My Portfolio

The school term had started before we moved to Caney.   I went into Miss Toner’s third grade classroom and endured the misery of being “the new kid” for whatever time it took my classmates to divide into their “He’s okay, he’s a loser”, groups.  Then life went on.  I made friends...

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“If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness . … if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” Ether 12:27.   Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable...

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:0in; mso-para-margin-left:.25in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-indent:-.25in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Century Schoolbook","serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:"Century Schoolbook"; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:"Century Schoolbook"; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} “ Faith is a gift of...

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In my Freshman year I took Latin.  Teaching Latin to teenagers in Southeastern Kansas in the 1940’s had to be one of the most challenging jobs in Christendom.  The Roman Empire was farther from our world than the star Betelgeuse.  The school board, however, decreed that one year of Latin was...

Shrinks say that war heightens a man’s desire to be near a girl: As near as “possible”.  They say it comes from a primitive desire to preserve the species, to live beyond one’s own life, and from a war induced sense of our mortality.  Maybe that is what caused me to...

I knew I was caught but I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. And then the giant head turned around and...

I am a product of my era.

When I think back to those years during the 60's I had a very good life. Of course at the time I was probably self-centered and didn't realize how wonderful it was. Like most young people I was in a hurry to grow up. And I remember my father always telling...

I passed easily into second grade, but shortly after school began, we moved again.  This time onto a large tract of land about three miles east of Drumright that had oil wells scattered here and there on it. It was called the “Thomas Long Oil Lease.”    I don’t know why we...

We were now living in the fourth house we had occupied in the same number of years of my life.  This house sat on a dusty unpaved road on the eastern edge of Drumright, Oklahoma.  Calling it a “house” is a compliment. It was little more than a shack.  My Grandma...

In the rousing title song of the 1930’s musical “Oklahoma,” the cast sings of corn waving as high as an elephant’s eye - growing “right up to the sky.”  They conclude this joyous testimonial by exuberantly shouting “Oklahoma. . . .  OK!”   Good theater, and it may even have been true...