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(PART
1) We have been blessed to have
most of the 1920's Messengers and the book The Tipton Home Story
(written by L. E. Fooks in 1958) as sources to gather the facts
about the early history of The Tipton Home.
The Tipton Home history
starts in 1921 in Canadian, Texas, with the decision to take care of four
children after the death of their mother. Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Beach, a couple
whose own children were all married, showed a great interest in the
children, and their hearts went out to them. They volunteered to take the
children into their big house if someone would help them with the expenses.
After much prayer and discussion among the members of the church in
Canadian, the elders and preacher asked the Beaches to care for the children,
and the church at Canadian would pay the bills. W. L. Swinney, the Canadian
preacher, reported at the Abilene Christian College Lectures on February 21,
1923, the humble beginning of the Canadian Orphan's Home. Calls from
churches, broken homes, relatives of homeless children, state and city
agencies began to pour in seeking to admit children who had no home. Before
many months, 18 to 20 children were staying with the Beaches. What to do
with so many children became a problem that needed immediate attention.
 A
large, brick, two-story building with a basement stood at the end of an
unpaved street in Canadian. It had been built as an academy but with weather
and time, the city had condemned the building. The city assured the church
leaders that if they would fix it up suitably, then the city would lift the
restriction. After much volunteer labor and $600.00, the
place was ready for occupancy. By this time some of the churches of Christ
and interested individuals had begun to send unsolicited money to the
Canadian congregation to help care for these children. Mr. and Mrs. Beach
had taken on the work of overseeing the children on a temporary basis and
with the move into the new location, they turned over the work to Mr. and
Mrs. Swinney. Mr. Swinney asked the elders to relieve him of the duties of
ministering for the local congregation. They were glad to do this for they
also believed that the care of these children was one of the best works for
those who profess to follow Christ. In September of 1922, the elders at
Canadian were notified that the home would have to be moved out of the old
academy by March, 1923. At this time they had 72 children. The elders met and
decided it would be wise, if possible, to move the Home to another location.
The elders were not tired of the work, but felt it would be in the best
interest of the children to move to another location that was on a farm
close to a town, with the Home closer to larger population centers.
After hearing Mr. Swinney talk about the Home and the need to move the Home,
Sol and Maggie Tipton determined together that they could give eighty acres
of the "best land in the Southwest." The Tipton elders, L.A. Todd, H. N.
Seymour, R. E. Chitwood, S. D. Jackson and Sol Tipton,
 were in agreement
about accepting the responsibility of the Orphan's Home. The elders and
superintendent from Canadian came to the Tipton Valley to inspect the land
which had been given. It was so much different from the rough country in the
Texas Panhandle. As they drove into the valley, they crossed the north fork
of the Red River. Immediately they saw the broad, flat bottomed lands of the
valley with thick, grass knee-high and rich, fertile fields. The red land
stretched for miles in every direction. On their left along the horizon to
the north, they saw the rugged Wichita Mountains against the blue sky. The
Home was to be cradled between the mighty Red River and the Wichita
Mountains. On June 27, 1924, the moving day arrived. Burley Slayton, who
owned the Star Automobile agency in Tipton with his brother, took their 1924
model cars to Canadian, Texas, and hauled all of the children and adults 120
miles to their new Tipton Home.
(The rest of the story will be told in
installments.)
(PART 2)
To continue The
Tipton Home story, we have used our publication, the Messenger; The
Tipton Home Story (written by L. E. Fooks in 1958); and The Tillman
County History Book.
When the children and staff arrived at the
huge, brick structure located in the southwestern corner of Oklahoma, the
building was spacious and beautiful but a little more than half of it was
ready to use. The funds were lacking to complete the building.
When the structure of The Tipton Orphans' Home was completed, it was of the
congregate type: one story high, except for the administration portion,
which were two stories. The first floor had four large dormitories, four
bathrooms, a clothing room, a sewing room, a dining room, a kitchen, a
pantry, four rooms for the elementary school, two play rooms and rooms for
the matrons and deans. The hospital, supply rooms, and the guest chambers
were above the offices.
From the beginning, The
Tipton Home trustees were composed of the elders of the Tipton Church of
Christ. The elders were L. A. Todd, H. N. Seymour, R. E. Chitwood, S. D.
Jackson and Sol Tipton. Robert E. Chitwood took on the work of being the
superintendent of The Tipton Orphans' Home.
By the early summer of
1927, The Tipton Home family had increased to 220.
 In
September of 1927, there were 158 children in the first six grades.
Forty-seven children were above the sixth grade level, and they were made a
part of the public school system of Tipton. The first six grades went to
school at The Tipton Home.
A letter written by
Edith Windham to her friend gives us an insight to life at The Tipton
Orphans Home. Miss Windham lived at The Tipton Orphans Home during the years
of 1922 thru 1925.
My dear friend:
Sunday a
week ago the larger boys and girls went to the mountains. We sure had a
good time. The boys and girls play together just like we were brothers and
sisters. We have things arranged and equipment to play with almost like
private homes. We have a beautiful parlor, and the Hollis church sent us a
victrola to place in it. We certainly do think our clothes are pretty, and
we appreciate them more than you can imagine.
In
the room where we sleep, we have twenty-two beds, and in the room where the
boys sleep they have twenty-one beds.
 We
have 107 children in the Home at the present
time. In the dining
room we have thirteen tables.
 Twelve eat at each table. We have a first and second
bell to get ready to eat, and have another bell to line up, then we march to
the dining room. The bell rings for us to get up in the morning to get ready
for breakfast at six fifteen.
We have school from
eight until one o'clock in the afternoon. Then we eat dinner. School will be
out tomorrow and the teachers will
leave for home.
We
work from dinner until time for the first bell for supper. The girls arrange
their work so that each one will have a certain time for their work. There
are eight to work in the kitchen one
month, then the next month the other girls work an so on, until all that are
large enough to work, have done their part of each separate work. Next month
is my time to work in the kitchen. The boys do the outside work, except the
laundry.
They feed the farm animals, milk the cows, and gather the eggs.
We have ten cows and get enough milk to have milk to drink twice a day.
We
have eighty acres of land
and raise cotton each year. Soon we will have to
go to the field and work. Both the boys and
girls go to the field to work.
We
have services every night. We call it chapel. Mr. Ector Watson holds the
chapel services most of the time. We have lots of memory work to bring up
each night. Lately we have been studying the missionary journeys of Paul.
Every Sunday morning at 9:30 we have the services just like other people do
at church. Then after our services, we are dismissed, and all can go to
church in town that want to, but we are not compelled to go.
My letter would not
be complete if I did not tell you that we have a little baby girl three
months old
in the Home. We also have a baby girl three weeks old. 
We all think they are grand.
Well,
I have written you a long letter, and guess I had better close for this
time. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Your friend,
Edith
We have record that one
of Mrs. Chitwood's memories concerning the work of caring for the children
was Mr. Chitwood saying to gatherings, "I have often prayed to the Lord that
He would use me for the betterment of mankind. And I feel that my work in
the Home is an answer to that prayer." After serving as superintendent for
20 years, Mr. Chitwood resigned due to a bad heart condition and spent his
remaining years at his home in Tipton.
(The
rest of the story will be told in installments.)
(PART 3)
To continue The Tipton Home story, we have
used the writings of Joan McCasland Clevenger. She wrote her story for her
children and here are the words of some of her more memorable things that
happened when she lived in The Tipton Orphans Home. She lived at The Tipton
Home during the end of the depression, and during the World War II years.
Hard years for everyone, with many changes in routine for the Home because
of the poor economy of the depression, and the many hardships the war
brought.
In her story she has
used the real names that she could remember. She has intentionally omitted
some of the more "gritty" things. Mainly, because she does not like to think
of them, and they would serve no purpose for what she feels that you would
want to read. Perhaps she has romanticized some of her memories after more
than 50 years! These memories are written from the perspective of an old
lady whose memories are colored by years of 'adjusted memories' and
acceptance of things that happened with more understanding now than at the
time they were happening. She is not a ten, twelve, or fifteen year old girl
who is dealing with these events, but a seventy-seven year old lady trying
to remember how she dealt with them. She realizes that memories are more who
you grow to be than what actually happened, sometime, and how you can color
some of them so that you can be happy remembering them. In writing her
story, she tries to bring the 'special times' that happened during her
growing up years at The Tipton Home.
"In 1937, when I came to Tipton Orphans Home, you arrived at the large brick
building, having come up the long circular drive marked by large white
stones, you come up the steps to the large front porch with lovely flower
gardens at the north and south ends of the porch, you enter the reception
hall. To the left is the main office, a busy place with four individual
desks, a number of metal filling cabinets, a large free standing safe, and
in the center of the room a huge antique table made from an ancient square
piano. Back across the lobby is the office workshop. Here are the other
office machines, the trays and trays of address labels for the Messenger
mailing list, and in the adjoining store room are the shelves of school
supplies; the neatly stacked packages of notebook paper, composition books,
pencils, etc, and in the steel walk in safe next to the storage room, they
keep medical supplies that make up the central dispensary, and other items
that need to be kept safe from destruction by fire, storm, or other
catastrophe. Back in the reception room you are in the very center of the
building. The corridor to the right looks out on the east through five large
windows onto the flower garden. This is the "long hall". The dining room
opens off this hall. There in the dining room is where more "living" goes on
than any other one room in the building. This room is not only used for
'dining' but for any gathering we have; chapel services, study hall, social
gatherings, and for announcements of momentous occasion. We continue down
the hall until it makes a T into two more halls divided by the "long hall".
Directly in front of us, just where the T is crossed are two school rooms;
turn to the left and you will enter the "little girls dormitory" where girls
from the youngest resident to about the age of 12 reside. As you turn the
corner, there is one room that is used by the supervisor, in my time called
the "little girls' helper". At the end of the hall is the sleeping room
called the "little girls dormitory". Inside the room are rows and rows of
beds and along one wall are the lockers, 18 inches wide and about 7 feet
high made with two compartments; a tall door and a smaller door at the top.
That is where all our possessions were kept. What we kept in our locker was
ours. It belonged to us, and only us; everything else was communal. We kept
our dresses and shoes in the bottom part, and if we were lucky enough to get
one of the gallon sized baking powder cans from the kitchen when it was
emptied, we kept our sox in it. Otherwise, we made a shoe bag type hanging
pocket storage thing from whatever we could beg from the sewing room lady,
and hand sewed it to place our loose things in, and hung it on the door of
our locker. Go back down the hall and just beyond the school rooms on the
opposite side of the hall are five rooms. The first is the storage room for
clean sheets, towels, wash cloths, tooth paste, soap, shampoo, clean
pajamas, under pants and slips for the little girls. They are distributed on
'bath day', which is every Wednesday and Saturday. We changed our sheets on
Wednesday so that we could get all the dirty linens, etc. out on Wednesday,
because our laundry day was Thursday. Each dormitory was assigned a day to
have the laundry from that building taken care of. After you pass the
storage room on the right, there is a large square room with lockers on all
four sides. It has one big window that looks out onto the girls' back porch,
and one door. This is called the 'clothes room' and is used by girls age 8
through 12. The lockers on the end of the hall by the sleeping room is used
by the very young girls. Just next to the 'clothes room' are three matrons'
rooms. Mrs. Carpenter, who supervised the kitchen, Mrs. Slaton, who
supervised the laundry and Miss Johnson, who was the sewing room lady, lived
in these rooms. Across the hall from these rooms was another large square,
airy room full of more lockers. This room had three windows opening on the
'back grass', a large table with benches in the center of the room, and the
door in the center of wall. This locker room belonged to the oldest girl,
ages 15 through 18 (or 19 if she hadn't graduated from high school yet).
They were the only ones who had a table and seats. The rest of us sat on the
floor or sat on those same baking powder cans I spoke of earlier. On down
the hall, on the same side of the building as the 'big girls clothes room'
is the bathroom for this end of the hall. It contains a row of three
lavatories and three stalls with toilets on one wall and on the opposite
wall, one large shower stall with two shower heads opposing each other, and
three stalls, with doors, each containing a bath tub. Opposite the bathroom,
there is one more locker room. A long, narrow room with a window at the end
and the door at the other end. This locker room is used by the 13 and 14
year old girls. Sometimes, when we had a very large number of children
these lockers were shared by two girls. Just directly beyond the locker room
and bathroom is the 'big girls dormitory', just like the one on the other
end of the hall. Each dormitory has three rows of twin-sized beds, side-
by-side down the walls, and end to end in the center. About 40 beds to the
room, most of them sleeping two girls. The boys' side was just like the
girls', and since I will have very little to say about that, I will not
describe it in detail, except to say where one of the matron's rooms on the
boys side was the sewing room. Tipton Orphan's Home was the home that had
been known for the fact that it had never turned a destitute child from it's
doors. In the earlier years its aim and function was just to feed, shelter,
and nurture spiritually every one who came asking. There were very few, if
any, children had not lost at least one, if not bother parents to death. At
that time in history parents could hardly care for their own children and
did not have the means to care for a siblings orphaned children. The economy
being what it was, it was really better for everyone concerned to just place
the child in an institution. In later years, when things got better, the aim
of The Tipton Home, as it became known, was to help each child grow in
stature, in faith and in favor with God and man, as Christ developed. The
entire program of the home was based on this premise.
I hope that I have given enough back ground that we can stay on the same
page as we go through the years that I lived there.
NEW KIDS
Children were playing and shouting as we walked through the front door,
through the lobby and into the long hall. It was cool inside, and dark from
walking into the house from the bright sunlight. "New kids," someone called
as we walked down the hall. "There's a new girl. She's not very big. "It was
recess and the children were playing outside, but a few were still getting a
drink and going to the bathroom before the bell rang.
"Miss Saunders," said Mrs. Chitwood, "We have a girl here who is in third
grade. She's not very big, so we may be wrong. However, her brother is in
the second grade, so she may be ready for third grade. I don't know whether
she should start in right now, or wait until tomorrow. Joan, do you want to
just go back to the dormitory and wait until tomorrow to start to
school?""We are having a spelling test after recess, so you may want to
wait," Miss Saunders told me."No, I think that I can do a spelling test," I
told them, "I want to go to school this afternoon.""I'll just leave her with
you, then, and get back to the other children. Joan has two brothers that
need some help finding their way around," Mrs. Chitwood said."All right,
Joan, if you are ready for third grade, you will be in Mrs. McAnalley's
room. The bell is going to ring in just a minute, so you can just get in
line right here," Miss Saunders told me. "Can you read?" she asked me."Oh,
yes ma'am," I replied, " I am a good reader. I just am not very good in
Arithmetic," I figured I'd better be up front about that in case it make any
difference. The bell rang just then, and the children began lining up in the
hall. "What's you name? How old are you? What grade are you in? Where are
you from? Why'd you have to come here?" The questions came from all
directions. "I'm Joan McCasland, I'm nine years old, and in third grade." I
told them as quickly as I could. " I came from Devol, and I came here
because my mother is sick. What's your name?" I asked the girl next to me in
line. "My name is Mona Faye Barnes", she said. " I am in third grade, too.
Do you want to sit with me and share my books until Mrs. Mcanally get you
some?" "If we won't get into trouble," I told her. "My mother told me not to
get into trouble first thing. I sometimes get into trouble, even when I try
not to. Mama says it's because I'm a busy-body. "Whatever that is," Mona
said. " I don't think we'll get in trouble." It was time to go inside and sit
down. I did sit with Mona Faye, until time to take the Spelling test. Mrs.
McAnally said that I didn't have to take the test, but she brought me a
pencil and paper anyway, so I took the Spelling test. I aced it, and
everyone thought that I was so smart because I had not studied the words, so
that she could see whether I could read well enough to be in third grade. I
told her I could read the newspaper, so I thought I was ready for third
grade. I told her I could read the newspaper, so I thought I was ready for
third grade reading, so she got me a paper. It was put up or shut up time.
She showed me an article to read, and I read it very proficiently. I
impressed everyone with the fact that I could read the newspaper. I was
judged a good student, and I remained a good student the rest of my school
days.
That evening I was assigned a bed and a sleeping partner by InaBel Givens, a
little girl's 'helper'.. I guess they would be called matrons now, but
'helpers' is what we called the employees that dealt with the children, so
that is what I will call them in this story. The girl I shared a bed with
was an older girl than I, and her name was Zada Faye Bear. We shared a bed
until she moved to the other end of the hall into the Big Girls dormitory.
We were not supposed to talk after we went to bed, but Zada Faye and I
talked until we had about exhausted every item of gossip that she could
think of. When I went to sleep, I knew everything that we could get in
trouble for, and how to avoid getting caught doing most of it.
(Part 4)
FALL HAS
FELL
On the
first Saturday in October, Inabel told us to get our baths as early as we
could and get in line to be measured for our fall clothing. Mrs. Chitwood
was in our 'long hall' with her yardstick, tape measure, and a stack of
clothing lists. Twice a year, fall and spring the clothing lists were mailed
to our "people", the sponsoring congregation that furnished clothing for
each of us. Churched throughout the southwest (I don't recall anyone further
north than Wellington, Kansas, or further east than Old Hickory, Tennessee,
mostly Oklahoma and Texas congregations) each sponsored a child, furnishing
clothing and shoes. On each clothing list the needs of the child were
listed. Generally the girls list asked that the church furnish each girl
with four dresses, four slips, 6 pair panties, 6 pair socks, 2 pair pajamas,
2 pair shoes (one pair for school, one pair for Sunday), in the fall a coat
and cap, and the first list for each new child asked for a Bible. Some
miscellaneous items included a comb and brush, tooth brush, toothpaste, 6
bars soap, 3 was cloths and 3 towels and school supplies (tablets and
pencils for grade school children, notebook paper and pens for high school
students). The boy's list was similar, four pairs of overalls, four shirts,
six pair under pants, six pair sox, a dress shirt and slacks, coat and
shoes, same as the girls. Sundries for the boys were about the same, except
four bottles hair oil was included for them. We were all measured on that
one day, and it was then forgotten for a while. After about four weeks, but
almost always before Thanksgiving, our 'packages' began arriving. After
school the 'office girls' would carry a load of packages back to the little
girls clothing room and Inabel would call us in one at a time to "try on"
our new clothes. It was always very exciting to see all the new clothes. We
were allowed to take everything to our locker, and allowed to wear any of it
as we desired. Except for one dress, that was tagged and put away for
Thanksgiving Day. Most of the children from grade 6 down had been going
barefoot because we had outgrown our shoes from the year before. From the
time school was out in the spring, all the grade school kids went barefoot.
Our matron took our shoes and put them away. We were allowed to take our
shoes with us on vacation, but after that, we seldom had that pair of shoes
again. After we got our new shoes we were allowed to wear them at that time.
And it was time to wear shoes. The mornings were beginning to be cold and
sometimes we had cold feet. My new shoes seldom fit me, and I usually ended
up with someone elses shoes. Sometimes new, sometime outgrown by someone
else. The school supplies, and the sundries that came in our packages were
stored and used communally as needed. We got a new toothbrush and comb and
brush, but the soap, toothpaste, etc. was 'passed around' as it was needed.
The 'little girl's panties, slips and pajamas were placed in the store room,
and clothing was distributed on bath day. It didn't belong to us personally,
but that was alright, we had our own dresses!
Something
else that happened in October was our letters to Santa Claus. One day after
recess, when we returned to our class room that was a long list of items on
the board. There was much whispering and conjecturing, but most of us knew
that the list was what we chose from to receive from Santa at Christmas. We
had to write a letter to Santa and tell him what we wanted. We chose three
things, with the item we most desired listed first and then alternates in
case the item was not available. There were a few items that were not
allowed at all. Knives and guns (toys and otherwise) were not on the list,
and if you asked for one anyway, you automatically got your second or third
choice. The only clothing on the list was housecoats and sweaters, and a lot
of the older girls asked for housecoats. A sample letter for a girl would
read: Dear Santa, For Christmas I would like a doll, a sewing set, or a
jigsaw puzzle. I have been a good girl. Thank you very much, and your name
and age. We talked excitedly among ourselves about what we wanted, but
Christmas was a long way off and we soon forgot about letters to Santa.
A group
of business men from Oklahoma City formed the Santa Claus Commission about
the year 1937 to provide a Christmas gift for every child that resided in an
Orphans Home in Oklahoma. This practice continued as long as I lived in the
Home, and as far as I know is still being done.
The
weather became cooler and crisper, Halloween came and went, and Thanksgiving
was growing nearer. I had become adjusted to my new environment, and all
these exciting things helped me to miss my 'other life' less and less, and I
worried about my mother less and less.
Another
indication that fall has arrived is the beginning of renovations to the
building. One day when we went out for recess we saw a ladder up against the
building, and paint buckets everywhere. The town window screen had been
removed (in fact all the window screens had been removed from the dormitory
windows, and the dining room windows, and Ralph and Ervie (farm supervisors
and maintenance men, also "boys' helpers") were busy repairing all of them.
Before returning the mended screen, the window frames would be painted by
the older boys when they returned from school. The "middle-sized" boys were
given the after-school job of cleaning up the yard. Everything that was out
of place, was returned to where it belonged, all trash was picked up and
properly disposed of, the porches were cleaned and all outbuilding were
repaired. Inside the house the girls spent their Saturdays oiling the floors
of the long halls, and the clothes rooms. When everything outside was
painted and repaired, they moved the painting jobs inside. The walls of all
the long halls were painted, the windows (and there were many of them) were
polished until they gleamed and everything that could harbor dust and dirt
was washed and polished. Talk about Spring Cleaning; we did ours in the
Fall. I found out very soon that this happened every fall to get ready for
the BIG THANKSGIVING. Each year, on Thanksgiving Day, we had our Homecoming
Program. Since this was such a special day to all of us we had saved new
clothes from our Fall packages to wear. My dress was a brown and tan cotton
dress with little brown elephant buttons decorating the front of it. How can
I remember that? I have no explanation for how I remember it, but I can
still see the dress. We had worked all fall getting ready for this, and now
the DAY was here. The air of excitement among the children was
indescribable. As soon as breakfast was over and the eighteen long tables in
the dining hall were cleared off and cleaned up, they were moved to the
front lawn, and placed end to end in four long rows. The benches in the
dining room were scooted together and placed pew-fashion for our big
Thanksgiving Day Program. When all the preparations were taken care of in
the dining hall and front yard, the "big girls" went back to the "little
girls" dormitory to help them get dressed for the big occasion, and to help
them fix their hair and look as good as we could because how we looked and
behaved before many of the people who would visit us that day determined
whether they felt comfortable with the support they were giving us, and how
much financial support they continued to give to the Home depended largely
on how they perceived that the money was being used. We were on display that
day, and we were made aware of that fact, and had impressed upon us the
importance of our behavior during the time we had so many visitors. And I'm
talking about hundreds of people. By 9:00 a.m. people from all over the
state of Oklahoma and many from neighboring states began to arrive for the
festivities. Noted preachers and speakers from all over the southwest had
been invited to take part in the program. Also, some of the most outstanding
religious song writers and song leaders of the brotherhood had been invited
to the Home to take part in the program, and to share Thanksgiving with us.
The big bell rang at 10:00 and all the children of the Home were expected to
attend the services. To the youngest this was a chore to be endured, because
it was quite a lengthy program, but as we grew older we learned to love the
fellowship and the feeling of oneness with all the people sharing
Thanksgiving with us, because actually they were sharing more than just a
day with us. They were sharing in our lives with us.
There was
no particular order or formality to our programs. One of the song leaders
would lead a song or two, then someone would lead a prayer, then one of the
men who had been invited especially to speak would make his speech, then
more singing, and praying and the program would continue until about 12:30
or so. Then we "recessed" for lunch. And what a lunch! All the people who
had come had brought baskets and baskets of food to share with us. Of course
the Home always prepared a beef for the occasion. To us who were accustomed
to institutional food the delicacies prepared by these wonderful ladies were
like something from a fairy story. The tables on the front lawn (and
remember then were eighteen of them and they usually seated from twelve to
fifteen children each) were laden with platters of turkey and dressing,
lakes of giblet gravy, mountains of potato salad, congealed salads of all
kind, deviled eggs, and lines and lines of every conceivable kind of cakes
and pies. This much food was unbelievable to a little girl who not too long
ago had been hungry more often than not. We lined up, and were allowed to
fill our own plates. We could eat anything we wanted and as much as we
wanted or could hold. (I never felt like it was Thanksgiving unless I went
to bed that night with a stomach ache.) In spite of the abundance of food,
and it looked like there was no end to it, we did not waste it. Each of us
took only what we thought that we could eat, always with the thought in the
back of our minds that someone might have to do without if we were too
greedy.
At 2:00
the bell rang to call us back to the dining room to continue our program.
The "big girls" cleaned up what dishes there were, and the ladies who had
come to our Thanksgiving helped put away the food, and got back to the
program as soon as they could. The afternoon program was really more
informal even than the morning. Brother Chitwood generally gave a report on
the condition of the Home and the Girls Quartet or the Home Chorus or both
gave a short program and mostly it was just a time of fellowship and
visiting. One by one the younger children left, ostensibly to go to the
bathroom or to get a drink, and just didn't return to the dining room. It
was much more fun to play on the lawn with the other children. The front
lawn was generally tabu for playing, but Thanksgiving Day we could play
anywhere. The boys and girls could even play together, and that didn't
happen everyday! What fun we had! Running and playing Hide and Seek, and Tag
among the tables.
At about
5:00 the festivities began to break up, and our visitors started to leave
for home. The children continued to run and play, even after the tables were
moved back inside, and the darkness began to fall.
All good
things come to an end, even our Great Thanksgiving Day, and we all went to
our beds tired and happy and truly thankful for the blessing we had
received.
Most of
my memories of Thanksgiving stem from the first Thanksgiving that I lived at
the Home. These Thanksgiving Day celebrations continued in this same fashion
until 1942, when due to gasoline rationing, and the shortage of automobile
tires because of World War II we had to discontinue them. We tried to resume
them after the War, but it never seemed to work, so they were a thing of the
past; a casualty of the War.
(PART 5)
CHRISTMAS IS COMING!
The Euphoria from Thanksgiving was just beginning to fade when
the expectancy of Christmas began to surface. After writing our letters to
Santa Claus in October, we had just about forgotten about Christmas, because
so many other things had happened to distract us. But it was beginning to
dawn on us that Christmas was upon us. We did not have radios or televisions
to blast us with Christmas songs or commercials, but the Halloween cats and
Thanksgiving turkeys that we had in our school room windows had given way to
Christmas trees and reindeer pulled sleighs. Our art work always heralded
the season. Also, we had begun singing Christmas songs. One evening when we
came into the dining room for supper, there was this enormous Christmas
tree. And after supper Marlin hauled out all the ornaments and let the
office girls help him decorate it. It was something to behold. It reached
all the way to the ceiling. After the tree was up, the excitement became
palpable. And about this time we had apples, oranges, grapefruit, cookies,
candy on the tables for lunch and supper. People from everywhere were
sending all kinds of good things for us to enjoy during the Christmas
season. We began talking about when school would let out for Christmas.
Making plans for the holidays. We did not go away for Christmas. Everyone
stayed at Home. Christmas was big time. We didn't want to leave Home. On
Christmas Eve, we were at fever pitch with excitement, and good will. No one
could do anything to make us angry. We loved everyone. We had started
Christmas vacation and were not even bored. We had supper early, and
everyone got ready for Santa Claus. When the bell rang, we all went into the
dining room and had an early chapel. We had the regular chapel service, with
songs, hymns and prayer and scripture reading, then began singing Christmas
songs. When we started to sing Jingle Bells, we really heard jingle bells.
Then Santa appeared in all his glory, pack on his back, the whole fantasy.
He held some of the very young children on his lap and talked with them a
few minutes, then got down to business. Some of the "helpers" came up to
pass out the gifts as Santa called our names. This is when we got our gifts
from the Santa Claus Commission. We all had a gift, and a stocking full of
candy and nuts. In the stockings the teen-aged girls had a lipstick, and the
little girls had a set of jacks and ball. The boys got marbles. After
everyone got their gifts, we were dismissed to go to bed. By then it was
time. On Christmas day, the gifts that had been sent by family, clothing
people, and other gifts sent by groups and clubs were distributed. We had
turkey and dressing and trimmings for lunch, and altogether had a wonderful
day. By night we were again ready to go to bed early. The day after
Christmas we had all this new stuff to play with. We played all over the
place. Some of us played in the bath tub stalls. They made wonderful play
houses. Some of us played up and down the halls. It was a good place to play
with the board games, we had room to spread out on the floor. Remember, we
do not have tables and chairs around which to sit to play games. Also, on
the floor in the hall was a good place to play our card games. Like Rook,
Authors, Old Maid, whatever. There were domino games going, but NO GAMBLING
CARDS. They were forbidden. There were groups of girls playing jacks in the
halls. On the back porch, which was smooth concrete, kids were skating with
their new skates. In the yard were boys playing football, and a basketball
goal had been erected out where there was some really hard ground, and boys
were playing basketball. I was probably sitting in the hall reading. There
were always books at Christmas, and where there were books is where I
generally could be found. After age ten or eleven, I was not really into
playing house, and I was not much of a game person, but if there were new
books, I was in my element. These feelings of good will and cooperation
lasted all during the holidays. There was very little quarreling among us.
If some one wanted to do a puzzle, we stayed out of the way of their
puzzles. We were careful not to mess up any one's play house, or ruin their
games. Those who got skates and footballs, etc., shared with those who got
something else, and played games or read or did puzzles while some of the
rest of us played with their things. And that is some kind of accomplishment
with over 225 children. The one thing that we see today that was noticeably
missing were bicycles. We were not allowed to leave the campus. And that was
not allowed. Thus Christmas came and went, we enjoyed it thoroughly, then it
was over. School began, and normalcy returned to our halls and dormitories.
(PART 6)
SUMMERTIME! SUMMERTIME!
We
really did have summer time in southwestern Oklahoma in the late 30's and
40's. We had absolutely no air conditioning. Not even in the offices or
helpers rooms. It was a long, hot, boring summer, but I loved it. Summer in
Tipton, Oklahoma is very HOT! School closes toward the end of May. Summer
Bible School began the first week in June and went for two weeks. Tipton
Home
had the original Vacation Bible School. I don't remember who taught the
classes or how we were classified, but I do remember that it was intensive
Bible Study. After that was over, the next two weeks were devoted to Music
School; religious music
instruction. We were exposed to shaped notes and used church song books as
texts. I should know music, but for some reason I developed a mental block
to this instruction. I know how music is supposed to sound, but I cannot
make that sound on command. When I am singing and sound a note correctly, it
is purely by accident, but not from lack of exposure. I know enunciation and
phrasing, and I know what sounds good, but I do not know
music. Enough said.
When school "let out" we could remove our shoes (the elementary grades only,
except for the boys. They could go barefoot no matter how old they were) and
not wear them again until our fall packages came and we had new shoes. Our
matron took our shoes and stored them, but by the time we needed them again
we had out-grown them. Remember this is early times, late thirties, early
forties.
The children do not go barefoot now. By the first of July we were finished
with compulsory activities, and could begin thinking about vacations. At
that time our clothing sponsors had first dibs on the child they sponsored
for a two week vacation. If our sponsors wanted us, we didn't get to visit
relatives. I spent one week of my vacation with Aunt Birdie and one week
with my brother and his wife. From July 1, until vacation and the rest of
the summer after vacation (and our summers were longer then than they are
now. School did not start again until after
Labor Day. That gave us three full months plus a week or so extra) we had
long, hot afternoons of NOTHING TO DO! Our mornings were spent doing our
assigned jobs. Kitchen Girls made breakfast, cleaned up after breakfast,
made lunch and cleaned up after lunch, then started washing and ironing at
5:00 a.m. during school, but in the summer they didn't start the laundry,
etc., until after breakfast, but it generally took them until noon to get
all the laundry done and hung on the lines. Sometimes we had to go back
after lunch to gather in the last clothes line full and get them folded and
ready for the different dorms to pick them up, but after that we were free
for the rest of the day. The House Girls had the easiest job of all. They
swept and dusted and mopped the long halls, cleaned the bathrooms (including
cleaning all three bathtubs and all the pots every day), and saw that all
the beds were properly made. Each of us, so soon as we could make a bed, was
responsible for making our own bed, the House Girls just made sure it was
done right. After our work was finished we had the rest of the day free. The
little kids were required to go outside and stay all afternoon, with one
bathroom and drink break. The 'witch', as we called her, sat in the door in
the draft of the breeze blowing through to be sure none of us sneaked back
in. We made messes when we played indoors. However, even when it was hot, we
found many things to occupy our time during the long afternoons. We had a
lot of shade trees, and the back grass had shade most of the time. And there
was some grass growing there in spite of so many children running
everywhere. Some of us made 'play houses' under the trees, some of us got
gallons cans of water from somewhere (I can't remember where it came from)
and "drowned out crickest'. With the
poor crickets, we made hospitals. We tied them to boards for their beds, and
took care of them. As you can imagine, most of the 'patients' were terminal
cases. Some days we played school under the trees. Some of us read books,
magazines whatever we could find to read. The only books in the library
shelves in the lobby were the classics, so you gotta know, I've read most of
the classics. Some time someone would bring magazines out to the Home, and
they were made available to us to read. And some of us (seldom me) would
climb trees. This was a forbidden activity. Climbing trees was an offense
that earned corporal punishment. However, by the time the authorities got to
us, we had already seen them coming, and were no longer in the trees. No one
would tell who had been climbing, and all they saw was kids in the trees, so
in order to get the culprits they would line us all up and paddle all of us.
I have had a number of paddlings for climbing trees, but I have climbed very
few trees in my lifetime. One that I remember, and when I got into the tree,
I promised myself, God, and anyone else who would listen that if I figured
out a way to get down without injury or death I would never do that again.
And I usually keep the promises I make to myself. Another forbidden activity
that required more serious punishment was climbing on top of the 'white
schoolhouse' and jumping off. This building was not used for a schoolhouse
by the time I was living in the Home, but for storage. It was not extremely
high, but too high for me, but most of the kids were athletic enough that it
was not difficult to get up and were daring enough to jump off. I climbed up
there once and the only way I could make myself jump off, was just the fact
that it was the only way down. If I think standing on a slope with skis on
feels like I'm up high, you can imagine how high it looked from the top of
the house. When I finally got down that was another promise that I made to
myself that I have kept to this day. I do not do 'high' stuff. All this
stuff notwithstanding, I loved the long, hot, leisure afternoon of the long,
hot summers. In the evenings after supper we slowed down a little. The bunch
I played with would gather behind the 'white schoolhouse' and tell stories.
And I was a great storyteller. Not the only one, however. Some of the girls
that were a little older than I knew some really scary ghost stories. When
we stayed out until dusk, almost dark, it was a serious matter to pass the
brick garage on the way inside. And there was no other way to get back
inside. There was this brick building with a wooden
building abutting it where some of the women workers kept their cars. Both
buildings had lofts in them, and we could see something up there. Especially
when we had been listening to ghost stories. Some of us could run pretty
fast and did when we were passing that way. Those of us who could not run
very fast were frightened almost to the point of 'passing out' when we had
to go by there. The summers were
(PART 7)
CHAPEL TIME
Every evening, just at dusk, in the Spring, Summer, and Fall and about 7:00
p.m. in the Winter, the bell would ring to call us to chapel. We had about
thirty minutes of devotional every evening except Sunday and Wednesday. When
I first went to the home, not everyone went to town to church on Sunday and
Wednesday evenings, and we had chapel on those evenings, then. The boys
usually conducted all the activities. We had a lot of boys that could and
would lead singing. We had boys that would read scripture, and some who
would lead prayer. Usually, we had three or four songs, a prayer, scripture
reading, another prayer, a closing song and that was it. If we had
an older boy that went out on Sunday (and some did) to preach for nearby
congregations, or to speak at a congregation where the 'Little Trio' or the
octet, or the girl's quartet or all of them were meeting for special
programs (fund raisers) he would practice on us by giving his talk. After
chapel we had an hour and a half of study hall. Co-ed. Only for Jr. High and
High School, though. During my adolescent years I enjoyed study hall. When
they yelled at us for always being around the boys, it was always at other
times. They didn't seem to mind if we studied with the boys. I was a good
student, seldom had many lessons, but I was a pretty good tutor, so I always
had someone that wanted to study with me. And we really studied. I didn't
care whether we studied, or just teased around. I just
liked being around guys. I guess it was an ego booster.
In the summer, on Friday evenings, Brother Whitaker, one of the elderly men,
very knowledgeable in the Bible, came out to the Home and drilled us in the
Old Testament. Most Friday evenings we would meet on the front lawn to
study. And we enjoyed Brother Whitaker's method of teaching. He seemed to
make the Old Testament come alive for us. On Friday evenings during the
winter, Reuel (Lemons) who was the local preacher until I was in High
School, came out and talked to us. He would stay after chapel and if we had
any personal problems he would listen to us and try to help us solve them.
Mostly we just needed someone to listen to us and pay attention to us.
Later, after Reuel moved away, Wilburn Dennis did the
same. By then my
problems were too personal to discuss with an outsider. While we are on
spiritual matters, we'll touch on 'church'. After I was about twelve or so,
I started going to church in town. We went for Bible Class and Worship on
Sunday morning, Young People's Class and Worship on Sunday evening, and
Prayer Meeting on Wednesday evening. If we were too sick to attend any of
these meetings, we were too sick to go to any movies, ball games, or any
other activities that might present themselves on other evenings during the
following week. Summer was the best time for going to church, too. It was
better to walk when it wasn't so cold.
TIME
MARCHES ON
All good things come to an end, and we knew in late August, when we were
all called into the dining room to 'choose up bunches' that summer was
ending. The different work groups were called 'bunches' and were each headed
by a captain. The captains chose the girls that they wanted to work with in
their bunch. This was the Kitchen Bunch, the Wash House Bunch, and the House
Bunch. I have already talked about the duties of each bunch. The captains
would choose the girls until all the girls that were old enough to be in a
bunch, were chosen. The first summer that I lived at the Home, I was old
enough. The captains would make a list of all the job assignments for a
week. We changed work areas each week. The kitchen bunch worked in the
kitchen for a week, then to work in the house, then to the laundry, so you
can see that we changed 'bunches' each week, but kept the same captain for a
year. We will start with the Kitchen. Jobs assigned were: dishwashing,
rinsing, drying, putting away dishes. One girl did the dishwashing, one
rinsing, about 4 dish dryers (more if there were more girls than jobs) and
two girls put away dishes. Also a dish scraper that scraped out the plates,
etc., before they were placed in the dishwashing sink. That was not a fun
job, and a younger girl did that job. This was before rubber scrapers, too.
We used our hands. I did that job a number of times before I graduated to
less menial work. There was also a "big dish" washer. In another sink
we washed the pots and pans, that was "big dishes". I liked that job when I
was in junior high and early high. There was a window right beside the sink
that opened onto the boys back porch, and if there were any boys on the back
porch (and there always were when I washed big dishes) we could talk to them
and flirt with them. Talking to boys was forbidden for girls not related to
the boy to whom they were talking. I only had one brother, so talking to
almost any boy was forbidden to me. However, the only time I let that stop
me, was when someone in authority was looking directly at me. About all they
ever did to us for talking to the boys was yell at us, so we would just pout
a minute and when they weren't looking we would just carry on. Anyway, back
to work. Other assignments were making bread, watching bread (cooking it in
the oven without burning it), setting the tables, washing the tables after a
meal (another job for the younger girls), waiting tables, and dishing up
food and taking it to the tables. There were probably other jobs, but I
can't remember them. Other than pantry girl. The same girl in each bunch was
pantry girl for the whole year, each time that bunch worked in the kitchen.
She had a helper, and that really was the neatest job. The pantry girl kept
the refrigerator, and distributed the things that were stored there. She
pored up the milk for the waiting girls to take to the tables, she
distributed the butter (and it was real butter) for the tables, she had a
key to the store room where all the goodies were kept. Like cookies. And if
she helped herself to the items stored in the pantry storage, as long as she
didn't get greedy, everyone turned a blind eye. The flour, sugar,
shortening, etc. was kept in the pantry and was given out to the bread
makers each evening to prepare for the biscuits next morning, and things
like that. I was pantry girl one year, but it was a lonely job. There were
no windows in the pantry. And every morning when I unlocked the storage room
door, I had to wait for a big fat rat to go back to wherever he stayed
during the day. I would open the door, turn on the light, and go do
something else until I was sure he was gone. I didn't like looking at rats
then either. Other assignments were washing the beans before breakfast and
getting them on the stove, or washing the potatoes and getting them on.
Opening canned food that we were having that day, and such as that. I can't
believe that I have forgotten so much about our activities.
Every morning at 5:00 a.m. Mrs. Carpenter (Kitchen Matron) would come to the
dormitory door and call out "Kitchen Girls, Kitchen Girls". Verdie Bell (she
was almost always captain of some group) get your girls up, dress, and go to
work. About the same time Mrs. Slayton, the Wash House Matron, would call
the "Wash House Girls, Wash House Girls, get up now. Let's go. Lorene, get
your girls up". But the house girls got to sleep in. At least until 5:30
when the 'first bell' rang. First bell was to get us up to get dressed. Last
bell rang thirty
minutes later to call us to breakfast.
The wash house girls duties were: Washer girl, who ran the big washer (I
wish that I knew how to describe it so that you could see it in your mind's
eye), a rinse girl (we used an old bath tub to rinse the clothes) and a hose
girl, ran water from a hose onto the clothes as the washer girl removed them
from the washer. They were scalding hot, and could burn if not cooled with
the water from the hose, so that was a fairly responsible job. They were
then placed into a second rinse, then to the extractor, where they were
whirled until enough water had been removed that the clothes could then be
carried by the clothes line girls, usually as many as were available in that
bunch, to the clothes line to be hung. Even in freezing temperature they had
to be hung out to dry, because we had no dryers. The same girls that hung
the clothes, gathered them in when they were dry, and folded them. I forgot
the starch girls. We cooked starch then, and there was a girl responsible
for that. We had a little two burner table top thing that we cooked starch
on. We had heavy starch for shirt collars and cuffs, etc., and light starch
for other things, like dresses, aprons, the body of shirts, khakis, and
everything that we starched. When the clothes were folded, the starched
items were placed aside. They were then carried to another area where they
were sprinkled, rolled and made ready to iron. We had six ironing girls, and
from the time I was around thirteen, until I went to work in the office at
fifteen (almost sixteen) ironing was my wash house job. My first wash house
job was sweeping up water. When the clothes were removed from the washer, it
was not a hands on job. A large wooden paddle was used, because the clothes
were so hot, and the hose with cold water was directed onto the clothes, the
water got on the floor. There was a drain in the floor, and the little
sweepers job was to keep the water directed toward the drain, without
allowing the water to get all over the floor. The two youngest girls in the
bunch did that job until they got old enough to do some of the other jobs.
The House Girls have been described earlier. Now back to summer. We knew it
was about time for school to start when we chose up bunches. It was always
exciting to begin a new year of school, but we really hated for summer to be
over.
For the next four or five years my life more or less followed the pattern
that I have told of here. There were very few changes or variations except
what would naturally occur as I grew into pre-adolescence and adolescence.
If you think the days grew long and boring, yes, they did. Some days I
didn't know how I could endure as many more years of life in Tipton Orphans
Home as there were before me. But I learned that the only way to get through
them, was just to take life one day at a time, not to expect too much and
there would be fewer disappointments, not to reveal too much of myself, and
to live quietly so as not to attract too much attention. However, most of
the time I was content. I had a lot of friends, very few enemies, and the
people in authority mostly ignored me. There were some notable things in
store for us. For instance, when we reached grade six our North Drive
School, the one on the campus of Tipton Orphans Home, became too large for
the four school rooms that were available for us. The only solution was for
the sixth grade to bus to the town campus of Central Ward School. There was
a whole new world out there. We quickly learned to mix with the "town" kids.
They, of course, did not all live in town, but we became two factions; the
"town" kids and the "home" kids. This was the first time we had mixed with
such a large number of people who did not attend the 'church of Christ'. We
did learn to live with them and it is a good thing that we did. We went to
school for the next seven years with this same bunch of kids! And there was
a difference in the "town kids" and the "home kids". We were making new
friends but were not allowed to 'mix' outside of school.
(Part 8)
FIRE!
The Fall of 1946 was my Senior year. I had been allowed to work in town on
Saturdays at the Dry Goods store during the fall and pre-Christmas time. I
went home for lunch each Saturday, and had done so this particular Saturday,
November 23, 1946. I was in the kitchen making me something to eat since it
was after the regular lunchtime. The bell began ringing (this was not a
time when the bell regularly rang) and didn't stop. Everyone was running
and we were instructed to leave the building as quickly as possible. 
When we got outside we could see the smoke coming from the Boys side of the
building. The boys' wing was a raging furnace in a matter of minutes. The
bell was hung over the boys' back porch, and when it fell it seems like it
was a wake up time for all of us. We had just been mesmerized by the fact
that it was burning so quickly. It looked like the entire building was
going to go up in flames. The girls rushed inside, and tore the screens off
our clothing room windows and we began to throw all our belongings out
side. The boys had been left with only what they were wearing. 
The fire was stopped just short of the offices, which were in the center of
the building. 
After we had gathered what we could find of our belongings and restored some
sort of order to the chaos we had caused when we threw everything out, we
met in the long hall of the girls' wing of the building to see what we were
going to do. 
It was the end of a terrible day, and the end of an era.
The fire had destroyed the kitchen. That was the first order of business.
We had to have a place to prepare meals to feed the 250 or so children and
employees. The kitchen was moved to the dining room, and we ate in the
girls' hall. All the girls moved into the older girls' dorm and the boys
slept in the little girls' dorm. We obtained bunk beds from the army base
in Frederick so we all would have a place to sleep. The base had closed
down after the war was over. We were so crowded, but what else could we
do. As soon a possible we had barracks buildings moved from the base to the
Tipton Home campus. We no longer had congregate living. The first barracks
was, of course, the kitchen and dining room. We moved boys' barracks into
place as quickly as we could so that they could have sleeping quarters. The
girls' barracks were in place soon after, and the girls' sleeping quarters
were converted to school rooms. The barracks were given names to
distinguish them from each other, and so we would have a basis for returning
clean linens, clothing, etc., to the correct dorm. Catwalks were built
between the buildings and the dining room. Some of the barracks were
remodeled into rooms, with two girls sharing a room with a bathroom between
the rooms. No more bathrooms shared by everyone. No more clothing rooms
shared by everyone. Each barracks had a 'living room' where we could all
congregate. Each 'cottage' had it's own chapel. No more chapel, as we had
known it before. The barracks occupied by the younger children were not
separated into rooms, and they still had one sleeping area, and one
bathroom, but did have an area designed for a place to study and other
activities. Each 'cottage' as the barracks were called had at least one
house parent. As soon as employees could be hired, each cottage, with the
exception of the senior girls cottage, had a couple hired as house parents.
Tipton Home was not yet ready to hire a man in the senior girls cottage, and
they had only a female houseparent for several years.
A gymnasium was built in the wing of the building where the older boys had
lived, with a trampoline, a place to play volley ball, some work out
equipment and a basket ball court. Girls and boys alike were encouraged to
use the gym. It had bleacher seats and that is where the chapel services
were conducted for a while. Soon, though, it became inconvenient for the
cottages to meet together in the gym, and each cottage became responsible
for it's own spiritual guidance methods.
The way the work was performed was changed. The linens had to be marked by
the cottage, instead of just doing the 'big boys' dorm or the 'little girls'
dorm so that we could get the linens back to the correct dorm. Every one's
clothing had to be marked so that we could get it back to the right place.
There was no specific group to do the house cleaning anymore. Each cottage
was responsible for it's own cleaning. The new kitchen was set up
differently so the method used for food preparation had to be modified. The
'kitchen lady' did more of the work herself rather than depend on the girls
to do it all. The kitchen had conveniences that the old kitchen did not.
We had never seen an appliance that would peel potatoes for that many
people. We had never seen a mixer like the one that came with the kitchen,
nor a dishwasher that would take care of all those dishes. The work load
changed.
It was a time of change for all of us. We went from living under each
other's feet with one 'matron' for each dorm to living in cottages with
fewer people in each cottage and each cottage had a house parent (or couples
for house parents for some). No longer did thirteen year olds live with
eighteen year olds. The cottages were split so that age groups had their
own living space. Pre-school children no longer lived with sixth graders,
but had a cottage of their own. We no longer all met together for chapel
services.
We no longer knew each other as well as we did before. Sometimes we didn't
see or talk to each other anymore. Our lives changed, maybe it was better,
but change they did.
I graduated high school that spring, and life continued in this fashion for
several years. However, within five years permanent cottages were
being erected. Some of them are still standing.
(The
rest of the story will be told in installments.) |
