My grandmother was Allie Mae Owen Standifer Cope.\u00a0 She married J.J. Standifer on Oct. 6, 1909.\u00a0 In 1922, J.J. was burned in an explosion at a gas station near Henryetta, OK.\u00a0 He ran through the flames and turned off the valve to the gas line.\u00a0 His clothes and boots were burned from his body.\u00a0 He lived in agony for 14 days and died on November 11, 1922.\u00a0 My dad, their only child was 11 years old.\u00a0 The only paternal grandfather I knew was C.R. Cope.<\/p>\n
In 1945, Grandmother’s brother, Tom Owen, was constructing a refrigerated building in Fresno, CA.\u00a0 He asked my granddad Cope to help.\u00a0 Granddad asked if I wanted to go.\u00a0 I was 12 years old.\u00a0 That sounded exciting!.\u00a0 During WW11, most of the able-bodied men were in the military.\u00a0 I went to the employment office in Fresno.\u00a0 I was told to be there early in the morning and get on the first truck that pulled up.\u00a0 The trucks transported day laborers to work in the fruit harvests.\u00a0 Aunt Bertie packed me a lunch, and I was ready to go.\u00a0 The first harvest was apricots.<\/p>\n
I had never seen an apricot.\u00a0 they were good.\u00a0 I would pick a few, and then, I would eat one.\u00a0 I was very sick that night.\u00a0 I have not eaten another apricot.\u00a0 After about two weeks, the truck took us to pick grapes.\u00a0 I did not eat many grapes.\u00a0 Granddad went back home to Mcalester.\u00a0 I stayed several more weeks with Uncle Tom and Aunt Bertie.\u00a0 Then I rode the bus back to McAlester.\u00a0 I learned later that Uncle tom and Aunt Bertie had asked my parents if I could stay in California with them.<\/p>\n
I worked for Uncle Tom Weeks after I got home.\u00a0 He needed help harvesting onions.\u00a0 I rode the bus from McAlester to Indianola.\u00a0 The bus was small, probably a 10 or 12 passenger vehicle, and was privately owned.\u00a0 I spent the night with the owners.\u00a0 The next morning, Uncle tom came for me.\u00a0 Uncle Tom had a turning plow pulled by a team of mules, which turned up the onions.\u00a0 I went behind him, cut the tops off the onions, and put them in a tow sack.\u00a0 Aunt Nannie prepared a big breakfast before we went to the field.\u00a0 We took a break and had another big meal at lunch.\u00a0 After we bathed in the creek and put on clean clothes, we were fed another big meal for supper.\u00a0 After several days, I went back to McAlester on the bus.\u00a0 Uncle tom and Aunt Nannie never owned a car.\u00a0 I only saw him use mules to pull his wagon and equipment.<\/p>\n
I owned a 1950 Studebaker in 1955.\u00a0 I was in Army basic training at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas (now Fort Chaffee).\u00a0 I was driving back to the base after a three-day pass when the motor went out on the car. I don’t know how I got the car back to Mcalester.\u00a0 It is likely that Granddad Cope towed me with his 1948 Chrysler.\u00a0 Granddad got me back to the base on time.\u00a0 I told him that he and grandmother could have the Studebaker if he could fix it.\u00a0 I wanted to laugh or correct y grandmother when she told me, “I helped him.\u00a0 We got that “block and tickle” and lifted that motor right out of there.”\u00a0 ( I didn’t laugh or correct her!)\u00a0 They did get the Studebaker running.\u00a0 They liked it much better than their Chrysler, so they sold the Chrysler.\u00a0 they were still driving it when Granddad died in 1961.\u00a0 Grandmother did not drive, but she kept the car for others to drive when she needed someone to drive her.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2019 Owen Reunion Committee<\/p>\n
(Note one of my first blogs referenced Ken’s bus ride and safety in the 1940s as compared to now.\u00a0 It was put up on 1-17-15 and titled “Cross Country Bus Ride.”\u00a0 Blogs are in chronological order, and it is on pg. 8 or 9 if anyone wants to read it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My grandmother was Allie Mae Owen Standifer Cope. She married J.J. Standifer on Oct. 6, 1909. In 1922, J.J. was burned in an explosion at a gas station near Henryetta, OK. He ran through the flames and turned off the valve to the gas line. His clothes and boots were burned from his body. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[309,310],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-pioneer-man","tag-harvest-help-by-a-12-year-old","tag-owen-family-history"],"yoast_head":"\n