Two Retired Cowboys

Remember “Daddy Tom” Sherry from the two story building on 11th and Atlanta Place? His son, Ray Sherry, was a police officer who married Beth Shirley. Beth Shirley became Beth Sherry. Ray ended up passing away in the front bedroom of their home. The unusual part about it was… they had a heck of a time getting to ‘ol Ray because his bulldog didn’t want to let anyone near him!

After her husband passed away, Beth (Shirley) Sherry continued to live in the home and built garage apartments for her two brothers, Bill and Joe. Bill and Joe were real cowboys that had worked on the 101 Ranch. The 101 Ranch was a 110,000 acre ranch east of present day Ponca City. They had lived most of their life there but got too old and couldn’t cowboy. So, they would sharpen lawnmowers, this that and the other…in a little shop out in the back. The kids in the neighborhood would go down there and pester them and they’d show them rope tricks and all that kind of stuff…because they were real cowboys.

References:
Photograph: By A. Mueller, October 2019. Ray and Beth Sherry’s house.
Holderman, J. (2019, October 5). Personal interview. Also present were C. Holderman and P. Casey Morgan.
Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved from: https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MI029

Comments

Grocery stores in the neighborhood

As information is gathered on the small local grocers that dotted our neighborhood this post will be updated over time. These are the known groceries over time in and near the neighborhood. The ad below from 1928 helped me identify some of the neighborhood groceries, including the flat roofed store fronts that are still standing in the neighborhood on Atlanta Avenue and Delaware Place. Tulsa World 1928 1137 S Atlanta Avenue: Graham Market Owned by Harrison "Harry" Canfield Graham was a Tulsa grocery operator for 18 years. In 1930, Graham and his wife, Cora, and four of their six children lived in the neighborhood at 1336 S. Gary Place. Their home was a craftsman bungalow with a stately red brick front porch. Following his death in 1938 he was interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa. Cora lived until 1975. She was 99 years old. Tulsa Tribune December 1938 Tulsa Tribune 1934 ad that mentions Graham Market Google Maps ...

One Family- One House- One Hundred Years

Part I: Rosemont Heights Rosemont Heights was one of the earliest divisions or ‘additions’ of land that was graded, platted with lots for sale in what is now as the Renaissance Neighborhood. It was platted in 1911. Originally Muscogee Creek land, it was allotted to Mary Jane Perryman in the early 1900's. Mary Jane would have been about 17 years old in 1911. She had married young and by 1911 she and her first husband, John Robert Harkness, already had three children. It would be very interesting to know how much she was paid for the property when purchased by a Mr. John P. Given. According to her niece, Wavel Ashbaugh, interviewed in 2015 by Voices of Oklahoma, Native people were often taken advantage of with complex land contracts and white settlers"...didn't pay very much for it...". The present-day boundaries of Rosemont Heights are Delaware Avenue to South Florence Avenue and Thirteenth Street to Fifte...

The Secret in the Wall

Linda and Yul Tudor Revival ~ 2378 sq feet 3 Bedroom/2 Bath Full basement/Multi-level attic Owners Interviewed on January 12, 2019 ***** Is there a particular home in the neighborhood that catches your eye or sparks your curiosity? I asked many friends and neighbors this question and several mentioned our featured home. Standing out on a double-corner lot, the large Tudor revival has a sweeping roof line, large recessed dormer window, and covered porch. The third owner, Mary Kingsolver Millard, was the longest owner of the property: 1965 to 2013. Many neighbors remember the bear statue that she kept on the front porch and decorated for every holiday. The bear was carved by Claremore chainsaw artist Clayton Coss . Also by Coss, a carved eagle is forever perched on an old cedar tree on the Northeast part of the property. Linda and Yul are the fourth and current owners of the home. They were also attracted...

The Renaissance Neighborhood History Project

Search This Blog