Glenda Joy Weese Collins Boles - April 10, 1944 - April 21, 2012

Glenda's Facebook Picture

Glenda and Great-Grandaughter Izzy on April 10, 2012

Glenda left this world for a better place on April 21, 2012.  I don't remember life without Glenda.  My sister and Glenda's mother, Louanna Pearl Walker Weese, died in November, 1945 at the age of 23.  Glenda had an older sister, Carolyn, and an older brother, Carl David (known as Corky).  I have no memories of Pearl, only pictures.  Glenda's dad, Carl, raised the three kids mostly by himself for many years although I do remember a housekeeper (nanny in today's vernacular) named Edith that assisted Carl.  The three kids became regulars at our house out in the country for most summers that I can remember and we became more like brothers and sisters, or at least cousins, than uncle (me) and nieces and nephew (them).  Being a boy, I was closer to Corky than the girls but we were all real close family and have a multitude of wonderful childhood memories both in Oklahoma and Phillips, Texas where they lived at 4 Stone St.

Due to a worn-out memory, the following may or may not be 100% accurate as far as sequence of events but facts out-of order still remain facts in my own feeble mind.  Corky was married more than once but I could not begin to name his wives.  He stayed with Joyce and I in Oklahoma City right after we go married (almost caused an early end to the marriage) and was married to Sudie and had more than one offspring.  My recollection includes Carla, Charlotte, and Dewayne but not 100% sure.  Carolyn married Don Harris and had five great kids who are still around, Danny, Tony, Debbie, Valerie, and Donnie.  Glenda was married to Dillard Collins the first time I visited her but no children came from their marriage and she later married Travis Boles from whence came Tammie Lynn on October 3, 1975, two days before our adopted son, Mike, was born.

Joyce and I and the kids visited Glenda, Travis, and Tammie in Garland, Texas over the years.  Most of the visits were short and sweet and might include a meal together.  When Travis retired, they moved to Missouri where they lived until death took them, Travis in June, 2011, and Glenda in April, 2012.  I visited a couple of times in Missouri and I believe that Joyce and I also visited twice although the second visit was for Travis's funeral.  My first visit included a trip to the Riverboat somewhere in Illinois to do a little gambling.  My, how Glenda loved those slot machines.  We had a fun time.  This was the first time that I quizzed them on their faith and where they planned to spend eternity.  Travis was not really interested much but Glenda testified to her faith and that she was sure of heaven.  This same scenario was repeated at least two more times over the years and every time I spoke with Glenda on the phone, she reaffirmed her trust in God and kept saying that Travis was close to believing.

As events unfolded, Travis was taken ill in June of last year and it appeared that his time was very short.  Tammie Lynn asked her pastor to visit Travis in the hospital and he professed Christ as his Savior and was baptised a few days before his death.  Based on this conversion and Glenda's assurance of hers, their spirits are now present with the Lord.  Their physical bodies may be still and silent but I assure you that their spirits will never die.  The Bible tells us that one day the spirit and body will be reunited in another form, like that of Jesus' resurrected body and we will live forever with him.  What a day that will be, when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, then he'll take me by the hand and lead me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be - so says the old spiritual song - What a Day!  The scriptures speak of this new body in I Corinthians 15:35-58.  When this will occur is covered in I Thessalonians 4:13-18.  Jesus Christ will come back for his bride, the church.

Are you part of that church?  I don't mean Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal, etc.  I mean the universal body of Chist which includes everyone for all time that has, by faith, believed on Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Have you received and accepted the Gospel - the Good News?

Here are some important points to remember:

• Jesus Christ is God (He is the Son of God and Lord)
• Jesus Christ is human (He is the Son of man)
• Man is a guilty sinner by nature and choice.  Because of this, man is separated from and totally helpless before a holy God
• Jesus Christ lived a perfectly sinless and righteous life and died in our place for our sins
• Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead
• Salvation is by God's grace, apart from works, through faith in Jesus Christ and His work alone

Alastair Begg, a popular radio preacher of today sums up the gospel beautifully.

Here's the gospel in a phrase.  Because Christ died for us, those who trust in him may know that their guilt has been pardoned once and for all.  What will we have to say before the bar of God's judgment?  Only one thing.  "Christ died in my place.  That's the gospel."

Because of acceptance of this gospel, we will meet Travis and Glenda again on that blissful, golden shore where we will be together forevermore.  Won't you join us?  Don't delay!

Home Sweet Home First Verse

Don't you just love the word spasmodic?  That describes my behavior when it comes to blogging.  It has been over a month since I blogged (blogger's block?) although I have had several ideas.  Something about "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak."  Anyway, I digress.  I am going to create a new post today; who knows, maybe two or three. 

I have always had a good memory as it relates to numbers.  Oh that it also applied to names!  So, I decided to document every place that I have ever lived since birth to the present.  Not that anyone is interested but 10,000 years from now, maybe someone will run across this post and say, Wow, there really was a place called Snomac, OK.  Hang on, here we go.

I was born in the last century (sounds strange and old both) on September 24, 1942 in the hospital at Seminole, OK.  I was the only one of my siblings (two brothers and two sisters) that was born in a hospital.  I checked my birth certificate for the address and it showed Box 128, Snomac, OK.  I was told that we lived in a shack at Snomac south of Seminole.  I remember visiting Snomac in my youth but nothing remained except a building that housed a grocery store and probably the post office which had closed.  This picture was taken during those early years before we moved into Seminole.

I was probably two or three when we moved to 357 W Strother St in Seminole where we lived until the summer of 1948 when I was almost six.  This was taken in front of that house which has since been remodeled and looks totally different.

My dad retired in 1948 and we moved to an acreage eight miles north of Seminole at Little, OK.  The original purchase included twenty acres of land but sixteen were sold off to a long-time friend of my dad's named McElroy.  The pond was part of the sale but we were still allowed access to it for swimming and fishing.  The address was Rt 3, Box 300, Seminole, OK and our phone number (8-party line) was 2011-J1 and our ring code was one long ring.  You knew when the call was for you based on the ring but that didn't stop you from picking up the receiver and listening in when the call was for one of your neighbors.  I'm sure that I never did that!  I started the first grade at Prairie Valley and graduated from there in May, 1959 and we still lived there.  These photos will give a little insight into what the place looked like.

Front view

Side view

The pond

My dog, Blackie, on the front porch

Boy Scout with bike out back

Happy Birthday to me (10 or 11)

Ditto!

 I spent time at both Oklahoma University and Seminole Jr College until I joined the Army in May, 1961.  My father passed away in December, 1960 and my mother and I moved back to town a few months later.  Our address was 26 N Highland then.  I had various addresses during my stint of 39+ months in the Army which included basic and advanced training at Ft Leonard Wood, MO, advanced training at Ft Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, IN, duty stations at Ft Sill, OK (USAAMC), and finally, with Headquarters Company of the Third Armored Division at Drake Kaserne in Frankfurt, Germany whose mailing address was APO 39, NY, NY.

My mother still lived in Seminole when I got out of the Army in August, 1964.  I knew that my future probably did not include Seminole so I moved into an apartment with my friend, Larry Busby, at 1108 NW 13 in OKC.  Rent was $55 per month and our landlord was an attorney named John Kennedy.  After several months, we added two more roommates, Don McClain and Richard Harrell and moved to 1001a NW 17 which was a two-bedroom two-story house in back of the main house owned by Anne Henry.  Our rent was $60 per month so my share was $15.  Since I ended up buying most of the food and the other three guys eating most of it, I subsequently moved out to my own apartment at 2419 N Robinson in OKC with a monthly rent of $60.  This would later become the honeymoon cottage for Joyce and me and the rent went up to $65 with the additional tenant.

After several months or so Joyce and I tired of living across the street from the Blue Note Bar so we moved to 2909 NW 18 in OKC which was a duplex which rented for $75 per month and it was there that we began our dachshund adventure which has lasted over 45 years with very few breaks.  I was transferred by the company I worked for to Pasadena, TX where we lived in an apartment at 3535 Redbluff Rd with a rent of $100 per month.  My office address was at 908 W Southmore in Pasadena.  We only stayed in Texas five months which seemed like a lifetime to this Sooner.  Our address upon returning to OKC was a three-bedroom rent house at 2800 NW 64 with a landlord from Tulsa named John Junk who charged us $115 per month.  We lived there from September, 1967 until December, 1971 when we purchased our first house at 5509 NW 64th with a phone number of 721-7065.  Our house payment was $170 and we were worried about being able to pay that much for a house after paying only $115 in rent for over four years.

We stayed in this house until July, 1971 when we traded it for the down payment and equity on a new house residing on 2.3 acres on the 7-mile line off of Highway 37 west of Newcastle and east of Tuttle.  Our address changed a few times but it always included Blanchard, OK as the post office.  Now you know why it was called the Tri-city area.  This covers the first thirty years of my life and the next almost 40 years will be covered in the second verse.