DIANA REED Correspondent
Anotheralumniweekend is in the history books. Thanks to all the alums who work so hard every year putting the events together. It’s always a great success and a good time is had by all.
We had an exceptionally wet Memorial Day this weekend. Volunteers put out flags a few days before and by the time the last flag was placed, everyone was soaked. Helping place around eight hundred flags were Ken and Celeste Carpenter, Keith and Sue Prater, Carl and Diana McGuire,PamHunt,David Carroll, Debbie Garrett, Andrea Thompson, Julie Bivin, Davina McGee, Victor and Emily Becerra and their daughter Raven, and Barbie Bahner and her children Olivia and Henry. If you visited the cemetery, I’m sure you noticed the new block number signs. A big Town Talk “shout out” to Service King for making and donating the signs for the project. Nissa Hughes, Service King employee, coordinated the manufacturing. Town Talk purchased the vinyl and Julie Bivin and Andrea Thompson cut out the numbers/letters.Thank you also to Linda Waller, Julie Bivin, Andrea Thompson, Nissa Hughes and David Evans for putting them on the signs. Our gratitude goes to City Manager Bob Pearman and his crew who installed all the posts in time for the weekend. The next step will be a master list of all grave locations so that visitors will be able to locate individual graves. Picking up flags were Debbie Pearman,KeithandSue Prater, Julie Bivin and her granddaughter Rae Bivin, Linda Waller, John Owens, David Carroll, Carl and Diana McGuire, Pam Hunt and Aleta Smalley While at the cemetery Julie Bivin and I visited with JewelandNancySmartand their son Christopher. From a distance we had mistaken Christopher for Jeremy and wanted to talk to Jeremy about purchasing a sound system for the Auxiliary. We did not have one to use for the Monday service. Christopher jumped right in on the conversation and said we could talk to Jeremy about buying one, but he had one he would set up and operate for us to use on Monday. God works in mysterious ways. We were three days away from our program and Christopher saved the day for us. To paraphrase Yakow Smirnoff, “What a community!”
Town Talk is kicking off a new fund-raising effort to raise monies to build a pavilion in the cemetery that can be used for graveside services. We are working with City Manager Bob Pearman on the project and have committed to raising the $4500 needed for the concrete base. If you would like to donate to this project, please make your checkpayabletoTownTalk and mail to Aleta Smalley at 301 West 6th Street or Julie Bivin at 501 South 10th Avenue.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Memorial Day service. Those donating their time to honor our deceased veterans were AmericanLegionAuxiliary President Diana McGuire, Pastor R. D. Jacobs, Miss Lincoln County Mackynesie McKedy, Veteran Tom Hentges, Veteran Delmer Summers, Aleta Smalley, Audrey Chace, Danielle Stangl and Emeri Bradley. Gun salute participants were veterans Jeremy Hall, Michael Ramsey, Luke Keigley, Stewart Wright, Jared Null, Michael Williams, Matthew Cockrum and Post #257 Legion Commander Michael Horwath. TownTalk also sends thanks to all community members who attended the service. Thank you to Andrea Thompson of Unique Market for lending ferns for the flowerpots at the entrances of the cemetery.
Upcoming community activities include Hospital Development Authority Meeting 7:00 a.m. Thursday June 5th at City Hall, Stroud Community Clothing Ministry 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Thursday June 5th on West Highway 66, Kendrick Parade 11:00 a.m. Saturday June 7th in Kendrick, Stroud Food Pantry 9:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Tuesday June 10th, Chamber of Commerce Board Meeting 5:30 p.m. Tuesday June 10th at Main Street Chamber Office, and Stroud City Council Meeting 5:00 p.m. Thursday June 12th at City Hall.
I received word that another beloved Stroud alum has died. Joe Remington, Class of 1970, passed away this past Friday after suffering a heart attack. Joe grew up in Stroud and was the son of the late Bob and Lorene (Manning) Remington. He had two siblings, John and Laleta. Joe was currently residing in Prague. Town Talk offers condolences to the Remington’s family and friends.
Terry Mullendore, life-long Wellston resident and graduate passed away this past week. Tom and his brother Terry called me last year at the end of the summer. They just called to check on me because they hadn’t seen Town Talk in the paper for several weeks and wanted to be sure I was okay. I told them that I had just taken a break for the summer. From that first phone call, they became “phone friends” with my mom and me. Julie Bivin was even included in the conversations if she happened to be with me when they called. Julie, Mom, and I attended Terry’s service, and it was the first time we met Tom and even though we had never met Terry we wanted to pay our respects. Keep Tom in your prayers as Terry was the only other living member of his immediate family. He’s going to miss his best friend.
Gideon played baseball in Norman and Noble over Memorial Day weekend and the little guys, August and Lincoln, had the weekend off. Gideon’s team was only able to play two complete games before the tournament had to be cancelled due to lightning. Gideon did pitch the second game and allowed zero hits and zero runs over three innings, striking out two and walking two.
The 2024-25 seniors ended their high school careers on Friday, May 30th. Each one of them will begin a new journey. My cousin Dylan Baker left town four days after graduation and headed off to Marine Corps Boot Camp. Dylan was an outstanding quarterback for the Stroud Tigers during his high school years, and he will be missed on the field this fall, especially by his brother Trystan who caught many a pass thrown to him by his brother. Dylan is the son of Retired Marine Chad Baker and his wife Kim and the grandson of Ron and Dee Baker and the late Pat NeeSmith. Let’s keep Dylan and all our other graduates in our prayers as they prepare for their lives ahead.
The neon signs are going up one by one on Main Street. They look great and it’s fun to see what each business designed to represent their business. Mom and I visited with a couple from Oklahoma City who were driving down Route 66 just for an afternoon jaunt. They were taking their picture by one of the flowerpots on Main Street and asked us if we knew their friends, Ken and Lisa Darvin. They told us Stroud was such a pretty town and were impressed with our Main Street. That’s just what we like to hear. Have a great week and thank you for continuing to shop local…………….first!