An old picture of Bob Hope riding in a parade in my hometown of Claremore, OK. I believe the year was 1949. As it turns out, Bob Hope used to do a regular radio spot from Claremore in the 40's.For a small town, Claremore has had its share of notoriety. Famous people from Claremore include: Patti Page, the singer; Will Rogers the humorist, cowboy, actor, political commentator and sixth cousin to me, by the way; Lynn Riggs, the playwright who wrote "Green Grow the Lilacs" which became the award-winning musical "Oklahoma", starring Shirley Jones and Gordon McRae. It is a favorite of mine and if you've ever had the opportunity to see it, look closely and you will notice in one scene a railroad station with "Claremore" painted on it. If you're from Claremore...that's a BIG DEAL. :)
A little more about Lynn Riggs: My grandfather, John Ovid Mayberry, had Lynn Riggs as an English professor while he was attending Oklahoma University back in 1926. He asked my grandfather to write about apple pie, making it as descriptive as possible so as to try and convey what it tasted like to a person who had never eaten any.
Just a little bit of family history my dad passed on to me.
Also, the astronaut Stuart Roosa was raised in Claremore but not born here. And I know there are other famous folks I can't think of right now.
2 comments:
How fun to live in a place with some history. My "town" is a planned community with NOTHING interesting at all. Ok, I take that back...our swim team, The Mission Viejo Nadadores, has produced quite a few Olympic Gold Medal winners in swimming and diving. Probably the most famous one would be Greg Louganis.
Other than that - no history.
Well, hey, having Greg Louganis as a native from your town is pretty big if you asked me. And the Gold Medalists the swim team has produced definitely counts.
Post a Comment