Merlene and her family have been my family's friends.

        Since I had not settled on a blog post for this week, the post from March 24 of 2019, came quickly to my mind. Merlene had insisted I retell this true account from the spring before I was born. She even helped with "primary sources" such as newspaper articles. 

        As a tribute to her, I am reposting the story that she "willed" me into retelling. May her family and friends find comfort in knowing as the hymn, It is Well With My Soul, states Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, Merlene's faith is now sight because of her trust in Jesus.

Pam Morris Felix, Patricia Morris Chaffin, Merlene, Gilbert Wayne Morris

                In April of 1932, Jim and Mary Clark purchased the country store in the Bend. (It was located where Sharon White Gibson now lives, about a half-mile from my mother’s farm.) The Great Depression cast a deep gloom over the entire nation, but despair, hunger, and lack hovered over the state of Oklahoma. According to an article about his knife-making that appeared in the Ponca City News during the late 1950s, the Clarks extended credit to their customers but never received payment from a few Benders during the worst economic crisis in the history of the Bend. (The photo of Mr. Clark appeared with the above mentioned article.)

                During the 1950s, Merlene and Gilbert (Junior) Morris lived on the place now owned by my mother, Bernyce Smith Gates. During that time, their three children, Gilbert Wayne Morris, Patricia Morris Chaffin, Pamela Morris Felix were born. Many events and happenings filled Merlene’s memory from those early days of her family. One of the most vivid, frightening days involved the robbery of the store owned by her grandparents-in-law, the Clarks. Junior was Mary and Jim’s grandson.

                Many of the people in the community went to the evening service at Big Bend Baptist Church on Sunday, March 25, 1956. (My parents and maternal grandparents had been asked by Brother Ray Hart to assist with music and teaching at the newly-formed Masham Baptist Church just across the Arkansas River in Pawnee County. The four of them were attending the night church service there.)

                Around 7 p.m., that evening a couple of men pulled up to the Clark Store. Jim Clark and his brother-in-law, Riley Drake were minding the store. The Fairfax Chief article from the weekly issue, published on March 29, quoted Clark as saying, “the women folk had gone to church.”

                The younger man, age 28, entered the store, pulling a gun on Mr. Clark and Mr. Drake. Even though Jim Clark at age 76 suffered a lack of mobility in his legs due to a childhood illness, he defended himself with his crutch. My father, Edmund Gates, Jr., when retelling this happening, always said, “Jim was very strong in his upper body.”

                The young perpetrator hit Mr. Clark over the head with his gun. In the scuffle, the gun fell to the store floor. Mr. Drake, the brother of Mary Clark, began hand-to-hand conflict with the would-be robber. Drake eventually secured the gun and got off a shot as the culprit fled the store without apprehension. The forty-year-old driver/accomplice had parked a short distance from Clark’s store. Upon hearing the shot, he sped from the foiled robbery site. Mr. Clark suffered head lacerations and caved-in ribs. The paper reported their bruises and scratches required medical attention.

This photo accompanied a newspaper clipping that appeared on Mary's
88th birthday. She lived to be 99 years old, dying just a couple months
shy of her 100th birthday. She and Jim were married about 50 years.

                Merlene recalled Coyt Auld came to the door at the back of the church to tell the worshipers of the attempted robbery (An interesting piece of Bend trivia - Mr. Auld’s great-nephew, Ron Howard aka Opie Taylor, frequented the Bend with his family when the actor/director’s great-grandmother, Carrie Freeman Tomlin, lived with the Auld family. My father hardly ever saw Ron Howard in a movie or television show without making the remark, "He's been on that road right out there!"). Merlene remembered the women and children being taken from the church service to safety at George and Hazel Goad’s home located southeast of the present home of Hubert and Charlotte Hutchens. She mentioned Geraldine Rice Forbes and her daughters sought safety, too, while the men began the search for the would-be thieves who had escaped.

                The article from The Fairfax Chief indicated several agencies, including Osage County, Fairfax and Pawnee police departments, and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, searched until midnight and concluded the two desperados had escaped the area.

                Mother clearly recalled that spring evening. She was 31 years old and in her third trimester anticipating my birth. My parents and maternal grandparents lived on the place owned by Omer Jefferson, Jr. He had inherited it from his mother, Louise Butler Jefferson, the descendant of an Osage original allottee. The Jefferson land was located south across Big Bend Road from Mother's home today.

                In the early 1950s, my parents and grandparents responded to the need of workers at the newly-formed Masham Baptist Church. That March night, they returned from their Sunday evening service at Masham, only to be stopped at the east side of the Belford Bridge spanning the Arkansas River. Law officials alerted them to the robbery suspects on the loose in the Bend.

                Many residents were out on what is now Big Bend Road, the main artery into the Bend. The place they rented had been combed for Mr. Clark’s attacker. Soon my parents and grandparents were assured, following a thorough search, the perpetrators had left the area. Grandma, Gladys Rainey Smith, remained tense over the afternoon events, nevertheless they settled in for the evening.

                A little after midnight, the driver of the getaway car, evidently with a pang of concern for his younger partner in the crime, attempted to return to the Bend via the Belford Bridge, only to encounter the road block. He was detained by the Pawnee County law officials.

                Realizing the gunman was still at large in the Bend, the intense search resumed. According to Merlene’s notes, at 3:20 a.m., following a trail of blood, the officials discovered the would-be robber hiding in a ravine on the Jefferson place. His capture occurred a scant half-mile from my family’s dwelling where he was holed up in a cave on the bank of the dry creek bed. (Mother reiterated the location of his seizure was slightly south of the small WPA bridge located west of her present home. Were my father alive, he could take you to the precise spot of the robber's apprehension!)

                The Pawnee Chief reported the men were initially housed in the Fairfax jail and later transported to Osage County Jail in Pawhuska. Both had previous criminal records for similar offenses.

                The scripture condemns stealing. One of the verses that rings true for our society today is found in Ephesians 4:28.

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

I like this crystal-clear rendering of Ephesians 4:28 from The Message:

Did you use to make ends meet by stealing? Well, no more! Get an honest job so that you can help others who can’t work. 

Other Blog Postings - Merlene and her family have been featured in other postings. Below are links to these:

https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2015/11/when-cotton-was-king.html

https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2017/08/only-two-names-will-do.html

https://bernadeanjgates.blogspot.com/2018/08/the-spokes-must-be-connected-to.html

My Earliest Story

            It is funny the things we remember. I remember how much Dad loved to tell my earliest story. When he came in one day from working in the field, I met him with my first story. The condensed version with just the bare facts, no elaboration, but told in a little one’s animated manner impressed him.

            My story was comprised of these four words, “Kitty, Nanny, skunk, shovel.” Grandma and Mother interpreted the events for Dad.

            One of the kittens had been attacked in broad daylight by a skunk. Grandma Gladys managed to get a shovel and opened the window above the endangered kitten and its predator, a skunk. Somehow, she maneuvered and wielded the shovel and saved the kitten.

            This can be characterized as a cute adventure story from a toddler told with spot-on accuracy. Yet, as with so many happenings in our lives, a spiritual application can be made.

            We humans identify with the endangered kitten. Each of us are vulnerable to the consequences of sin – illness, death, disappointment, and so many other sorrows or pitfalls.

            The predatory skunk is so like Satan, the enemy of God and of God’s most valued creation – humans. Lucifer, another name for Satan, is quoted in Isaiah 14:14 when he boasts of his planned takeover of heaven from God, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”

            Jesus uses terms like murderer and liar to brand Satan in John 8:44. In the same gospel, Jesus teaches so beautifully of His love as the Good Shepherd for His sheep. In John 10:10, where Jesus promises abundant life to those who follow Him, He describes the sheep’s enemy who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

            Nanny, my maternal grandma, intervened in the violent attack on the tiny kitten. The comparison breaks down a bit since Nanny had not created the kitten as God created us, but she was the caretaker of the farm cats that we had. Her concern demanded she actively intercede to preserve the kitten’s life.

            Finally, her tool to destroy the skunk was a shovel. It demanded only courage on her part. God’s tool to break Satan’s hold on humans was the cross, one of the cruelest methods of execution ever devised. In God’s perfect timing, He sent His Son, Jesus, to live and give His life on the cross to redeem us from the clutches of Satan, His archenemy.

        

This is the only cat permitted indoors. Mother was adamant
in her training that if we mishandled a cat and felt the cat's
displeasure we deserved the consequences. Cougar, this
cat, was not the kitten that tangled with the skunk. 

           My first story of only four words has a cuteness and illustrates how concern and care for animals had been fostered early in my little soul. How much greater is the true story of God’s love for us, the sacrificial death of His perfect Son, and the defeat of Satan--the nemesis of every thing good, holy, just, and connected with God! May we tell that story every chance we get. My nanny would love that.