Lexington Observer (Lexington, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 2009 Page: 2 of 10
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2 September 3,2009 Lexington Observer
By: Mae I). Cox
This past week has been both interesting and fulfilling.
After quietly celebrating my birthday Monday, the days sped
by in one of those whirlwind kind of weeks.
There have been several phone calls, and one was from
.Juanita (.Jones) Ratliff. She is the daughter of Claud Jones who
taught many years at Buckhead School and other area schools
too. She had previously shared memories of her dad's teaching
day s and those are in my Buckhead book. We set a lunch date
for Tuesday and met over tasty BBQ sandwiches.
Juanita is a most charming lady and we visited for some
time talking about Buckhead and our families. She shared even
more about her father who seemingly was one of the most
popular teachers of that day and time.
Next up in my week
First was an email from Faye (Skinner) Willoughby.
Week before last. August 20th. we ran the photo of the Sunday
School class in front of a church — the photo at top right. She
confirmed it was her Sunday school class at the Mt. Zion M.E.
Church down near Buckhead.
Faye recognized the teacher and several of the students,
including herself standing on the back row, third from left:
"The teacher is Jessie Skinner. The three girls standing left of
the teacher are Vida Mae. Martha and Vivian Owen(s). Mary
Kathry n Skinner is front row. third from right, wearing the dark
tarn. Charlene Mantooth is the one in the white tarn.
"I think on back row second from left is Lavetta Blevins.
I would say the date of this picture is about 1935...”
The teacher. Jessie Skinner, was the wife of Major Skinner,
and mother of Woodson and Gilbert Skinner. This family lived
in the Buckhead area and the two boys attended Buckhead
School.
One of my aunts. Ann (Davenport) Ferrell and her family
all lived down in the same area and were neighbors to these
Skinners. She told about walking home from school: "There
were a bunch of us who lived close to each other, so we all
walked home together."
She said there were the two Skinner boys, Woodson and
Gilbert, Reba Benton, and the Blackburns — Dessie was the
only one she could remember by name. "We had a lot of fun
walking home, that's for sure!"
The Mary Kathryn Skinner in the picture was the
granddaughter, and namesake of Mary Catherine Upchurch who
married William Oliver Skinner. This family was one of the first
to settle in the Buckhead area and W.O. received a land patent
for eighty acres a half-mile south of Buckhead corner, being the
N/2 SW of Section 35-6N-IE.
Thursday morning
I picked up my daughter. Sharon Hendrickson, who had
flown in from Honolulu. She's lived out there for about seven
\ears now and lox es the serenitv and beautv of the islands.
Tw o weeks ago she and Len Hendrickson were married in
the most romantic setting I've ever heard of. Both were dressed
all in white and stood barefoot in the sand to take their vows.
She brought photos w ith her and we’ve posted them on my Web
site (ww w.coxok.com). Any w ay, her husband w as deployed two
days after they were married, so she came to visit for the next
three weeks. Oh how I love that!
And then came Saturday
A book signing event for Buckhead, O.T The History of
a Community and its People was hosted by the folks w ho put
out this superb newspaper. Arveda (Edwards) Rollins had
every thing all arranged when we arrived at the Observer office.
Plates of homemade cookies, along with coffee and punch were
ready. Arveda, along with Larry and Shirley McAfee seemed to
know just about everyone who came in.
Olvis Edwards, looking dashing as ever, spent a little while
with us then was off to the American Legion hall where they
were preparing a hamburger and hot dog lunch. Olvis’ youngest
son, Mike, also joined us.
1 guess on occasions like this there is always the fear that
no one will show up, and I understand it’s not uncommon for
that to happen. However, that fear was quickly dashed when four
cars pulled up all at the same time. The next couple of hours
were some of the most exciting ones ever.
Kay Hulsey of Midwest City was one of the first to arrive
along with Ginger VanCuren and Louis Bennett. Kay is from
the VanWinkle family and helped identify several of the un-
named, unclaimed photos we ran earlier.
It was neat getting acquainted with Roy and Sandra
Millsap. He is from the Millsap clan who migrated this way from
over in Arkansas. His grandfather, John Hill Millsap, married
my grandmother’s sister, Nancy Upchurch. If my calculations
are right that makes us second cousins.
Roy pointed out his father, Jess Millsap, in a photo that had
belonged to my father, Carl Davenport. I remember dad saying
the picture was of his cousins, and I know both their families
lived around the Buckhead area back in the 1910s and 1920s.
Small world isn’t it? I meet, for the first time, a cousin I didn’t
know I had!
It was great meeting Lavetta (Blevens) Peden. She spent
hours on the phone telling me about the Blevens who lived at
Buckhead. What a sharp and feisty lady she is!
Another of Claud Jones' daughters, Helen Floyd came
along with Marylin Woods, Claud’s granddaughter. This was
my first visit with them. We didn’t have much time to talk about
Mr. Jones, so perhaps we can resume that conversation soon.
Helen brought ajar of fresh honey — oh my, so good on biscuits
the next morning! Thanks much.
When I was frantically phoning trying to find some of the
Buckhead families, Buford Blackburn came to my rescue with
several names and phone numbers for me to contact. It was great
to finally meet him and his lovely wife, Betty.
Several Lex residents turned up including dear sweet Marie
Jeffries whom I've known for some time. Then there were Pat
Thompson, who has emailed frequently with encouragement and
tips for this column, and her husband Dean. Also, Lisa Barton,
and John and Dayle Hughes— she knows a lot about the area
and 1'11 be contacting her in the future.
Lori Clark breezed in and said she had called a friend who
lived right where Buckhead was located. Sure enough about
thirty minutes later in came Jill Leverett who seemed delighted
to learn her land was once part of the area known as Buckhead
Comer. Both Lori and Jill were charming young ladies and 1 was
delighted to meet them.
It was good to see Faye (Skinner) Willoughby whose
family is mentioned numerous times in the book. She’s another
cousin whom I've only known a short time having met through
Bessie (Upchurch) Starbuck about four years ago. One thing’s
for sure: when you get into genealogy you find a whole lot of
relatives you never knew about. It’s really neat to meet them for
the first time and discover, hey, this is a fun cousin!
Friends Hazel and Cliff Shockey popped by for a book and
to say hi. They're such a nice couple and Hazel writes fantastic
articles for this paper.
Mary Lewis and Jean McCracken, friends from the
Cleveland County Genealogical Society in Norman, also came.
Mary is president of our group, and Jean was interested in
meeting some of the ladies she had helped with research.
We tried to make sure every one signed our guest book yet
sadly, some were missed. My apologies if I’ve left out your name
here, and please know I am grateful to each and every one who
attended. Your interest and support was most heartwarming and
made it a day I'll cherish forever.
A very special thanks also to the kind and gracious folks at
the Lexington Observer for making the event possible.
***
Faye Skinner Willoughby, Lavetta Blevens Peden,
and Buford Blackburn
Roy and Sandra Millsap
Marie Jeffries
Dayle Hughes
Olvis Edwards. Larry and Shirley McAfee.
Arveda (Edwards) Rollins, and Mike Edwards
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McAfee, Shirley. Lexington Observer (Lexington, Okla.), Vol. 14, No. 22, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 3, 2009, newspaper, September 3, 2009; Lexington, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1599801/m1/2/: accessed April 25, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.