One Pharmacist's View

It was 1955 when I first saw this Marine Sargent. He served on my ship’s security detail, the USS Lexington, a carrier that fought in WWII. But it was on a Greyhound bus out of San Diego, California that I noticed he was going my way— east to Oklahoma.

Wayne is out of pocket this week so we are running one of his columns from the past.

For many of us the end of this pandemic is at hand. And I say, “Praise the Lord.” Being cooped up and suffering through one of the coldest winters in history has also been hard on us. I am a guy who loves getting out and seeing my fellow man.

Are we, at last, in the final days of this great Pandemic? Some sources still run on about fresh outbreaks in scattered places, but the overall picture is good. Cases are declining. Each week hundreds of thousands are receiving their shots. Over.

While news about wild partying keeps coming in from Miami Beach, Florida and other favorite spring-break places it was fairly calm here at 601 E. Lee Street in Allen last Sunday.

Driving around Allen on my golf cart I see some green grass. Testing the waters so speak. Also, Fruitless Pears are about to bloom and light everything up with their colors. And some of our winter birds will be packing up and going back north with stories of a very cold time in Oklahoma.

Back in the 1940s I went to a place we called Victor. Like so many places in rural Oklahoma, Victor has completely faded away. Oh, there are still a few people strung up and down Highway 270 just East of the Big Caston bridge but the only place left that I know is my Uncle Herman’s place.

Walker Ray (Corky) my wife Pat and I made a drive down to Eastern Oklahoma some years ago. Our destination was Maxie Cemetery, about a mile off US-270 a few miles this side of Wister, Oklahoma.

May we always remember the long 17 days we just endured. It may not have been as entertaining as the winter of ’48 but so far it sure has my attention. It has been a time of something just getting worse. And yes it could have been worse. For many others it was. For me it started out on the 5.

Sitting in my cozy den, safe from the howling winds of this cold spell, Pat and I enjoyed watching the Grand Ole Opry’s celebration of its 95 celebration. It was good TV and to two octogenarians it made for many great memories.