Hollis was born to John and Mary Roberta (Coffman) Jack on March 24, 1902. He died August 25, 1980 at the Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, Oklahoma, Osage County. Frances Merle(Rhoades) was born to Otto and Christianna Rhoades on November 08, 1904. She died March 18, 1971 at the Kiowa Kansas Hospital.
They lived all their lives in the Byron Community. They were married May 10, 1924 at Anthony, Kansas. Their first home was with his parents, Mr.and Mrs. John Jack. Frances attended the Amorita Highschool, but graduated from the Byron Highschool, which had just been built. Her class was the first one to graduate out of this new school. After graduation they moved to a home East of Bryon, called the Blake place. While living at the Blake Place, they had a baby boy, named Darrell Lynn who was born July 26, 1928. Darrell is no longer living, he died in August of 1980 at Bryon, Okla. Darrell was a member of the Armed Forces, belonging to the Oklahoma National Guards, the 45th. Division. He served in the Korea War, and came home in the summer of 1952. He married Eva Mae Tyler of Cherokee, Oklahoma. They lived in Okla., Kansas and California. They had two children Danny and Sherry. In later years Darrell made his home with his father on the farm.
Hollis moved his young wife and baby boy to his Uncle John Coffman's farm South of Byron. John had settled this in the strip. There they made there home with his Uncle John for a few years. At this home they were blessed with another child, little girl, name of Doreen Mae. She was born November 27, 1933 during the great depression.
Doreen married a local boy by the name of Bill Baldock in May of 1951 at Alva, Oklahoma in Woods County. He was the son of Lloyd Baldock and Nora (Puffinbarger) Baldock. They both graduated from Byron Highschool. Doreen's was the last class to graduate from the Byron school in 195l. To this family a little baby girl was born. Her name was Rhonda Christine, born August 09, 1952 at Ponca City Hospital. In later years, a divorce came to this family and Doreen married Paul Thomas of Pawhuska, Okla. They had a little baby girl and named her Tanya Christine, she was born August 05,1973 at Pawhuska, Oklahoma.
Rhonda married Dennis Mathews of Ponca City, Oklahoma, son of Uyless and Maxine Mathews of Ponca City, Okla. They had a son, who they named Duane, born December 08, 1967 at Ponca City Hospital. He is now living in Ponca City, Okla. Rhonda married again, to Michael Whitewolf of Chicago, Illinois. They had a daughter and named her Sara Christine. Sara was born June 15 1990 in Orlando, Fl. The family now lives in Orlando, Florida.
Tanya married Frank Burch of Ralston, Okla. in December of 1993, son of Harold and Jane Burch of Ralston, Oklahoma . They had a daughter and named her Brenna Christine. Brenna was born April 15, 1997 in Stillwater Hospital, Stillwater Oklahoma. The daughters and granddaughters of Doreen were named after the maternal grandmother, Christianna (Mason) Rhoades.
Hollis worked on the farm and also the W.P.A. to help with living expenses during this trying time. There was always enough food, they raised chickens and cows, therefore, eggs, milk and meat were always available, money was scarce. Hollis worked from sun up to sun down, and when he would get home, he would help his Uncle John with the chores. He was a good husband and a wonderful dad.
John thought it would be nice to move another house onto the property and when the Railroad sold the Amorita Depot, John bought it and moved it onto the farm. The old home was made into barn. He intended to remodel this depot, but became sick and moved in with his sister Roberta and his brother in law, John Jack. The depot set empty for awhile. Hollis and Frances decided to move their family into this home. Doreen would always think of a floor plan for this home, but her mom and dad told her that the land was not theirs and they really did not want to invest a lot of time and money into remodeling this old depot. Therefore, the whole family lived in the Amorita Depot for a long time. However one day they decided to lower the ceiling in the kitchen and this made for a much nicer and warmer place for the family. Later on, Doreen tried to get them to divide the other two rooms and lower the ceilings, but she could never talk them into it. The window, where people bought tickets, was used in the wintertime as a place to store food, just raise or lower the window and set the food on the counter or shelf and it would stay very cold in winter. Worked great. The 2nd. World War came and Doreen saved stamps. She saved enough for a $75.00 bond, her mom asked if they could buy a refrigerator with the bonds and she agreed to do this. Winters were something else in that Depot. In winter the wind would blow snow through the ribbed boards of the North bedroom and there would be a light dusting of snow on the covers. The South bedroom was cold, but no snow. Good old days, well maybe the memory is. That Depot was used for things it was never meant to be used for, certainly not to raise a family in.
Frances always kept that home clean, one never saw anything out of place or dust anywhere, except when a dust storm would come and then we would have to clean the whole house to get the dust out.
Hollis and Frances moved to the home place of John Jack, after John's wife, Roberta, passed away. They lived in a little house which the family always called the Shack. When John moved into town to live by his daughter, Ada (Jack) Stewart and his son in law, Les Stewart, they moved into the bigger white house.
After Frances had died, Hollis set on the North side of his home and watched as flames devoured the old depot. One can only imagine what he was thinking, how many memories were going through his mind. He continued to live on this home place by himself, until his son, Darrell, came home from California to live with him. This was the home of his boyhood, where he had not moved more than 2 miles from, in 78 years of living on this earth.