Maj. Claude Chadwick Payne, Jr.

Notes:

Obituary
The Duncan Banner online edition
Published on February 12, 2008

Feb. 14, 1937 -Feb. 9, 2008

Retired Maj. Chad C. Payne, 70, of Duncan, died Saturday, Feb. 9, 2008, in his home with his family after a lengthy illness.Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in Heritage Oaks Church of the Nazarene with the Rev. Bobby Howard officiating. Interment with military honors will be at 1 p.m. in Fort Sill Post Cemetery under direction of Don Grantham Funeral Home.The family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Mr. Payne was born Feb. 14, 1937, in Duncan, to Chad C. Payne Sr. and Lois Reed Payne. He graduated from Lawton High School in 1955 and from Cameron University in 1957. He then attended the University of Oklahoma and graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1960. He married Pat Tompkins on Dec. 31, 1957, in Burkburnett, Texas.He served two tours of duty in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, flying helicopter gunships. He was awarded the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, Air Medal with 49 clusters, the Purple Heart, and Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.

Mr. Payne was director of the Delta Elderly Nutrition Program serving Stephens and McClain counties for 31 years.He was a very talented Western artist and enjoyed painting, classical music and gun collecting.

Survivors include his wife, Pat of the home; two sons and a daughter-in-law: Scott and Michelle Payne of Duncan, and Richard Payne of San Francisco, Calif.; a sister, Rosemary Merriman of Florida; six grandchildren: Leslie Majors, Sydney Payne and Lyndsey Payne, all of Duncan, Kale Payne of Norman, Blake Payne of Fort Drum, N.Y., and Candice Payne of Edmond; and two great-grandchildren: Chase and Hunter Majors of Duncan.

He was preceded in death by his parents.Bearers will be members of the military.Honorary bearers will be Jim Busby, Tom Cooper, Bob Crissman, Pete Iglesias, Mike Klinker, Kirby Spain, Bill Stribling, Johnnie Sweeten and Early Watkins.Memorial contributions may be made to Fresenius Dialysis Medical Center, 4516 SE Lee Blvd., Lawton, OK 73501.Online condolences may be made at www.granthamfuneralhomes.com .


The following biography was written by Ken Harvey:

Duncan veteran pioneered air mobility idea in Vietnam.

Mention Vietnam, and the image most people conjure up is one of human tragedy. The conflict left enough gaps in the populace to cover a whole wall in Washington, to say nothing of the lingering effects veterans suffer from; injuries, disease, post-traumatic stress syndrome, chemical dependency, Agent Orange and, disturbingly, neglect. It was, after all, a defeat that most Americans would sooner forget.

But today we turn to Chad Payne for a slightly different picture-that of the Vietnam veteran as a pioneer in the air mobility concept. In 1971, W.E. Butterworth wrote in his book "Flying Army" that 'the war in Vietnam, whatever else it has cost, has given the United States Army a capability in mobility by air. Without the unprecedented maneuverability of the Airmobile Division, the Vietnam conflict would have gone much worse for the United States than it did,' Butterworth said.

Payne, now project director for Delta Nutrition in Duncan, was an Army pilot when helicopters came of age. He watched them outgrow their role of flying ambulance to become gunships, transports for cargo and personnel, and flying cranes for the retrieval of downed aircraft.

To appreciate the strides in aviation that came out of Vietnam requires some understanding of what went before. Military aviation dates back to the Civil War, when Thaddeus Lowe sent up his balloons for observation purposes.

The next stage in the development of aviation is represented by the U.S. Army Signal Corps Aeronautical Division and dogfights between World War I fighter planes with dual machine guns synchronized to fire between spinning propeller blades.

Fast-forward to World War II. The Army Air Forces were created by Congress on June 20, 1941, but there were growing pains as the Air Force asserted its independence. The need for Army-owned, Army-controlled light aircraft responsive to the needs of ground forces became evident, and the Grasshoppers were born. These served as observation posts for directing artillery fire or as taxis for couriers.

Meanwhile, Russian-born Igor Sigorsky, who had shelved his idea of a helicopter in 1910 until technology had progressed enough to cope with the many problems posed by rotary-wing aircraft, decided in the 1930s that the time was ripe. By 1939, his VS-300 could stay aloft for two minutes. Two years' worth of modifications expanded that limit to 1 hour, 32 minutes, 26.1 seconds.

Others turned their minds to the problem (Stanley Hiller, Frank Piasecki and Larry Bell). During the Korean conflict, however, helicopters were used for little more than the medical evacuation purposes shown on "M*A*S*H.

Then came Vietnam.

The first people sent by President John F. Kennedy were special forces people and advisers. Helicopters made their appearance there in December 1961 with the Piasecki H- 21, a 20-passenger transport helicopter first acquired by the Army one month after the Korean armistice.

In response to a wish list known as the revised Military Characteristics for a Utility Helicopter of 1959, Bell Aircraft Co. produced the HU-1A, standing for Helicopter, Utility, Model 1, Modification A. The Army called it the Iroquois, but to Payne and his contemporaries it was simply the "Huey."

Brought to Vietnam by way of the Utility Tactical Transport Company in Okinawa, the Huey was the first turbine-powered helicopter produced in the United States.

"All of a sudden we had a relatively compact aircraft that was easy to maintain and speedier," Payne said.

In 1960, the same year that the 82nd Airborne Division began receiving them, the Rogers Board decided to put the helicopters into a more active combat role. In those days technical representatives from Bell Helicopter were in daily contact with the pilots, who used to get certificates from Bell saying that they were among the first to fly this new craft.

It was on Dec. 11, 1961, that the 57th Transportation Co. from Fort Lewis, Wash., and the 8th Transportation Co. from Fort Bragg, N.C., docked in Saigon. Aircraft were being used to transport troops in combat.

In 1962, Lt. Gen. Hamilton H. Howze, then the 18th Airborne Corps commander, was designated to set up a board to study combat mobility concentrated in the helicopter. Payne, who was going through flight school at the time the Rogers Board was in session, was by this time with the Aviation Battalion of the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, which was part of the 18th Airborne Corps.

With a speed amazing to those who were observing the situation, the Howze Board cut through the usual bureaucratic red tape. Its recommendations were to proceed full steam ahead on the whole idea of Army Aviation and begin a divisional level troop test immediately.

After Utility Tactical Transport a Company got shot up by the Viet Cong in the initial gunship clash in January 1963, Payne saw the Army begin to replace Huey A's with B's in May-June 1963. The A's had a 550-hp engine. The B's initially had a 960-hp engine, but later it was beefed up to 1100 hp with a few modifications. The engine weighed 595 pounds and could be changed in the field in 30 minutes. It also had blades that could chop through trees to get into tight places; the old H-21 had had wooden blades.

"The aircraft was designed to work on, to fly, to use," Payne said.

It was still designed for "med evac, but it could hold a command control console for controlling a whole operation; haul cargo and troops into combat; broadcast messages or drop leaflets for propaganda purposes; and then there was Payne's favorite use: by mounting guns and rockets on it, the helicopter became a fighter bomber.

When his superiors learned he had flown H-21s in flight school and had 500 hours of flight time in Hueys, Payne was sent to the 33rd Transportation Co. at Bien Hoa.

"We began to concentrate on implementing the concepts initially spawned by the Rogers Board and tested by the Howze Board," Payne said.

The 33rd Transportation Co. became the 118th Aviation Co., and by the end of September, they were all flying the Huey B model. There were two platoons of 'slicks' used as cargo/personnel transports and armed with machine guns in the doors. There was one platoon of gunships equipped with machine guns and rockets. Payne ended up as an instructor pilot of the gunship platoon. His job was to make sure everyone was current in the M-6 weapons system, which consisted of four machine guns on a flexible mount that could be aimed by the co-pilot.

"We wanted more firepower, so we came up with a jury-rigged rocket system. We scrounged and stole parts from various places and had to do our own wiring. I spent a lot of time down at UTT learning to build and employ weapons systems because that was the only gunship company in the world."

"We ended up with a rocket system which we bolted to the gun mount. It held 16 rockets. if one was hot, you were stuck with it. The rocket tube would blow up. Sometimes it would cause damage, sometimes not. You never knew what might happen when you hit the trigger. You might end up in a rice paddy running from your helicopter 'cause it was about to explode."

In November 1963 Payne was on the way to mess hall when he heard that the president had been shot in Dallas. Coming as it did one month after the Vietnamese overthrow in which they used a barricade of tanks to keep the U.S. troops from interfering, it gave him a strange feeling to be in a foreign country and hear of Kennedy's assassination.

Activity picked up in December. A co-pilot, Lynn Rothenbuhler of Fort Wayne, Ind., was killed instantly by a single bullet that month. Within a week, two gunships from UTT were lost. Both pilots had been Payne's friends back in the 82nd Aviation Battalion. A complete crew was lost on one. The other was shot down in the Mekong, and only two survivors were pulled from the water. For the rest of Payne's tour, the 118th Aviation Co. operated all over the country from Camau in the south to Quang Ngai in the north.

Gunships generally flew in pairs for protection, but Payne's was the exception. Col. Kenneth D. Mertel liked to fly in a gunship, and he wanted to fly with an instructor pilot.

"We used to get into some hellacious gunfights. If we'd ever been knocked down, we would have been MIA because there was nobody to pick us up," Payne said.

Payne returned to the States in May 1964 to the next development in air mobility, the 11th Air Assault Division at Fort Benning, Ga. After a three-month-long field problem in which he went up against his alma mater, he was sent as part of a mission to help settle problems in the Dominican Republic. He spent the first anniversary of his return from Vietnam in the Dominican Republic, musing that he had hardly seen his family since he had been back.

Payne was one of only 300 who could wear the 11th Air Assault badge on his right shoulder to indicate combat. The next thing he knew, he was hearing a speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson that the 11th Air Assault had been redesignated as the 1st Cavalry and was going to Vietnam. Payne was soon told he didn't have to go unless he wanted.

The reason was that he had already had two combat tours within a year. Having returned in May 1964 from one tour of duty in Vietnam, he was sent with the 11th Air Assault to quell problems in the Dominican Republic and spent the first anniversary of his return there, wondering when he would ever get to see his family.

Payne spent one month training new members of the Ist Cavalry, checking people and getting them ready for Vietnam. Then he went to Fort Rucker, Ala., where he became a gunnery instructor. (Fort Sill had been home to the Army Aviation School until August 1954, when it was relocated to Fort Rucker because the other combat arms of the Army objected to the prospect of artillery dominating what was obviously going to be a function of the Army as a whole, according to W.E. Butterworth in his 1971 book "Flying Army").

There was no gunnery program when he arrived, so Payne had to write the gunnery familiarization program. He remembers that as 18 months of relative peace and time with my family "also, some of the best duty I ever pulled in the Army."

In 1967, when he left Fort Rucker Army Aviation was producing 600 pilots a month. That contrasts with 22 new pilots turned out the month of his graduation seven years earlier. The Army's helicopter program was at this time only 19 years old.

In '67 it was back to Vietnam for another tour. Payne was initially assigned to the 9th Infantry Division and three months later to the 120th Aviation Co., which operated out of Hotel 3 on the Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base in Saigon.

"We lived downtown in a villa, had maids to wash our clothes and shine our boots, great restaurants to eat in, and no shortage of Viet Cong." he said.

Again he ended up with the gunship Platoon, dubbed the Razorbacks by their original platoon leader, who had attended the University of Arkansas. Payne was with them from September 1967 throughout the remainder of his second tour.

By this time, the Army had a C 8 model Huey which was 20 knots faster than the B model, but they seemed to be everywhere else but with the Razorbacks, which still had the B's and the M-16 weapons system.

The Tet offensive, the biggest battle of the war, came in January 1968. Payne's unit was off-duty when they got a call saying the embassy was under attack. He was one of five people in a jeep headed for Tan Son Nhut when they took a bullet through the windshield. It came out the middle of the jeep, but miraculously, no one was hit. Payne said he had a bad feeling, nevertheless.

"Nobody could fire. We were working over the city. Nobody could shoot into the city," he said.

Aircraft were drawing some tracer fire off the runway and Payne flew down Highway 1 across the end of the runway.

"As I turned, the assault on Tan Son Nhut started right under me, They must have thought I was a 'slick' 'cause they never paid any attention to me," he said.

He dumped 48 rockets on an enemy regiment that was on line, advancing on Tan Son Nhut.

They broke the initial assault but the VC did not give up. His team went back to the airfield to re-arm, then took off again for the west end of the runway, but the enemy was waiting for them. They hit the machine gun, and the man stationed there caught part of the fire through the web between his forefinger and thumb. It smashed the gun, and he wrapped a handkerchief around the wound.

"Whole sections of Saigon were destroyed during that fight," Payne said. There was nowhere else to go; every major city was under attack. His craft took 39 hits in about 12 seconds on one pass, and nearly everyone aboard but himself was nicked.

They were still receiving fire as they approached the heliport. Even at a hover, the enemy seemed about to overrun them. They took cover under a revetment so they could rearm their aircraft. Payne said he had 26 men in his platoon, enough to man four helicopters.

"That was the only time in my life I knew I was going to die," he said. "Obviously, I was in error."

Payne said they took off down their own flight line and he was about to hit the firing button when he got the call that the Viet Cong were falling back. The 3/4 Cavalry of 25th Infantry Division set up a defensive perimeter around the heliport so that they had a secure place to rearm and refuel.

"The movies are correct. The cavalry does come to the rescue. They felt like we'd rescued them, we felt like they'd rescued us."

"In the first 12 hours of the Tet offensive, all 9 aircraft of the Razorback platoon were shot up beyond local repairs and were replaced by rebuilt Huey B's flown in from Corpus Christi, Texas. We slapped weapons systems on 'em. They were intended for 1st. Cavalry, but they ended up with us. They decided the capital (of South Vietnam) was more important," Payne said.

Just prior to dawn that morning, they got a call from Capital Military District asking them to check out the Cholon district of Saigon. By this time, there were fires all over Saigon and smoke was building up.

The Razorbacks caught a lot of ground fire on their way over. From the air they could see jeeps turned up on their sides and the bodies of children and civilians sprawled out. They were irked to see, in the midst of the havoc, a senior officer's Bachelor Officer Quarters where a poolside party was in progress, and the officers' Vietnamese girlfriends waving up to them.

"That was the first night of the Tet offensive. We ended up firing into Saigon a whole lot. We chased them into the countryside ... The fighting went on into April," Payne said.

In late April, they got word of a second offensive in the making. Somewhere along the line, Payne had been promoted to major, and he had orders to leave for home May 14. So far, he had been lucky.

Then, in the Giadinh area of Saigon, in the middle of the night, about the first of May, he was hit for the first time. He watched a little flash down below him, and felt his knee come up and hit him in the chin. The bullet had come through the chin bubble of the helicopter and some of the heavier metal pieces. Part of the jacket hit him on the little finger. He thought the finger had been shot off, but it was just a metal fragment stuck into it that came out quite easily.

The real wound was on the back of his thigh. "I still have the bullet in my leg. Nice little memento, but I can't show it to anybody," he said.

Payne felt the impact, but went back for another pass. When he landed, a litter was fetched, but he was walking around and didn't want to get on it because he felt if he did it would be giving up.

"I made it through almost two years of flying gunships before I got wounded. I think that's a record," Payne said.

He left as the May offensive was scaling down, and got out of the Army in 1971, but by that time the gunships he had helped pioneer were accepted by the Army and the rest of the world. (1)

Military Discharge recorded in Stephens County Courthouse Book 21, page 93. Not viewed. Chad was awarded three Distinguished Flying Crosses during his military service.

2000 Chad Payne's former gunship door gunner is a Hollywood screenwriter and movie producer now. He told Chad he keeps writing him into some of his characters. He evidently rounded out the Col. Kilgore character in "Apocalypse Now" using Chad as his model. Apparently that's the character that famously said "I love the smell of napalm in the morning". Chad claims he finds that scary, but I don't think there is much that would scare the same Chad.(2)

The book "Seven Firefights in Vietnam" records Chad Payne's Vietnam experiences in greater detail.

Chad is becoming quite a successful Western artist now. His prints are selling like hot cakes. He is really very good indeed. A serious western artist in his spare time.(3)


(1). Mitch Meador, Mitch (1993) Duncan veteran pioneered air mobility idea in Vietnam. The Sunday Constitution newspaper, January 10, 1993 - Duncan Oklahoma (2). Harvey, Kenneth Charles (1996) (3). Payne, Lewis Adair (1996) Conversation with Kenneth Charles Harvey

Claude married Patricia Ann Tompkins on 31 Dec 1957 in Burkburnett, Wichita County, Texas. Patricia was born on 26 Jan 1941 in Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma; died on 15 Jun 2012 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried on 20 Jun 2012 in Fort Sill Post Cemetery, Lawton, Comanche County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

Notes:

He was born near the County Line of Stephens and Carter counties, Oklahoma.

An infancy photograph taken at Cobb's Studio in Quanah, Texas, circa 1910 which suggests that Chad, as he was known, was born there? however the 1920 census gives Oklahoma as place of birth. Photograph is in the possession of Lewis Adair Payne (1997).

He was named Claude after his father, Marvin's, great life-long friend Claude Holcombe, who lived in Quanah, TX.

He is not in the Payne/Gentry family reunion photograph of 1927, when he would have been nineteen, because ... could he have already joined the army?

Military Discharge recorded in Stephens County Courthouse Book 22, page 287. Not viewed.

His marriage probably occured before July 21st. 1936 as entered above as his younger brother, Lewis Adair Payne, "lunched at Chad's and Lois's [while in Duncan]. Place certainly run down, don't believe I could live there any more."4 on that date.

Worked for OTASCO in Guthrie c. 1939. 5

1955 ? "M-Sgt. C.C. Payne
Full military funeral services for M-Sgt. Chadwick C. Payne, 47, of 1907 Ash, will be held at 10:30 Tuesday in the new Post Chapel at Fort Sill with Chaplain (1st Lt.) Charlie W. Hargrave and Rev. Russell T. Rauscher, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal church, officiating. Burial will be in Fort Sill cemetery with Becker Funeral home in charge. Sgt. Payne, a captain in the reserve, died at 3 p.m. Saturday at the family home apparently of a heart attack. He had just been released from the hospital on a 24 hour pass at the time of his death."6

1998 ? Lewis Adair Payne, 84, ... ... ... died died Tuesday, 18 Aug. 1998, at Stillwater Medical Center [OK] .... ... ... He was predeceased by two brothers, Claude Chadwick Payne and Marvin Walter Payne and one sister Mary Olive Thompson. Survivors include his wife of fifty-five years, Lunora; two daughters; Robin White of Joplin, Mo and Penny Harvey of Glencoe, OK; and his two grand-sons Bracken White of San Francisco, Ca and Gentry White of Columbia, Mo and grand-daughter Anne Marie Busse of Joplin, Mo. ... ... ...7

Claude married Lois Macel Reed on 24 Dec 1935 in Comanche County, Oklahoma. Lois was born on 30 Jan 1917 in Gage, Ellis County, Oklahoma; died on 17 Oct 2004 in Jefferson City, Cole County, Missouri. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Possibly part native American.

The Duncan Banner 10/26/04

Lois M. Payne

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. ? Former area resident Lois M. Payne, 88, of Jefferson City, Mo., died Sunday, Oct. 17, 2004, in Jefferson City. Funeral was Oct. 22, 2004, in Becker Funeral Home Memorial Chapel in Lawton with the Rev. Chuck Pettigrew officiating. Burial was in Post Cemetery in Fort Sill.

Lois was born Jan. 30, 1916, in Gage to James A. and Clora M. Southard Reed. She married Chadwick Claude Payne on Dec. 24, 1935, in Duncan. He preceded her in death on Dec. 3, 1955.

Mrs. Payne graduated from Comanche High School. She was retired from civil service.

Survivors include a son, Chad Payne, of Duncan; a daughter, Rosemary Merriman of Fort Walton Beach, Fla.; four grandchildren: Chad Merriman, David Merriman, Scott Payne and Rick Payne; several great-grandchildren; and a sister, Muryl Ross of Mustang.

Sympathy cards may be sent to the family online at www.beckerfuneral.com.

(Courtesy of Lynell Cordell)

Notes:

Kenneth Harvey wrote the following brief biography of Marvin Walter Payne: Marvin was named after the Methodist Bishop Marvin whom his mother particularly respected.

Marvin was about twelve years old when his photograph was taken in a family group with his parents. This photograph survives and is in the collection of Lewis Adair Payne (1997).

As a teenager he was out on the trail cattle herding with his father when he became very ill. Totally incapacitated he was left to lie in agony on the bedrolls in the accompanying chuck wagon. They were miles from anywhere. He later believed that the severe bouncing and bucking of the wagon as it slowly and labourously moved across the untamed countryside saved his life. Much later on it was proved that he had in fact survived a burst appendix; not a very common occurance. Most die from it. He was to say in later years that "I left my appendix on the Western Trail and the cattle walked over it."

He worked as a cowboy and attended high school part-time until he was twenty.

There is another photograph, this time of his high school graduation in from Quanah High School in May 1901. This shows him holding his sheepskin diploma-no "mere paper" at that time! The photograph shows five girls dressed like bridesmaids and one boy with a flower in his button hole, all students surrounding a man who is presumably the school principal. Marvin, the solitary boy (young adult), is at the rear (apparently education was not a very macho activity among the youth of the town). His younger sister Effie stands to his immediate right. Marvin read an essay to the assembled parents on "Closing Events of the Nineteenth Century." His sister Effie read an essay on "Duty." One of the other girls present was a Payne double first cousin, Lula Pearl McClanahan (daughter of Fred Lafayette McClanahan and Calla Payne). She read an essay on "Courage." Other graduating students were Bettie Carter, Cora B. Matlock, and a Miss Johnson. A long term correspondence with Miss Gabie E. Betts, later Burton (1871-?) begins after Marvin graduates from Quanah High School. Miss Gabie, as she refers to herself, used to live in Quanah where she taught in the elementary School. She was known as one of the best primary school teachers in the Panhandle. She later moved to teach at Clarendon College. She addresses Marvin in very affectionate terms--indeed as her son. The letters were saved by Grace after Marvin's death, and passed down to Mary Ann Mounts Payne.

Marvin graduated in 1903 from the Metropolitan Business School.

Marvin married Grace Gentry in 1907 and the young couple lived with her parents for some years in Oklahoma until they moved back to Quanah, Texas. He then worked there in a lumber company from about 1912.

On his father's death in 1916 the family farm was mortgaged and the family divided the proceeds. Marvin fell heir to the mortgage and immediately rented it out to help pay off the mortgage . He now worked as a book-keeper for a wholesale company in Chickasha, circa. 1920, and then moved back to Duncan where he was involved in a restaurant. He didn't stay long at that and he was to become the manager of the Chickasha Cotton Oil Mill in 1921. He then lost this job when the mill was sold during the depression. The family returned to live on the farm, four miles S.W. of Marlow, on Hell Creek. Unfortunately times were very difficult and he could not keep up the payments. The family property was repossessed by the mortgage company. The local official delivering the eviction notice, in about 1937, was a friend and he was to say "Marvin I hate to do this to you." The poor man's only response was "You have to, its your job." Marvin put the papers on the kitchen table in the house and never looked at them. The whole tragic experience hit him very hard indeed and really robbed him of all subsequent motivation. They now put the family furniture in storage but could not even keep up these payments; consequently it too was all lost. To add insult to injury, some years later oil was discovered ont he farm and today (1997) there is a sign which says; "Chevron USA Inc, W.M. Payne Lease Sec 35-2N-8W."

Grace's mother was unable to keep up payment on her own home mortgage, and sold the residence to her daughter and Marvin for a dollar. The families moved in with Mary on Spruce road. It was not long, however, before Marvin was unable to keep up those payments, and that house was lost as well. It was a bitter time. At some point the family returned to the old Marlow farmstead which they had been forced to leave, paying rent to live there. Marvin eventually went to work with a cattle auction company.

According to Fay Payne Yeager, Thomas R. Marshall (Vice President of the United States) was a cousin of Martha Jane Marshall Payne. He stayed in the home of Marvin and Grace (Gentry) Payne while on a speaking tour of Oklahoma. He said he remembered attending family reunions with Martha when he was younger.

M. W. Payne, Long Resident Here Dies

Duncan Banner Monday Jan. 5, 1947 Pg. 1 Transcribed by C. R. Strong 11-29-2003

Marvin Walter Payne, 1106 Oak, died at 10 o'clock Sunday night in a local hospital after a lengthy illness. He was a retired accountant.
The funeral service will be held at the Beeson Grantham Funeral Home chapel at 3:30 p. m. Tuesday, with the Rev. John A Callan (sic), pastor of the First Methodist Church, and the Rev. Thurmond George, pastor of the First Baptist Church, officiating.
Born in Gainesville, Tex., Pay ne came to Duncan in 1904 and had been a resident here for more than 40 years.
Surviving are the widow; three sons, Chad In Berlin, Germany, Lewis Adair of Stillwater, and Marvin W. jr., Duncan; one daughter, Mrs. Bob Thompson, Pampa, Tex;, one brother, Aubry (sic) H., Muleshoe, Tex; and five grandchildren.
Pallbearers are Rich Edwards, Bill Boydston, J. B. McLendon, Leroy Tucker, Oscar Young, J. D. Walker, Leonard Bumpas, and H. C. Allen.

Marvin Payne is Buried in Marlow From an unidentified Duncan, OK newspaper, dated 1948

Death took a longtime resident of Stephens County this week after he had been ill for many years. Marvin Walter Payne died in a Duncan Hospital Sunday night. He had lived in Duncan and vicinity most of the time since 1904 and will be remembered as the manager of the Duncan Cotton Oil Mill, a position which he held for many years. Payne was born in Gainsville, Texas. When he was a child, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Payne, moved to Quannah, Texas, where they owned one of the big ranches in that part of the country. Payne was reared and educated in Quannah. He came to Duncan as a young man. He married Grace Ellen Gentry of Arthur in 1907.

He was in Chickasha for many years where he was connected with the Chickasha Cotton Oil Mill. In the early thirties he became ill and moved back to the old homeplace northwest of Duncan. He is survived by his widow and his four children, Chad who is now stationed with the Army in Berlin, Germany; Lewis Adair, Stillwater; Marvin W. Jr., Duncan, and Mrs Bob Thompson, Pampa, Texas. Funeral Services were held at the Beeson-Grantham Funeral chapel on Tuesday afternoon with the Rev. John A Callan of the First Methodist Church and the Rev. Thurmond George of the First Baptist Church officiating. He was buried in the Marlow Cemetery.

NOTE No Headstone in Marlow Cemetery, but known to be in Sect 10 Blk 10 (Lot 5?), Believed to be b.1-17-1881 d. 1-4-1948

(Research):World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
Name: Marvin Walter Payne
City: Chickasha
County: Grady
State: Oklahoma
Birth Date: 17 Jan 1881
Race: White
Roll: 1851777
DraftBoard: 1
Age: 37
Occupation: Book keeper
Employer: J.D. Turner & Co., Chickasha, Grady Co. OK
Nearest relative: Grace Payne, Chickasha, Grady Co. OK
Height/Build: ------
Color of Eyes/Hair: Brown/Brown

Census Information:

1930 census Stephens Co. OK King Twp., ED 69-7
Sheet 13B 511 So. 8th (?)
217/233
Payne, Marvin W., MW 49 M 26 TX MO MO
Payne, Grace, wife FW 41 M 18 TX TN WV
Payne, Chadwick, son MW 22 S OK TX TX
Payne, Mary, dau. FW 17 S OK TX TX
Payne, Lewis, son MW 16 OK TX TX
Payne, Marvin, Jr., son MW 4 9/12 S OK TX TX

They owned their home, with a value of $2000, and owned a radio as well.

(Courtesy of Lynell Cordell)

Marvin married Grace Ellen Gentry on 22 Jan 1907 in Stephens County, Oklahoma. Grace (daughter of William Miller Gentry and Mary "Molly" Evelyn Mounts) was born on 3 Nov 1888 in Decatur, Wise County, Texas; died on 16 Dec 1966 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma; was buried in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Possibly lived in Paris, Lamar Co., Texas at some point. This town was sometimes referred to by Grace Ellen Gentry.

Died at 2010 Admiral Road, Stillwater, OK.

She had a strong dislike of all things Texan.

Photograph at 140 lbs (usually 125lbs) Norvelle Studio, Chickasha, Oklahoma, circa 1923. She disliked the picture as a result.

1927-She was instrumental in organizing the Payne/Gentry family reunion in 1927. The event took place at the home of Annie O'Neill's home in Duncan.

1934-On the sixth of April 1934, Mary E. Gentry, widow, sells to Grace Payne (her daughter) for one dollar and love and affection the west half of lot six (6) in block sixty-seven (67) together with all improvements thereon, in the City of Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. Grace and Marvin had just lost their farm being unable to pay the mortgage. Molly continued to live for another six years but this house on 8th and Spruce Street was also lost for the same reasons. Molly continued to live with her daughter and her family until she died.

1948-Grace Payne (nee Gentry) notified "To Whom it May Concern" on the 21st of June that she, E.J. Gentry, J.W. Gentry, Pearl Hall, E.H. Gentry, Carl H. Payne, J.E. Payne, Vera Young, Virginia Hardin, Louise Birnie, Mary Ethel Jones and Jeanne Turner, all heirs of W.M. Gentry, claimed to own the mineral rights of their father's old property and intended to have the matter determined by the Court. [Payne, Grace Ellen (1948) Affidavit giving legal notice of intention to file suit in District Court of Stephens County, Oklahoma, Ref: Book 414, page 344] It is not clear who this claim was directed at. Frank and Emory had continued the farn between them. Frank had died in 1928, and John Vernon Gentry continues the connection with his grandfather's land to this day (1997).

Grace Gentry was a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). She claimed membership under her grandfather, W.J. Gentry. It was actually her grandfather John Melton Gentry, whose name Grace confused, who served in the Confederate Army. Grace was determined to get into the UDC and it was known she was not going to let anything, such as her other grandfather William J. Mounts' service in the Union Army, to get in her way. An incomplete draft of her application, remaining in the family, lists her parents as William Melton (sic) Gentry (born 1851 TN, died Sept. 1829 Duncan, OK) and his wife as Mary Evelyn Mounts (born Aug 1857, Died Aug 10, 1940 Duncan, OK). She went on to list her grandfather as William John Gentry (of Darnells, TX born in TN) and his wife as Pamela Harpoole (also born in TN).

Notes:

His obituary, as it appeared in the Marlow Review, Thursday, June 22, 1916.

Obituary of Samuel M. Payne

Born March 11, 1849 in Marion County, MO. Was married to Miss Olive McClanahan in August, 1873. To this union was born six children, two of whom are dead. His wife died five years ago. About six months ago he was united in marriage to Mrs. Hollingsworth of Duncan, Oklahoma. At this time he is survived by three sons, Marvin Payne of Chickasha, Frank Payne of Wichita Falls, Texas, and Aubrey Payne, Davidson, Okla., and one daughter, Mrs. H.P Haycraft of this city.

Mr. Payne was not a member of any church or lodge but he was a good man in every respect. He believed in good morals. He strictly believed in the "Golden Rule" "Do unto others as you would be done by." He believed in a supreme being and a higher power and universal salvation. He was a most devoted husband and father.

He was just a human being subject to the frailities of the flesh. If he made any mistakes we have forgotten them and if he has any accounting to make for the life he lived, he will make it to the Judge of all the earth who doeth all things well and will judge with justice and mercy.

(Courtesy of Lynell Gentry Cordell)

In a biography of his brother-in-law, John O'Neill, he was referenced as "Samuel, who lives on a farm near Marlow, Oklahoma."


The following biography of Samuel Marshall Payne was written by Ken Harvey:

Migrated to Texas on Texan Road (Hwy 69) with his parents and all his brothers and sisters after the Civil War, in abt. 1878. He would have been twenty-nine years old. Initially they all lived in a dugout.

See "Down the Texas Road" by Grant Foreman (1936) HISTORIC TRACES ALONG HIGHWAY 69 THROUGH OKLAHOMA Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman Press for general reference

In appearance he had a red beard and was of slender build. He had a weakness for fast horses which was perhaps encouraged by his contact with the Commanches out west. After all he needed speed to get away from them. He used to stride about the racecourse with tears in his eyes, such was his involvement in racing. He was quite an emotional man.

He cowboyed for many years in Texas and never considered that he worked for anyone in his life. It was a hard life. He and Ollie once found a man who had been skinned alive by the Indians while going somewhere with a wagon. He never knew if the victim was a whiteman or an Indian. They took him into town but he was dead on arrival.

On one occasion he found it necessary to hide in a plum thicket from Indians he had inadvertently come across. He stood there holding his horses nose to stop it whinnying. He was very fortunate with the wind direction as the scent of his mount was not carried to the Indian horses. The Indians would either have been in the area horse stealing or on the war path. It didn't really matter as the result for Samuel, if discovered, would probably have been the same.

1880 - His younger sister, L[ouise] C. Payne (b. 1863), stayed with his young family in Cooke County, Texas. She was "teaching school" at the time in 1880 according to the census.

1893 - While in living in Texas, Sam came to Oklahoma for the Land Run. He arrived for the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893. He came prepared with a wagon and team in order to ride with a lightweight racing saddle on his accompanying thoroughbred horse. He wore light boots and a cap with the bill turned backwards. He said he didn't want to look like a cowboy-he just wanted maximum speed. He found the land he wanted as he knew the area well from his droving days. He immediately placed his claim. After he got to the land office he sold the 160 acres he was now entitled to. The claim, which never had his name registered, was located near Enid and he was to say he made more money in that single transaction than he could have done in one whole year of being a cowboy.

In 1893 a Payne family group studio photograph was taken, probably in Quanah. It shows left to right; Samuel Marshall Payne (44) seated, Effie Mae (10) standing, C. Frank (18) seated, Aubrey Hamilton (16) standing rear, Samuel E. (14) standing forground, Marvin Walter (12) standing rear and Olivia McClanahan Payne (49) seated. Sam never grew any more. Lewis Payne has a copy of this photograph and the original is thought to have been with his sister Mary Olive and hence passed on to Dorothy Thompson. Another original is the property of Mary Ann Mounts Payne.

1895-He was the original entryman to 160 acres in Stephens County; the North-East quarter of section thirty-five in township two, [north of] range eight, west [of the Indian Meridian]. It is located about four miles outside Marlow. Sam and his family settled there, beside Hell Creek.

1900-The census shows the Sam Payne family living in Hardeman County, Texas.

1901-Samuel was described by his brother Walter W. Payne as the original entryman to 160 acres in Stephens County, Oklahoma. This land being the north-east quarter of Section thirty-five, township tow [Rock Creek, north of] Range eight (8) west [of the Indian Meridian. This farm was located about four miles outside Marlow]. This grant of land "was established and duly consumated" to Samuel M. Payne on 17 March 1920 by the signature of President Woodrow Wilson in line with the act to secure homesteads on the public domain.

1910 - Later Samuel purchased a farm about four miles outside Marlow, OK and in 1910 he was listed as living there in Rock Creek Township with his wife Ollie, his married son Marvin, his wife Grace and their child, his grandson, Chadwick. There were also two hired men and a cousin?, Lizzie Pictria (19), in the household. Ollie died in April of 1910 and Samuel became a widower.

1914-A sepia toned photograph is taken of Samuel in front of his house. The photograph includes (l to r) his son Marvin, Samuel, daughter Effie and her husband Hugh S. Haycraft.

In an Affidavit of Heirship of Samuel M. Payne who died intestate, Walter W. Payne stated that "...sometime during the year of 1915 he [Samue M. Payne] again married one Leona Hollingsworth." The couple are later listed as possessing one brown mare name Dolly, one sorrel mare names Bell and one whitefaced cow named Mott and her calf. "To this union no children were born and it is my understanding that she [Leona Hollingsworth] has given a deed of conveyance to any interest that she might have had in the estate of my deceased brother."

1916-Joe Payne of Knoxville records that Samuel died and was buried in Quanah, Texas. This is incorrect. Records from the Marlow Funeral Home instead indicate that he died at his residence in Marlow. His funeral was paid for by his son, Marvin Payne, a few months after the funeral.

He was buried in the Marlow Cemetery, Section 10, Block 10, Plot 5.

(Research):
Census Listing:

1880 Federal Census

RelationSexMarrRaceAgeBirthplace
Sam M. PAYNE Self M M W 30 MISSOURI Occ: Farming Fa: KY Mo: KY
Ottie PAYNE Wife F M W 34 MISSOURI Occ: Keeping House Fa: TENN Mo: ---
C. Frank PAYNE Son M S W 5 MO Fa: MO Mo: MO
Aubrey H. PAYNE Son M S W 3 MO Fa: MO Mo: MO
Samuel E. PAYNE Son M S W 1 TEXAS Fa: MO Mo: MO
L.C. PAYNE Sister F S W 19 MO Occ: Teaching School Fa: KY Mo: KY

Census Place:E.D. 115, Cooke, Texas
Source:FHL Film 1255298 National Archives Film T9-1298 Page 30

Samuel married Olivia McClanahan on 20 Aug 1873 in Schuyler County, Missouri. Olivia (daughter of Enoch Cox McClanahan and Andromache "America" "Mackey" Mills) was born about 1844 in Schuyler County, Missouri; died on 1 Apr 1910 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Ken Harvey writes "She was known as Ollie and is remembered as having had violet coloured eyes. In the census of 1880 she gave her age as 34. This would result in her year of birth being 1846. A possible son, Billie Payne believed to have been born abt. 1891, was also listed. This is thought to be an error. Grace Payne, also listed here as a child, is almost certainly Marvin Walter Payne's wife, Grace Ellen Gentry.

Ollie used to teasingly say, when the atheletic Sam went off to distant parts cowboying for a month or so, that she was going into town "to get herself a fatman." Presumably his weight would keep him in one place. Young Effie would always reply "Yes, and I will damm him to.""

Lynell Cordell found this brief mention of her final illness in the Duncan Eagle, dated Thursday, Jan. 13, 1910:

"We regret very much to learn that Mrs. S.M. Payne, who lives in the Wood Reserve, received a severe stroke of paralysis on last Tuesday, and since that time has been dangerously ill."

Lynell was not, however, able to locate an obituary.

Notes:

Married:
!MARRIAGE LIC. Schuyler Co. MO.Paage 58,Book C, 1871-92 (MCCL Doc. 13)

Notes:

The following biography was written by Kenneth Charles Harvey.

The eldest child in his family, he was known as Will to his wife and Billie to his siblings. He was about eight years old when he was taken to Texas from Missouri, he remembered nothing of Tenessee. His eldest daughter, Grace, recalls his middle name instead as Melton. This is almost certainly incorrect.

He was never involved in the Civil War, according to Lewis Adair Payne.

He helped dismantle the frontier fort at Fort Worth, Texas by assisting in removing the pallisade. Presumably he was still living with his parents in Johnson Co. at this time. The date of this event needs to be established.

1870 - A Wm. M. Gentry married Lucy E. Smith on 25 Apr. 1870 in Collin Co. Texas. There is no family recollection of any such previous marital event but it is highly likely that Will's first wife died. Molly may have known of this but simply never mentioned in later life that she was in fact Will's second wife. She may have preferred to keep this information to herself.

Will, who was a physically very strong man, initially used his father-in-law's wedding present, of a team of horses and wagon, to haul whisky etc. as far west as the saloons in Pecos. It was possible to make more money with transporting whisky than hauling anything else. This was a dangerous activity at the time as the Commanche Indians were still hostile, and active, in the surrounding area. He himself evidently spoke a little Indian (probably Choctaw).

He was a talented carpenter although his work never really met his wife, Molly's, exacting standards. She didn't forget easily that her own father had been a cabinet maker level of carpenter.

1880 - The family were living in Wise Co., Texas, where Will (29) was farming. Mollie (23) was keeping house and looking after the children Carrie (5), Gertie (2) and baby Frank. The enumeration locality was 130 (possibly near Decatur). (Microfilm page 225).

Will's paternal grandfather was a Baptist preacher who started a church, probably in Hillsboro, Hill Co., Texas. The old man appears to have moved from there to Wise Co. at some point either prior to or after 1873. He must have been nearby to his grandson, Will Gentry, around this time as he used to borrow Will's horse team and wagon without asking. Presumably this occurred when young William was not around. He would just hitch the horses up and take them off without a word. This used to greatly annoy his granddaugher-in-law, Molly. It was, after all, her father who had given the team to the couple as a wedding present. The preacher would have been in his late seventies by then. The Trawick family was also in Wise County as of the 1880 census. They lived in Wise County until around 1887.

1887-They then moved north to Indian Territory. This relocation out of Texas was to what was later to become the state of Oklahoma. Will now purchased a 320 acre farm east of Duncan on Wild Horse Creek, Stephens Co. People were moving into this Territory as pioneers because the land was much cheaper. He also had a financial interest in a cotton gin while in Oklahoma. The house that he built there consisted of two stories. There were two rooms and an entrance hall on the ground floor with a stairs, aligned east/west, leading up to a small landing at the front with two bedrooms at either side. There was an additional single story dining room accessed from the downstairs hall with the kitchen at the end of this extension. The front of the house faced east and there was a well outside the kitchen door on the south side of the building.

1903-Will was photographed in a family group picture at his parent's home in Alma. Mollie was not in the picture. His parents were living in a small, one story wooden house.

1910 - Will was listed as living in Park Township, in 1910, with his wife Molly and the youngest two of their children. Also living with them was 4 year old Louisa Payne, presumed to be the youngest daughter of Permelia Gertrude Gentry and Walter Payne. Permelia died shortly after Louisa was born. He was living on 320 acres which must have consisted of, in half, the 160 acres which was later legally described as "The East Half of the West Half of Section Four (4), Township One (1) South, Range Five (5) West, I(ndian) M(eridian)." [Payne, Grace Ellen (1948) Affidavit giving legal notice of intention to file suit in District Court of Stephens County, Oklahoma. Ref: Book 414, page 344] Will had probably owned the whole western half, of section four as described.

1911 - Described as "of Arthur" on his son John's marriage in 1911 in Stephens Co., Oklahoma.

1920-Census record has not been found.

Will left his farm and house, having basically retired in about 1920, the elderly couple now moved to what was to become 721 Spruce Street, Duncan. Will had bought a block of land there, number sixty-seven, close to the city. He proceeded to break the block up into building lots which he then began to sell off as sites for homes. He built their own new house on one of these lots. His grandson Carl Payne and Tommy Payne purchased two other lots and built homes on them. Molly was never happy in the house as she felt it was not finished properly and the side was too close to the street. People could look in and see her eating as they walked along. The house was still standing in 1997.

Frank now took over the farm and the house on Wild Horse Creek his father had left there. Frank, in turn, rented part of the 320 acres to his brother Emory. Emory was considered the best farmer in the family. Sadly, the house Will had built was burnt down much later.

1923-Celebration of their fiftieth wedding anniversary. This large family reunion started off at their own home in Spruce street and then moved the same day to son-in-law, Walter Winchell Payne's, ranch where there was presumably more space.

1929 -William M. Gentry died.

W. M. Gentry's gold watch was given, on his death, to grandson, Lewis Adair Payne. Sometime later the watch was "borrowed" by Lewis' elder brother, "Snort." At the time they all thought that the valuable heirloom was lost down the well. Later on there was a reconsideration. A neighbouring boy who had suggested that it had fallen down the well and who was playing with the children at the time probably stole it. Apparently he was known for his light fingers.

Lyn Cordell found both of the following, items:

First, a story by Sudie Thornton Sharp, born in 1877 in Texas. Her family moved to Indian Territory when her father "purchased the improvements on some Indian land, which comprised several hundred acres, near where the Arthur post office and store were located---about 10 miles northeast of Duncan." (Lyn noted that actually, Arthur is more straight east of Duncan. The Indian Base Line that my grandparent's lived on is Beech Street here in town. We live about 1/2 mile north of Beech now). Anyway, Mrs. Sharp continues to say, "After a short visit with my parents at Arthur I came to Duncan and soon had a music class, being Duncan's first music teacher. I went from house to house, giving lessons on organs and pianos. My first boarding home was with William Gentry and family. The Gentrys were the parents of Mrs. Marvin Payne and Ed Gentry." After she married Mr. Sharp they started a store in 1901 about 14 miles northwest of Duncan. In 1902 their store got a post office and it was named Nellie.

She also found the obituary of William Gentry, published in THE DUNCAN WEEKLY EAGLE, dated Thursday, Sept. 26, 1929:

County Pioneer Called By Death
W.M. Gentry, One of Oldest Citizens of County, Died Monday After Months of Suffering.

W.M. Gentry, a resident of this section for more than 39 years, died at the family home in Duncan at 9:40 o'clock Monday morning, following a lingering illness of several months duration. Mr. Gentry, who was 79 years old at the time of his death, moved to what is now Stephens county in 1890 and settled in the Arthur neighborhood, east of Duncan. He moved to Duncan some eight years ago. During his residence in the county Mr. Gentry saw the country develop from a wilderness to a great agricultural section, and played no small part in this development, for he was among the county's foremost citizens.

Funeral services were held at 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon from the First Baptist church, conducted by Rev. J. J. Ward, a pioneer minister of this county, and the pastor, Rev. T. P. Haskins. Interment was in the Duncan cemetery, the arrangements being in charge of the Beeson Grantham Funeral Home.

Mr. Gentry was a native of Tenn., and moved in Indian Territory from the land of his nativity. Surviving him are his widow, five children and 27 grandchildren. The children are: Ed J. Gentry, Ft. Worth; John W. Gentry, Alpine, Tex.; Mrs. Marvin Payne, Duncan; E. H. Gentry, Oklahoma City; and Mrs. S. P. Hall, Roxanna, Tex. Two sisters, Mrs. Lum Parsons of Oklahoma City and Mrs. Jerry Williamson of Decatur, Tex., and two brothers, J. P. Gentry of Oklahoma City and J.E. Gentry of Arthur, also attended the funeral.

(Research):"Family Record-Parents' Names-Husband William Miller Gentry Born May 23rd 1851 Tenn. Wife Mary Evelyne Gentry Born Aug 27th 1856 W. Va. Married July 13 1873 at Grayson Co. Texas, lived in Texas 1873 to 189- Moved to Ind Ter." [Gentry, Ruth Pearl (1930) Family Genealogical Record Form (probably largely compiled by Ruth circa 1911-1930)-photocopy of the double spread torn pages in possession of Penny Ethlen Payne. Original with Scott Philip Hall?]

1900 census Chickasaw Nation IT (Stephens Co. OK) ED 166 pg. 40A
169/176
Gentry, William M., May 1852, 48, married 26, TN KY TN
Mollie E., Aug. 1856, 43, 8 children/7 living, VA VA VA
Frank M., son, May 1880, 20, TX
Edgar J., son, Dec. 1882, 17, TX
John W., son, Aug. 1885, 14, TX
Grace E., dau., Nov. 1888, 11, TX
Emory H., son, May 1893, 7, IT
Ruth P., dau., Dec. 1896, 3, IT
John M., father, Dec. 1827, Married 50, KY KY KY Pamelia C., mother, Mar. 1827, 7 children/5 living, TN TN VA

William married Mary "Molly" Evelyn Mounts on 12 Jul 1872 in Grayson County, Texas. Mary (daughter of William J. Mounts and Salinda Galloway) was born on 27 Aug 1857 in West Virginia; died on 10 Sep 1940 in Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma; was buried in Duncan Municipal Cemetery, Duncan, Stephens County, Oklahoma. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Known as "Molly." Her birth position uncertain, she was probably the youngest. She probably had TWO older brothers.

Ken Harvey wrote the following biography of Molly Mounts Gentry based on interviews with her daughter, Grace Ellen Gentry, grandson, Lewis Adair Payne, and other family members. He wrote that Molly was said to have been abducted by her father from his ex-wife and grandparents in West Virginia. The story that has come down is that William J. did not approve of the way they were bringing her up. He had secretly let her know that he was in the area, and she met him at a pre-arranged place. His own armed brothers, who had been on the Confederate side in the war, followed them, but William who had been a Captain on the Union side, was careful to eluded their pursuit. He let it be known that he intended going south on the Mississippi from Memphis. They, father and daughter, did just this and then they quickly backtracked going north at the first steamer wood fuel stop on the river. They arrived in Chicago, presumably by train, "as the great fire was going out"-that would have been just after 8th October 1871; when Mary was fourteen years old.

She later recalled that she had plenty of good clothes [during her three years] living with her father but she was not allowed to have a man touch her stockinged feet-this was considered inappropriate behaviour. He used to make a paper cut-out of his daughter's soles when she needed shoes. He was determined on proper behaviour. She had to walk with her arms straight down her sides and fix her gaze about twenty feet in front of her when walking in the public street.

She became engaged, at about the age of fifteen, to a young man who presented her with a large and beautiful ring. It seems highly likely that this liason had been arranged somehow by her father. One day she saw her fiance riding a horse in a park with another woman. Young Molly became very upset and went up to him. Taking it off her finger she handed the ring back to him saying that "this [marriage] is not going to work!" Her father and she left Chicago shortly afterwards.

William J. had hired a Mrs. Harris to be young Molly's live-in companion in Chicago. Mrs. Harris was a very strict and religious person who was very upset to discover her church minister playing poker with William J. one night after hours in a back room of his saloon. This saloon was somewhere to the south of Chicago. She said she was never going back to his church again. He was very amused about her outraged attitude and his surprising response to his daughter's prim adult companion was to say let us all leave the town.

They all drove off next morning and he just left his saloon business as it was when he closed it down the previous night. He used to laugh all the time about Mrs Harris' reaction to her preacher's infidelity to his supposed ideals-presumably out of her earshot.

Some time later, in the early 1870's, they all wound up in north Texas. It was presumably in Johnson Co. that young Molly set her heart on William Miller Gentry. He was six years older than her.

Molly's father, made it clear that he did not approve of her choice of Will Gentry. Was he aware of Will's probable previous marriage three years previously? He did not, however, interfere when she decided to marry him. Instead he presented the couple with a team of horses and a wagon (four wheels). William J. Mounts drove away from the wedding service in Grayson Co. having made his fairwells. He was evidently very disappointed and apparently rather angry with her choice. Angry enough for he was never to wish to see her again, nor did he.

Molly's grandfather-in-law, William Gentry, was a preacher. Mary had little time for him. It is noticable that he did not marry Molly and Will.

When they were living in Stevens Co., Oklahoma, Molly discovered that a neighbour there had once lived in Chicago. The neighbour's brother, a wealthy man, was still living in that northern city and he always wore a large diamond ring that his young fiance had returned to him when she rebuffed him. He had never married after his loss. It is not known if Molly revealed her extraordinary secret to her Oklahoma neighbour on Wildhorse Creek.

She used to tell a story about a relation of hers who had joined the army just after the Civil War. He had committed some infraction of the military rule book and was walking beside a General following an investigation into the event when he anxiously enquired of his superior, "what happens next?" The General replied, "we shoot at dawn." The comment was clearly not meant to be taken seriously, but it was. The evidently very nervous and highly impressionable young man immediately dropped dead from a severe heart attack.

1900-In the census of 1900 Molly recorded that she had had eight children of whom seven were still alive. This agrees with our list as we know Carrie had died from blood poisoning the previous year.

1930 census Stephens Co. OK King Twp., Duncan city, ED 69-4 Sheet 18B 725 8th St. ? 994/433 Gentry, Mary E., FW 73 Wd WV WV WV

The Duncan Eagle-Sept. 12, 1940 Mary E. Gentry, 84, Dead After Long Illness in Home Here Mrs. Mary Evelyn Gentry, 84, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Marvin Payne, 813 Beech Ave. Tuesday afternoon, after a lingering illness with which she been afflicted for some time. She had been living with her daughter during the greater part of her illness. Other children are Ed J. Gentry, Duncan; John W. Gentry, Alpine, Texas; Emery H. Gentry, Oklahoma City; and Mrs S. P. Hall, Great Bend, Kan. Also surviving are 31 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Funeral services will be held at 2:30 this afternoon in the First Baptist church with the Rev. Frank Sutton, pastor of the Immanuel Baptist church, officiating. Burial will be in Duncan cemetery. The Beeson-Grantham Funeral home was in charge of arrangements.

Notes:

Married:
Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Gentry Celebrate their "Golden Wedding Day"

Mr. and Mrs. W.M. Gentry of this city [Duncan] celebrated their "Golden Wedding Day" Friday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Payne, a few miles east of this city, surrounded by their sons and daughters, grand children, great grandchildren and a host of relatives and friends.

Married 50 years ago in Pottsboro, Grayson County, Texas, Mr. and Mrs. Gentry came to Oklahoma before there was any Stephen's county of a city of Duncan. They have resided in Stephens county, near Duncan, for the last 33 years and in the city of Duncan for three years.

Mr. Gentry, who has passed the 72nd milestone of life, was born in Tennessee, and moved to Texas when that state was young. Mrs. Gentry was born in West Virginia and grew to womanhood in Illinois after which she moved with her parents to Texas.

Eight children were born to this union, six of whom are living. They are J.W. Gentry of Alpine, Texas; Mrs. Marvin Payne of Chickasha; Mrs. S.B. Hall of Garber, Oklahoma; and three sons who live on farms east of Duncan.

There are 24 grandchildren and five great grand children.

Mr. Gentry carries his age exceedingly well, as does also Mrs. Gentry and to see them as they go about their daily lives one would never suspect that they had travelled a-down the rosy pathway of love and life together for half a century.

(GOLDEN WEDDING REPORT Newspaper clipping cut from unidentified Duncan City, Oklahoma newspaper, probably the Banner)

Ken Harvey had the following to report about their union:

Will married Mary Evelyn Mounts on Saturday, 12th July 1873 in Grayson Co., Texas. The marriage licence merely states that they were married by M. F. Cole. The marriage licence gives no further information. The day was incorrectly recorded as 13th. The question does arise as to why Will's grandfather, Preacher William Gentry, did not conduct the ceremony.

His father-in-law William J. Mounts did not approve of young Will as a husband for his daughter Molly. He told his young daughter that "Will was just a Tennessee farm boy, and though pleasant enough, he would never amount to anything." She was not dissuaded.

Will, it was always generally agreed, was evidently not very ambitious and rather easy going. Much later on, after her husband, Will's, death, Molly used to remonstrate with her young grandson Lewis Adair Payne "Get up and get going, you are just like Will sitting there for half an hour on your bed before making a move."