Old Timers' Breakfast to celebrate 41 years this Saturday in Healdton

The Old Timers' Breakfast, first held in 1978 , is an event held in conjunction with the Oilfield Days Celebration each year. Three hundred registered for that first breakfast. This will be the 41st year for the breakfast, and it will be held at the Healdton Middle School cafeteria.

The breakfasts were started by W.D. Chaffin, owner and editor of The Healdton Herald at the time. That year, Earl and Cleo LeVally asked Mr. Chaffin if they could give out silver dollars to those 85 years old and over, and he liked the idea. That tradition has continued since that time. Who would have thought that now, I would be the oldest person attending the breakfast! Over the years, I have kept records of the amount of silver dollars I have given out, and the most that were given out totaled $54 one year. Last year, there were only five people in attendance that were 85 years of age or older, so I lowered the age to 80, and we may keep that tradition again this year. It will depend on the attendance, which was just under 100 last year. Ken Chaffin, his son, has been in attendance for the past several years and will again be the M.C. for the breakfast this year.

The breakfasts have always been well-attended, with the largest number being 585 in attendance in 1981. Twenty-five this number were over 85 years of age. In 1995, there were 24 over the age of The 85 in attendance.

Things have changed greatly over the years. The breakfast was held at Anthis park for many years, but then attendance began to dwindle, and the location was moved to the middle school cafeteria.

The workers for the breakfast begin their duties around 5:30 a.m., and have everything well underway in time to start serving at 7:00 a.m. The