Today In Oklahoma

Haddie Payne, thought to be the oldest living Oklahoman, died yesterday.

She was 109.

Haddie Payne was born in September 1898, in Indian Territory near Pauls Valley, and was the oldest of 19 children in the family.

This remarkable lady leaves behind 22 grandchildren, 69 great-grandchildren, 101 great-great-grandchildren and eight great-great-great-grandchildren.

You can read more about Haddie Payne at the following links:

Woman thought to be Oklahoma’s oldest resident dies - Link

109-year-old woman may be state’s oldest - Link

The Grinch that stole $500 worth of Christmas presents from under Angela Stewart’s tree last week has been defeated by the Christmas spirit of the many people that opened their hearts, their purses and their wallets to save Christmas for Stewart’s seven children.

And it turns out that people were so generous in rushing to the aide of the Stewart family that Angela says she’s received more presents and money than what was stolen. As a result she will use the extra to buy gifts for some her neighbors and family members who are also in need. It’s her way, she says, of paying it forward.

You can read the report at Grinch Tried To Steal Christmas But Viewers Come To Rescue and know that in the end the Grinch always loses…

Bryan and Kendra Pennington exemplify what it means to care for others, even when one is suffering themselves.

With no power to operate their restaurant, Average Joe’s Classic Eatery, and with about $6,000 worth of meat likely to spoil the Penningtons donated their entire food supply to the shelter at Asbury United Methodist Church, where many Tulsans had sought shelter in the wake of a major ice storm and massive power outage.

The Penningtons confronted with no power to preserve their food supply donated it to other Tulsans late Tuesday afternoon. The power was restored at their restaurant early Wednesday morning. Odds are very good that the food in their walk-in freezer would have survived the intervening hours without problem.

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Sixty-six years ago it was a day that will truly live in infamy.

This coming Friday, December 7th, will be a day of honor not only for the 429 Sailors and Marines that died on the USS Oklahoma during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor but also for their countless brothers who gave their all to save this nation.

At long last the USS Oklahoma Memorial is reality thanks to the efforts of many including Kevin King, Paul Goodyear, State Senator Jim Reynolds, U.S. Rep. Tom Cole and President George W. Bush who signed legislation securing the site for the memorial on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and of course the many thousands that contributed funds for the memorial’s construction.

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Rosie Hartman, a 1980 graduate of Pryor High School, lived her dream recently as she attended the Hollywood premier of the movie “Cutlass”, which just happens to be a movie based on Hartman’s wheeling and dealing for a 1977 Cutlass Supreme with T-tops during the fall of 1979.

Hartman won the Glamour Magazine Reel Moments essay contest sponsored by Clinque Happy with her story of a lesson she learned from her father, Jack Porter.

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