What We Think About... Over the years many things have changed in our lives and in Pawhuska. Here are our thoughts about a few subjects near and dear to our hearts. If you have memories to share, please send them to info@pawhuska63.com to be added. "You're so right about the turns our lives have taken. One thing that did strike me about that reunion was that we had all been around the block enough times - with enough less-than-perfect experiences - that nobody seemed to be trying to prove anything. And it's interesting to see in this PHS correspondence that there is a gentleness that comes into play when the teasing or opinions get very pointed." Dining Around Pawhuska * Everyone is talking about the famous "Pig Stand." My wife and I were in Pawhuska a while back and took Kay's sister-in-law out to eat. She wanted to go to, I believe, Magilacuddy's, for Mexican food. I was surprised that it was the old Pig Stand. The old pig sandwich is no longer. They had enlarged the place a little and do a pretty good business I understand. Andy's hamburgers were so good. Remember the "Red Bud", the hangout after ballgames? It's now, or was, a Lot-A-Burger. Bartlesville was the place for those. The old Dairy Queen served pretty good burgers too. The Tasty Freeze was next to out house. Boy, I remember having to come up with 35 cents to get a jumbo burger. Used to get chili-cheeseburgers there too. I'm surprised after all those greasy burgers, that I'm still alive. During the summer months, the Tasty Freeze would close at 11 p.m., and I was usually ordering something at 10:50. I think they turned their fans toward my house so the smell would lure me there. * Linda Williams, our classmate, last name now Boone I think, told me at the 35th reunion that her mother actually has the recipe for the original pig sandwich - Now that is a project for our 40th reunion upon which we should act. We could have a Pig Sandwich bash somewhere - and then just lean up against a tree in the shade and swap lies eyeball to eyeball. I'm votin' for that! I can't be the only one who has Sally Carroll on my list of all time favorite cooks and personalities. She is the greatest. Phillip Redwine introduced me to "Sally's Sandwich Shop" when we were working at JC Penney's for Mr. Doll. She is still there, and probably has feed more really poor people than we could possibly imagine. She is in her 80's and as far as I know, still working most days. There have been several 'write-ups' about her in the Oklahoma press, but the thing they all miss, is her generosity and the kindness she extends to all of her customers. Great food - Great Lady. * People have mentioned Sally's Cafe. There was a story on her on "Oklahoma Traveler", I believe. They showed her at work everyday at 5:00 a.m. everyday handmaking all the pies. They said she feeds all the seniors for free on graduation day. I was thinking she was around 85 years old. She said she was afraid what would happen to her if she retired. God Bless her. * Sally and Vi are good friends and go waaaaay back. Sally first started working for the Laszlos when in school -- they paid her a hamburger for waiting tables during the lunch hour. She hung around long enough to get their chili recipe, which survives today, of course -- it is much less spicy and a bit yellower on those days when corn meal is added to streeeeeeeeetch it a bit until a new batch is made. I might have already written about this, but I remember when Sally's was as much a place to get a beer in the afternoon as a bowl of chili. Roses (Simeon St. James aka Four Roses, the gardener) used to spend his afternoons there. Messrs. Lefler and McGuire had a few brewskis, too. Nearly the sickest I've ever been was when Shorty Garrett used his pocket knife to help slurp his way through some pickled pig's feet at the counter next to me. Sally is a legend in her own time ... she's had great publicity from the major newspapers and TV stations over the years. Any reporter worth his notebook who stopped in Pawhuska to cover a trial or whatever would have done a story on Sally and her business. After Sally quit serving beer, lots more folks started eating there, including Mr. Terrill, Ray's Uncle George, judges (sober or not), lawyers (sleazy or otherwise), and The Great Doc Miller (Willis P.) on every day except when Kiwanis meets. These days you can get a large cheeboogie at Sally's, but you still can't get fries -- cheeps! * Sharon (McKee), her sister, and her Mother were the last to own the Pig Stand. Eventually Sharon worked over in B-ville and left it to her Mother and sister to run. * I enjoyed reading about the Pig Stand, Sally's (my dad loved to get a cheeseburger there and a strawberry pop), and Andy's. Brad Barton started Bad Brad's at the Tastee Freeze where I used to eat lunch when in jr. high! There have been several articles about Bad Brad's in the paper. Still his barbecue doesn't measure up to the Pig Stand. * Oh, the Pig Stand! Everyone in my family has heard me wax eloquent over those sandwiches. Never have eaten anything as good. My mom wouldn't let me go in, just order outside. * The building is there ... still out on the highway heading west, but it is/was a Mexican joint ... I go way back to when the Pig Stand was just off the road to the country club and on the road to the old nursing home, that huge sandstone building ... The Trouts had it then ... it was the hangout for all ages, just depending on the time of day ... Pig Sandwich story: I went one time fairly hungry and ordered three (plain sauce, which meant no relish) and a Dr Pepper. There was a salesman of some sort there, wearing a suit and I'd never seen him before. He laughed when I ordered three, for some reason, then said something about they must be good. I said they were the best; he said something about why just stop at three? I said something like well, maybe I'm just starting with three (which was the truth). He asks me how many I think I can eat ... I say oh, five or so. He says he bets I can't eat seven. I bet I can and bet that he pays for every one I eat if I eat seven or more, plus $5 if I get to 10 and $10 if I get to 15, and $20 if I go over 15 plus a good tip for the cook and however many Dr Peppers I need. Well, Gilson Williams is in the kitchen heating the buns on the grill, heating the water to dip the pig meat in, and, I imagine, laughing to himself... I had eaten 10 the week before. The salesman takes the bet, and I eat 16. Salesman pays off and leaves, and Gilson and I laugh ourselves silly (sillier). Next night about the same time, I come in for supper, not really wanting any Pig Sandwiches, but Salesman is there, one or two empty beer bottles on his table. How many do you figure I can eat tonight, I ask him. He says I'll have to eat at least 17 or I pay him back what I won the night before. I don't know if Gilson held back a little on the meat as he made the sandwiches ... but I do know I was plenty full after I downed No. 18. They were only 35 cents a piece then, I think. I didn't eat another Pig for at least a couple of weeks. I tried to duplicate them with pork roasts, cured hams, and pork chops over the years. Then I met Gilson's grandson, Judy Crumrine's son, who said his grandfather used a "green ham." * Wasn't the Tastee Freeze about a block south of the Catholic Church? When we lived across from the church, we used to go over to some walk-up place and get delicious hamburgers. * This was where they had Frito chile pies. And speaking of the church, who remembers some of us paying to eat there once a week? There was a time there, and it had to have been junior high school, that we ate there on Fridays. Can you imagine actually paying for the privilege of eating peanut butter and jelly and grilled cheese sandwiches? * I had an idea that we actually started going down to the RC school for lunch during the 6th grade, when we discovered their cafeteria was better than the one at the new school. I seem to remember that Lillie Hughes fixed it up with Mrs. McFadden, who was in charge of the RC school cafeteria. * I practically feel like there is no place to eat in Oklahoma, but there must be in Tulsa and OK City and other places I had no reason to know about. In fact, we (grandparents and I) used to go to a Mexican place in Tulsa. I have to admit that I liked the pig sandwiches at Pig Stand and the sausage flavored with sage that they sold at the Packing House. I'm hoping to get some good Mexican in Colorado. There used to be a really good place called La Cocina in the Springs but I think it has closed. I went to the original La Cocina in Pueblo, CO when I worked in the state hospital there for a year. The margaritas and the chicken flautas with green chili on top were out of sight! * Does anyone remember the little joint just south of the high school called Gabe's. I do not remember it for the food but just a place to hangout and listen to the old juke box. * Andy came from Barnsdall, I believe, and now there's an Andy's back in Barnsdall. My dad used to take PeeWee teams there after the games some -- first time I ever had a non-homemade burger was there; we had hamburgers at home but never had buns, just white bread. School Moments * I was home one weekend from college and Jim Schooling asked me to go to the Pawhuska/Perry wrestling match at the gym. At that time Perry was rated #1 (as usual), and Jim's younger brother, Joe, was to wrestle one of the defending state champions. The gym was packed and after the first match, the two scoreboards in the gym were used to show the team scores and not the individual match scores. There was a big blackboard that was kept behind the ticket booth that they would bring out to keep the score of the individual matches. They had forgot to bring out the blackboard and Mr. Bean and Mr. Arnold volenteered to fetch it and carry it out to the mat. Well, the night before, there was a basketball game at Pawhuska, and someone drew a big hand highlighting the middle finger and underneath were the words F _ _ _ YOU! This was on the side that was up against the wall, so Mr Bean and Arnold did not see it. Here they go marching to the center of the gym with this big finger like a protest march. They never did notice it until they set the thing down and turned it around. That gym never heard so much yelling and screaming of laughter in all its years. They had nothing to erase it with so Mr. Beam used the sleeve of his suit coat which didn't quite clean it off. Finally someone brought out a wet rag. It was like a spotlight shining off Mr. Bean's head as he was so embarrassed. *I remember one time in Mr. Lewis's algebra class that on a certain signal from someone, everyone would stare at the speaker box over his head. As he was talking, he noticed the class was apparently listening to an anouncement, so he stopped and tried to listen. He would turn up his hearing aid. He wasn't too amused. I think David had something to do with the whole thing, or was it Beaird, or GJ, or Dale, or Aaron, or Ronnie, or Melvin, or Eddie, or Ezra, or Tommy, or Jim R., or maybe it was one of the gals. GJ: Not me -- he was my halfsister's husband's stepfather. THE POOL HALL (Henry's) * I guess we spent some spare time there didn't we. I can still handle a stick, and to this day pitch is still one of my favorite games. For those of you who are in the dark--you missed a great piece of the growing up game..... * I can still remember my mom screaming from the distant reaches of the house, "You've been in that dirty old pool hall again!!" when I opened the front door. And to think we thought our folks didn't know ..... * I always thought the best snooker player was who ever I was playing. I haven't played pitch in so long. Really enjoyed the game. Haven't seen pitch domino's since we graduated. Have played with cards some, but it's not the same. Always wondered what happened to all the pool and snooker tables at the "Palace"? * I last saw Judy when Donna and I met her at an opera about 3 or 4 years ago (or something like that). She was an honored, featured guest as the lady friend of Governor Keating's little brother. So, we didn't spend much time talking about "the pool hall," as my mom always insisted on calling it. I had seen her from time to time for the two or three years prior to that, and she had told me that the Palace still had all the tables and stuff in there because no one seemed to appreciate the value that it held for the generations who considered it a rite of passage, and those who said take whatever you can get. So, the place was locked up with everything still in it. Don't know what the deal is now, but it looks from the outside like it's all still there, just closed. * I'm not sure, but I know dch & I both got hauled out of the "Palace Recreation Hall" numerous times. My dad finally gave up. Dave's too, probably. What was the name of the short little guy - he worked at the Hub Clothier - who had such command of curse words. For some reason, I thought he was funny as hell. He used to gripe like crazy when Henry stopped getting the 6oz. Cokes. Stuff just don't taste the same! Not enough fizz. and on...and on...and on... Now Melvin Reed was about the best snooker player I can recall from our class. dch got much better when he finally started wearing glasses to play. I always thought it was 'rack 'em, Henry', could be wrong. Home | Class Directory | Our Faculties | Then & Now | Reunions | What We Think About | In Memoriam