Son of William Thomas "Buck" Lawrence and Sarah Amanda "Nettie" Jeffery.
My dad's father left Izard County, Arkansas around 1929 when dad was 4 years old. They moved to the Warner, Oklahoma area (Porum, Webber Falls)and lived in various houses for years. This move from Arkansas was due to dad's oldest brother, "Pat" Lawrence having already moved to the area and sent for his parents to follow him which they did. Dad told me many stories of his childhood and his relationships with his brothers and his parents. He grew up picking cotton for .50 cents a day, plowing his father's fields behind two mules (Slim and Shorty) to raise corn and more. The family did not really prosper from their move to Oklahoma but they were survivors and survive they did. Many of the houses they lived in were not very good and sometimes the food was sparse (see photo of dad taken around 1942).
Dad loved to play baseball and was quite good at it. Hitting a baseball over 300-350 feet was nothing for him.
I always took his baseball stories when he was kid for granted but one day while we were down in Warner we ran into a man dad new as a kid. He marveled at seeing dad play ball and telling me how good he and his brothers (Claude, Harlin and Harry) were as well. Dad implanted the love of baseball in me and to this day I follow a few of my favorite teams.
Dad had a best friend named Henry Robertson and together they attended school, hunted, fished and played baseball whenever they had the chance to enjoy each others company. Henry went to the Army during World War II and lost his life during the Battle of the Philippines. Upon learning of the news of Henry's death, my dad ran to the Robertson farm where he was met by Henry's mother. She was grieving loudly and when she saw my dad she lit into him because he had not gone to the war and yelled accusingly that it should have been him (dad) that got killed...not her son (Dad's parents were elderly and he was the only son still at home so the Army nor the Navy would take him). My dad was devastated and never returned to the Robertson home nor did he ever have a best friend again for the remainder of his life.
My dad met my mom while picking cotton. One of his older brother's, Cecil Lawrence, was married to a woman named Claudia "Claudie" Yates from Yell County, Arkansas. My mother was Claudie's niece. So Claudie invited her parents to come to the Warner area to pick cotton and earn some extra money. When the came, they brought my mother as well. The first day she was out picking cotton, my dad was also in the field and that is were they met. They married on November 16, 1945. They had two children, my sister and then me.
Dad worked at whatever job he could to earn money to support his family. He moved the family to Tulsa around 1951 and made a permanent home in the county. He worked 13 years for McDonnell-Douglas but every summer as he neared his vacation time he would be laid off. During one of these periods he went to Longwood, Florida and worked at the United States Navy Base then at Sanford, Florida, working on airplane skins. After about six months the entire family moved there and spent half of 1961 through the summer of 1962 living in a duplex in Longwood. He received the call to return to McDonnell-Douglas and we packed up and headed back to our house in Tulsa. In 1964, dad applied and was hired at American Airlines and worked there for the next 25 years. He joined Calvary Baptist Church were he became a greeter and occasional usher. He also was very active in my baseball career beginning in Florida through my 15th birthday. In 1977 dad and mom bought a brand new home in Owasso, Oklahoma, in north Tulsa County, and lived there until his death in 1996 from heart disease and diabetes.
What can you say, about the greatest man I ever knew? What I wouldn't give for just one more afternoon of playing catch with my dad.
I love and miss you pop.....
My dad's father left Izard County, Arkansas around 1929 when dad was 4 years old. They moved to the Warner, Oklahoma area (Porum, Webber Falls)and lived in various houses for years. This move from Arkansas was due to dad's oldest brother, "Pat" Lawrence having already moved to the area and sent for his parents to follow him which they did. Dad told me many stories of his childhood and his relationships with his brothers and his parents. He grew up picking cotton for .50 cents a day, plowing his father's fields behind two mules (Slim and Shorty) to raise corn and more. The family did not really prosper from their move to Oklahoma but they were survivors and survive they did. Many of the houses they lived in were not very good and sometimes the food was sparse (see photo of dad taken around 1942).
Dad loved to play baseball and was quite good at it. Hitting a baseball over 300-350 feet was nothing for him.
I always took his baseball stories when he was kid for granted but one day while we were down in Warner we ran into a man dad new as a kid. He marveled at seeing dad play ball and telling me how good he and his brothers (Claude, Harlin and Harry) were as well. Dad implanted the love of baseball in me and to this day I follow a few of my favorite teams.
Dad had a best friend named Henry Robertson and together they attended school, hunted, fished and played baseball whenever they had the chance to enjoy each others company. Henry went to the Army during World War II and lost his life during the Battle of the Philippines. Upon learning of the news of Henry's death, my dad ran to the Robertson farm where he was met by Henry's mother. She was grieving loudly and when she saw my dad she lit into him because he had not gone to the war and yelled accusingly that it should have been him (dad) that got killed...not her son (Dad's parents were elderly and he was the only son still at home so the Army nor the Navy would take him). My dad was devastated and never returned to the Robertson home nor did he ever have a best friend again for the remainder of his life.
My dad met my mom while picking cotton. One of his older brother's, Cecil Lawrence, was married to a woman named Claudia "Claudie" Yates from Yell County, Arkansas. My mother was Claudie's niece. So Claudie invited her parents to come to the Warner area to pick cotton and earn some extra money. When the came, they brought my mother as well. The first day she was out picking cotton, my dad was also in the field and that is were they met. They married on November 16, 1945. They had two children, my sister and then me.
Dad worked at whatever job he could to earn money to support his family. He moved the family to Tulsa around 1951 and made a permanent home in the county. He worked 13 years for McDonnell-Douglas but every summer as he neared his vacation time he would be laid off. During one of these periods he went to Longwood, Florida and worked at the United States Navy Base then at Sanford, Florida, working on airplane skins. After about six months the entire family moved there and spent half of 1961 through the summer of 1962 living in a duplex in Longwood. He received the call to return to McDonnell-Douglas and we packed up and headed back to our house in Tulsa. In 1964, dad applied and was hired at American Airlines and worked there for the next 25 years. He joined Calvary Baptist Church were he became a greeter and occasional usher. He also was very active in my baseball career beginning in Florida through my 15th birthday. In 1977 dad and mom bought a brand new home in Owasso, Oklahoma, in north Tulsa County, and lived there until his death in 1996 from heart disease and diabetes.
What can you say, about the greatest man I ever knew? What I wouldn't give for just one more afternoon of playing catch with my dad.
I love and miss you pop.....
Son of William Thomas "Buck" Lawrence and Sarah Amanda "Nettie" Jeffery.
My dad's father left Izard County, Arkansas around 1929 when dad was 4 years old. They moved to the Warner, Oklahoma area (Porum, Webber Falls)and lived in various houses for years. This move from Arkansas was due to dad's oldest brother, "Pat" Lawrence having already moved to the area and sent for his parents to follow him which they did. Dad told me many stories of his childhood and his relationships with his brothers and his parents. He grew up picking cotton for .50 cents a day, plowing his father's fields behind two mules (Slim and Shorty) to raise corn and more. The family did not really prosper from their move to Oklahoma but they were survivors and survive they did. Many of the houses they lived in were not very good and sometimes the food was sparse (see photo of dad taken around 1942).
Dad loved to play baseball and was quite good at it. Hitting a baseball over 300-350 feet was nothing for him.
I always took his baseball stories when he was kid for granted but one day while we were down in Warner we ran into a man dad new as a kid. He marveled at seeing dad play ball and telling me how good he and his brothers (Claude, Harlin and Harry) were as well. Dad implanted the love of baseball in me and to this day I follow a few of my favorite teams.
Dad had a best friend named Henry Robertson and together they attended school, hunted, fished and played baseball whenever they had the chance to enjoy each others company. Henry went to the Army during World War II and lost his life during the Battle of the Philippines. Upon learning of the news of Henry's death, my dad ran to the Robertson farm where he was met by Henry's mother. She was grieving loudly and when she saw my dad she lit into him because he had not gone to the war and yelled accusingly that it should have been him (dad) that got killed...not her son (Dad's parents were elderly and he was the only son still at home so the Army nor the Navy would take him). My dad was devastated and never returned to the Robertson home nor did he ever have a best friend again for the remainder of his life.
My dad met my mom while picking cotton. One of his older brother's, Cecil Lawrence, was married to a woman named Claudia "Claudie" Yates from Yell County, Arkansas. My mother was Claudie's niece. So Claudie invited her parents to come to the Warner area to pick cotton and earn some extra money. When the came, they brought my mother as well. The first day she was out picking cotton, my dad was also in the field and that is were they met. They married on November 16, 1945. They had two children, my sister and then me.
Dad worked at whatever job he could to earn money to support his family. He moved the family to Tulsa around 1951 and made a permanent home in the county. He worked 13 years for McDonnell-Douglas but every summer as he neared his vacation time he would be laid off. During one of these periods he went to Longwood, Florida and worked at the United States Navy Base then at Sanford, Florida, working on airplane skins. After about six months the entire family moved there and spent half of 1961 through the summer of 1962 living in a duplex in Longwood. He received the call to return to McDonnell-Douglas and we packed up and headed back to our house in Tulsa. In 1964, dad applied and was hired at American Airlines and worked there for the next 25 years. He joined Calvary Baptist Church were he became a greeter and occasional usher. He also was very active in my baseball career beginning in Florida through my 15th birthday. In 1977 dad and mom bought a brand new home in Owasso, Oklahoma, in north Tulsa County, and lived there until his death in 1996 from heart disease and diabetes.
What can you say, about the greatest man I ever knew? What I wouldn't give for just one more afternoon of playing catch with my dad.
I love and miss you pop.....
My dad's father left Izard County, Arkansas around 1929 when dad was 4 years old. They moved to the Warner, Oklahoma area (Porum, Webber Falls)and lived in various houses for years. This move from Arkansas was due to dad's oldest brother, "Pat" Lawrence having already moved to the area and sent for his parents to follow him which they did. Dad told me many stories of his childhood and his relationships with his brothers and his parents. He grew up picking cotton for .50 cents a day, plowing his father's fields behind two mules (Slim and Shorty) to raise corn and more. The family did not really prosper from their move to Oklahoma but they were survivors and survive they did. Many of the houses they lived in were not very good and sometimes the food was sparse (see photo of dad taken around 1942).
Dad loved to play baseball and was quite good at it. Hitting a baseball over 300-350 feet was nothing for him.
I always took his baseball stories when he was kid for granted but one day while we were down in Warner we ran into a man dad new as a kid. He marveled at seeing dad play ball and telling me how good he and his brothers (Claude, Harlin and Harry) were as well. Dad implanted the love of baseball in me and to this day I follow a few of my favorite teams.
Dad had a best friend named Henry Robertson and together they attended school, hunted, fished and played baseball whenever they had the chance to enjoy each others company. Henry went to the Army during World War II and lost his life during the Battle of the Philippines. Upon learning of the news of Henry's death, my dad ran to the Robertson farm where he was met by Henry's mother. She was grieving loudly and when she saw my dad she lit into him because he had not gone to the war and yelled accusingly that it should have been him (dad) that got killed...not her son (Dad's parents were elderly and he was the only son still at home so the Army nor the Navy would take him). My dad was devastated and never returned to the Robertson home nor did he ever have a best friend again for the remainder of his life.
My dad met my mom while picking cotton. One of his older brother's, Cecil Lawrence, was married to a woman named Claudia "Claudie" Yates from Yell County, Arkansas. My mother was Claudie's niece. So Claudie invited her parents to come to the Warner area to pick cotton and earn some extra money. When the came, they brought my mother as well. The first day she was out picking cotton, my dad was also in the field and that is were they met. They married on November 16, 1945. They had two children, my sister and then me.
Dad worked at whatever job he could to earn money to support his family. He moved the family to Tulsa around 1951 and made a permanent home in the county. He worked 13 years for McDonnell-Douglas but every summer as he neared his vacation time he would be laid off. During one of these periods he went to Longwood, Florida and worked at the United States Navy Base then at Sanford, Florida, working on airplane skins. After about six months the entire family moved there and spent half of 1961 through the summer of 1962 living in a duplex in Longwood. He received the call to return to McDonnell-Douglas and we packed up and headed back to our house in Tulsa. In 1964, dad applied and was hired at American Airlines and worked there for the next 25 years. He joined Calvary Baptist Church were he became a greeter and occasional usher. He also was very active in my baseball career beginning in Florida through my 15th birthday. In 1977 dad and mom bought a brand new home in Owasso, Oklahoma, in north Tulsa County, and lived there until his death in 1996 from heart disease and diabetes.
What can you say, about the greatest man I ever knew? What I wouldn't give for just one more afternoon of playing catch with my dad.
I love and miss you pop.....
