story and photos by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Full circle.
Nancy McCurdy smiles when the words come out of her mouth.
She smiles because she’s comfortable in the fact that she’s following in her mother’s footsteps as a resident of Tealridge Retirement Community.
Nestled right on the 200-acre Oklahoma Chrisitan campus is Tealridge Retirement Community, a full-service, private and locally-owned community providing independent, assisted living & memory care services to the
Community of Edmond.
Nancy McCurdy’s mother, Velma LaFaver, was a charter member of the Tealridge Community back in 1990, likely the third or fourth resident to move in.
When she moved in there was a nondescript pew in the common area.
“Our grandkids thought it was great and they would go down and play on it and have a good time,” McCurdy said.
A few years later, Tealridge held a garage sale to benefit the activity fund.
Mccurdy and her husband noticed the pew was for sale. Nancy told John to load it up and the pew wound up in the couple’s home and eventually playhouse.
The kids continued to play on it growing up.
When the time came to downsize and the McCurdys to make their next move it was the couple’s decision to move to Tealridge.
It was John’s idea to take the pew.
206D was McCurdy’s mother’s room. The McCurdy’s now live a floor above.
“We have a similar view to what she had,” she said. “We’ve come full circle.”
Nancy McCurdy’s mother hailed from southwestern Oklahoma – Lone Wolf to be exact. The move to the big city was a planned one.
“We were very pleased and happy and so far we’ve been very pleased with Tealridge,” Nancy McCurdy said.
The McCurdy’s visited several places but they both kept coming back to Tealridge, which was only two miles away from their current residence. They’ve lived in Edmond for 33 years.
One of their daughters lives nearby.
They hired Senior Transitions, a local moving company catering to seniors making a move, to get everything – pew included – moved over.
ROOM WITH A VIEW
There’s something special about looking out the window of the McCurdy’s apartment.
Knowing her mother looked out over the same pond, filled with fish and ducks, has a calming effect on her.
Nancy McCurdy was a registered nurse by trade. She helped found the Hope Center Clinic of Edmond, an organization helping those in crisis in the area.
“They decided they wanted to start a clinic and I had been in health education for a long time,” she explained. “I got the job and we started this clinic. It helped people who didn’t have insurance, mainly pregnant women.”
McCurdy took care of hundreds of her fellow Edmondites.
She failed at retirement the first time, going back for another four years.
“I’ve always been in nursing,” said the 40-plus-year nurse. “When I retired the last time I told them that was it.”
John dated Nancy while she was attending the Mercy School of Nursing in downtown Oklahoma CIty at 12th and Walker. The Granite native met Nancy in southwestern Oklahoma but transferred to the University of Oklahoma to be closer to her.
He graduated with a degree in industrial engineering.
The two wed when he moved back after a semester. Nancy quit school briefly.
He worked for Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville. He found a better fit at Tinker Air Force Base before earning his Master’s degree from the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio.
Wright Patterson Air Force Base was his next job site and also where Nancy finished her RN degree.
The two raised four children in the Dayton area.
After 15 years of cold weather the McCurdys moved back to Oklahoma and settled into Edmond.
“One of the reasons we moved back was to be closer to our parents and our relatives,” said Nancy, who sent two of her children through nearby Oklahoma Christian University. “This has been our home ever since.”
John actually worked for Tealridge, putting his commercial driver’s license to drive residents
“I enjoyed that,” he said. “I don’t know if the residents did but I did.”
And so when the time care Tealridge seemed like a natural fit, for Nancy’s mother and for her and her husband.
“She loved every minute of it,” Nancy said. “We were really concerned about her making an adjustment but when she got here they played bridge and did all the things she liked to do and she really enjoyed it. We were really happy with that move.
“We plan to be happy with our move, too.”

Integris Canadian Valley Hospital Volunteers
Just like today I’m going home to eat a bacon and tomato sandwich.
Carolyn Cury

A salad. I’ve eaten everything else.
Eugene Johnson

I want some barbecue ribs.
Zola Johnson

I don’t have favorites but probably a steak.
Nam Huynh

Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723) returned to its homeport of Apra Harbor, Guam, Aug. 18.
Oklahoma City conducted routine patrols throughout the Indo-Pacific region in support of maritime security operations that promote stability while maintaining key partnerships with allies across the region.
“I am extremely proud of my crew and the hard work and dedication they put into accomplishing several extremely challenging missions,” said Cmdr. Steven Lawrence, commanding officer of Oklahoma City. “They performed superbly on multiple operations in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility.”
Oklahoma City celebrated the various achievements of its crew members in their professional development.
“I am very proud of the crew of Oklahoma City,” said Master Chief Machinist’s Mate (Auxiliary) Kevin Swanson, Oklahoma City’s chief of the boat. “They performed amazingly during our deployment. We had 25 Sailors and one officer become qualified in submarines. I am honored to be the chief of the boat of such an outstanding group of Sailors.”
Swanson went on to say that the Oklahoma City had 12 Sailors frocked to the next rank and four officers promoted during their time at sea. Additionally, four members of the crews were awarded Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals.
The Sailors were greeted on the pier by families, as well as other organizations from around the island.
“It is great to see all of the families on the pier,” said Lawrence. “Four months is a long time to be out to sea on a submarine with limited communications. It is nice to come home and know you are appreciated, missed, and made to feel welcome again.”
Oklahoma City was commissioned July 9, 1988. Measuring more than 360 feet long and displacing more than 6,900 tons, Oklahoma City has a crew of approximately 140 Sailors. Oklahoma City is capable of supporting various missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.
Oklahoma City is assigned to Commander, Submarine Squadron 15, which is located at Polaris Point, Naval Base Guam and consists of four Los Angeles-class fast attack submarines. The CSS-15 staff is responsible for providing training, material and personnel readiness support to these commands.
Also based out of Naval Base Guam are submarine tenders USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) and USS Frank Cable (AS 40). The submarines and tenders are maintained as part of the U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed submarine force and are capable of meeting global operational requirements.

Agency Adds to Compassionate Allowances List
Andrew Saul, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced four new Compassionate Allowances conditions: CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder, Pitt Hopkins Syndrome, Primary Peritoneal Cancer, and Richter Syndrome. Compassionate Allowances is a program to quickly identify severe diseases and medical conditions that meet Social Security’s standards for disability benefits.
“Social Security’s highest priority is to serve the public and we are committed to ensuring Americans with disabilities receive the benefits they are eligible for,” said Commissioner Saul. “For over a decade, our Compassionate Allowances program has helped us accelerate the disability process for people who are likely to get approved for benefits due to the severity of their condition.”
The Compassionate Allowances program identifies claims where the applicant’s condition or disease clearly meets Social Security’s statutory standard for disability. Due to the severe nature of many of these conditions, these claims are often allowed based on medical confirmation of the diagnosis alone. The list has grown to a total of 237 conditions, including certain cancers, adult brain disorders, and a number of rare disorders that affect children. To date, more than 600,000 people with severe disabilities have been approved through this fast-track policy-compliant disability process.
The agency incorporates leading technology to identify potential Compassionate Allowances and make quick decisions. When a person applies for disability benefits, Social Security must obtain medical records in order to make an accurate determination. Social Security’s Health IT brings the speed and efficiency of electronic medical records to the disability determination process. With electronic records transmission, Social Security is able to quickly obtain a claimant’s medical information, review it, and make a determination faster than ever before.
For more information about the program, including a list of all Compassionate Allowances conditions, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances.
To learn more about Social Security’s Health IT program, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/hit.
People may apply online for disability benefits by visiting www.socialsecurity.gov.
To create a my Social Security account, please visit:
www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount.

A single lung transplant in 2010 allowed Enid native Harold Holden to share a funny quip with a large audience in 2017. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum was inducting Holden into its Hall of Great Westerners.
As the first artist from Oklahoma to be so honored, he said “Seems a little strange to be receiving one of my own sculptures here.”
That quip brought a positive response from the audience. They saw the irony in one of the most revered sculptors of horse and rider in the West to receive as his award his own iconic sculpture. What else would the Hall of Great Westerners give their honorees except a small Holden bronze of a cowboy sitting a horse?
In 2009 the world-renowned sculptor and painter of horses and cowboys was not taking on new work. The U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran’s pulmonary fibrosis lung disease was getting the better of him.
Medical experts at the time said it was not advisable to give a 69-year-old a lung transplant. The staff at the INTEGRIS Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City, said they were wrong.
Conventional wisdom questioned the aging cowboy’s survivability. Luckily the folks at the Zuhdi Institute saw something different. They saw a viable candidate for a lung transplant. They saw a wonderful support network, headed by a devoted wife Edna Mae, and Holden’s vital philanthropic spirit that was busy supporting many of Oklahoma’s worthy causes.
So, from that live saving surgery in 2010 until now, Holden, known as H to everyone, has proven them right. The Western artist has outlived the idea of survivability to become a model of thrive ability as he went on to create some of his largest works as an artist.
And now, at 80, he opens a new chapter in thriving by sculpting three heroic size bronzes to grace the Oklahoma State University campus. These three larger than life statues will round out his total of 25 monuments around the country and be his largest impact on any one location, his alma mater.
Holden sculpted his first bronze statue for OSU in 2012. Only 18 months after his life-changing transplant, he donated his creation of the “We Will Remember” memorial of a kneeling cowboy with his hat in his hands, staring at a black medallion of OSU’s Spirit Rider surrounded by 10 stars.
He donated his design of the plaza with three walls holding the images of the 10 men who died in an airplane crash on January 27, 2001 in Colorado. The images of the 10 men associated with the OSU basketball team have their families’ tributes etched into the same black Indian granite as a memorial at the crash site.
OSU players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson; pilots Denver Mills and Bjorn Fahlstrom; broadcaster Bill Teegins; publicist Will Hancock; radio engineer Kendall Durfey; trainer Brian Luinstra; manager Jared Weiberg; and director of basketball operations Pat Noyes died in the crash. Again, Holden donated the rights to create 50 small replicas of the memorial for the families and donors. Now almost a decade after being given a new lease on life Holden is sculpting OSU royalty.
He is creating a one-and-a-half life size bronze T. Boone Pickens, a one-and-a-quarter life size historically correct Frank Eaton (Pistol Pete’s namesake) and a one-and-a-half life size Barry Sanders. OSU’s athletic director Mike Holder has commissioned the series.
Holden still mentions the seven-person team in conversations about his transplant. “To wake up after surgery with a new lung…and essentially be given a second chance at life is overwhelming” Holden said recently.
His gratitude to God and the medical team is memorialized by a six-foot bronze sculpture he donated in appreciation. His “Thank You, Lord” recasting of a cowboy thanking the heavens just outside the INTEGRIS Baptist emergency room entrance was unveiled in 2012.
He has started the Pickens and Eaton pieces, but his studio size will not allow him to do all three together. He hopes to complete the Pickens statue this year and the Eaton sculpture by Spring of next year. The Holdens live on a small 65-acre ranch outside of Kremlin, Okla. His studio is one of the most prominent buildings on the property. He still owns horses and raises cattle, as ranching and riding was the lifeblood of his art career.
“I became a Western artist because I was raised in the life style, riding horses and being a cowboy.” Holden said recently. “Paint and sculpt what you know and I loved everything about the West and being a cowboy.”

I burst excitedly into our family room, finding my wife and two daughters staring at their phones while some mindless reality show droned in the background. A typical night in the Schwem household.
“Attention, please, everyone,” I said. “In the name of science, I have found our next vacation destination.”
Crickets.
“Ahem, I said I have found our next…”
“We heard you,” my wife said. “And we’re not going.”
“You don’t even know where it is.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “We are not doing anything in the name of science.”
“Yeah, Dad,” my eldest chimed in. “Last year you wanted us to go to St. Louis and catch the flu. On purpose.”
“We would have each made $3,500,” I said, referring to last summer’s study at St. Louis University in which researchers sought out healthy volunteers who would consent to being exposed to the flu virus, followed by 10 days in quarantine.
“Dad, what’s in your hand?” my youngest asked. “Are those bolt cutters?”
“Yes,” I said. “We might need them if we are going to see aliens.”
My girls, huge fans of “Stranger Things” on Netflix, dropped their phones. I finally had their attention. My wife, not so much.
“What do you mean, ‘see aliens?’” my oldest said.
“On September 20, we are going to Groom Lake in Nevada, specifically to storm Area 51,” I said. “The event is on Facebook, and I’ve already responded ‘interested.’ Along with 1.4 million others.”
“Sounds like we’ll have no problem getting a hotel,” my wife said.
I gave my daughters a brief history lesson on Area 51, a highly-classified Air Force facility that, for years, has been the subject of conspiracy theories, most related to the housing and study of UFOs and other extraterrestrial beings that may have landed in this country.
The site returned to the news recently when California resident Matty Roberts created the “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” Facebook page. Roberts admitted the site, and the event itself, is a joke, but that hasn’t stopped 1.8 million people from insisting they are attending, including five of my Facebook friends.
“I’m going because I’m interested in history, and there are a lot of historical files at the base,” said Facebook friend Stephen Haas, 29, a New York City stand-up comedian. Then, he added, facetiously, “I’m not some conspiracy nutjob looking for aliens. I just want to know which Apollo 11 astronaut killed Kennedy.”
I pulled up Google Maps on my phone and began plotting our route. “If we fly, we should probably go to Las Vegas and rent a car,” I said. “Area 51 is about three hours away.”
“Can you just pick me up on the way back?” my wife asked. “I’ll hang out at the Mirage pool, and you can send me texts of the three of you cavorting with your new Martian friends.”
“Are you really going to uses the bolt cutters, Dad?” my oldest asked. “I’m interviewing for jobs now, and I don’t want ‘felony trespassing’ to pop up on my background check.”
I assured her I would only use them as a last resort.
“Or we could just borrow a pair,” my youngest said. “With over a million people in attendance, odds are pretty good that somebody has a spare set.”
“Let’s talk attire,” I said, changing the subject. “We may have to walk about 50 miles before we actually reach the gates, particularly if our flight is late. So sensible shoes are a must. And sunscreen.”
“We need as many portable phone chargers as we can carry,” my youngest said. “Can you imagine finally seeing an alien and not being able to put it on Instagram because your phone is dead? I. Would. Die.”
The three of us continued our checklist, adding and subtracting items at will until we were satisfied we were totally prepared to, as the Facebook page states, “see them aliens.”
“What if we get captured?” my oldest said.
“By aliens or the military?” I replied.
“Either.”
“Say nothing,” I commanded. “At least not without a lawyer present.”
“What if we get taken to a spaceship?”
“We’ll worry about that if it happens.”
“Ask them if their spaceship can fly to St. Louis,” my wife said. “Then you call all make $3,500 and spend 10 days with only each other as company.”
Sounds like a great vacation for next year.
(Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at Amazon.com. Visit Greg on the web at www.gregschwem.com.)
(c) 2019 GREG SCHWEM. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

Join the Museum for a unique happy hour experience, featuring wines from Boardwalk Distribution and a tasting class from expert Adam Rott. Guests will enjoy new and exciting themed drinks while mingling inside the Museum. Admission is $25 online or $30 at the door. Admission includes live music featuring 2015 The Voice contestant, Chase Kerby, a drink flight, tasting class, featured “Six Shooter Sangria” cocktail and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets may be purchased at https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/event/saloon-series-4/
National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 Northeast 63rd Street in Oklahoma City.
Patrons must be 21 years or older to attend.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com

Fall is a time we often think is going back to school time. And while we may or may not be going back to school with continuing education, we can all recall the tactile feelings of note books, pens and pencils (do kids use pens and pencils anymore?) and the anticipation of new experiences.
Memories of Grammar School, those school years of first through sixth grades, are engraved in our memory, when our heads were only anticipating what comes in the next hour or so.
With Oklahoma City author, Bob Hammack’s, books, “When Magpies Ruled Th World” and “Two Years In the Doghouse,” your arm chair travel will take you back to the simpler times of the 1950s and your allegiance to your school’s mascots. In Bob’s case the Magpies referred to Madison Elementary and the Bulldogs of Cleveland Elementary. While my days were with the Linwood School Lions, it’s easy to identify with the characters Bob grew up with and elaborates through his narrative. Maybe my book of memories would be “When Lions Roared,” however my recollections are not as good or as colorful as Bob’s.
Magpies, has a thread of mystery of a young boy’s disappearance and Doghouse includes a parallel life of a gentleman much the senior of Bob.
I had to ration my reading time with both books as it was too good to rush a comforting a time by reliving a simpler time with landmarks and cultural icons were familiar to me.
Bob recalls a car trip with friend Sally and a journey down memory lane. “The day long journey would provide some quality time for small talk about “remember when”, or “whatever happened to old so and so,” sprinkled with stretches of quite times for thoughtful recollections. Traveling with a fellow baby boomer, we both understand we have more past to talk about than future. Still, the thing about nostalgia is that it is an illness, with only one cure.”
“As the mile markers flew by, I smiled as I realized how simple and predictable life seems to a child. This was especially true during the fabulous fifties, a time in American history when schools followed a predictable pattern, Each year was cleaved into a set of recurring annual events, etched in stories such as Trick or Treat, Thanksgiving, Christmas, ‘89 Day or Valentines day.”
In only a few words you are whisked back in time to Roy Rodgers, Howdy Doody, the Mickey Mouse Club, or Superman. While I lived in relatively the same neighborhood as Bob, his recollections of landmark buildings, attractions and stores, along with a history of the area is fascinating. I had no idea the Shepherd Mall area was once so expansive before development. Wished I could go back in time to see that long gone large Victorian style house of the Shepherds. I do recall having hamburgers with my Dad and brother at a railway style car in a grill called “Cherry’s” that faced NW 23 street, where my Dad teased me with, “Need some help eating those fries?”
Bob has an easy going writing style reminiscent of great Southern writers. To end your nostalgic trip, Bob finishes each book with a what happened to them, in a brief bio of the children’s life as adults. This brings us back to reality and is a comfort to find the childlike escapades that shaped the grown up to their future accomplishments, or not.
Bob’s impressive resume includes being a 1971 Graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in journalism, Past Board members of: Oklahoma City Board of Education, Oklahoma City Zoological Trust, Alliance for Women in Media, Oklahoma Zoological Society, Oklahoma City Chapter of the American Red Cross, Oklahoma City Arts Commission, Omniplex Science Museum, Oklahoma City Advertising Club, Downtown Oklahoma City Rotary Club, Oklahoma City Arts Council and Goodwill Industries.
In between his civic involvement it’s a wonder he has time to write his infectious books. But I hope his educational tomes continue as he might move on to the Royals of Taft Junior High and then to Northwest Classen Knights, when maturity

really heats up the escapades.
I suggest you contact Bob by way of email where you can order books by mail. bob@newwestgroup.com