This clipping is from the March 6, 1969 edition of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo newspaper and tells how Richard Kelley of Eureka Springs, Arkansas was promoted to Assistant Cashier at the Republic National Bank of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Tag Archives: Eureka Springs Times-Echo
Ira Arthur Billings Obituary
This obituary for Ira Arthur Billings of Eureka Springs, Arkansas is from the October 24, 1968 edition of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo newspaper. Ira “Bill” Billings was married to my Great Aunt Ola Southerland and is the father of my cousin Bill Billings.
Chub Lent and his father Jim
From the September 13, 1984 edition of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo newspaper.
Eureka Springs Independent Newspaper Column for August 13, 2014 by Steve Weems
I’ve been reading the old Times-Echo columns of Virginia Tyler again. They are certainly an interesting glimpse into the Eureka Springs of yesteryear. It seems that everyone in town of a certain longevity knew and remembers Virginia Tyler. People remember her wit and kindness, but they especially recall her love and knowledge of all things Eureka Springs. I’ve also heard some unexpected gossip hinted at about her. I asked a guy I know, “Are the stories about Virginia Tyler true?”
“All of them,” he answered.
That didn’t clarify matters much, but I decided it really wasn’t my business anyway. A deceased lady known for her kindness, writing, and love of Eureka Springs and the Ozarks; I can’t help but feel that I should be on her team.
The tone of her writing was usually both eager and earnest, sometimes even breathless, like she couldn’t wait to get it written down. I made up the following as an example of the type of story she’d tell. She was walking to the New Orleans Hotel to meet the Ukulele Club in the lobby when she met a tourist in an old Ford with bald tires from a little town in Minnesota. She told the tourist about the old lady that rode a Jersey cow because she had a little dog named Nipper that had been brought to town by old Mr. Miller. When old Mr. Miller died he bequeathed Nipper to the old lady because she always laughed when little Nipper chased his tail whenever someone recited Latin. And, of course, the funny part of the story was that old Mr. Miller had retired from the same small town as the tourist in the Ford with bald tires. And Virginia Tyler regretted that she’d only had a few minutes to talk to the tourist because it was her turn to put out the snacks. Some of her stories are amazing.
I hope that the silly rumors that circulate won’t discourage people from seeking out Miss Tyler’s columns. I also hope that when the columns are read and enjoyed that the readers can’t help but feel the same fondness that I have for Virginia Tyler.
New Basin Theater in Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Advertisement in the October 4, 1962 Eureka Springs Times-Echo newspaper.
Eureka Springs Independent Newspaper Column for April 16, 2014
For several years there was a Glenn Swedlun painting of Keels Creek for sale by an art dealer in West Virginia. I’d seen it on the Internet and it would pop up on eBay periodically. Several branches of my family have long had connections to the Keels Creek area, and my father particularly remembered idyllic childhood summers and weekends at the Wolfinbarger farm. It isn’t often I have the energy to covet something, but I coveted that painting.
After a short career as a professional baseball player, Glenn Swedlun turned to art for his livelihood. He had been taught painting by his father, landscape artist Fred Swedlun. They eventually had shop space on Spring Street in which to show their work.
I’ve been told the story that Glenn and Fred would ride buses out of Chicago looking for landscapes to paint. After a stop in Eureka Springs they decided that they’d found a lifetime’s worth of source material in the Ozarks.
In the 1960s, Wayne Mote wrote in the Oklahoman Magazine that Glenn Swedlun was completing a mind-boggling 125 canvases a year. It was hard work.
I’ve also been told that a favorite process of Glenn’s was to go out and tromp around in the hills until he found something that he wanted to paint. Then he would spend several hours looking the scene over, watching the light change, memorizing. He would return to his studio and paint the scene.
In 1974, the Eureka Springs Times-Echo quoted Glenn Swedlun as saying, “If a man lives to be 500 years old, he would learn something new about art every day. When you stop being a student who continually probes into the unknown, you stop growing as an artist. The older you get, the more you realize you’re still just scratching the surface.”
When my wife was a little girl, Glenn Swedlun bought his gas at O’Connor’s Texaco and he would always give her a quarter. Later, when she won an elementary school art contest, he heard about it and gave her copies of his notes on various aspects of painting and drawing. By all accounts, Glenn Swedlun was a good guy.
Eureka Springs Independent Newspaper Column for April 9, 2014
If the past were a state of matter, it would be solid. We may debate history based on evidence and wishful thinking, but it has already occurred and has a reliability that the liquid present doesn’t have.
Take for instance the happenings of 1968 as reported in the Eureka Springs Times-Echo edition of April the 25th. Digby Walker resigned from the Planning Commission and Mayor Freeman appointed Arvle Bandy to fill the position. That sounds pretty solid to me. I can go on to speculate about why Digby Walker resigned. (He was getting up in years), which leads to thoughts of buying blue jeans at Walker Brothers. (I wish it had never closed).
Continuing to read the newspaper spread before me, new signs were to be placed at the city dump warning that illegal dumping would incur fines of $5.00 to $10.00. Where was the city dump then? Perhaps where the city maintenance and recycling center are located now?
Ordinance No. 722 once again reared its ugly head as neighbors turned in neighbors for the keeping of livestock in the city limits. Letters were mailed out and the chief of police was made aware of the situation.
Howard and Francis Iles purchased the Eureka Court from the Kidd family and would be moving here from Marysville, Kansas. The Iles had been visiting Eureka Springs since 1957. The Kidd family owned the Rosalie House on Spring Street. (Didn’t the Iles have a giant St. Bernard dog?)
The movie theater at 95 Spring Street would soon reopen under the management of John Maberry, brother of the late Cecil Maberry. It had been completely renovated and the name changed to the Gaslight Theatre. Mr. Maberry announced there would be a free show with free popcorn and free Pepsi on May 2nd.
A front page story listed Randy Littrell, Tommy Helms and Ellen Bingaman [Summers], among others, as having made good grades at school.
And so I end a short tour of history and a few of the thoughts it triggers. Don’t ask me to rely on my memory of the events of April 25, 1968. I was five days old.
Eureka Springs Times-Echo June 6, 1963 Page 5
Jerry Dale Stoppel, stretched to his full-length beside the 24 lb. catfish caught by his dad, Bud Stoppel, and Jerry’s cousin, Bill Stoppel, are shown here.
Have You Made Your Pledge?
This advertisement is from page 7 of the January 2, 1964 edition of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo. The hospital referred to is the one located in Eureka Springs.
Eureka Springs Times-Echo 11/12/1959 Front Page Tommy Walker
Eureka Springs Times-Echo 11/12/1959 Front Page Ben Walker Hits Deer
Eureka Springs Independent Newspaper Column for November 6, 2013
When the opportunity arises, I read old issues of the Eureka Springs Times-Echo newspaper to try and get a flavor of the past. Currently on my desk are the Nov. 12 and Nov. 19, 1959 editions.
The big news then was a devastating fire at Clark’s Market on Main Street. Manager Roland Clark quickly reopened in a temporary location on White Street. I am told that this is the same building that has now housed Lux Weaving Studio for many years.
Another big event was the staging of Carroll County’s first annual modern deer hunt. Locally, bucks killed were checked in at O’Connor’s Texaco Service Station or at Busch. In total that first deer season, 56 bucks were killed in the county. The largest was a 17-point, 290-pounder by J.T. Littrell. For comparison, now nearly a thousand deer are killed annually in Carroll County.
Deer were so scarce in those days that when Ben Walker hit and killed a 140-pound doe with his car near Beaver one evening, it was a front-page story.
As the proposed Beaver Dam was to be constructed in a relatively remote spot on the White River, a new heavy duty road was needed from Busch to accommodate the future construction traffic. A company out of Pine Bluff submitted the low bid. Construction of an office building was ongoing at the dam site.
Tommy Walker was out on the ocean somewhere between New Zealand and Antarctica serving aboard the destroyer escort USS Peterson.
On the social scene, Miss Nancy Ann Mullins became the bride of William Ernest Goff of Tulsa at the Penn Memorial First Baptist Church on Spring Street. An all-star cast of Eurekans assisted in the ceremony. Among others, Ludean Cross was matron of honor, while the bridesmaids were Sue Cole [Jones] and Bobbie Jean Walker [Bayles]. Diane Weems [McClelland] served as flower girl. Ushers were Steve Bingaman and Gary Higgins.
Return of the Fly with Vincent Price and Some Like it Hot with Marilyn Monroe were just two of the many films shown that November at the New Basin Movie Theater on Spring Street.
One of the best real estate opportunities advertised that month was a 120-acre farm on the highway 2.5 miles from Eureka Springs. Included are a house, barn, cellar, well, 3 ponds, 5 springs and more, all for $6,500.
And Jello was on sale at Walker’s Super Market for five cents a box.