Take a look at the latest book added to our online and in store library.  
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The History of Schools in Delaware County, Oklahoma was published by the Delaware County Genealogical Society in 2007.  This book was first published in 1986 by Bessie Duggan and reprinted with added information in 2007.  The book is Paperback, 262 pages, & with index and photos.

This is a valuable research source for Delaware County and those interested in the history of schools in this area.
The book is $20 and is available online or in our store in Colcord, Oklahoma which is inside the the Talbot Library and Museum.

Grace L Puffinbarger, who was a longtime employee of Talbot Library and Museum, passed away on January 5, 2023 at the age of 92.  Grace was so much more than an employee.  She was a friend to all at Talbot and pleasantly greeted everyone who visited the Talbot Library and Museum.   She was 'Miss Talbot Library & Museum" at several of the Colcord Old Settlers Day Parades and rode in her own "Miss TL&M" golf cart.
Grace was such a joy to talk to and had an energy and spirit about her that was so much younger than her years.   We, at Talbot, are so grateful to have known her and will miss her.​

Obituary:

Grace L Puffinbarger:
January 28, 1930 — January 5, 2022, Colcord, Oklahoma

Grace L. Puffinbarger, age 92, of Colcord, OK passed away on Thursday, January 5th, 2023, at her home. Grace was born on January 28th, 1930, in Monmouth, IL, the daughter of the late Murray Lee and Nellie Doris (Kell) Bell of Aledo, IL.

She married Harley Vern Puffinbarger in Colorado Springs, CO, who preceded her in death on January 25th, 1975.

She was of the Presbyterian faith. As many know, she was a very hard working woman; she worked as a cook, security guard, waited tables, and cleaned houses and businesses. Her passion was meeting and talking to people, so of all her employment, being a school grandma and working at Talbot museum were her favorites. She held a very special place in her heart for her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Many in the community knew her as Grandma Grace. Grace was also a hard fighter having been a cancer survivor as well.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Lee and Nellie Bell; husband Harley Vern; and sister Martha Wagner.

She is survived by her one daughter, Gwen Whitmire and husband Steve of Colcord, OK; her son Harley Puffinbarger and wife Luann of Adair, OK; an extra daughter, Ethel Littlefield: a sister, Marilyn Swanson of Geneseo, IL; brother Lee Earl Bell and wife Linda of Aledo, IL; grandkids Stephanie Turner and fiancé Brad Harris, Jerad Whitmire, Dustin Puffinbarger and wife Ashley, Daren Puffinbarger, Shawndell Schreiber and husband Mike, and Nick Frost; 14 great grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A Visitation will be held on Monday, January 9, 2023, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Backstrom-Pyeatte Funeral Home in Siloam Springs, AR.

A Graveside Service will be held Tuesday, January 10, 2023, 2:00 pm, at Johnson Cemetery in West Siloam Springs.
The arrangements were entrusted to Backstrom-Pyeatte Funeral Home of Siloam Springs, AR.

(Grace's Obituary can also be found at the Backstrom-Pyeatte Funeral Home website.)

Mark Your Calendars, Veterans!  And please plan to join us on Friday,  November 11, 2022. Thank you for your service to our country!

Talbot Library and Museum enjoyed hosting the Goingsnake District Heritage Association's meeting and potluck dinner on Saturday. July 16.   The meeting was held in the Springtown Schoolhouse at the Talbot Museum. 

We had a potluck dinner and were treated to Will Chavez and his amazing team of young Cherokee ladies who sang beautifully (see video courtesy of Billy Jack Shotpouch).   They also described their experiences in the Remember the Removal bike ride this summer.   This bike ride traced the trail of the Northern Route of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. 

The name of the Goingsnake District Heritage Association honors the former Going Snake District, one of the original eight districts of the western Cherokee Nation.  The 1839 Cherokee Constitution and legislation of 1840 divided the nation into eight districts for governance and elections.  The districts included the following:  Going Snake, Skin Bayou (later renamed Sequoyah District), Illinois, Flint, Saline, Tahlequah, Delaware, and Canadian.  A ninth district, Cooweescoowee, was added later in 1856. 

Thanks to all who came out to the meeting.  It was a great time.  

Glenn Stinchcomb will be remembered by family, friends and business associates as a man who loved and believed in serving his country, his state, his family and his fellow humans.
​He also loved ice cream and he believed in serving it, often.
Glimpses of Glenn’s early life are a foreshadowing of the kind of person he would become. As a barefoot, overall-clad boy in Northeastern Oklahoma, he delighted in flying down steep hills on his bicycle. In his teens he joined the United States Navy and learned to fly in airplanes, but again at low altitude, carrying out low-level photographic reconnaissance missions of the Russian coast during the early days of the Cold War. He served as a pilot in the Navy for four years and was in the Naval Reserve for 23 more years.
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Two incidents from his early teenage years foretold the development of character traits that served him well during his career as a businessperson. A farmer neighbor had a tractor that wouldn’t run and he told Glenn if he could make it run, he could have it. Glenn analyzed the problem, determined how to fix it and made it run. When a barn on the family farm had to be demolished, Glenn calculated the amount of lumber that could be salvaged, the size of a replacement barn that could be built from it and the new barn rose, exactly as planned.
His children, who later worked with him on construction projects at their property on the Illinois River, can attest to the fact that Glenn’s approach to problem-solving was exacting, meticulous and meant to be followed precisely.
As an accountant with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., Vice President and board member of the Oklahoma Publishing Company and Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Vice President of Gaylord Entertainment Company, Glenn’s problem-solving skills and can-do attitude enabled him to make significant contributions to the companies’ success. He was extremely intelligent but modest about his abilities.
During his tenure with Gaylord Entertainment Company, Glenn handled negotiations that significantly increased the company’s holdings, including the acquisition of the Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the Broadmoor Resort and Hotels;and part ownership in the Texas Rangers baseball team.
Glenn’s personal ethical beliefs guided his business activities and gained him the respect of his associates. He felt that a good business deal was one that both sides walked away from satisfied. Fairness to both sides was his goal, not getting the better of someone. Those he did business with respected his intelligence, forthrightness and honesty.
He retired in 1996 after 38 years at the Oklahoma Publishing Company, but remained active as an investor, advisor and board member of various companies.
Education was the foundation Glenn built on to succeed in business and, in typical fashion, he came by it in his own unique way. As a senior in high school he traveled to his future alma mater, Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University, OSU) for a 4-H cattle judging competition. While there the team was told by the college president, Henry G. Bennett, to come see him when they started college and he would show them around. One of Glenn’s outstanding traits was his belief in the basic goodness of people and he took the college president at his word. At age 17, unannounced and unenrolled, he showed up for the beginning of the school year at the president’s office, as he’d been instructed to do.
He walked out as an enrolled student with a place to stay and a job starting the next day.
That meeting led to the attainment of a Bachelor’s Degree in management and a Master’s Degree in accounting. President Bennett’s honoring of his promise also led to Glenn make donations to the school that helped fund Stinchcomb Hall, one of the campus residence halls, dedicated in 2005. Two of Glenn’s children and four grandchildren also attended OSU.
While attending college Glenn was a member of the Beta Alpha Psi honors business fraternity for accounting, finance and information systems students.
In 1988 he was presented with the OSU Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni Award and a year later he was inducted into the Spears School of Business Hall of Fame. He was later recognized in the “Spears School Tributes: 100 For 100”.
Education was Glenn’s foundation for success in business, but family was his foundation for success in life. Speaking of the Spears School Tribute, he said, “I can’t just give myself credit for this recognition. I think my parents get credit for raising me and teaching me to do the right things,” he said. “My father and my mother taught us that you were always to do the right things. We grew up under their guidance, understanding that we were expected to do the best we could in everything we did.”
Implicit in those words is personal responsibility for one’s actions. Glenn passed on that philosophy to his four children, Zoe Ann, Robert, Paul and Sam. The children were given responsibility for planning each year’s camping trip during summer vacation, and somehow the family -- Glenn, wife Ruby and four children -- all survived weeks in a crowded car towing a pop-up camper trailer.
Glenn was one of seven children, and he maintained close ties to his extended family throughout his life. He and his brother Ray cooperated in the purchase of a cabin on the banks of the Illinois River northeast of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where all the siblings and their children and grandchildren still gather around the Fourth of July for picnicking, tubing, fireworks shooting and ice-cream eating. Attending the gathering and passing “the cabin test” is a rite of passage for potential marriage partners.
Glenn was preceded in death by wife Ruby, parents Ruth and Osie Stinchcomb, brother Ray, sisters Joyce and Zona, brother-in-law Jack McCoy and stepdaughter Cassie Jackowski.
He is survived by wife Hilda, brothers Bob (Joan) and Bud (Linda), sister Mary Ruth McCoy, sister-in-law Ulele, sons Robert (Vickie), Paul (Christi), Sam (Doris), daughter Zoe Ann (Larry Hodge), stepdaughter Susie Bailey, stepson Jim Jackowski, grandchildren Kalmia Strong, Zoe Stinchcomb Kersey (Jason), Mitchell, Cole, Garrett (Jessica), Trent (Natalie), William (Abby), Allie Stinchcomb Quintana (Scott), Vincent Jackowski and great-grandson Lucas Jackowski.

Glenn will be missed by all of us at Talbot Library and Museum.  We are grateful for all Glenn has done for our library/museum and the preserving of history. 

On March 29, 2022, Talbot Library and Museum was very pleased to welcome a tour of our facilities to students of Colcord Public Schools and their parents.   The student group is the "Hornets of Character" After-School Program.    They toured our Museum, Library, outbuildings, and our property grounds. 

This group also had a scavenger hunt.  The scavenger hunt list included items found on our property at the Talbot Library and Museum.    This hunt was organized by Chase Payne who is the "Hornets of Character" Program Director.   The students and parents really enjoyed the "hunt" and becoming acquainted with our facility. 

We want to give a big thank you to Karen Hilliker, Family Engagement Coordinator with Colcord Public Schools, for sharing the wonderful photos of this event.

What a great time!