Speaker 1: His family, he loved his friends, he loved his customers.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you love the bank every day,
Speaker 1: but he loved the associates at the bank every day
Speaker 1: and just sitting in long committee and Jim just makes
Speaker 1: me laugh. Loved as sooners, which there are not many
Speaker 1: of those around here in the morning.
Speaker 2: Well thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Jim and I always had their backs. But anyways, it
Speaker 1: was it's just it's just fitting. I remember the story
Speaker 1: and it was told to me that the Roddy Forum
Speaker 1: was at the Downtown branch, and Donnie's story had told
Speaker 1: Jim either it gets people going to it or gets.
Speaker 3: Gone do it or kill it.
Speaker 1: That's exactly so here we are. Jim did it, left
Speaker 1: it in great hands for Earl. But this is a
Speaker 1: very special group of very special things. I can tell
Speaker 1: you other Margins within our best have attempted to do
Speaker 1: this and they have all failed. That's how that's how
Speaker 1: special Jim. So he means a lot to me. I
Speaker 1: know he needs a lot of the people are covered
Speaker 1: and speak and all of you that are here because
Speaker 1: of the love that you have for Jim.
Speaker 4: So right now I want to dedicate the flack to
Speaker 4: uh Denise, Brian and Ferry. Come on, come on up,
Speaker 4: and then I'll let you sit down and have you
Speaker 4: say some words at the dirty game if you real mind.
Speaker 5: Oh that's beautiful.
Speaker 1: What this says that the Jim Bonzac group will be
Speaker 1: when you leave. Jim Bonzac was a trusted voice in
Speaker 1: Barsville and at the Harvest Frodday's Financial Forum, where he
Speaker 1: fostered financial insight, community involvement, and friendship. His steady presence,
Speaker 1: deep faith and love for his family continues to inspire
Speaker 1: countless others. August first, twenty twenty five. So what you guys.
Speaker 5: See, I can tell him what.
Speaker 6: To do every that you hear from you guys who
Speaker 6: you know?
Speaker 7: Uh now, when I put this all together, ranted by
Speaker 7: the nies that she said I like to blow of
Speaker 7: this and so on.
Speaker 2: But I could have asked you, cause I just scanned
Speaker 2: this room. I could ask several.
Speaker 7: But I spose you take three people that rot him
Speaker 7: true well captured jump in Jim's life, those a little
Speaker 7: bit about it, childhood friend and uh hollered it. Not
Speaker 7: a colleague rooms someone that flop the world where we'll
Speaker 7: I'll make those colleagues.
Speaker 2: I introduce him. But again, so well, don't be offended.
Speaker 2: I wish he would ask me because we all have
Speaker 2: a story.
Speaker 7: In fact, I wanted I had to add to this
Speaker 7: that you made the comment that Lad, I kind of
Speaker 7: tell you I could. It's not several stories. I could
Speaker 7: tell you a hundreds of stories that the idea him together.
Speaker 2: But one thing I wanna talk about.
Speaker 7: Is not not a story, just how we would get
Speaker 7: to laughing, the two of us to a just literally
Speaker 7: both of us tear up.
Speaker 2: We'd laughed a hard in regards to just laughing. He
Speaker 2: j he just he was contagious.
Speaker 7: You can tell him the story and getting to laughed
Speaker 7: and he did that was just oh thatsh grade. So
Speaker 7: at this time, my first speaker, I want us to
Speaker 7: talk about the memory Jim Bonzack. He's a mere dear
Speaker 7: friend of mine his and and offered many of you
Speaker 7: in this room, who's our state representant?
Speaker 2: Uh John b came, represent came and you just come out.
Speaker 3: Thank you early. It really is a honor.
Speaker 1: Like like Earl said, many of us here, all of
Speaker 1: us were close to Jim Bonzac.
Speaker 3: That's just who he was.
Speaker 8: I happened to meet Jim Bonzack in seventh grade science class.
Speaker 3: Well, we both ended up at uh Is.
Speaker 8: He liked to call it the Central Junior Highe and Slasher,
Speaker 8: and I'm sure I mean he he had I laughed
Speaker 8: and we cried. He would tell Central Junior hide jokes
Speaker 8: and they were all based in truth, because it was
Speaker 8: until Earl came and rescued m from where it was.
Speaker 9: It was.
Speaker 10: It was a rough place to go to school and
Speaker 10: this and Jim was Jim, you know, when he was
Speaker 10: twelve years old, just as he was later in life
Speaker 10: that he he was so quick with and you know,
Speaker 10: I was filling.
Speaker 3: I was getting fights every day because I didn't know
Speaker 3: what to do.
Speaker 11: Jim just disarmed everybody with humor, everybody with.
Speaker 3: His w and he never had to get in a fight.
Speaker 3: So I thought he was a lot. He was a
Speaker 3: lot of sport than I was about that. But he
Speaker 3: he's he just never changed.
Speaker 1: And his love for Bartlesville was just beyond and he
Speaker 1: and his love was acting.
Speaker 3: He turned it into action. You know a lot of us,
Speaker 3: a lot of us love Bartlesville.
Speaker 1: A lot of us don't do as many things, you know,
Speaker 1: tangible things for the good of the tak you know,
Speaker 1: I remember when he wanted it to put makes he
Speaker 1: wanted to get internet, free internet and all and downtown
Speaker 1: the internet was first coming up, and I got he
Speaker 1: went to work on it, made it happen. He he
Speaker 1: just always had those kind of ideas.
Speaker 3: That he followed through. You know, I and you know Denise.
Speaker 3: I remember when you all left township briefly?
Speaker 5: Was that in the nineties, when'd you leave late nineties.
Speaker 3: Late nineties? Yeah, and there was a hole.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was a hole when the Bonsacks didn't leave her.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I felt it, and I think many others felt it.
Speaker 1: But I know one person that felt it, and that
Speaker 1: was Donny Story. And Donny's story wasn't gonna let that stand.
Speaker 1: And he reached out and took all of our benefit.
Speaker 1: He got the Bonsack family back to Barbinsville and all
Speaker 1: the things that we all know and love about Jim.
Speaker 5: We got the experience every day.
Speaker 1: And you know, when I I was telling Brian and
Speaker 1: Barry and Denise, when they're in town, it feels.
Speaker 2: Like a holiday thing.
Speaker 1: And I know because of Jim, they have the same
Speaker 1: feelings of Martinsville that Jim had.
Speaker 2: Because of Jim and Denis, but to have.
Speaker 1: Them here, Ikay always have a home, always at place
Speaker 1: here in Barbinsville, O Bahoma.
Speaker 2: And I'm just grateful for my friendship. Has all this
Speaker 2: are with Jim Bobzack. Thank you, John, Thank you very.
Speaker 9: Alright.
Speaker 2: John Bay's probably gonna be bad at me, but I
Speaker 2: don't care. I love him.
Speaker 7: He Jim Bonzac is the only one still adult doesn't
Speaker 7: call him Johnny, and his mother, his mother, Missus King
Speaker 7: calls him Johnny.
Speaker 2: And his wife calls him Johnny or wasn't well.
Speaker 7: But Jim Bossacks the only adult still that I knew
Speaker 7: that was still call him Johnny.
Speaker 2: I just love to make that did see Johnny yet?
Speaker 7: Enough set on that alright, my next speaker to represent
Speaker 7: this great individuals and uh just a killer bark he
Speaker 7: Uh Bill Buckles, would you please give up? Please give
Speaker 7: Bill Buckles pots.
Speaker 3: I'm looking around and see if I see it's some
Speaker 3: OU shirts. There was no bigger fan of OU than
Speaker 3: Jim Monzac cast for sure. You know we used to
Speaker 3: go over there. He'd show me as a election of
Speaker 3: oh you memorabilia phenomenally. Jim and I got to be
Speaker 3: friends way back in the Chamber deal when he was
Speaker 3: President of the Chamber. We did back. We did some
Speaker 3: programs right in this room where he had a you know,
Speaker 3: a lunch lunch a deal for the merchants in town,
Speaker 3: and we would talk to them about marketing, et cetera.
Speaker 3: But Jim and I got along so dog on well,
Speaker 3: mainly because of his sense of humor, and we were
Speaker 3: both a little on the off the bubble kind of
Speaker 3: because I understood him and he understood me. And that
Speaker 3: was a great thing.
Speaker 9: For sure.
Speaker 3: We had Oh, we had one more time. But I
Speaker 3: just want to tell you there's people in here in
Speaker 3: this room that have this. This is a project that
Speaker 3: Jim and I worked on, and it all started because
Speaker 3: I would send him stuff. He would call me, Hey,
Speaker 3: I want to try something out on you. He knew
Speaker 3: I was kind of in a creative business most of
Speaker 3: my professional life, and it was fun. We would we
Speaker 3: exchange ideas. Never did I change hardly anything that he
Speaker 3: did because it was great. He did some super stuff.
Speaker 3: I told Earl, I was gonna read this book to you.
Speaker 3: Is that okay? I wanted to show you the cover.
Speaker 3: See the kind of things he liked was. I'm sitting
Speaker 3: by my window, but I can't see through the pain,
Speaker 3: you know, He loved those kinds of things. You know,
Speaker 3: there's all kinds of Jim Bonzac. There was one this morning.
Speaker 3: I was telling Denise about the prisoner escaped here in
Speaker 3: Oklahoma and they said, look for a man with a
Speaker 3: lot of tattoos. Jim would have loved that because he said, okay,
Speaker 3: look for a man with a beard. You know, I mean,
Speaker 3: everybody's got a lot of tattoos anymore, so that pretty hard.
Speaker 3: He would have gotten a kick out of that. Jim
Speaker 3: and I worked on this project. He is an amazing
Speaker 3: fact that I wanted to tell everybody was he said,
Speaker 3: my biggest fear it he did these things these titties
Speaker 3: did He's on his phone. I thought he was doing
Speaker 3: him on a computer. Nope, he did him on the phone,
Speaker 3: one letter at a time. Couldn't believe that. And he said,
Speaker 3: my biggest fear is he liked to see you. This
Speaker 3: is when he was in the pool. He said, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna forget going to pool on my phone. I'm going
Speaker 3: to lose these And I said, well, listen, tell me
Speaker 3: what you send them to me, text them, I will
Speaker 3: convert them. And I'm thinking eight ten. Well, when we
Speaker 3: got to sixty, I said, then we got to do
Speaker 3: something with this. Talk to my friend Jerry Poppenhaus. You remember,
Speaker 3: it was a real supporter of this group too, and Jerry.
Speaker 3: It was a blessing for Jerry too. He his wife
Speaker 3: had Alzheimer's and he was stuck at home. He needed
Speaker 3: a project. It was good for Jim, It was good
Speaker 3: for Jerry, and it was good for me. I just
Speaker 3: finish off by saying, the people. I've been in Bartlesville
Speaker 3: for fifty years. It doesn't seem possible, man. Anyway, I
Speaker 3: met a lot of gray people, you know. I think
Speaker 3: back to Joe Allen Lowe, all of our community leaders,
Speaker 3: John F. Kane. There's some terrific people in this community,
Speaker 3: but there was no figure supporter of Bartlesville into men
Speaker 3: that time. It was a pleasure of knowing. It was
Speaker 3: great to work with him. I just I can't take
Speaker 3: you off of my cell phone. The one thing I
Speaker 3: want to leave you with is a piece of advice
Speaker 3: that he gave me we were talking. This was fairly
Speaker 3: late in his life. He said he got ready to
Speaker 3: hang out and he says, hey, I love you man,
Speaker 3: And it caught me by surprise, and I hesitated. Does
Speaker 3: that embarrass you. I said, no way. I'm just trying
Speaker 3: to think of a way that i could respond to
Speaker 3: that as worthy of that. I said, you are a
Speaker 3: great man and a true for him, and he said,
Speaker 3: be sure and tell people if you like him, tell
Speaker 3: him you may not get another chance. Thank or I'm all.
Speaker 2: Finis, thank you, thanks sir.
Speaker 7: I always give a little comment in between these just
Speaker 7: talking about Barbersville.
Speaker 2: No, but he just loved our community would step.
Speaker 7: Up for you.
Speaker 2: Just there's just not a project that he really just
Speaker 2: didn't have his foot front him either.
Speaker 7: Just you know, he helped a little bit or he
Speaker 7: had a major impact on I can tell you that
Speaker 7: Ed Gordon called uh Gemini to his office.
Speaker 2: And ask us to both be the chairman's of a
Speaker 2: of one of the last huge UH bomb proposles that
Speaker 2: we had in our community.
Speaker 7: And Jim's part was to extend he was gonna extend
Speaker 7: the course and sales tax and my part was to
Speaker 7: go out and to sell. He was the taxpayer would
Speaker 7: go to the polls and volte for to increase and
Speaker 7: bonding and and these proposals to buy the purchase these
Speaker 7: bonds and taxes, and from that we got the the
Speaker 7: what we all now call.
Speaker 2: The Dinks Expressway, which is right there at Lows.
Speaker 7: I mean he named that that was in that bad
Speaker 7: proposal and extending Shawnee all the way out to twentieth Street.
Speaker 2: A lot of work was done on twentieth.
Speaker 7: Anyway, there was other projects in regardless of completely refurbished
Speaker 7: and uh and redid the city complex.
Speaker 2: So's I'll stop there.
Speaker 7: We both I mean, we just we I mean we
Speaker 7: went to frog jumping contest to get that presentation.
Speaker 5: It was it was almost like a roof of a
Speaker 5: comedy routine.
Speaker 2: And we give that just making that point, not about us,
Speaker 2: but to make the point. He just was always there
Speaker 2: for Barfield. He just just in any endeavor than want.
Speaker 7: So my next speaker that I'd asked to capture, uh,
Speaker 7: Jim bondsay you also need to know him.
Speaker 2: He was very very active in the political world.
Speaker 7: He was very very u on top of people that
Speaker 7: wanted to represent us and who that person should be
Speaker 7: if if.
Speaker 2: You got behind that person, actively campaigned for that person.
Speaker 2: And so at this time and again.
Speaker 7: Not only were they already good friends, Senator fod you
Speaker 7: start had nothing this way.
Speaker 2: Senator Ford will tell you all this.
Speaker 7: But I'll I well, I'll wait till he's finished the
Speaker 7: tenspression asking a word please give s former Senator uh stay,
Speaker 7: Senator John.
Speaker 1: Earl, thank you.
Speaker 11: And it was interesting when Earl asked me to come
Speaker 11: up and be one of the three that made a
Speaker 11: few comments about Jim. I mean, we we all know
Speaker 11: what he has done and so many things he's done,
Speaker 11: and I was thinking, how do I say something that's
Speaker 11: not just going to be a repetition of what everybody
Speaker 11: else has talked about, because we know what he was
Speaker 11: to all of those.
Speaker 3: So I started to try and to think.
Speaker 11: How best to summarize how I think of Jim bonseat
Speaker 11: And it really came down to three main things, and
Speaker 11: I put them under the headings of family, of friends,
Speaker 11: and of community. And those were the areas that meant
Speaker 11: so much to him and that he was so involved
Speaker 11: in for all of us. Oh there's one other thing,
Speaker 11: bad jokes that we won't talk about those.
Speaker 2: But when you talk about.
Speaker 11: Family and Denise, you were not only his wife, but
Speaker 11: I think in life you were more of a partner
Speaker 11: because every activity that Jim did, you were involved, and
Speaker 11: you were involved because you loved it. You loved him
Speaker 11: and you guys were great as a team, and Brian
Speaker 11: and Barry, I know what he thought of you, and
Speaker 11: not only robotic said oh you football and everything else,
Speaker 11: but the family was absolutely number one in his life.
Speaker 11: And then the second group is friends. And I would
Speaker 11: ask if you in here think you're Jim's friends. Everybody
Speaker 11: would raise their hand and I tell you, if you
Speaker 11: think about it, there's a difference between acquaintance and friend
Speaker 11: and Jim had friends.
Speaker 2: Jim knew individuals, He kept in touch with them, He
Speaker 2: constantly reached.
Speaker 1: Out and he was good for them and they were
Speaker 1: good for him. It was a type of friendship that
Speaker 1: I know, I wish I had more like Jim.
Speaker 3: I never will that.
Speaker 11: That was something that was important to him. He worked
Speaker 11: at and it was very meaningful. And then the third community.
Speaker 11: You know, we've talked about Earl John b. Everybody's talked
Speaker 11: about some of the activities that Jim has been involved in.
Speaker 11: From the president of the Chamber, he was a founding
Speaker 11: member and president of Our Day Great Rotary. But everything
Speaker 11: that came about Jim was parted and he did it
Speaker 11: because he had a passion. It's not because he did
Speaker 11: it to be better at work or to get recognized
Speaker 11: for something else. He did it because he truly believed
Speaker 11: in what he was doing and he wanted to help.
Speaker 11: So wherever there was a need, Jim was there and
Speaker 11: he made a difference. Now, think about yourself in this room.
Speaker 11: I know over the last couple of decades, I have
Speaker 11: literally spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in this room,
Speaker 11: not only at the Friday Forum, but there are seminars,
Speaker 11: there are educational opportunities. I voted in this room, and
Speaker 11: it has been a community room that we use for
Speaker 11: all activities like that, and some of these I've written down.
Speaker 3: I like to talk from the heart, but also I
Speaker 3: wanted to make sure that.
Speaker 1: I said some specific things.
Speaker 11: So of the hours that I've spent in this room,
Speaker 11: and I think all of us, we have watched people
Speaker 11: gather to learn, to plan, to serve, and to celebrate.
Speaker 3: And that's just how Jim spent.
Speaker 11: His life, in what he was doing in his life,
Speaker 11: and only fitting that it carries his name as a
Speaker 11: lasting reminder of how one person's love for their family,
Speaker 11: their friends, and their community can shape the.
Speaker 1: Lives of so many of us in this room. May
Speaker 1: this room inspire others to lead with the same heart,
Speaker 1: the same dedication and good humor that Jim did.
Speaker 3: Thank you, John, you.
Speaker 2: Did a great job put the capstone on that and
Speaker 2: those comments there. But no worry.
Speaker 7: You brought up the jokes and got things were good,
Speaker 7: were bad. There were just no infeen and I can
Speaker 7: still remember this crowd right here. You tell about room
Speaker 7: the dog over uh anyway, thank you the three that
Speaker 7: I asked to speak. He did a great job in
Speaker 7: capturing this individual in regards to what do you who?
Speaker 7: He was family and what he go to Barsville. So
Speaker 7: at this time, Denise and your two sons, would you
Speaker 7: please come up. We're gonna allow you to make some
Speaker 7: remarks before we wrapped this all up. But again there's
Speaker 7: four just put a great capstone on it.
Speaker 9: Was this room.
Speaker 2: We called it the east Side Room, meeting Room Upper Truman.
Speaker 2: It's just we've we've.
Speaker 3: Named it everything.
Speaker 7: I am absolutely honored me Now the Jim Bonsack Coffee
Speaker 7: of SPH Community group on the east Side that uh.
Speaker 2: Our Fasts had named after him.
Speaker 7: So I've burder pleased and decided that we have that
Speaker 7: and we'll talk more about that as all.
Speaker 2: The biden to look At as we go out, so
Speaker 2: please give the Bonsat family.
Speaker 12: I'm nice.
Speaker 9: Well, I'm gonna see Jim Breidenstein, who was the former
Speaker 9: head of NASA, was gonna be here too.
Speaker 5: He called me last night. He said, Denis, I'm in Washington, DC.
Speaker 5: I'm so sorry. There's storms here.
Speaker 9: They've canceled this flight that put me on one Friday
Speaker 9: that it lands right about the time the boar him
Speaker 9: is so he he couldn't make it, but he sends
Speaker 9: his regards.
Speaker 5: Jim love the Bank and love Bartlesville. He also loves space.
Speaker 9: And both of you may know both my boys are
Speaker 9: working on the program to to send the astronauts back
Speaker 9: to the Moon.
Speaker 5: And they could tell you more about that.
Speaker 9: And one of the happiest days for Jim because, as
Speaker 9: U John put it, Jim felt it was really important
Speaker 9: that we have people representing Oklahoma in all the right places,
Speaker 9: and he would push whatever he could do to get
Speaker 9: the right places, whether it be Earl, whether it be
Speaker 9: John Ford, whether it be Johnny Kane. And also the
Speaker 9: day that Jim Britenstein was picked to be the NASA administrator,
Speaker 9: Oklahoma had never had one, probably was.
Speaker 5: Never gonna have one, and he goes we got one.
Speaker 13: Oklahoma finally got one and so Oklahoma, I won't go
Speaker 13: into that, but has a big role in space and
Speaker 13: Jim thought that was important too, and he would be
Speaker 13: proud of his boys that they are.
Speaker 5: Working on that now.
Speaker 9: But you know, back to the to the to the
Speaker 9: other things, Johnny b which is what Jim always called you.
Speaker 9: Thank you for representing the wildcats. I know you had
Speaker 9: many wildcat y'all had great friends like David Oakley sitting
Speaker 9: here and it was always a Wildcats. He would never
Speaker 9: call it the Barnosil girls and so and John was
Speaker 9: so nice to invite me to their latest reunion. And
Speaker 9: everyone here makes me feel so loved as well as.
Speaker 5: That class did.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 9: David Nichol, thank you so much for naming this room,
Speaker 9: working on that to make that happen. Bill Buckles, thank
Speaker 9: you for putting that book to go. What a great
Speaker 9: thing legacy for us to have. It's so nice that
Speaker 9: it's in the bartlesill my grave. If it wasn't for you,
Speaker 9: Jerry poppin house.
Speaker 2: That would not you know, have happened.
Speaker 9: And h so they thank you to all of you, earl.
Speaker 9: You know when they gave Jim a year to live.
Speaker 9: Jim said, well, we gotta wait till I said, we
Speaker 9: gotta go to Florida.
Speaker 5: Came over. We gotta go to Florida being near the boys,
Speaker 5: and Jim was like, well, we gotta wait.
Speaker 9: Until Earl can take it over because he's still representing
Speaker 9: Oklahoma down there. And I said, know or not, I'm
Speaker 9: gonna go talk to Earl, talk to the bank. He said,
Speaker 9: Earl's the only one who could keep this meeting going,
Speaker 9: so we've got to keep the meeting going.
Speaker 5: And I said, I went and.
Speaker 9: Talked to Earl and Earl goes, you mean he's waiting
Speaker 9: on me to do this? And I go yeah, and
Speaker 9: he said okay.
Speaker 5: And anyhow they worked it out so Earl could go
Speaker 5: ahead and take over the meeting.
Speaker 9: Jim loved everyone here, and you know, such such great friends, honors,
Speaker 9: you know. Anyway, I also quickly want to say, this
Speaker 9: is my mom, who just turned ninety two.
Speaker 5: She still mows her.
Speaker 9: Yard, so y'all not got any too.
Speaker 5: Jim loved my mom.
Speaker 1: He was her mom.
Speaker 9: This is my sister Susan, she came she's here from California.
Speaker 9: His sister Jane, who is also my sister, and Chris,
Speaker 9: her husband, and and Grace. We always Grace Farmer and
Speaker 9: we consider her part of the family. She helped all
Speaker 9: of us and so many.
Speaker 5: Times as Lee and you know, oh you buddies here.
Speaker 3: Like John.
Speaker 9: There one other thing. I will tell a quick story,
Speaker 9: because this is how much the bank meant to Jim.
Speaker 9: And it was more his customers in the bank. I
Speaker 9: used to call him a financial missionary. He knew there
Speaker 9: were people out there that were there to take advantage
Speaker 9: of people in their finances, and he did not want
Speaker 9: that to happen to his people. He wanted to make
Speaker 9: sure people would take advantage of hand them and he
Speaker 9: did not want that. And he insisted we lived humbly
Speaker 9: because in what we did, you have to be a
Speaker 9: good steward of your resources and you don't want anyone
Speaker 9: to think you're spending their money. They're paying you to
Speaker 9: do the job at the bank. But I am to
Speaker 9: tell you, Maria, you and your mom Jim hackled you
Speaker 9: so much.
Speaker 3: I'm so sorry.
Speaker 9: It would be on the spot, he would, and he
Speaker 9: would just hassle your moms like with jokesman.
Speaker 5: She could give it too much, and he loved that.
Speaker 9: But I want to tell a quick story because this
Speaker 9: I think this is this sums it up how much
Speaker 9: show the bank meant to Jim.
Speaker 5: And we did go to Florida for a while.
Speaker 9: The boys were you know, the boys ended up working
Speaker 9: in the Space program of Jim Love Space and he
Speaker 9: managed the bank in Orlando. And one day he got
Speaker 9: a call from Donnie's story.
Speaker 5: He said, Jim Bartles will need you.
Speaker 9: It's time for you to come home. And he said, well,
Speaker 9: we'll talk about it. So they brought the whole family,
Speaker 9: including cheerrem me here. They all came to the beach,
Speaker 9: they talked about it. He brought us back home and
Speaker 9: I'm thankful for that. And John b those words you
Speaker 9: made me cry. Man, that's so so special that Yeah,
Speaker 9: it's it's like a holiday when we're here too. This
Speaker 9: is I tell people in Florida, Well, because most people
Speaker 9: have vacation homes in Florida, I say, my vacation home is.
Speaker 3: In Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
Speaker 5: That's where my vacation homeents.
Speaker 2: Of course, I still have a home here.
Speaker 5: My mom's here.
Speaker 9: I've planned to stay here as long as I can,
Speaker 9: coming back and forth. Because you've got friends for life
Speaker 9: and God's.
Speaker 5: Given those to you.
Speaker 9: You don't take that for granted if you've been blessed
Speaker 9: with that. But the last story I want to tell
Speaker 9: about Jim is that they gave them a year.
Speaker 5: We went to Florida.
Speaker 9: God's blessing gave him three years and he was still
Speaker 9: in touch with did a lot of y'all, you know,
Speaker 9: call it every day, making sure y'all okay.
Speaker 5: One of the people that was a.
Speaker 9: Friday for a member, even when it was downtown was
Speaker 9: c Q. Cherry, who was an executive at the bank.
Speaker 9: Some of you may remember him, and c Q was
Speaker 9: a regular. They were friends, he and his wife. As
Speaker 9: they got older. After they retired, they needed to move
Speaker 9: to Dallas. They moved it to an assisted living center
Speaker 9: to be near the kids, and c Q said, Jim,
Speaker 9: I'll keep my money and everything at the bank as
Speaker 9: long ends you call me four times a year and
Speaker 9: you come and see us. And so we did, and
Speaker 9: we go to Dallas and we go to the U
Speaker 9: Texas game afterwards, and Jim would take wherever they wanted
Speaker 9: to eat.
Speaker 5: One time, we're going down there, and.
Speaker 9: Jim said, I hope that he doesn't want to go
Speaker 9: to downtown Dallas. The traffic is so bad, and we'll
Speaker 9: take Hi where he wants to go. So we pulled up,
Speaker 9: CEQ got in the car and Seq goes Jim drive
Speaker 9: to downtown Dallas. We're going to the Petroleum Club.
Speaker 5: We're driving. Got to the Petroleum Club. It was it
Speaker 5: was a very nice place.
Speaker 9: And then when he was about to pass, he said,
Speaker 9: you have to keep coming seeing James, and Jim said
Speaker 9: I will. So we continued that on and then uh
Speaker 9: when Jim left the bank because of his health, he
Speaker 9: told Jane, Jane, I'm handing you over to some very
Speaker 9: reliable people who are going to help you.
Speaker 5: And she was turning in one hundred.
Speaker 9: He said, I'm not going to be able to do
Speaker 9: it anymore because of my health. But about a month
Speaker 9: before Jim died and he's not doing well. But we
Speaker 9: get a call from Jane Cherry Jim, I don't understand
Speaker 9: something in my bank account.
Speaker 5: I need you to fix it. And I think you
Speaker 5: know the stuns have gotten involved.
Speaker 9: And anyhow, Jim said, Jane, I mentioned to you earlier
Speaker 9: my health is bad. I'm no longer at the bank.
Speaker 5: And Jane said, what does that have to do with anything.
Speaker 2: You're my banker.
Speaker 5: You're my banker.
Speaker 14: Fix it.
Speaker 5: And Jim said, indeed, I am.
Speaker 15: I am your banker, Jane.
Speaker 5: And I'm gonna get it fixed. So he got on
Speaker 5: the phone called the bank people.
Speaker 9: Why he's on the phone, she calls me because we
Speaker 9: are in Peo together, Denise.
Speaker 5: Has Jim got hold of someone yet?
Speaker 9: I say, Jane, he's on the phone doing it right now,
Speaker 9: but they're not going to be able to call you
Speaker 9: because you're on the phone with me.
Speaker 5: And she said, okay, I'm getting off anyway.
Speaker 3: I thank God for that moment, because.
Speaker 9: Jane gave jimmy get right before he passed, and that
Speaker 9: was he was still their banker.
Speaker 15: That was his identity. He loved his family, he loved
Speaker 15: his community, he loved his God. That he was Martlesville's banker.
Speaker 15: And Jane reminded him of that right before he passed.
Speaker 15: And that's how much he loved the people that he
Speaker 15: served in that capacity. I know all of you were
Speaker 15: his friends, and he tried to serve you that way,
Speaker 15: and I appreciate that.
Speaker 9: I appreciate the friendship you gave him and our family,
Speaker 9: and I appreciate Earl and the David.
Speaker 5: Nickel for a name of this run after him.
Speaker 12: It means the world and everything, your quiet and when
Speaker 12: they were anything views on an here.
Speaker 2: I love him being here.
Speaker 3: It always was like home coming back.
Speaker 14: And my dad always made the joke that you know,
Speaker 14: he considered a red light in Florida for about as
Speaker 14: long as it takes you to get from home to
Speaker 14: work or anywhere else.
Speaker 12: That every time I come.
Speaker 3: Back, thank you all for that's come here.
Speaker 5: I enjoyed the special day. Yeah, same thing.
Speaker 14: So we spent many hours in this room, one at
Speaker 14: a time, and it's just a huge honor. So it's
Speaker 14: always fun to come back and see families and friends,
Speaker 14: the Potters of Daniels, Oakley's and just everyone else.
Speaker 5: Thanks for being here.
Speaker 14: As mentioned, we both work in the space industry, so
Speaker 14: thank Tony plants it for being here at the Tulsa
Speaker 14: Air and Space Museum.
Speaker 5: A quick story about her.
Speaker 14: She sent a care package to my house and it
Speaker 14: had memorabilia of Tom Stafford. And if you all know
Speaker 14: remember Tom Stafford just passed away recently. He's Apollo astronaut
Speaker 14: Paulo Soyuz And she sent memorabilia that had Time magazines
Speaker 14: and linthographs and newspaper articles, and she asked me to
Speaker 14: go to his house because he lived just fifteen minutes
Speaker 14: south of the Kendy Space Center, and she set up
Speaker 14: an appointment for me that go have him hands signed.
Speaker 2: Every one of those is.
Speaker 14: Like two hours worse. So I knocked up and came
Speaker 14: out and Tom Stafford while he just signed and signs,
Speaker 14: he was telling me stories and this one is just
Speaker 14: the coolest memories I've ever had. And then that happened
Speaker 14: to be just before my dad passed away, and I
Speaker 14: actually delivered it back to her at my dad's celebration
Speaker 14: of life here.
Speaker 5: So if you have any of that stuff for me,
Speaker 5: there's a ton of Tom.
Speaker 14: Stafford signed memberabillion in the Tulsa Aaron Space Museum. Go
Speaker 14: check it out right by the Tulsa Airport. And yeah,
Speaker 14: we were just honored to be here. There's actually a
Speaker 14: launch today at the Candy Space Center right about eleven
Speaker 14: something o'clock, and we work on the Artist program that's
Speaker 14: that's going to the National Space Station.
Speaker 5: We work on the Artimist program.
Speaker 2: We're launching between February and April coming up.
Speaker 14: So when you watch astronauts going back around the Moon,
Speaker 14: just remember that we worked on Inrego set the picture, Bryan,
Speaker 14: where are you in this? This is the picture of
Speaker 14: every employee NASA Lockey Martin that worked on That is
Speaker 14: the Artemis two spacecraft. The astronts have just suited up
Speaker 14: and got in it for the first time. Yesterday's new
Speaker 14: a human in the loop testing making sure that the
Speaker 14: krew cabin looks like their simulators look like. I'm over here,
Speaker 14: you're over here. It's very pixelated in those image that
Speaker 14: I said to him, But yeah, so lots of to
Speaker 14: Bartlesville in this picture.
Speaker 5: So yes, it's important. They're living their debts legacy.
Speaker 9: He actually dreaded his dad drug a huge two TV
Speaker 9: to Central Middle School so that the students there could
Speaker 9: see witness the moon landing.
Speaker 5: So it goes back to his dad his love of space.
Speaker 9: George Halkaitis, you're so great to help him get the
Speaker 9: robotics program started here.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you for that, and again, thank you
Speaker 5: so much.
Speaker 12: Arl.
Speaker 9: We appreciate this, and thank you everyone for from from
Speaker 9: being Jim's friend and supporting.
Speaker 12: Him really quick.
Speaker 14: One of the hardiest missions we're playing on building to
Speaker 14: the restaurant on the moon, thinking about restaurants on the Moon.
Speaker 14: They have great food, but no atmosphere.
Speaker 5: There will also be a hotel. We're gonna name it
Speaker 5: the Orion's Belt.
Speaker 14: The Orion's Belt.
Speaker 2: Will be the hotel on the Moon.
Speaker 14: It'll be a three star