Wilkinson Mortuary
The Okeene Chamber of Commerce announced the January Business of the Month today at the Chamber Luncheon. Wilkinson Mortuary was selected for the outstanding service they provide.
The building that is now Wilkinson Mortuary was 1 of Okeene’s 2 hospitals prior to the 1930’s, at that time Keller/Landes converted the hospital to a funeral home, Eddie Sisson purchased it. In 1980 Glenda Wilkinson purchased the Mortuary operating it until Robert and Kimbri High purchased Wilkinson Mortuary from Kimbri’s Aunt Glenda Wilkinson, in 1998. Kimbri Cupp High was born and raised in Watonga. Her great grandparents, Chris and Mary Weber Schiffner, were from the Omega/Watonga area along with her grandparents, Malcolm and Bernice Lewis. Kimbri currently resides in Watonga with their two children; Cooper, age 9, and Maggie, age 4. Robert and wife, Ronda, are currently residents of Okeene.
Farmer’s Service Station November Business of the Month
Farmer’s Service Station
Okeene Chamber’s Business of the Month
80 Years of Dedicated Service to the Okeene Community!
WOW! Not too many businesses can brag about that and it’s for darn sure, you can’t get owner, Lonnie Boeckman to brag about anything! Anyone who has known Lonnie for very long knows what a humble, easy going guy he is, so it took some work to even talk him into making a “ta-doo” over this great milestone for his families business!
Lawrence Boeckman built Farmers Service Station in the fall of 1929. The station had three driveways, hand-operated visible pumps, and was one of the only buildings on the north side of town at that time. South of the station was a tennis court, and the area north was used for croquet, and occasionally by traveling carnivals.
The building was later extended, and the three driveways were remodeled into two wider ones. Gasoline was originally delivered by railroad tank car, to storage tanks beside the tracks. Farm deliveries were made with ten-gallon cans hauled in a pickup.
The biggest change occurred when Lawrence’s cousin, Henry Huhman, arrived from St. Elizabeth, Missouri, and began working at the station in 1933.
Still today the covered awning makes filling up in wet weather much better.
In the early 1940’s, a two-bay garage was built, with an apartment where Lawrence lived. Lawrence also bought an electric gas pump, which was one of the first in the area.
Lawrence Boeckman(L) and Henry Huhman(R) posing with their new tank truck which still serves our community today!
The station was closed for three years during World War II, when Lawrence and Henry were both in the service. Henry became a full partner in the business when they re-opened the station in 1946. A new tank truck was purchased in 1949.
Lawrence and Henry became Mobil Oil Company dealers in the late 1940’s. When Mobil left the state in the mid-1970’s, they became Kerr-McGee dealers.
Henry Huhman retired in 1986, at which time Lonnie Boeckman became a partner with his father. Lawrence Boeckman worked at the station until he passed away in 1995.
Although Lawrence and Henry are no longer with us, their commitment to serving out community lives on through Lonnie, who still sells gasoline, diesel fuel, and performs most types of maintenance and repair work. and if you drive under the covered pump area you are quickly greeted, by either Lonnie or Alvin Rauh. It’s for sure you would have to drive a long way before you can find another place where you can still say, “Fill ‘er up” and without getting out of your car, your tank is filled and you are ready to head on down the highway.
Please join the the Okeene Chamber of Commerce in celebrating this great, 80th milestone with Farmer’s Service Station on Thursday, November 19th from 2-4.
Pioneer Telephone, October Business of the Month
Pioneer Telephone Cooperative, is an industry leader in rural telecommunications services Read the rest of this entry »
Chamber’s Annual Feed & Auction
The evening of October 20th began with a delicious full, pulled pork dinner with a wide assortment of desserts. Frank Dunham, the Whea Esta BBQ Peoples Choice winner, prepared the meat and the Board Members baked and stirred up the rest of the meal. Read the rest of this entry »
What is brown and orange with a little bit of glue? Why a hand-made pumpkin treat bag!
The first arts and crafts day was rainy and drab but once inside the community building things came alive as 37 students enjoyed a snack provided by Homestead Bible Church and made three projects that included a squirrel covered in fall leaves, a painted pumpkin treat sack and a colorful leaf made out of tissue paper. Volunteers Hadley Gambill, Koby Smith, Lane Gambill, Clarissa Kraus, Mason Gambill, Kayla Fast and Denise Aldrich were great in keep things cleaned up and working with the younger kids. Our adult volunteers this month were Sandy Boeckman, Robin Swain and Linda Lipps. We also had a few parents that stayed and helped out.
Read the rest of this entry »
Clean-Up scheduled for this Saturday (10-10)
Downtown Clean Up Saturday, Oct 10 meet at the 4 corners at 9am with willing gloved hands, your favorite yard tool(s) and warm hearts.
Moore’s Open House
The Grand Re-Opening of our local grocery store was held Wednesday, September 30 from 10-2. 132 people came by to sign up for the door prizes and take advantage of all the great bargains Moores Venture Food Store was offering. Owner Bobby Moore and Managers, Kale and Lori Giesick were all on hand to meet, greet, carry groceries and just enjoy being a part of our community.
Door prizes were drawn for at the end of the Open House, the winners were as follows: Delane Kehnemund, Denise Guidry and David Wilson all won Ice Chests, Dixie Aphold won a $25.00 Gift Card, Lois Seelke won a $50.00 Gift Card and Cindy Lamle won a $100.00 Gift Card. Congratulations to all of you and Congratulations, Moore’s Venture Food Store, we are happy to have you in Okeene!
Moore’s Venture Food Stores Open House September 30th
The Okeene Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce Moore’s Venture Food Stores as the September Business of the Month. It’s been right at a month since Kale and Lori Giesick took over managing our local grocery store and we all started trying to remember, “MOORE’s VENTURE FOOD STORE”. The new owner, Bobby Moore, I have not met as of yet but any time I’m in MVFS I’m sure to find Kale or Lori working and always with a smile. It was a labor of love Patricia Kubat put forth when she reopened Okeene Market and we were restored to a “civilized town” with a grocery store! I know it took a lot of hours and was, no doubt, a huge source of stress, so thank you Patti for loving and believing in Okeene that much!
The Chamber would like to invite everyone to the OPEN HOUSE on Wednesday, September 30 from 10-2. MVFS will be giving away door prizes throughout the open house, come on by and see all the changes taking place, inside and out!
Annual Feed & Auction scheduled for October 20th
Our fundraising for Christmas is about to begin as we start gathering auction items for this year’s Annual Feed & Auction. This event has become known for a nice meal followed by a lot of laughs and some great bargains. Tickets are available at the chamber office or from any Chamber Board Member:
Mike Dobrinski, Dobrinski Chevrolet
Shelly Dunham, CEO, Okeene Hospital
Mike Buchanan, Buchanan Insurance and Tag Agency
Rae Dixon, Mountain Country Foods
Stacy Lee, Stacy Lee Photography
Bessie Becker, Grandma Bear’s
Maria Nease, Nease Insurance
Ali Milligan, Al’s Hair & Body Repair
Robert High, Wilkinson Mortuary
Janel Parrish, Pioneer Telephone
Read the rest of this entry »
Whea Esta 2009
Newly crowned 2009 Whea Esta Queen Miss Jessica Parrish
The 68th Annual Whea Esta was held August 21st & 22nd at the Okeene High School gym, cafeteria and auditorium.
The pageant is always a great time of excitement for the entrants, the proud families and those who are there to cheer them on. All of the girls did a wonderful job. Jessica Parrish was crowned Queen as Jena Holiday won 1st Runner Up, Karlee Brownlee was the 2nd Runner Up, Jessica Parrish won the Spirit Award and Karlee Brownlee won the Miss Congeniality.
I loved the addition of the video this year. It was so nice to see the Whea Esta Queen’s year as it was also a scrapbook of the Chamber events! Jill Boeckman was a lovely Queen last year, thank you Jill for all of your help!
The entries started arriving just after 7am Friday morning; we had some folks anxiously waiting to entering their fair items! Donna Laubach gave us a hand with entering and what a great help she was! We had a nice variety of items throughout the categories but the exhibit that won the Chamber Directors heart was the display Marjorie Winters put together of the Westfahl family’s legacy, WOW, if you missed Whea Esta this year, you missed something very special, something I hope, we get to see again. Saturday was filled with the Exhibits with Ribbons hung, the BBQ Cookoff, Drawings with Door Prizes from Chamber Members, a Petting Zoo by Cody Seelke and great demonstrations.
The Wheat Walk/Run had over 70 participants who enjoyed some great Okeene weather Saturday morning.
The exhibit placings were as follows:
