Mom probably had the old wooden keepsake box since the 1940s or 1950s. I guess it was used as a catch-all for the last 50 or 60 years. As I began reading the newspaper, magazine, and church bulletin clippings, I believe some of the items were worth sharing: Heading: ‘Sheriff’s Party Fails to Find County’s Panther.’ This says a hunting party of Deputy Sheriff Bill Merryfield of Seminole, Undersheriff Doug Arnold, and Deputy Bill Hargrove of Wewoka, Game Ranger Clarence Lollis and George Sharp of Wewoka failed to find any trace of the county’s panther after a 3-hour hunt. A wide search was made in the area of A.W. Fry home at old Mountain View School teacherage and the R.T. Harbor ranch SE of city, (I date this at about 1962 when I was 16. I remember seeing a panther roaming outside our home.) If sighted again, we were to call Merryfield so he could send out hounds and experienced hunters.

Another article from a newspaper dated Dec. 26, 1962, was ‘Christmas Eve Plane Crash Takes Lives of Two Seminole Men.’ The crash was near Varnum School. Dead was the manager (of only 3 months) of the Seminole Municipal Airport, Duane Bledsoe, 26, and his passenger, drilling contractor Dick Mealy, 51. My oldest brother Bill spent hours after graduation learning to fly, being the youngest to solo here (at 16 or 17) at about 1963. Lloyd Claytor then was the airport manager.

One clipping from Chandler, OK, 70 years ago read, WEST SIDE HAS PUPIL CHANGES. Norma Fay Fry, from Pleasant Run, Texas, entered 1st grade. Jerry Fry in 3rd grade, William (Bill) Fry, the 4th grade. New Lima was the 4th school I went to, in which we all graduated.

From one of her grandson’s poems is entitled ‘The Call” by Wil Fry (1992): Grand visions inspired by a voice/An impression that left no choice.

‘Answer the call,’ I heard Him say/ ’Enter the field; harvest today.’

Somewhere along the weary way/ The voice I heard has gone away.

Directions once I saw so clear/Have been covered in this past year.

‘Renew my sight, oh, Lord,’ I pray/’Now, let me see the perfect way.

Show me again Your plan for me/ Peel off the scales so I can see.

Through the trials, I know I’ve grown/ Though I’m nothing if on my own.

Why He loves me, I just can’t see/ The grace of God lavished on me.

Now once again, the call I hear/the voice of God reaching my ear.

Where He leads me, I will follow/With God before me, yes, I’ll go.

And one from granddaughter, Nora Turner (no date): The pain sears deep in my heart. The agony wrenches me almost in two.

My soul lets out a silent cry. I look up and breathe a prayer. Then those hands, those arms, that Being who suffered all the pain of everyone throughout eternity surrounds and cradles my heart and my soul. Sharing the pain and giving me the strength to go on.

What Mom kept all these years tells me of her desires, her humor, her heart, her faith. This short poem reflects her sentiments in raising 5 kids: FIVE OF YOU… Here is to the five of you, How very much alive are you, Your ages range from 10 to 1 (actually we were a year apart), Oh busy me the whole day through, I cook and wash and iron for you, I pick up, clean up, darn for you.

You quarrel and I try to end it, In illness I’m your nurse to tend it. And must there be a problem steady, Of finding you when meals are ready? But as I contemplate about you, I know I could not do without you, I’d never trade a tot for you, For all the world has got, for you. Edna B. Zimmer.

THE WAY TO LIVE… Trying to be happy when the day seems long, Trying to be cheerful when everything goes wrong. Trying hard to do The best you can; Tring not to hinder, But to help your fellowman. Trying to look pleasant, Trying not to frown, Trying to prepare To wear the starry crown. Trying to be thoughtful, Learning how to give; Trying to be perfect—That the way to live. A PRAYER FOR TODAY… This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it—or use it for good, but what I do today is important because I am exchanging a day of my like for it! When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good and not evil; success and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it. W. Heartsill Wilson. And these words probably encouraged her while raising 5 kids. (The only times she asked Daddy for help was when we had misbehaved, and he applied a needed method to help correct us.) I praise God for their working together to raise us. COURAGE: Courage is a special kind of knowledge; the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared, and how not to fear what ought not be feared. From this knowledge comes an inner strength that subconsciously inspire us to push on in the face of great difficulty. What can seem impossible is often possible, with courage. Unknown From the past, I remember a hard-working, loving Mom who kept the home fires burning, as they say. With a good mind, she’s 96 and has acclimated to the nursing home quite well.

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