Stormy Weather

After a stormy night and early morning, the sun comes up on a wet, windy world. Spring and storms sort of go together in these parts. Thankful for the rain, we could also do without the damaging wind and hail. But, what to do about it? Not one thing, except be aware and be as […]

A Whistle a Day

A lot of things that used to be commonplace have fallen to the wayside in the rush of a technological age. For example, I never hear anyone whistle a tune any more. Do you? I used to whistle a lot. Now, something has happened to my whistler and I have a pretty limited range. Used […]

Help and Courage

This is the second and final installment of my May 5, 1985 Daily Press article about the tornado which destroyed Peggs, Oklahoma on May 2, 1920. This was 104 years ago but it’s a part of history that shouldn’t be forgotten. In 1920, Walter Neel lived with his parents, brothers and sisters on the Gid […]

Remembering an Oklahoma Tornado

Each year I re-print the story of the Peggs tornado that I wrote for The Tahlequah Daily Press in 1985. This story is important because it is a part of our history. It is a sad story, but it is also full of human compassion and courage. We should not forget the many whose lives […]

Happy Birthday, Mr. Shakespeare

For goodness sake, it is not a foregone conclusion that all is doom and gloom. I refuse to budge an inch from my belief that all will be well. All the phrases in italics are attributed to William Shakespeare, that great master of words, who was born on this day in 1564 and died on this day in […]

Old Time Religion

It was not a church building. It was a schoolhouse. As I remember, it was painted white. There may have been a dividing curtain inside the house so that when school was in session, the teacher of the early grades could separate her classroom from the teacher and children of the upper grades. A schoolhouse […]