Francis Mary Rogers

Memories of Frances Mary Murphy born 1910

     I, Frances Mary Murphy was born 9 Jan 1910 in Shawnee,Okla, a little town about 40 miles from Okla City.  We lived in the outshirts of the town in a big white house on the hill on 510 Patchen Street.  Down below us in the low lands we often watched the traveling Gypsy bands.  Papa, who was a cattle buyer was not at home a great deal and Mama and my two sisters Josephine and Kathaleen were always conscience of the strangers near us.  I was fascinated by the bright colors of their clothes and, the full skirts, jingeling earrings and the gay music from their guitars.  Mama was nervous whenever the Gypsies were on the prowl and carried Papa's gun with her at these uneasy times.  Too often we would see the Gypsies peeping over the barn yard fence admiring our horses and cattle.

     I had a good childhood and there were so many interesting things for us to do that we were never lonely.  We had a big red barn with a loft filled with hay.  Kathaleen & I often played up there and once foolishly made a parachute jump from the window using Mama's umbrella for the 'chute.  We were not successful and our feet drove deeply into the ground below.  There was a shallow brook that ran thru the grazing land, we often waded there or climbed the tall oak trees surrounding the water.  Kathaleen and I had an old dog named Gyp who was our constant companion.  We hunted field mice together & chased rabbits and fished for craw-fish in the creek bed.

     I remember all the good things the smell of fresh baked bread, the sound of Jozie practicing the piano and Papa trotting home on horse back at the end of a long ride.

     I enjoyed school when I was young and attended grammer school at Horace Mann school.  I started when I was eight but finished when I was 13.

     Meanwhile the folks had sold the old home place and moved closer in town and I then attended Shawnee High school.  I learned to play the violin and played in the orchestra.  I also loved to dance and did interpretive dancing in the school and clubs.  I belonged to a writers club called Bonda Skeppa also and loved to paint in pastels and water colors, dispite the fact I had very poor eyesight.

     I was 17 when I graduated and took a job in a little gift shop.

via Diane Rogers Griggs, [https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/12810617?cid=mem_copy]