We bought our groceries on credit in “Jim Trout’s” store in Drumright. Dad paid the bill when he came home. On bill paying days Mr. Trout always filled a paper bag with penny candy and gave itto Mother, to be doled out to the kids. I am sure he was pleased to have the bill paid, but his pleasure was nothing compared to the joy his candy brought. Mr. Trout, like many people who suffered a little less than others in “The Depression,” shared what he could. Hopefully he is getting a reward for his generosity.
In the early fall of 1941, Dad’s hard work and acceptance of being away from home so much of the time working for Sinclair Oil Company paid off. He was promoted from being an itinerant pipeline laborer to a job as an Apprentice Machinist in Sinclair’s huge machine in Caney, Kansas. We loaded all our possessions, including a live cow, onto the back of an open bed, stake truck Dad had borrowed, said goodbye to Oklahoma and moved a little over one hundred miles north to begin life as “townspeople”.