Reflections on Our Past

 Reflections....on Our Past  

written for the Norman Transcript by Frances Barker Maynard, edited by Letty Stapp Watt

1900's Norman, Oklahoma

My father, Bland C. Barker, came to Norman in 1902 and started the Barker Lumber Company. It was just east of Cleveland County Courthouse, on the land which is now the Security National Bank drive-in, between East Comanche and Eufaula on South Peters Street.

He had a team of horses and a large "dray" to deliver lumber around the town and in the country--all roads were dirt (and MUD after any amount of rain). Two men were hired to help in the lumber yard, in delivering lumber, and to do some building.

My mother, Lucy McKittrick, was a school teacher at Jefferson School.

Eastside School grades 1-12 built in 1894. In 1909 when the new Norman High School opened on the corner of E. Gray and Ponca (facing the south) they renamed Eastside to be Jefferson school grades 1-8. This building burned mysteriously in 1914. The new building opened 1916. 

One fall, the Norman Chamber of Commerce held a contest. The young girls of the community were to represent the different business--literally. Mother was assigned the Barker Lumber Company. 

She didn't know Mr. Barker, and he didn't know Miss McKittrick. So, it was with some misgivings, that Mother went down to the lumber yard to see if there was something she could use in making a costume.

Daddy was very helpful. He brought out tar paper and bangles, strips of color charts, and different shapes and sizes of wood blocks.

Mother took these home, and fashioned a beautiful and very unique costume. On the bottom of the long black dress, she made a flared border from the tar paper, and decorated it with the bangles. Around the collar and down the front of the waist, she sewed the strips of color charts. She also used these strips to make a tiara to wear on her hair. She made a belt, using the wood blocks, to wear around her waist.

The night of the contest, my mother, according to my father, was radiant--with her brown eyes and black hair, and her beautiful costume. She carried a stand-up placard with read, "Barker Lumber Company." 

She was the Winner!

Needless, to say, about a year later, Mother and Daddy were married, but not until Bland C. Barker attended the World Series and Fair in St. Louis in 1904. 

Six children were born to the union: Hermione, Clarence, Frances, Norman, Forrest and Jack. 

***

The reflection closes with the children's names but continues with a little research. The saddest story is that Lucy's son, Norman fought in WWII and is listed as MIA. 

Frances' mother, Lucy McKittrick, was hired to teach at Eastside school in June 1902. The Norman Transcript 1902.2.6 published those receiving teacher certificates. 

I do not know how long Lucy continued to teach at Jefferson. Her daughter, Frances Barker, attended many social events in Norman and Oklahoma City where she played the piano and sang for the audiences. She was a highly talented musician. Frances graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1940 with a degree in music.

In the 1980's Terri Street was hired to teach music at Jefferson Elementary. Terri went on to become a media specialist/librarian for the Norman Public Schools until retirement. She and I remain great friends from our teaching years at Jefferson.

When I saw the last name Maynard, I remembered that Terri had relatives with that last name. One phone call later and we realized that Terri was related to that lovely radiant Lucy McKittrick who began teaching on the same landsite nearly 80 years before.

Terri writes: Frances Alice Barker of Norman married my Granddaddy's older brother, Louis Jackson Maynard. They lived in Norman for many years where she later taught school. Louis, the historian and professor taught at OU and wrote several books on our state's history. They raised two adopted children, and bought a rural property at Wetumka, Ok after Louis retired. They both lived long and happy lives and I remember them well. He loved to write and tell stories, and she loved to sing, play music, and make others laugh. 

It's a small world, isn't it?

We are the Jefferson Dragons. We symbolize "Power, Wisdom, and Chaos." Right now, we are sorting through the chaos and laughing...laughing and loving every moment of the research expedition into our history. 

Letty Watt, Jefferson Historian

1908--1994 Their Friendship Endured

Boys will be boys whether it is 1909 or 2025. In this photo the arrow is drawn to a young boy named Roscoe Thompson. Whether he was a close neighbor, a friend who teased the girls (my guess), or an ornery kid, we will never know. What we do know is that in the two photos donated by Nellie Beavers Childs in 1993, either she or Roscoe drew an arrow pointing to him, not to Nellie and not to her lifelong best friend, Metaline. What does this tell you?

I had the opportunity to interview Nellie in 1993 at her apartment on Hal Muldrow Dr. in Norman. Her is a portion of her story.

In second grade class we had Miss Callie Webster who was a beautiful 18-year-old teacher. We loved her.  One day it was snowing and we were standing by Miss Webster's desk when she asked the girl next to me how she kept her hair in curls all day. The girl answered, "My mother puts something sweet on it every day." The teacher felt her curls and sure enough they were stiff. 

1908 Eastside School (Jefferson). Look for arrow in the top right hand corner and then see the photo of a young boy named Roscoe Thompson. Roscoe was a friend of Nellie Beavers Childs, the lady who donated this picture to Jefferson for our 1994 for our Centennial. 

1909-1910 2^nd grade JEFFERSON SCHOOL (Nellie Beavers Child) Pictures

Teacher: Callie Webster

Row 1: boy,  Metaline Cathey, lived on N.E. corner of Finley and Gray. They had a store in one room selling tablets, pencils, etc. boy, girl, girl, Agnes Wolf (McComb)  and Thelma Walker.

Row 2: (did not identify which one) Chester Capshaw, son of one of our first doctors. 7^th person Marion Moffett. Her father ran a bicycle shop in 200 block of Main on North Finley street. Next Robert Durkie; next Otis Sullivant.

Row 3: 1^st girl Martha Lee McComb, 2nd girl Nellie Beavers, 7^th person Aubrey Davis, 12^th Roscoe Thompson, ___, 13^th head of Addie Wilson. 

I enrolled in first grade in 1908 even though I was only five years old. I could already read. The neighbors said I couldn't go because I wasn't six years old. My brother said, "I'll put the number 5 in your shoe and if your teacher asks you, you can say you're over 5 years old." My teacher never did ask. I think Miss Cook knew because she was a friend of our family.

Every morning, at noon and during recess our janitor sat at the top of the stairs, and he would hand sharpen our pencils using his knife. One pencil at a time. We didn't have pencil sharpeners.  In the morning he stood at the top of the stairs to see if any students were still running to school. If he saw any children he waited to ring the tardy bell till the last students were in the room. 

*Look closely at the photo. Roscoe drew an arrow from the chalkboard to the third row of boys. He is looking at the camera and has his elbow on the desk behind on top of books. 

We didn't have programs in the school like we do now. The only thing I remember is the Maypole dance in the school yard. Some students were selected from each class to wind the Maypole on May Day. 

Out of our first-grade class there were at least ten who graduated with me in 1920. I know five of them taught school.  In second grade we had seatmates, but I guess we talked too much, and the teacher moved one of us out of the seat and put a boy in our place. I had to move and sit with a different boy. I thought it was great because the boy she put me with I knew from church, but he didn't like it (I wonder if this was Roscoe?). None of the boys liked having a girl for a seatmate. 

I lived on the corner of Findley and Apache, about four blocks south of Main Street. The house is still there. My mother lived there when she was a widow with two little children. She married again and that's when I was born. 

In second grade I still had the same seatmate, but I guess we talked too much, and the teacher moved one of us out of the seat with a boy and put that boys seat mate with Marie. I thought that was great because the boy she put me with I knew from church, but he didn’t like it. The boys didn’t like having a girl for a seatmate. 

I grew up when Norman just had dirt streets. Then later they paved Main Street and University Street. I can remember my brother putting us both on a bicycle and going over to University street to ride on the paved road. I mostly played boys games because of my brother. He taught me how to play Mumble Peg, a game where you learn to throw a knife. I also played marbles and spin the tops.

When I was in the 4^th grade they commenced a basketball team. I think it was the 8^th grade girls. I never did see the boys play. Of course, the only people they played against was Washington. Washington and Jefferson, well they didn’t get along.

“Now these are girls?” I inquired.

Yes, on a girls team. They had to play outdoors. This would have been seventh and eighth grade girls.

I remember that they played against Washington school. It was terrible the rival between the two schools. It continued in high school so that they hardly mixed in high school. 

My last two years of high school a new course was put in called "teachers training." We had to teach all of the 8th grade teaching and many hours of observation. We had to take notes and come back to our teacher and tell her. If they needed a teacher in Eastside (Jefferson) they would send one of us. Six out of twenty of us went on to teach the next year after we graduated. 

They gave us a fake teaching certificate to begin with. If we taught for three years and went to summer school we earned a LIFE certificate. 

*Note: this is the new Norman High School opened in 1909 when Eastside school had outgrown the classrooms. It is the picture in the background of Nellie Beavers graduation picture. 

*The Moore-Lindsay House Museum has pictures from early year books online and I discovered that Roscoe, Metaline, and Nellie each graduated from Norman High School in 1920.

My first teaching job was to finish out a term in a sixth grade class in Muskogee. I discovered I didn't like that at all. Then I moved to Paden and taught high school English and Spanish. My principal said I had to teach Economics. I told him No and said, "Can't you teach it?"  His reply was a headshaking negative stare. So I had to teach Economics and study the night before each class to stay ahead of them. 

I taught several years before moving to Pittsburg, another coal mining town where I met my husband. We moved around with his job in the mines and I taught at Shawnee, Seminole, Wewoka, and Sayre.

At last we moved back to Norman and I taught at Norman High School where I retired in 1965.  

As with retirement, our story does not end here. No more mention of Roscoe in

her interview, nor does she talk about Metaline.

However, in the spring of 1994 Nellie Beavers Childs was accompanied by her

daughter and attended our 100 year celebration of Jefferson school. During that time she brought an oil painting done by her lifelong friend, Metaline Cathey Lee.

Ten years ago the librarian gave me this picture and said, "I think you know this lady and her story."

**Metaline writes in her own handwriting on the back of this canvas: This painting was done for my friend since first grade, Nellie Beavers Childs. The painting shows hibiscus blooming in Mrs. Cathy's yard in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. Mrs. Childs spent winters in the Valley after she retired as a Norman High School teacher in 1965. 

And so, it has taken me from 1994 to 2025 to put all of these pieces together. Rest in peace Nellie, Metaline, and Roscoe. You made our world and better place to live, especially for the children in Norman, Ok. 

4/6/2025 The following stories come from my Facebook post about Nellie Childs:

I had Nellie Childs at Norman High School in the 1960's and loved here. Jane Ash Yearout

My sophomore English teacher at NHS and she was quite a lady! Vaughn Clark

I was a student of Mrs. Childs, also.  Judy Matlock

I had her for Sophomore English in 1960. As for Roscoe Thompson he was a former mayor and Bob Thompson's (Midway Deli) grandfather. He was also an uncle to my lifetime friends Patti and Jerry Nolan and Jim and Barbara Sellers. The Thompson's are a huge family and some of Norman's finest.  David Fries. 

We are the Jefferson Dragons. We symbolize "Power, Wisdom, and Chaos." Right now, we are sorting through the chaos and laughing...laughing and loving every moment of the research expedition into our history. 

Mrs. Watt, Librarian and author