Jitney Lunches

“If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. ”

― Michael Crichton

   

Elbert Redwine attended Jefferson elementary in Norman, Oklahoma between 1920-1927. "Many of us were poor kids. Some children came to school barefoot. We had sack lunches from home or went home for lunch everyday when the noon bell rang. In the early part of the 1920's parents in town began to provide a 'Jefferson Jitney Lunch.' It became a weekly event during the twenties. Parents would bring all kinds of food that day and set up portable tables arranged in the first-floor hallway. It cost a nickel for each serving of food. I always had two nickels to spend."

No tree stands alone. 
We are all connected.

My personal thirst for stories took hold by 1984 when my elementary school celebrated its 90th anniversary. The stories returning students told brought tears and laughter to our faces. These stories come from the hearts of former Jefferson Dragons,  whose lives developed from the values of our public schools. 

A 'jitney lunch' became a theme of the stories from the 1920's-1950's when schools did not offer lunches. The descriptions and definitions of 'jitney' vary from a 'jitney taxi' in San Francisco meaning a cheap nickel ride to a meal as simple as a hot lunch consisting of hot dogs, soup and/or homemade dessert. Jitney lunches were served at churches, schools, public parks, and sometimes advertised in diners. 

While some newspapers wrote that a 'jitney lunch' was a cheap uninspiring meal, other people stood in line to enjoy the hot food and homemade desserts by volunteers. For many it may have been the only meal of the day. 

In 1932 Clara Furbee Worley shared this memory of attending Jefferson. "I remember one teacher, a small lady, who wore a fur coat. When she was on the play ground during recess, I used to put my hands in her coat pockets to keep my hands warm. You will have to remember that this is the depression, and I had no gloves." Clara lived six blocks away and described running home for lunch every day since they did not have a cafeteria. "On special occasions the school or the churches offered a 'jitney lunch' for us. It usually costs a nickel for the meal."

"During the depression years sometimes there were very few of us who came to school in shoes. There were lots of kids who were very underprivileged. My father, Dr. Charles R. Rayburn, was a physician (psychiatrist) at the state hospital and my mother was always room-mother. On special days she brought a freezer of home cranked ice cream and cupcakes," explained Rosalie Rayburn Renfro. "We all went home for lunch and those of us who lived close to school ran back early to school to play jacks before they rang the bell. We played with a golf ball and metal jacks. We also played London Bridge and Farmer in the Dell in the lower grades. On May Day there was the winding of the Maypole. One year I was an attendant to the May Queen." 

"Times were tough back then," writes Bill Saxon, "Many children at Jefferson elementary worked to support their large families.  I distinctly remember Bear Jensen, who went on to become one of our star athletes at Norman High School,  worked at the "Daily Oklahoman" for three hours every morning before coming to grade school in the 1930's." 

“History is who we are and why we are the way we are.”

--David McCullough, American historian

 Wallace Collins shared this piece of school history. "While my mother, Lois Collins was president of the PTA, they instituted what I believe was the very first hot lunch program for Jefferson. The PTA gathered sponsors to support the hot meals on every Friday of the school year. This would have been about 1952. The meals featured hot dogs, chips, and milk. The food items were donated by local merchants such as Greenleaf Grocery Store and Gilt-Edge Dairy (now Hyland Dairy). In addition to the Friday hot lunch, Gilt Edge Dairy agreed to deliver daily, half pint cartons of milk to the school at mid-morning to any student that wanted to subscribe for it. The cost was 3 cents each. I remember getting the milk, and many of us were thrilled when Guilt Edge expanded the milk option to include chocolate milk! These lunches were often referred to as “Jitney” lunches."

Beginning in 1953 Jefferson offered a daily lunchroom meal. Judy Jones Wilson writes, "My mother devoted the last ten years of her life as the head cook. She was famous for her hot breads. Every day we would have wonderful hot rolls. she even made her own hamburger buns."

By the early 1950's the term "jitney" dropped out of use because it implied cheapness or anything dilapidated, or ramshackled, such as  jitney pianos, jitney paintings, or jitney houses. 

“If you want to understand today you have to search yesterday.”

--Pearl S. Buck, American novelist (1892-1973)

*Stories collected from former Jefferson students who attended between 1920-1955. 

 

Roscoe Thompson's Story

In this 1911 classroom photo from Eastside school, there is a young boy named Roscoe who has drawn an arrow to himself beginning on the blackboard and over three rows to a young boy resting his right arm on the desk behind him. The photograph came from the collection of Nellie Beavers Childs.

The mystery began when Nellie Beavers Childs told me (Letty Watt) in a 1993 interview that Roscoe drew an arrow to himself in her two photos. 

Nellie Child's Story

I immediately thought Roscoe might be slightly ornery to draw a line to himself on a girl's class photo. He also drew a line in the 1908 photograph that Nellie carried with her. 

**This one's for you Roscoe: the line drawn to a young boy who would one day take over his father's business and create a legacy for Norman, Oklahoma.  

Curiosity took over and I set out in spring of 2025 to find out who Roscoe Thompson really was. In less than three months of social media, phone calls, and personal encounters I discovered that I personally knew Roscoe’s grandson, Craig Thompson, who works at OK Runner (3408 36th Ave NW Suite 100, Norman, OK 73072).

One afternoon in May, Gus Thompson, youngest son of Roscoe, and his wife Anna met me at Jefferson school to talk about Gus’s father, Roscoe.

Roscoe graduated from Norman High School in 1920 (building facing East Gray St. operated 1909—1958).

When I asked Gus about the nickname "Trucky" on his graduation picture, he said the family never used it, but it probably referred to their business "OK Transfer and Storage" being the first business to retire their workhorse "Old Domino" in 1915 and purchase a truck. It seemed logical that high school students in 1920 would nickname him "Trucky." 

Roscoe's son, Gus, also said that his father really never seemed ornery and wasn't sure why he would have drawn the line to himself in the old phots, but Gus smiled just the same. 

Roscoe’s father, James Milton “Milt” Thompson was the Foreman for the Henry Johnson Ranch in the Chickasaw Nation on the south banks of the Canadian River. When Roscoe was three the family, Milt and Lillie Belle, moved to Norman. In 1904 Milton Thompson started the "OK Transfer and Storage" business.

When Roscoe graduated from high school his plan was to go to college and become an engineer. When he enrolled, the University of Oklahoma professor said, “We don’t know what electrical engineering is but we can teach you how to use electricity.”

The family describes Roscoe as a quiet man who loved to read and quoted famous people and books regularly. In the 1920’s Roscoe married Esther Baker. However, in 1926 his father, Milt, was in a financial pinch and the bank went to Roscoe and asked if he would take over the business. The bankers thought Roscoe had the ability to rescue the business.

James Milton Thompson sold the business “Ok Transfer and Storage” to his son, Roscoe,  for $1.00 on June 28, 1926.

Milt became a farmer on a 160-acre plot of land owned by John and Bessie Baker, who were Esther’s parents.  John was the agent for Santa Fe Railroad at the Norman Depot.  

By 1924 Norman became known as the “City of Churches” with construction of one of the finest churches in the Southwest, The McFarlin Methodist Church. The merchants were proud of services and goods sold in Norman, so a Merchants Parade was staged with three of Thompson’s latest model trucks kicking off the parade, displaying new equipment in use.

 

Norman was recovering from its “greatest fire” that gutted building east from Peters St. The same year the highest flood waters known to the area swept through Little River. Even with these setbacks 200 new families moved to Norman and Roscoe Thompson was there to help with the moving and recovery.

 

Over the decades the Thompson name became ubiquitous with Norman businesses. Roscoe’s family with his wife, Esther, who was known as “boss Mom” had five sons: Jerry, Joe, Pat, Mike, and Gus.

 

Thompson Drive was named after the family grew its business at the far West side of Norman, now the corner of West Main and Thompson Drive, 1918 West Main.

Our Roscoe was known by his sons as “Daddy” and later known to his grandkids as “Pop.” Beginning in 1933 Roscoe Thompson started a men’s fishing trip for his employees and sons. This year in 2025 Gus shared that he had returned from the 88^th Annual TAFT--Thompson Annual Fishing Trip. 

*Great-Grandson, Brian McLaughlin, a fourth grader at Jefferson in 1994, participated in the 1894--1994 100th anniversary play "Then and Now"  of Eastside/Jefferson school.