Bonepart "Frank" Swindle was a true entreprenur in his own right. Born in Texas but lived most of his life in Oklahoma. He was a kind and gentle sole for as long as I knew him. A Christian, husband to Ruth, father to Frank Jr and Euline, grandfather to Linda, Walter "Buster", Karen, Randy, Radd, Steven (me) & Perry, great grandfather to 13.
After moving to Oklahoma in the early '20s, he worked many jobs. The longest was for Red Star Yeast, which led to him opening a bakery in Okmulgee in the '40s. Around this time, Frank partnered with Jack Coleman starting a feed store and a franchise for Canada Dry bottling. In a recent talk with Frank Jr, I found there was a cold front in August of 1948, the soda pop business practically shut down. No one was buying. The business folded.
Not one to let anything keep him down, Frank went on to open Ruth's Pie Shop on SW 32nd St in Oklahoma City in the mid '50s. As fate would have it, his 2 pack a day unfiltered Camels got the best of him. The month I was born, October, 1961, he had to have his voice box removed. A laryngectomy was performed leaving him a stoma in his throat. The clouds of flour from the bakery were too much for him at that point. Selling the bakery, Frank & Ruth bought the small farm in Lexington where they retired. This was all the life I ever knew of my grandparents. I never heard his original voice. The raspy post surgery voice was just as natural to me as anything I could ever imagine. This was my grandpa, working his farm. Raising a few cattle & sheep. Always a rich & plentiful garden. I can still taste the big beautiful Black Diamond watermelons he grew.
It was an adventure every summer, making the trek from south Texas to that farm in Lexington, Oklahoma. Those are some of the most wonderful memories of my youth. There were remnants of the bakery on a hillside next to his barn. Several old stack ovens, two rusted out '49 Chevy one ton delivery vans and a "million" pie pans that made the best frisbee's ever. Oh, and one crazy old wire shopping cart. I'm not sure how we ever survived the adventures of rolling that shopping cart up and down the dam of his pond.
He taught us how to fish. It didn't stick with anyone but Randy.
Mom talks about how much of a disciplianarian he was. Again, all I ever knew was that gentle ol' grandfather who knew how to fix anything with bailing wire.
I remember a conversation with him after I had graduated college and was venturing out as an entreprenur myself. A few brief stories of starting this business and then that one. I wish I could have learned more from him. We all do.
After moving to Oklahoma in the early '20s, he worked many jobs. The longest was for Red Star Yeast, which led to him opening a bakery in Okmulgee in the '40s. Around this time, Frank partnered with Jack Coleman starting a feed store and a franchise for Canada Dry bottling. In a recent talk with Frank Jr, I found there was a cold front in August of 1948, the soda pop business practically shut down. No one was buying. The business folded.
Not one to let anything keep him down, Frank went on to open Ruth's Pie Shop on SW 32nd St in Oklahoma City in the mid '50s. As fate would have it, his 2 pack a day unfiltered Camels got the best of him. The month I was born, October, 1961, he had to have his voice box removed. A laryngectomy was performed leaving him a stoma in his throat. The clouds of flour from the bakery were too much for him at that point. Selling the bakery, Frank & Ruth bought the small farm in Lexington where they retired. This was all the life I ever knew of my grandparents. I never heard his original voice. The raspy post surgery voice was just as natural to me as anything I could ever imagine. This was my grandpa, working his farm. Raising a few cattle & sheep. Always a rich & plentiful garden. I can still taste the big beautiful Black Diamond watermelons he grew.
It was an adventure every summer, making the trek from south Texas to that farm in Lexington, Oklahoma. Those are some of the most wonderful memories of my youth. There were remnants of the bakery on a hillside next to his barn. Several old stack ovens, two rusted out '49 Chevy one ton delivery vans and a "million" pie pans that made the best frisbee's ever. Oh, and one crazy old wire shopping cart. I'm not sure how we ever survived the adventures of rolling that shopping cart up and down the dam of his pond.
He taught us how to fish. It didn't stick with anyone but Randy.
Mom talks about how much of a disciplianarian he was. Again, all I ever knew was that gentle ol' grandfather who knew how to fix anything with bailing wire.
I remember a conversation with him after I had graduated college and was venturing out as an entreprenur myself. A few brief stories of starting this business and then that one. I wish I could have learned more from him. We all do.
Bonepart "Frank" Swindle was a true entreprenur in his own right. Born in Texas but lived most of his life in Oklahoma. He was a kind and gentle sole for as long as I knew him. A Christian, husband to Ruth, father to Frank Jr and Euline, grandfather to Linda, Walter "Buster", Karen, Randy, Radd, Steven (me) & Perry, great grandfather to 13.
After moving to Oklahoma in the early '20s, he worked many jobs. The longest was for Red Star Yeast, which led to him opening a bakery in Okmulgee in the '40s. Around this time, Frank partnered with Jack Coleman starting a feed store and a franchise for Canada Dry bottling. In a recent talk with Frank Jr, I found there was a cold front in August of 1948, the soda pop business practically shut down. No one was buying. The business folded.
Not one to let anything keep him down, Frank went on to open Ruth's Pie Shop on SW 32nd St in Oklahoma City in the mid '50s. As fate would have it, his 2 pack a day unfiltered Camels got the best of him. The month I was born, October, 1961, he had to have his voice box removed. A laryngectomy was performed leaving him a stoma in his throat. The clouds of flour from the bakery were too much for him at that point. Selling the bakery, Frank & Ruth bought the small farm in Lexington where they retired. This was all the life I ever knew of my grandparents. I never heard his original voice. The raspy post surgery voice was just as natural to me as anything I could ever imagine. This was my grandpa, working his farm. Raising a few cattle & sheep. Always a rich & plentiful garden. I can still taste the big beautiful Black Diamond watermelons he grew.
It was an adventure every summer, making the trek from south Texas to that farm in Lexington, Oklahoma. Those are some of the most wonderful memories of my youth. There were remnants of the bakery on a hillside next to his barn. Several old stack ovens, two rusted out '49 Chevy one ton delivery vans and a "million" pie pans that made the best frisbee's ever. Oh, and one crazy old wire shopping cart. I'm not sure how we ever survived the adventures of rolling that shopping cart up and down the dam of his pond.
He taught us how to fish. It didn't stick with anyone but Randy.
Mom talks about how much of a disciplianarian he was. Again, all I ever knew was that gentle ol' grandfather who knew how to fix anything with bailing wire.
I remember a conversation with him after I had graduated college and was venturing out as an entreprenur myself. A few brief stories of starting this business and then that one. I wish I could have learned more from him. We all do.
After moving to Oklahoma in the early '20s, he worked many jobs. The longest was for Red Star Yeast, which led to him opening a bakery in Okmulgee in the '40s. Around this time, Frank partnered with Jack Coleman starting a feed store and a franchise for Canada Dry bottling. In a recent talk with Frank Jr, I found there was a cold front in August of 1948, the soda pop business practically shut down. No one was buying. The business folded.
Not one to let anything keep him down, Frank went on to open Ruth's Pie Shop on SW 32nd St in Oklahoma City in the mid '50s. As fate would have it, his 2 pack a day unfiltered Camels got the best of him. The month I was born, October, 1961, he had to have his voice box removed. A laryngectomy was performed leaving him a stoma in his throat. The clouds of flour from the bakery were too much for him at that point. Selling the bakery, Frank & Ruth bought the small farm in Lexington where they retired. This was all the life I ever knew of my grandparents. I never heard his original voice. The raspy post surgery voice was just as natural to me as anything I could ever imagine. This was my grandpa, working his farm. Raising a few cattle & sheep. Always a rich & plentiful garden. I can still taste the big beautiful Black Diamond watermelons he grew.
It was an adventure every summer, making the trek from south Texas to that farm in Lexington, Oklahoma. Those are some of the most wonderful memories of my youth. There were remnants of the bakery on a hillside next to his barn. Several old stack ovens, two rusted out '49 Chevy one ton delivery vans and a "million" pie pans that made the best frisbee's ever. Oh, and one crazy old wire shopping cart. I'm not sure how we ever survived the adventures of rolling that shopping cart up and down the dam of his pond.
He taught us how to fish. It didn't stick with anyone but Randy.
Mom talks about how much of a disciplianarian he was. Again, all I ever knew was that gentle ol' grandfather who knew how to fix anything with bailing wire.
I remember a conversation with him after I had graduated college and was venturing out as an entreprenur myself. A few brief stories of starting this business and then that one. I wish I could have learned more from him. We all do.
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