ROOSEVELT SENIOR CITIZENS TO MEET

The Roosevelt Senior Citizens will have their re-organizational meeting on Tuesday, August 29, at the Senior Citizens Building at 7:00 p.m.

Officers and Board members will be elected. Citizens are urged to attend and participate in this very important meeting. Refreshments will be served.

On this page I'll list previous articles, photos, etc., of my e-zine.

COOPERTON VALLEY
REUNION PLANNED

Students, teachers, and friends of the Cooperton community are invited to attend the 13th Annual Cooperton Valley Reunion on Saturday, July 22, at the Community Center.

Coffee and donuts will be served at 9:00 a.m. and a catered noon meal will begin at 12:00 noon, at a cost of $10.00 per plate. Reservations for the noon meal must be made by July 17.

For more information, call 580-639-2780, or send checks to Joyce Vanderpol, Rt 1, Box 79, Roosevelt, OK 73564.

ROOSEVELT RIDING CLUB HOSTS PLAYDAY IN THE HEAT

The Roosevelt Riding Club hosted a playday at the local arena Saturday, July 15th. District 151, District 3, and District 98 were all represented.

Starting time was delayed until 6:00 p.m. because of the extreme heat conditions, and only four games were scheduled. Still, they ran the last game and finished about 2:00 a.m.

Maybe the heat won't be so bad for the next games.

DOVIE OVERBY IS HONORED ON 90TH BIRTHDAY JUNE 24

Mrs. Dovie Overby was honored on her 90th birthday by her family in the home of Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Ferguson on June 24. Those attending were Edna and Bill Arbuckle and Gary Jones of Purcell; Kenny and Tiffany Jones, Loveland Colorado, Karen and George Atkins, Ft. Worth, Texas, Mike Jones, Dewayne, Ida and Jimmy Don Overby, Oklahoma City, Larry and Jeanie Ferguson and Staci Wallace and Matt, Cache, Donald and Benson Ferguson, Austin, Texas, Daryl Ferguson, Moscow, Idaho, and Justin and Jennifer Cyphers, of Coyle, Oklahoma.

NOTE: Mrs. Overby is the mother of Shirley Overby, RHS Class of 1955. They lived at Cold Springs.

ALLEN NEWTON FAMILY REUNION

Members of the Allen Newton Family, longtime Roosevelt residents, will gather at the Roosevelt Lions' Club Building on July 1st and 2nd for their family reunion.

The Allen Newton children are: Robert Newton, Lloyd Newton, Eulys Newton, Lester Newton, Berttie (Newton) Barker, Christine (Newton) Davis, Margetta (Newton) Stafford, and Oletta (Newton) Glasgow.

ROOSEVELT LIONS' CLUB MEETING

The regular monthly meeting of the Roosevelt Lions' Club will be held Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m., July 13, 2000, at the Lions' Club Building.

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CLASS OF 1985 PLANS REUNION

The Class of 1985 will hold their reunion Saturday, July 15, 2000, at the large pavilion at Lake Tom Steed. They will start gathering about 10:00 a.m. Lunch will be provided. Contact Chris Ankney, P O Box 704, Burns Flat, OK 73624, email chrisankney@swoda.org or Sammy Jackson, 109 6th Street, Cyril, OK, 73029, email sammyjack1@hotmail.com . You may also email wjackson@sonetcom.com as contact for this event.

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AUSTIN SIMMONS IN STATE RODEO FINALS

Austin Simmons, son of Ricky (Class of 1977) and Sherry Simmons, Sentinel, made the "short-go" and rode in the Saddle Bronc event of the State High School Rodeo finals Friday. The finals are held in Enid, Oklahoma. He will ride again on Saturday night.

Austin is 17 and will be a senior at Sentinel High School this year. He is the grandson of Wanda (Johnson) and the late Donald Simmons.



DONNA COOPER RECEIVES TRANSPLANT

After four long years of being on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, Donna Cooper, Roosevelt, finally got the call she had been wanting so desperately. She was notified Wednesday that she was scheduled for a dual kidney/pancreas transplant at Baptist Hospital, Oklahoma City.

Sister Carol Cooper and Donna were on their way to Oklahoma City pronto; they met husband Bret Cooper, flagged him down in Cordell, and went on to the hospital.

Donna went into surgery about 1:00 p.m. Thursday, June 29th. Bret said she should be out of the intensive care unit Thursday, July 5, and onto the medical floor; then maybe at least another week or so on that floor before she will be able to return home.

Best wishes, Donna! Hope you are home soon.

JULY 10 UPDATE: Donna is on the medical floor now. Updates when they are available. WJ


JULY 16 UPDATE: Donna returned to her home several days ago and has been back for checkups with her doctor. She travels to Oklahoma City twice weekly for one month then probably once a week. WJ

MRS. RED CURTIS FUNERAL MONDAY
ELGIN - Funeral for Delta T. Curtis, 94, Elgin, will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church with Adriane Smith, Sterling, and the Rev. Kris Lamle, pastor, officiating.

Mrs. Curtis died Thursday after an automobile accident near Muskogee.

Graveside service will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Roosevelt Cemetery, Roosevelt, under direction of Robbins Funeral Home, Fletcher.

She was born April 4, 1906, in Brazil, Ark. She grew up in Arkansas. She married Charles Floyd Curtis on April 10, 1925, in Benton, Ark. He died Jan. 30, 1970. They moved to Roosevelt in 1925. She moved to Elgin in 1970. She was a homemaker and a member of Elgin First Baptist Church.

Survivors include five sons: Byrd C. Curtis and Jerry W. Curtis, both of Fort Collins, Colo.; Udell P. Curtis, Muskogee, D. Ray Curtis, Aurora, Colo.; and Charles F. Curtis, Jr., Chandler, Texas; five daughters: Bobbye J. Smith, McAllen, Texas; Dorothy L. Holman, Aurora; Charlotte N. Duling, Loveland, Colo.; Eva F. Evans, Elgin; and Melba Harken, Beaumont, Texas; two brothers: Dave Hill, Perryville, Ark.; and Fred Hill, Perryville, Ark.; 30 grandchildren, 57 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents: William and Nancy Hill; seven brothers: Everett, Lilburn, Harvey, Sam, Dewell, Colonel and Boss Hill; and an infant sister.

(Article reprinted from The Lawton Constitution, Saturday, June 3, 2000).

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SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER HITS COOPERTON

Regulars like Joe Foster and Chloe Wilson have been flocking to an old bus barn every Saturday night for 20 years to dance to live country music.

TWO-STEPPING TO MEMORIES

Couples enjoy the Saturday night dance in Cooperton.

By Ron Jackson

COOPERTON - Out where the mesquite grows like a weed and where folks hunt wild boar just because, there's still a place where people go to celebrate life with all the fervor of innocent days gone by.

Getting there is easy.

Follow the western ridge of the Wichita Mountains along Highway 54, listen for the sound of Fred Bowman's fiddle, and if that doesn't work, ask any local you might pass, "Where's the dance?"

Don't be shy. No one is a stranger in these parts, especially in the slumbering town of Cooperton, where senior citizens have flocked nearly every Saturday night for the past 20 years.

They come for the classic country strains of the Wichita Valley Boys, the homemade German chocolate cake, the steaming coffee. And the dancing.

Mostly they come for each other.

"People come for the fellowship," said Della June Liles, one of the dance's dedicated organizers. "You get to see friends and visit. Some come from Elk City and Clinton and Altus. One fellow comes every Saturday from Hollis.

"That's a 90-mile drive."

The dance isn't free, although one could easily make a case against such a claim. Dancers pay $4 a head -- a fee that includes all the soda, coffee, cakes, pies, dinner dishes and dancing one desires.

"That's for four hours of entertainment," organizer Kenneth Boyd said. "It's happy hour around here every Saturday night from seven 'til eleven."

And a wholesome happy hour, at that.

Cooperton's weekly senior dances are smoke-free, alcoholic-free shindigs.

"My husband (Chub) and I have been coming down here for the past five years," said Frances McCracken of Apache. "There's no drinking, no smoking, no carrying on...just good, clean fun. We love it."

The McCrackens first discovered the Cooperton dances one Saturday night while driving along State Highway 54. From the highway the couple saw dozens of parked cars and bright lights coming from the old Cooperton High School bus barn.

The scene was quite shocking for a town that boasted a population of 17.

We thought there was a wedding or something going on," McCracken said. "A few days later we read about the dances in a newspaper. My husband said, 'Let's go.' So the next week we came to the dance.

"We've been coming ever since. We love it. These people taught us how to dance."

People like Dutch Cooper of Roosevelt.

Cooper, a retired farmer, has been dancing since he was 4 years old. In earlier days, he played baseball and softball with a passion, but has happily relegated himself to the dance floor the last 15 years.

Every month he attends at least five dances--four of those in Cooperton.

On August 31, the man everyone affectionately calls Dutch will celebrate his 92nd birthday.

"I enjoy it, enjoy getting my exercise," Cooper says during a break in the dancing. I'm 91 years old. I gotta keep a-going."

Cooper used to attend the dances with his wife, Annie, who died in December at 84. Annie loved to dance as much as her husband. She even danced with an artificial leg.

"Before she died," Cooper said, "she insisted I keep coming to the dances."

Boyd lives just south of Cooperton on a ranch that has been in his family since 1901. He has been at the heart of Cooperton's dances since the old school bus barn was renovated in the early 1970s.

He was there the day volunteer workers walked into the delapidated building. Pigeons roosted on unstable beams. Boards were strewn about the dirt floor. And some boards were nowhere to be found.

"You could say it was in a bad state of affairs," Boyd said.

But not for long.

Volunteers managed to spruce up the old bus barn with donated materials, including three truckloads of salvaged hardwood maple flooring from a Cordell gymnasium. Today, the maple floor glows beneath an umbrella of Christmas lights.

Deer antlers, large wooden wagon wheels, and headed mounts of a buffalo, a longhorn, an elk and a wild boar--all donations from Boyd's private collection--decorate the walls.

In addition, the dance hall pays homage to the town's past.

Old silver cups such as the one honoring the 1928 Cooperton "Base-Ball" team for its performance in the Ki-Wash Conference fill one large tropy case. Across the dance floor are pictures of Cooperton's graduating classes, which celebrated its last in 1965.

Another special feature is the hand-painted sign dedicated to Cooperton's World War II veterans. One hundred thirty-five names are listed, including two who never returned--Clarence Nash and Malvin Askew.

"This place is amazing," said Weatherford's LaRue Helzer, whose husband, Joe, plalys bass for the Wichita Valley Boys. "You have the whole history of a town right here in this building."

On the dance floor, meanwhile, visitors two-step to their own memories.

Regular Daphene Galloway of Rocky dances to the music while, on a nearby table, her video recorder tapes the proceedings.

"I like to watch the tape at home," Galloway said. "I like to watch the band and listen to the music."

Until next Saturday night.



The night can't come soon enough for folks who drive from all over southwest Oklahoma for the weekly Saturday night dance in Cooperton.

Staff Photos by Bryan Terry

(Entire article copied from The Sunday Oklahoman, Sunday, June 11, 2000.)

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ARTHUR T. HENDERSON, Cold Springs Store Owner

83-Year-Old County Merchant Still Alive
--By David Frost
(Reprinted from the Kiowa County Star-Review, May 20, 1965)
COLD SPRINGS - How long has Arthur T. Henderson had his store in this community in the south part of Kiowa County?

"Too long," he answers with decided good humor.

Henderson, who is 83, may well be the county?ldest merchant although his thriving general store has dwindled to a token grocery, mostly selling soda pop and bread to residents of the Cold Springs community.

Well known to his friends and customers is Henderson?ndependent personality, demonstrated in his reason for maintaing his store store although Cold Springs itself has dwindled to a population of 21.

"I?n here, mostly to keep out of the way of my children."

But his neighbors might disagree since Henderson has been a Cold Springs fixture for such a long time that the community would not be the same without him. For years he was the only registered Republlican in that former precinct - a veritable "Mr. Republican." A member of the Cold Springs Friends Church, he is noted in that are for being a Biblical scholar.

Born Dec. 8, 1881 in Hopkins County, Texas, Henderson came to Indian Territory in 1892 with his family, settling in what was to become Stephens County. He married Miss Mary Sykes Dec. 1, 1905 in Texas and they returned to Stephens County in January, 1909. They came to Cold Springs with his father and several of his brothers and sisters, Mrs. A. B. Cook, who also lives in the Cold Springs community.

Henderson farmed a couple of years and worked at a lumber yard before establishing his general store on Feb. 4, 1913. He has operated the store in Cold Springs since, except "for about three and a half years," he said. The store, where early day residents bought everything from piece goods to services such as binder repairs, was first in a two-story building. In 1915 Henderson moved the store to the present location.

The store was a large building until 1941 when it "blew away and we built it back with what we had left."

When Henderson began his career as a merchant, goods reached Cold Springs by train. In later years all merchandise was brought in by truck. Passenger trains haven?un through the community for years, but a Frisco Freight train still goes through twice daily without stopping.

Mrs. Henderson died in 1957 and the storekeeper has lived alone since in the quarters behind his one room store. In a typical morning a neighbor may come in, walk back to the refrigerator back in Henderson?uarters, take out a bottle of pop, come out to the store area and chat with Henderson while he drinks and then pay for the pop. Or long time neighbors, such as Mrs. Minnie Py, who has "lived on the hill" in the community about 60 years may drop in for a visit.

Several early-day Cold Springs residents are still living in the community and vividly recall the colorful and busy history of the town, which at its zenith, probably had 250 residents. They remember how North Cold Springs had a resort motel, how the granite firm and the not-too successful gold mine brought in people and promoters, and the time in 1912 when the rivalry between the two towns culminated in the train depots being moved from North to South Cold Springs. The present community is what used to be known as "South Cold Springs", the "South" being dropped after North Cold Springs went out of existence.

After the post offices at Wildman and Mondamin were incorporated into one at Cold springs, Mrs. Henderson served for years as postmistress, with her husband doing the heavy work such as carrying mail from the train.

Four of the Henderson seven children are living. They are Dr. Earnest Henderson, retired physician now in Glendale, AZ; Mrs. Robert (Loretta) Titus, Inola; Mrs. John (Louise) Agee, near Muleshoe, Texas and C. A. Henderson Of Oklahoma City, who is president of T. G. & Y. Stores Co., a national variety store. Henderson has twelve grandchildren, including Dr. Bobby Titus, veterinarian on the faculty at Texas A&M College, College Station, and several great- grandchildren.

Most of the Henderson store shelves are now empty, but he still has an old pair of scales and a cash register which he ordered from a Sears catalog in 1913. His nameplate is on the register and it can still ring up totals. He has sold an old coffee grinder which was used to grind coffee beans for Cold Springs residents.

"You just cannot run a store like you used to," Henderson mused. "Folks go to town now for bargains. Well, it is just someplace to go."
-cold springs remembered-

BEN CONRAD COMPLETES 3 YEARS IN NAVY!

Ben, son of Paul & Judy (Brown) Conrad, Jr., Roosevelt, and Diana Herchenroeder of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, completed three years of service in the U. S. Navy on June 22.

He has just returned from his second Arabian Gulf Deployment, with trips to Hong Kong, Thailand, Bahrain, Dubia, Oman, Singapore, East Timor, and Guam before returning to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

He also received a good conduct medal, two letters of commendation from the captain, was named the junior sailor of the quarter, and received a letter of commendation from the fifth fleet admiral, Rear Admiral Hoeing.

Ben is a 1997 graduate of Snyder High School and is assigned to the Russell 59 DDG.

NOTE: Information copied from Kiowa County Democrat, Thursday, June 29, 2000, Snyder, Oklahoma.

(Ben is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Brown, Roosevelt.)

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