In Memory of our late Teachers and Staff

James Knox Polk Salyer married Emily (Lizzie) Williams on July 11, 1894 in Canadian County, Okla. Territory.

Their first child was Phoebe Jacquetta born on Sept. 12, 1897.

They later had two more daughters and six sons. They had moved to Geary, Okla. in 1897 and established the Silver Front Hotel. They later sold the hotel and bought a farm southwest of Geary.

Phoebe moved to Anadarko to teach after attending Southwest State Teachers College in Weatherford.

She married Ralph Claire Freelin, the son of William Solon Freelin and Hetti Owings Freelin, early pioneers to Anadarko, Oklahoma Territory.

They were married in El Reno on January l, 1918 while Ralph was still in the U.S. Army during World War 1.

After his discharge from the Army, they made their home in Anadarko. Phoebe taught school and Ralph became a rural mail carrier. He retired from that job after 42 years. Ralph also ran the movie projectors for Ray Rector at the old Columbia Theatre for many years.

Phoebe and Ralph had four children: Claire, who died at two years old, Phoebe Jane who graduated in 1940, Keith, who graduated in 1944 and Grace Marie who graduated in 1951.

She was very active in the Presbyterian Church with the choir and as a Sunday School teacher. Phoebe returned to teaching in the schools when Grace Marie entered Junior High School.

Ralph retired from the U.S. Post Office in 1956 and they moved to Aurora, Colorado to be near family. Phoebe became a teacher and librarian in the Aurora Schools.

They had eleven grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

Ralph passed away on April 21, 1971 in Aurora. Phoebe passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico October 6, 1981. Both are buried at Lakewood, Colorado (a suburb of Denver).

Phoebe Jane Freelin Natanson lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Keith lives in Sun City, Arizona.

Grace Marie Freelin Messing lives in Plano, Texas.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

P.S. Some interesting history about William Solon Freelin and Hetti Owings Freelin, Ralph's parents and how they got to Anadarko.

They were both from the Moberly and Mexico, Missouri area. Hetti came from a large Catholic family and they didn't approve of William Solon because he wasn't Catholic.

They eloped and came to Oklahoma during the land run of 1889.

Edith Rennie Hamilton, 1910-1995

Mrs. Hamilton was born on March 27, 1910 in Pauls Valley, OK to Albert Sr. and Laura Matthews Rennie.

She died on February 2, 1995 at her home in Anadarko, at the age of 85.

She was a graduate of the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha and also studied at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State College in Weatherford, where she earned a Masters Degree.

She married William Alexander Hamilton in 1934 in Pauls Valley.

Mrs. Hamilton taught in the Anadarko school system for more than 30 years, beginning in 1946. She also taught school in Purcell.

She served two years as president of the Caddo County Teachers Association. She was a member of the Caddo County Retired Teachers Association and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She was also a member of the Presbyterian Church of Anadarko.

Survivors include her husband, of the home; two sons and daughters-in-law, Fred R. and Judy Hamilton of Anadarko and William A. III and Penny Hamilton of Granby, CO; five grandchildren, one great-grandchild and numerous nieces and nephews.

Burial will be in Anadarko's Memory Lane Cemetery under the direction of Smith Funeral Chapel of Anadarko.

Betty Gene Haynes, 1925-1977

Funeral services for Miss Betty Gene Haynes, age 51, were held August 16, 1977 from the Chapel of the Callaway-Smith-Cobb Funeral Home in Rush Springs, OK.

Rev. C.A. Spradlin, pastor of the College Heights Baptist Church in Chickasha, officated.

Betty Gene was born December 14, 1925 in Rush Springs and died August 14th in a hospital at McAllen, Texas, after a short illness.

She was a graduate of Rush Springs High School and the Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha.

She taught school in Anadarko, Denver, Riverside, CA, the University of Southern California at Santa Barbara and the University of Guadalahara, Mexico.

Betty was employed in advertising specialities in Mission, Texas, at the time of her death.

Survisors included her father and step-mother, Mr. and Mrs. James Hamilton Haynes of Chickasha; one niece, Donna Sue Mueller, also of Chickasha and a nephew, Rich Haynes of Norman, and an aunt, Mrs. Lillie Taylor of Rush Springs.

Interment was in the Rush Springs Cemetery.

Vitalis Roch Dries Hons, 1909-1999

Mrs. Hons died at the age of 90, on October 17, 1999 at her home in Union City, OK.

She taught English at the Anadarko Junior High School during the middle 1940's. She was a graduate of Oklahoma A&M College, now Oklahoma State University, where she was a member of the honor societies of Phi Kappa Phi, Kappa Delta Pi and Alpha Zeta Pi.

Her teaching career also included positions in a classical one-room schoolhouse at Lone Star School, five miles east of Union City and Norfolk School near Cushing, OK.

She was 19 years old when she started teaching at Lone Star. The year was 1928 and she was paid $80 per month. She was paid extra because she played the piano. In addition to teaching her duties included all of the janitorial work at the school.

Mrs. Hons was born on February 21, 1909 in Union City to Fred Dries Sr. and Margaret Fuhring Dries.

She married George Charles Hons on June 30, 1949. They lived on a farm near Seymour, Texas, southwest of Wichita Falls. He preceded her in death on August 28, 1995.

She was named Vitalis Roch for two Divine Providence Sisters who taught at St. Joseph's School in Union City at the time of her birth. The Sisters were good friends of her mother.

Rosary services for Mrs. Hons were held on October 19 at St. Joseph Church in Union City, where she was a lifelong member and belonged to the Altar Society. Mass of Christian Burial was held on October 20th. Burial was in St. Joseph Cemetery.

She was survived by a son George Gerard "Jerry" Hons of Union City.

Herley Daniel "Red" Lair, 1920-2004

Services for Coach Lair were held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 19 at Bethel Baptist Church in Anadarko with Father Mike Chapman of Weatherford, OK officiating.

Coach Lair was born October 12, 1920 in Stecker, OK to Walter Leighton and Sophie Caroline Crabtree Lair and passed away on March 15 in Wagoner, OK at the home of his sister Mary Mobley.

He was married to the former Alice Marie "Bennie" Benson on December 27, 1943. She preceded him in death in February 1987.

He grew up on a farm seven miles south of Anadarko and graduated from Stecker High School in 1937.

He joined the Nation Guard Unit in Anadarko and continued his education at Southwestern State College in Weatherford.

His unit was called to active duty in 1941 and he was driving from Weatherford to Anadarko when he was involved in a automobile accident that put him in the Anadarko hospital, and then transferred to Reynolds Army Hospital at Fort Sill.

When he was released from the hospital a year later, he entered Officer Candidate School. After receiving his commission he rejoined his 45th Division unit in Panama.

Coach Lair went to pilot training school, learning to fly helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He was then sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations. He was shot down during the Battle of Leyte and his airplane was forced down another time.

After the war ended he returned to Anadarko where he taught junior high school manual shop training and coached basketball until he was called back to active duty for the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and 1949.

When the war in Korea started he served two years there as a helicopter pilot. Later in 1965 he was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. where he stayed until retirement on July 1, 1967.

He returned to make his home in Anadarko, where he became the manager of the golf course at the detriech Memorial Country Club from May of 1974 until June of 1982.

Survivors include five children; Daniel Herley Lair of Amarillo, Mary Kay Bendele and her husband Bill of Victorville, CA, Walter Leighton Lair and his wife Kathy of Tulsa, John Benson Lair and his wife Sharon of Edmond and Susan Sims of Richardson, TX; nine grandchildren; two great grandchildren; one brother, Merle V. Lair and his wife Helen of Broken Arrow; and one sister Mary Mobley and her husband Charles of Wagoner.

Burial was in Anadarko's Memory Lane Cemetery under the direction of Steverson Funeral Home.

Allie B. McLean, 1898-1989

Mrs. McLean was born on January 17, 1898 in Potter County, Texas and died in Norman, OK on December 15, 1989.

She came with her family to Cordell in 1907 and attended Lake Valley Elementary School and Southwestern State Teachers College at Weatherford.

She married Richard Lee (Red) McLean on September 15, 1920. He preceded her in death in 1962.

Mrs. McLean taught school at Duke, Erick and Anadarko, retiring in 1951.

She moved to Norman in 1951 and became a co-owner and founder of Dunn's Dairy Queen, retiring in May of 1988.

She was a member of McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church and the PEO Chapter.

Survivors include three daughters, Dell Dunn and Pat Collier of Norman and Betty McDonald of Dallas, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Burial was in Resthaven Cemetery in Oklahoma City under the direction of Mayes Funeral Home in Norman.

Services for Miss Virginia Katie Sage, 81, formerly of 412 W. Georgia, were held Monday, March 6,1978, in the First Methodist Church with the Rev. Jim Smith, pastor, officiating.

Burial was in the Rose Hill Cemetery of Chickasha with Hansen-Binyon Funeral Home of Verden in charge.

Miss Sage died March 3rd in an Oklahoma City hospital.

She was born in Lee County, VA, on September 25, 1896 to Bonnie L. and William Ernest Sage. She came to Oklahoma with her family in 1900 and settled on a farm north of Verden.

A 1926 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, she had taught school for more than 34 years. She had previously served as a librarian for the City of Anadarko.

As a member of the Eastern Star, she was a Worthy Matron for two terms and belonged to the Past Matron Club, the Rebeccah Lodge and the First United Methodist Church.

She was preceeded in death by her parents, a brother Silas and a sister Thelma Franklin.

She was survived by three nieces, Lasca Stephens of Holdenville, Carol Davis of Amarillo, TX and Sharon Risse of Wynnewood; one nephew Melton B. Franklin of Verden, six great nieces and six great nephews and 11 great, great nieces and nephews.