2006 Cow Chip

2006 Cow Chip News

2006 Cow Chip Activities in Beaver, Ok

What an honor to be chosen Pioneer Queen for the 2006 Celebration! I would like to thank the person, or persons, who chose me.
I was born April 27, 1924, six miles east of Beaver in a little two room house. (My grandchildren in their younger years used to all think I was just born under “that tree at the six mile corner!!”)
My parents were George and Rosa Altman. I was the sixth of seven children: Vesper (Vep), Herman, Burl (Chalk), Grace, Burford (Buke), myself and George Junior. Daddy was the blacksmith and also drove a school bus. Mother had six children at this time, plus three or four extras. These were children who just needed a home! There was always room for more at Mother’s table!
It seemed we moved “every time the moon changed,” so we moved to Beaver after living in the country for three years. Daddy’s blacksmith shop was located where the City Hall is now. I loved going down to see Daddy because he would give me money to stop at Goetzingers for “peanut butter.” He also had an indoor toilet - a novelty to me, as we had a path leading to an outhouse at home!
After several more moves, we ended up at Forgan. With the dust storms in the 30’s, Mother’s health was serious with coughing spells. We had friends and family in Washington state, so “Washington, here we come!” In a truck with a heavy tarp and bows, we started. The trip took about ten days. We lived there for seven years. Buke and I graduated from Kelso High School.
Daddy didn’t like so much rain, so in 1942, we moved back to Beaver. Vep, Grace, and Buke remained in Washington. Oh! What fun it was to be home again and see old friends and family! And to make new friends!
Lloyd Barby and I had gone to school together in 4th grade, when he came to Beaver from the ranch school. My vivid memory of him was that he wore blue denim shirts and cowboy boots! However, he didn’t give me a second look! This big school was about all he could handle.
It was awhile before we started dating after I came back from Washington. A cute story that my kids liked about their daddy was that Virgie, my sister-in-law, encouraged me to date Lloyd. I had seen him one time sitting in the car when I was walking down the street. I had smiled and waved, and he just looked right ahead. I thought he was just the most stuck up person I had ever been around. I got a job at the AAA office, thanks to Grover D. Smith and my brothers, Hermie and Chalk Altman. In that office I got to know almost every farmer and rancher in the county, plus some in neighboring states. It was during this time that Lloyd and I started dating. I asked Lloyd about the time I saw him in the car. He didn’t remember it! He had been sleeping!
I hope you don’t mind all these little stories, one that our grandkids love follows. My brother and sister-in-law Chalk and Cleo Altman lived in the Jim Thompson house, the place that Roy Bridwell now owns. I was there for one week-end in September, and Lloyd rode his horse Ole’ Smokey up to see me. We were in the front room visiting - no TV - and he asked, What do you want for Christmas? I replied, “You!” It surprised us both, I think, but it worked. We were married in the Christian Church on June 25, 1944. Lloyd turned twenty-one the week before, and he always joked that he got to be his own boss for one week, but I must say he treated me like a queen all our married life. We went to Alva for our honeymoon on four borrowed tires!! (Remember, this was during the war!) We moved to the ranch and made our home there, living in a little five room house that Earl and Reola Maple had built. Lloyd ran the ranch, and I took care of the home. I fed many ranch hands in my home and enjoyed cooking for them.
Lloyd and I became the proud parents of three children: Cathy, Read and Jan. Cathy is married to Jim Lewien, and they have five children. Read married Jerry Lynn Sterling, and they have three children. Jan is married to Guy Payne and they have four children. We have twelve grandchildren, ten great grands, and, oh, they are all such fun and have brought so much joy to our lives - love all of them!!!
Besides ranching, Lloyd had rodeo stock. Oh! The stories I could tell about that venture! We learned a lot and got to know so many wonderful people. One night I fed 30 cowboys in the motel room, cooking out of the bathroom.
I have also always like to sew. It paid off when my kids were growing up. I made dresses for the girls and western suits for Jan when she was Miss Oklahoma Northwest. I even got offers from some companies to design them when she spent a week modeling for Tregos and market during the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. I never did, didn’t have time, but I was quite flattered with the offer.
Lloyd had failing health, making it necessary to turn the rodeo business over to the kids. However, this did not keep him at home. So it became necessary to sell the rodeo stock. It was a sad day when the last load left the ranch. They all had personalities and were such a part of our lives. The sale was a heartbreak to us all but was necessary.
Lloyd’s health continued to decline. We went to doctors in five different states to find a cure, but there was to be none. I have been alone for eleven years. Thank God for kids, grandkids, and great grands!!
Again. I say a sincere “Thank You” for choosing me to be Pioneer Queen. I am truly honored! What an honor to be chosen Pioneer Queen for the 2006 Celebration! I would like to thank the person, or persons, who chose me.

J.J. Parker, also known as Jake, was born September 13, 1929. He was born on the family farm in Beaver, Oklahoma to Reuben and Flora Elizabeth Patee Parker.
Reuben and Flora’s families came in covered wagons from Kentucky and Iowa respectively, to settle in the Panhandle of Oklahoma in the late 1800’s. Reuben and Flora were married in Beaver in 1918 and started residence on the family farm. Reuben worked for Beaver County, as well as on his farm, to support Flora and their eight children: Dillard, Fred, Lucille, Louise, Jake, Ima, Otto (Corky), and Reuben.
Jake attended school in Beaver with his brothers and sisters and worked on the family farm. He took his first paying job in 1944, when he was 15 years old, working at the Beaver Livestock Auction. Jake remembers him and Logan Rock riding their horses the eight miles to town and back from the sale barn. There he worked off and on until he got a job constructing the Equity COOP building. He also did construction work on the Southwest Electric Building. He learned a lot about working with cement on those projects.
Jake took several jobs over the years to help with the family farm after his father passed away in 1949. Jake was 19 years old. He worked for Sumrall Oil Company and on Stanley Barby’s ranch for three years. As well as later working at the Gregory Feed Lot. He enjoyed his rodeo job working for Lloyd Barby during rodeo season. His roping skills were constantly tested during this job. During rodeo season, he not only helped take care of the stock, he was the pick-up man during the bull, bareback and bronc riding. He and his partners (Guy Payne and Read Barby), always returned the cowboy to safe ground, all the while spending time mending fences, breaking and raising a few horses and cattle at home, and participating in the occasional team roping competition. They won quite a few belt buckles. Jake then took a job working for the State. In 1991 he was awarded Employee of the month. He retired in 1995 only to continue with raising his horses.
In 1956, he met Audrey Wright at a football game in Beaver. Audrey was attending Balko High School at the time. They soon married on February 15, 1957 in Clayton, New Mexico.
They have lived on the family farm, off and on, for 49 years. When they married, Jake was working in construction with his own backhoe service. Jake and Audrey soon started raising their four girls. All four girls were born and raised in Beaver County: Trecia McDonald of Tyrone, Oklahoma; Brenda Gordon of Edmond, Oklahoma; LaNae Oliver of San Antonio, Texas; and Joy Fitts of Beaver. He also has 13 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
The farm has been in the family since the early land rush. It was still considered “No Man’s Land” when James R and Walter S. Parker were the first to homestead on the site. Jake and Audrey still reside on the farm, located southwest of Beaver.