Most of us have heard the phrase, “Don’t count your chickens until they hatch” or “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”
In Louise Bryant’s world, the saying goes, “Don’t count pecans until you have them in the sack.”
The Bryants’ existing family tree is loaded with pecans.
Louise, 76, husband Carrel, 79, son Randy, 56, and daughter Lisa, 45, make up Bryant Pecan Company of Ada.
“Mother Nature dictates much of whether the pecan crop is good or not,” Louise said. “Rain at the right time is critical. For instance, when nuts are filling out, they need water, but when they are pollinating, they need dry weather. An early freeze in the winter or a late freeze in the spring can also destroy the crop. A few years back we had a freeze on Halloween. It got the crop for that year and also the buds for the next year. Even when the tree is filled with nuts, rain can keep you out of the field from harvest or wildlife can destroy a crop.”
Thus comes the saying, “Don’t count pecans until you have them in the sack.”
Family business
Louise was raised on a Jersey dairy about four miles south of Ada. She witnessed, from early on in life, a family operation.
Their dairy delivered door to door, and occasionally, in the case of her brother Albert, beyond.
“Sometimes, Albert would go into houses and put the milk into the refrigerator for them,” she said.
Louise met Carrel through 4-H Club, but they didn’t start dating until her first year at East Central University in Ada.
In college, they came across each other one night while dragging Main Street. They had a lot in common and shared many of the same values. Carrel and Louise married in 1960 on his parent’s wedding anniversary, April 13.
Carrel grew up northeast of Ada in the Francis and Cedar Grove area, and the family has passed down the story that his father, A.A. Bryant, cut down many of the native pecan trees, “but he kept enough to pay his taxes from pecans each year.”
When they married, Louise and her husband moved to Carrel’s dad’s place and that’s where they continue to live. He and his dad farmed together as long as his dad was able to farm.
“After we got married, my dad gave us a Jersey heifer which we kept until she got sick,” she said.
The Bryants now own about 690 acres with almost 2 miles of river bottom on the South Canadian River. In the early years of their marriage, cattle and hay were their primary products but they still picked up native pecans.
Today, son Randy oversees much of the daily operation, which focuses on pecans and a herd of purebred Horned Hereford and primarily Angus commercial cattle from which they raise black baldies. Daughter Lisa handles the marketing and promotional products of the family business.
“We have always had some pecans,” Louise said. “We started focusing more into the pecan industry in about 1981. A big crop that year changed our focus. We got mechanical harvesters and it looked like a way to increase our farm income.”
Louise said they probably have upwards of 4,000 trees now. In addition to the native pecans, the majority of their trees are improved varieties.
The more you shake this family’s tree, the more you learn just how much each member is involved, such as Louise.
Through the years on the farm, Louise has raked hay, brush hogged, fed and worked cattle and grafted, harvested and cleaned pecans.
“We also have a retail store where we market many of our pecans as well as candy, pecan oil, Amish products and gift items,” she said.
These days, that retail store occupies most of her time. She manages the daily operations of doing the paperwork, ordering supplies, shipping orders and running the retail space.
There have never been lulls in Louise Bryant’s life.
Besides helping on the farm, she taught at Byng Schools for 21 years.
“When I taught, I brought farming to the classroom through Ag in the Classroom,” she said. “For example, I hatched chickens in an incubator for the children to watch.”
She has also taught a Sunday school class, been a 4-H leader and was president of Pontotoc County Home Demonstration Council. Bryant was secretary/treasurer of the Pontotoc County Fair Board for 11 years.
She served nine years on the Farm Service Agency board.
“I followed Carrel on the board, and Randy replaced me,” she said.
Bryant also has served on the Pontotoc County Farm Bureau women’s committee and as a director for the Oklahoma Hereford Women.
From tree to pie pan
“Take 1 1/2 cups of pecans, 1 unbaked pie shell, a 1/2 cup of butter…”
That’s the way Bryant’s recipe for “Mama’s Best Pecan Pie” – the 2014 Oklahoma Pecan Food Show Grand Champion Pie – starts off.
Bryant is not only a pecan producer. She’s a fan from tree to pie pan.
“I find it interesting that pecan trees rarely die of old age. They either die from disease or damage such as lightning, wind, drought or ice,” she said. “I also find it amazing that something as good as pecans can also be so good for you.”
That comment led to the question of, “What makes for a good pecan pie?”
“I’ve never seen very many bad pecan pies,” she said. “A good pecan pie starts with quality pecans. I like for my pecan pies to be firm with lots of pecans.”
October sunshine
Recently while out among the pecan trees, Bryant looked up at some of the weighted branches, bowing with pecans that will soon be harvested. As she did, the October sunshine in Pontotoc County seemed to just reflect off her face, highlighting her smile.
During their 57 years of marriage, Carrel and Louise have both survived cancer and other illnesses, “and feel extremely blessed to still be able to function and help keep the farm operating.”
In addition to the phrase about waiting to count your “pecans until you have them in the sack,” Louise, when facing the challenges of daily life, often reflects on what her grandmother Canzada Newton, often repeated.
“When things get hectic, I think of her saying, ‘a hundred years from now it won’t make any difference anyway,’” Louise said, “and it helps put things in perspective.”

On Tuesday, November 7, 2017, Oklahoma City’s Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble will present its second concert of the 2017-18 season, “Masterworks for Three,” featuring chamber works by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century composers, all of whom wrote extensively in the genre. The Ensemble will present trios by Mozart, Mendelssohn and Brahms. The Mendelssohn trio is one of his most popular chamber works and is recognized as one of his greatest. The sweetly-melancholic Brahms trio commemorates the death of his mother earlier that year and was the last chamber work he would write for the next eight years. All three compositions on the program of this Jeannette Sias Memorial Concert are masterworks by three of classical music’s greatest masters. The works on the program are: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Trio in G Major, K. 564 (for violin, cello and piano) Felix Mendelssohn, Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, op. 49 (for violin cello and piano) Johannes Brahms, Horn Trio in E-flat Major, op. 40 (for horn, violin and piano).
Brightmusic musicians performing are: Gregory Lee (violin), Meredith Blecha-Wells (cello), Kate Pritchett (horn) and Amy I-Lin Cheng (piano)
The performance will take place at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, November 7 at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 NW 7th Street (at Robinson). Individual concert admission is $20 per ticket. Children, students and active-duty military personnel are admitted free with ID. More information about this concert is available on Brightmusic’s website at http://www.brightmusic.org.

story and photo by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

For 44 years now Norma Cartwright has showed up to work each and every school day to teach kids.
She’s never given a test, a quiz or even homework.
But tying on an apron at five in the morning, Cartwright gives every student what they need to succeed as Oklahoma City Public Schools’ longest-tenured cafeteria employee.
“I don’t know. I like to cook,” she said of what’s kept her in the kitchen all these years. “I like baking. I started out in the bakery department and it’s all I’ve ever done.”
In the early days she baked from scratch. Sandwich bread, hot dog and hamburger buns, cookies, cakes and cinnamon rolls all were made by Cartwight’s loving hands.
Things got a little easier through the years as the district moved to more prepared items. But she’s always put the same amount of heart into whatever she’s doing.
And as her career winds down she says it warms her heart to see the district offer free meals to every student in the district for the first time.
“I thought it was great,” she said. “When I was going to school, lunch hour was my favorite. I always looked forward to it. Now the kids can come in for breakfast or lunch and eat what they want off the menu and enjoy their meal. No stress, they can just eat.”
Breakfast at Roosevelt means preparing some 500 meals. Lunch balloons to over 700.
Carol Jones is Cartwright’s cafeteria supervisor. She’s amazed at the increasing numbers of meals coming out of the kitchen.
“It’s awesome and we don’t have to hound the kids for money and call and hound the parents,” she said. “It’s one of the best things (the district) has ever done.”
From the first day of school, cafeteria managers reported an increase in the number of meals served.
Gwen Thompson has been in the kitchen with Cartwright for 21 years.
“We love her,” Thompson said. “(And the free lunches) have been a blessing. I’ve always wanted that.”
Cartwright raised three kids and sent all of them through Oklahoma City Public Schools.
She stayed home until the youngest entered junior high.
A school schedule meshed perfectly with a family schedule.
Years later, she’s still in school even though her kids have kids of their own.
“I have never met any woman I haven’t liked all these years,” she said. “I’ve made a lot of good friends and I enjoyed working with them. Almost all of them had children like I did.”
Schools across the district report serving more meals.
Teresa Gipson works at Shidler Elementary located on the corner of SE 15th and S Byers.
She entered the district in 1982 at West Nichols Hills and moved into the kitchen 12 years ago.
“I like working with kids,” Gipson said. “(Working in the cafeteria) is still taking care of children. You’re feeding them and the most important thing for a child to eat is breakfast.”
On more than a few occasions Gipson and her fellow co-workers have gone into their purses to get money to pay for student lunches.
“I know we’re not supposed to do that but …,” Gipson said. “It’s not their fault and sometimes the parents just don’t have the money to pay for it. (Free meals) is a good idea – a good idea.”
“Every kid should get to eat.” Gipson explained that once a student’s lunch account balance reached a certain number a note would be sent home to the parents. The child could receive only a few more lunch trays before they were unable to choose what they wanted to eat.
From there, a sack lunch with a peanut butter jelly sandwich, a fruit and a milk would be their only option.
“(At Hawthorne Elementary) there was this one girl who had to get a sandwich. I could tell she was embarrassed. She took it but threw it away and I noticed she sat there for a while and then got up and walked off,” Gipson said. “I could tell that was really embarrassing.”
Kevin Ponce has spent his entire career in child nutrition. Oklahoma City’s school nutrition services director says the district could break even if not see a return on its investment through the USDA’s reimbursement program.
“Hopefully, universal feeding will go nationwide where we get away from keeping kids in categories,” said Ponce, who noted 53 of Oklahoma City’s 74 schools offered free meals prior to this year. “It’s great for the kids and great for the district. We support education so anything to get the kids ready for the classroom is a huge thing.”
Cartwright has six grandchildren – all within the OKC metro. She says she plans on spending at least one more year with the district.
She’s still got a lot of free meals to prepare.

The Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with a check totaling $10,175 at its annual conference on Sunday.
The donation will fund OMRF research on cancer and other diseases, such as lupus, heart disease and multiple sclerosis. With this donation, the Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star has now donated a total of $331,058 to OMRF research since 2002, when it selected OMRF as its charitable beneficiary.
The donation was presented at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Guthrie.
Eastern Star members support OMRF through individual donations made at chapter meetings statewide, including marches and various donations made in memory of loved ones. Overall, 47 additional chapters have also made individual gifts to the foundation.
OMRF Vice President of Development Penny Voss described the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star as the definition of philanthropy.
“The long-time support from the members of the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star has a huge impact on OMRF,” she said. “Each year their gifts go directly to our scientists to help in their quest for new treatments and cures for diseases that affect all of us. We are truly grateful to every member for their belief in our mission to help people live longer and healthier lives.”
The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women may belong. It counts approximately one million members across the globe and is dedicated to furthering charity, education, fraternity and science.
It has approximately 8,000 members and more than 90 chapters in Oklahoma, including groups in Bartlesville, Blanchard, Broken Arrow, Clinton, Enid, Guthrie, Hennessey, Lawton, McAlester, Muskogee and Woodward.

stroy and photo by Bobby Anderson, staff Writer

Given the option, few people would turn down a good, home-cooked meal.
But sometimes circumstances just don’t make it possible.
That’s why Cynthia St. Peter decided to create Mealfull to give everyone – even those who can’t afford it – the opportunity to have comfort food.
“Even though I’ve turned 63 I have an entrepreneurial spirit,” the company founder said. “When I get bored I create something.”
After retiring from a 40-year music ministry career, St. Peter found she still had a passion to create.
“Food – it’s a win-win for everyone,” St. Peter said. “Feeding people is just a basic need. Whether they’re homeless and they can’t afford it we’re going to give it to them. If they’re shut-ins and can’t get out of the house we’ll get it to them.
“And if they’re millennials and they just wished something was on their porch when they got home it’s going to be there.”
Mealfull operates out of Earth Elements Kitchen in the historic Farmer’s Market District in Oklahoma City.
All food is locally-sourced, farm-to-table..
Breads are baked fresh at 4:30 a.m. by St. Peter’s chef, who then prepares that day’s offerings.
“My heart is in three special places,” she said when asked what the business looks like.
ON THE GO
With 15 years as a single parent, St. Peter knows first-hand there is a need for quality food for busy people.
“It would have been great if there was a food delivery service that actually cooked it, it was delicious and they brought it to you,” she laughed.
Busy people get up early and work late. There’s really no desire to shop then come home to cook.
All too often the drive-thru is the default first-choice for busy people.
“We stop at a fast-food place and pack on 40 pounds,” said St. Peter, who admitted even when she worked as a chef she would go through the drive-thru at the end of the day.
Today’s millennials encounter a job market like no other in history. St. Peter sees her own daughter’s embedded in the rat race, with little time to slow down between work and family.
Mealfull can have hot selections waiting for them on their front porch or can go inside and stow them away in the fridge.
STAYING IN
Another facet of the business is providing meals to seniors in their homes.
“They don’t feed themselves. They have the money but they make friends with the pizza guy so that’s what they order every night,” she said.
“Wonderful, comfort food” is how St. Peter describes her menu, which rotates weekly. And it’s not just a drop-off solution.
Another option Mealfull offers is going into a client’s home and cooking the meals on-site.
“I have a real passion for Meals on Wheels but it makes me sick they don’t have the time to visit,” she said. “It’s drop off and go.”
That allows for hot food and good company – something many seniors are starved for.
ZERO WASTE
At the end of the day, MealFull coordinates with local social workers. St. Peter prides herself on a zero waste policy.
“We deliver the food to the homeless at their under-the-bridge camp,” St. Peter. “We have so much waste in the food business. If we were a restaurant we would have to throw it away. But we’re not … so we can do whatever we want to do with our food at the end of the day.
“That’s a very exciting part of what we’re doing.”
For the past 10 years, families have hired St. Peter to go into their loved one’s homes to cook for them.
“Families would hire me because their parents wouldn’t eat,” she said. “They wouldn’t cook for themselves because they couldn’t. They wouldn’t eat because they would think they weren’t hungry – especially those with dementia.
“I would serve them and they would woof it down. It was just taking care of our brothers and sisters.”
St. Peter quickly became a part of the family, going into the home and serving not only as a provider of sustenance but a source of peace of mind for the children who worried about how their mother or father was doing living alone.
HOLIDAY DINNER
Mealfull is also offering the option of ordering an entire holiday dinner for as few as two to as many as 12. Feasts include slow-roasted turkey breast, sliced spiral ham and a cornucopia of sides and desserts.
Delivery is offered at no extra charge.
Orders are now being accepted through Nov. 17 or while supplies last.
Got to mealfull.com for more information or call 405-568-6684.

Photography and Text by Terry “Travels with Terry” Zinn t4z@aol.com
As seniors we have grown up and through the space race with its many accomplishments, many made by Oklahoma Astronauts. Once such celebrated Oklahoma astronaut is Lt. General Thomas P. Stafford. The Stafford Air Space Museum is a destination not to be missed if in or near Weatherford, Oklahoma. It is next to Interstate 40, at 3000 Logan Road.
You are greeted even before entering the museum with the Pathway of Honor exhibit. Here you can buy a customized brick around the foundation of the Apollo boilerplate exhibit in front of the museum. A 4 x 8 inch brick with two lines of text is $70, or the larger 12 x 12 inch brick with the option of a Company Logo with text, for $225.00. Your named brick will be in the company of astronaut legends of Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, and Jim Lovell among others. For further information and to contact the Pathway of Honor and museum call 580-772-5871.
The museum was named a Smithsonian Affiliate in 2011 as it houses over an acre of exhibits representing the evolution of aviation and space flight. They have worked closely with the Smithsonian Institution, NASA and the U.S. Air Force Museum assembling one of the best collection of aerospace artifacts in the central United States.
While there are some artifacts that are samples or replicas, many are the actual item used in space. This includes Stafford’s 1969 flown Apollo 10 pressure suit, space shuttle main engine, the mission control console, a disarmed Mark 6 nuclear warhead and an F-86 “Sabre” Fighter. Besides American artifacts are Soviet examples like the Soviet Mig-21 “fishbed” fighter, one of the most produced jet fighter aircraft in history as the front-line fighter during the Cold War. There is also the actual V-2 Rocket Engine, as the only remaining actual V-2 rocket engine left in existence which was developed by Nazi Germany during World War II.
Replicas are also on display including: the Bell X-1 rocket plane that punched through the sound barrier in 1947, Hubble space telescope in 1/15 scale, and the full scale replica of the Gemini Spacecraft flown by Stafford in the Gemini 6 and 9 missions.
Stafford was born in 1930 and raised in Weatherford, graduating from Weatherford High then on to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1951. In 1962 he was selected in the second group of NASA astronauts and would go on to fly four space missions. In 1979 after retiring from the Air Force, he has flown nearly 130 types of aircraft and helicopters and logged near 508 hours in space. Today Stafford maintains a home in Oklahoma City and one in Florida near the Kennedy Space Center.
When in Weatherford a lunch or dinner at Benchwarmer Brown’s Sports Grill, at 108 East Main, is a delicious choice. A sports type bar/restaurant with video screens, offers several menu items, including a juicy Chicken strip entre. Other offering are fresh burgers, hand breaded onion rings, other sandwiches, and brick oven pizza. At just over a year old, Benchwarmer fills a dining option welcomed in Weatherford.
If your road trip is not rushed an overnight at the clean and comfortable Days Inn might be your economic destination. Complete with a warm do it your self-breakfast area, pool and plenty of parking, it fills the needs of the average traveler. It is an easy off and on from the Interstate and less than a mile to downtown, at 1019 East Main.
Why spend time and a money consuming trip to the Washington DC’s Space Museum – although it is amazing – when you can conveniently get an in-depth sample at the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, Oklahoma? More information at www.staffordmuseum.org

Mr. Terry Zinn – Travel Editor
Past President: International Food Wine and Travel Writers Association
http://realtraveladventures.com/author/zinn/
www.okveterannews.com – www.martinitravels.com

The world is running out of antibiotics.
In a new report from the World Health Organization, research showed that too few new antibiotics are being developed to counter the growing threat of infections that are resistant to currently available antibiotics.
“Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest and fastest-growing health crises facing our planet,” said Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation immunologist Hal Scofield, M.D. The CDC estimates that 23,000 Americans die each year from infections that don’t respond to standard treatment with antibiotics. And this number is only going up.
Antibiotic resistance occurs when a bacteria, fungi, or parasite is no longer curable by medicines previously able to treat them. For example, if you give a patient antibiotics and it kills 99.9 percent of the bugs that are causing the disease, the 0.01 percent that survive can become superbugs that are resistant to the medication.
“This happens routinely, and we know it’s going to continue until protocols are established in medicine to minimize it,” said OMRF President Stephen Prescott, M.D., a physician and medical researcher. “Unfortunately there are a lot of forces working in the other direction.”
The primary cause for the surge in superbugs is excessive use of antibiotics. According to the CDC, healthcare providers write 47 million unneeded antibiotic prescriptions each year in the U.S. alone. “It’s routine for antibiotics to be prescribed for conditions that they can’t treat, things like sore throats, colds and other viral infections,” said Prescott.
Scofield emphasized that patients also bear some responsibility. “People often demand antibiotics from their healthcare providers in situations where they won’t help,” he said. “And for a variety of reasons—including the desire to please patients and to receive high customer-satisfaction ratings—the providers often reluctantly accept.”
Finding ways to administer antibiotics only when needed is important, said Prescott. But so is proper usage by patients once the drugs are prescribed. “This means never skipping doses or stopping treatment early, even if you feel better,” Prescott said.
He added that the use of antibiotics in animals like chickens, cattle and pigs may also be a culprit. “The drugs speed the animals’ growth and how much meat they have on them, but they are also very likely contributing in a significant way to the rapid rise of superbugs,” he said.
The new WHO report states that 51 antibiotics and 11 natural medical products are in development, but the fear is that it won’t be nearly enough, because many won’t make it all the way through trials to enter the market. The WHO also warns that many are only short-term solutions, as well, because most are just modifications of existing treatments.
“People in Oklahoma need to realize this isn’t a rare thing that only happens in third-world countries. It’s occurring all over,” Prescott said. “It’s a real problem and it’s not one that will be easily solved. There are big, wholesale structural changes that need to happen.”