ESTABLISHED

2021

Exhibits

• The Museum

• Alice Bottom Kauger Teapot Collection

• The Mayor’s office with the Joe Whitt Gallery and Headress

• Tribute to William Charles “Wild Bill” Sellers

• Gallery and Workshop

• Artist Studios and Artist in Residence Bedroom

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The Colony Museum

was founded in 2020 in part because of a grant from the Oklahoma Historical Society. The Museum has been years in the making and for Colony’s Mayor Lonnie Yearwood it is a dream come true. It contains a combination of Tribal and Town Exhibits. The museum was curated by Dr. Bob Blackburn with the assistance of Cameron Eagle. A second grant has been awarded for signage to provide a walking tour of historic Colony. The walking tour will be completed in 2021.

The exhibits were made possible because of the generosity of current and former Colony residents and friends including;

• Lonnie Yearwood

• Ken Smith and Tanya Bachelder

• Ron Lowry

• Tom Weichel

• Yvonne Kauger

• Jonna Kauger Kirschner

• Jeri Redcorn

• Phillip Cross

• Gladys Nowlin

• Jack and Freeda McLemore

• W.C. Sellers Jr.

• Patrick Riley

• Jim VanDeman

• Justice Noma Gurich

• Micki Taylor

THE GRAND OPENING - Sept. 4, 2021

Selden Jones, Oklahoma Supreme Court Staff Attorney, and a board member of The Sovereignty Symposium, photographed the opening of the Colony Museum on September 4, 2021. It was a grand opening. The normally vacant streets of Colony were crowded, and bustled with many honored guests. Unfortunately, one of the expected guests of honor, Donald Henry Seger, grandson of John Homer Seger died August 25, 2021. He was Assistant Trainer for the New York Yankees from 1962-1969 before being appointed Head Trainer for the Philadelphia Phillies. He was part of two world championships, and he was named National League All Star trainer in 1976. Lena Dell Cronk Shunkwiler, the only surviving grand child of John Homer Seger cut the ribbon. She was assisted by her nephew, Mayor Lonnie Yearwood and Governor of the Cheyenne Arapaho, Reggie Wassana, Lt. Gov. Gib Miles and President of the Delaware Nation, Deborah Dotson. Dr. James Collard represented premier sponsor, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. The new president of SWOSU, the presenting sponsor of the opening, Dr. Diana Lovell, and Garret King were joined by five SWOSU distinguished alumni: Thomas Weichel, flight controller of Apollo 13 and his wife Elaine, Former Representative Harold Wright, sponsor, Former Representative Deborah Blackburn, Dr. Bob Blackburn, former executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society and curator of the Museum, Justice Yvonne Kauger, and Dr. Jay Cannon. Former SWOSU President Joe Anna Hebler, Charles and Sara Chapman, retired SWOSU faculty members, and their cousin Eleanor Safely, were also present to support the opening.

Other guests included, Representative Todd Russ and Senator Brent Howard, Lt. General Lee Levy II, former commander of Tinker Air Force Base, and Rhonda, Dr. David and Rachel Holden, premier sponsor, Editor and Publisher of the Country Connection, Joyce Carney, Gladys Nowlin, whose beadwork appears in the museum, and her brother Rupert Nowlin, Young and Keith Chappell, premier sponsors of the museum, Cameron Eagle, artist in residence and co-ordinator for the Museum.

The Board of Directors of Colony Community in Action present were: Jay Scambler, President, Kyle Shifflett Vice President and his husband Walter Shaw, Secretary Tori Gee, and her husband James and their children, Bridget Roush Scambler board member, and her parents Dr. Dwayne Roush and Stacie Roush and their son, Jake, and Winston Scambler, board member accompanied by Hailey Fox. (Winston and Hailey assisted Pam Hamon with serving lunch from the Barbeque Shed. Butch Barnett tried to help install the canopy. Four Justices of the Supreme Court were in attendance, Yvonne Kauger, Doug Combs, Noma Gurich, who with her cousin, Micki Taylor donated the Sac and Fox headdress in the museum, and her husband John Miley, and Dustin Rowe. Former Supreme Court intern Mike McBride III, Lou Kohlman, staff attorney, and Elizabeth Bridges also attended from the Court. Julie Rorie, co-ordinator of The Sovereignty Symposium, the sponsor of the art exhibition, was pleased with the participation of local artists.

The artists included Patrick Riley, the first artist in residence in Colony, Jim VanDeman, who exhibited his paintings and demonstrated his bow and arrows, Glen Henry, who with Patrick Riley and Ron Lowry constructed “Patrick’s Eagle”, the first sculpture in the John Kauger Memorial Park, Les Berryhill, Jay Scambler, Karin Stafford, Sharon Montgomery, Bruce Scambler, d.g. smalling, Terry Zinn, Cameron Eagle, Eric Tippeconnic participated in the art show at the Gallery in the Fred Kauger Building. Other visitors included Richard, Dot and Ricky Smith. Richard built the Gazebo in the park. Mary Frates, former director of the Oklahoma Arts Institute also dropped by. Nathan Gunter, Editor of Oklahoma Today, cited it as a sight to put on your bucket list.

The Martin Pittman family held a fabulous bake sale. Zelma Payne Lasley sold the world’s best peanut brittle. Decked out in her cowboy hat, Jonna Dee Kauger Kirschner, whose red roof started a renaissance, and who was the principal fundraiser for the museum opening, looked quite pleased with the results. She was being cheered on by her husband Bruce Scambler. And rightly so! Thank you Jonna!!!

If this sounds like a section in the old “Colony Courier” about visiting friends on Saturday or Sunday. it’s supposed to. The opening was so crowded that we couldn’t see everyone. But we were so honored and so happy that so many of you came to share the historic day.

The Alice Bottom Kauger Teapot Collection

Alice’s teapot collection began when Uncle Dan Vinson, an Oklahoma City philanthropist, brought boys sponsored by the Police Athletic League of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to Colony for a summer camp. They stayed in one of the Seger School buildings. The boys were befriended by John and Alice. A party was held at the end of the camp, and the boys gave Alice a teapot because of her kindness to them. (One of the boys, Joe McCormack, came back almost every year to visit. After John died, he moved to Colony to stay with Alice.) After the gift of the first teapot, friends and family gave her teapots on special days. She delighted in them, lovingly labeled them, and treasured every one.

Alice was a Lake Valley girl. She was the daughter of Elwood Whitenack Bottom and Annie Bell Gordon Bottom. She was one of nine children. Her parents later moved to Roger Mills County and when they retired they moved to Colony. Elwood Bottom could cure a ham to rival Smithville’s and Annie could cook them. Her mother, Annie, came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon behind a team of oxen in 1892. When Annie was 97, she still remembered the names of the oxen.

Bruce Scambler must be thanked for coming up with the idea of displaying the teapots in the vault.

The Mayor’s office with the Joseph Whitt Gallery

“Joe” Whitt was the Presbyterian Minister in Colony for many years.  When he was called to another pastoral assignment, he left Oklahoma.  After his retirement, he returned to Colony, built a log cabin, and became the Grandma Moses of Washita County.

The dining table in the Mayor’s office belonged to the pioneer Earl Brown family who had one of the first TV’s in Colony. Earl, and his son C.D., ran the garage. Helen, C.D.’s wife, was the high school English, Science, and Home Economics teacher. She later was the head of the Home Economics Department as SWOSU. Her recipe for oatmeal crispy cookies built the Oklahoma Judicial Center. The table was given to the Kauger family in 1950, after their house burned and they lost everything.

Tribute to William Charles “Wild Bill” Sellers

William Charles “Wild Bill” Sellers was born August 28, 1930, to William Coin Sellers and Maude Muskrat Sellers.  Coin Sellers was featured in Ripley’s Believe It or Not with the statement “Coin Sellers is a banker in Drumright, Oklahoma.” Bill was the nephew of Ruth Muskrat Bronson, nationally renowned Cherokee poet, educator, and Indian rights activist. 

He was a bayonet scarred veteran of the Korean War and a proud member of the Cherokee Nation.  He was a multi-talented lawyer who painted, played five musical instruments, and flew airplanes, including his yellow Stearman, upside down.  You could tell the mood he was in by the way he wore his cowboy hat.  He believed in doing anything he tackled in a workmanlike way and in a workmanlike manner, whether it was washing his cars on Saturday and lining them up in order of importance or preparing for trial.  He loved cars and owned David Lloyd George’s Rolls Royce.  When he drove the Rolls, he became a one car parade.

He was generous to a fault.  He reached out anonymously to those less fortunate.  As Chief Justice Barnes noted “he would give you the shirt off his back.”  He was a highly successful Creek County lawyer, who won the largest civil judgment in state history in 1980.  He took cases on a contingent fee basis.  Amid calls for tort reform, because of the size of his and other trial lawyer’s judgments, he was unapologetic for his work on behalf of his clients.  In a letter to the editor of the Tulsa World in 1994, he wrote “I am the key to the courthouse door for poor and injured children.” 

He was proud of the “Wild Bill,” moniker and acknowledged “they don’t call me Wild Bill because I’m tame.” He was the godfather to Yvonne Kauger’s daughter, Jonna.  When the 1993 restoration of the Kauger owned buildings began, he played a major role.  The project would not have happened without him.  He opened a branch office of his law office in Colony.  He brought his pickup and his Airstream trailer and spent most of the summer He is responsible for the Colony business district being able to obtain rural water.  He drilled under Seger Street to provide access.  Much of the furniture in Graham Cottage is from the Maney Mansion which was one of his former Sapulpa law offices.

He was instrumental in the reconstruction of the Gallery of the Plains Indian and the Graham Cottage.  Bill was a hands on carpenter for the restoration.  He built the back door of the Gallery of the Plains Indian.  Instead of finishing it with a letter Z for Zorro, the name Kauger’s grandchildren call her, he did the reverse, or an S for Sellers.  He wanted everyone to know that he made it.  Billy had been an art major at Central State College.  The carpentry work at Colony ignited his artistic soul.  He became a master wood turner.  His bowls are exhibited in the Museum and at the Oklahoma Judicial Center. 

Billy was one of a kind who lived life to the fullest.  They broke the mold when he died on July 5, 1999.  He is buried at South Side Cemetery, Drumright, Oklahoma.  His gravestone is a historical marker from the Bixby Historical Society.

Sac and Fox Headress, circa 1955

Dr. George Fredrick Bolinger, Jr. DDS was born on July 30, 1921, in Cushing, Oklahoma.  He was a 1939 graduate of Cushing High School.  He attended Oklahoma State University, where he met and married Rosemary Brooks on November 28, 1942.  They moved to Kansas City where he completed dental school.  They moved back to Cushing, and he opened his dental office above the Walters Furniture Store.  Dr. Bolinger and Rosemary began their family and had three children, Karen, George F. Bolinger III “Rick” and Micki.   He joined the Army National Guard and was called up to active duty in 1952.  Captain Bolinger served in Germany in the medical corps.   (He remained in the reserves and retired as a Lt. Colonel).  He returned to his dental office in Cushing, OK where he practiced dentistry for nearly 45 years.  He was an active member of the Lions Club.  It may have been through his community service with the Lions that he learned of the needs of the Sac and Fox tribal members. In any event, he began providing free dental services for members of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. His daughters recall that he traveled from Cushing to other locations, likely Stroud, to provide the free dental work.  He followed his patients for years and continued to provide dental work for tribal members for no charge, not even lab fees.   In approximately 1955, in recognition of his kindness and generosity, Dr. Bolinger was presented with a headdress at a tribal powwow and given the title of Honorary Chief. His daughter Karen Thomas attended the powwow and recalled that those participating in the powwow formed a circle.  All participating where dressed in Native regalia.  Dr. Bolinger was escorted to the center of the circle where the headdress was placed on his head by the Chief.    Dr. Bolinger wore it on at least one occasion to share with his Lions Club.  He kept the headdress in a trunk where it remained after his death on October 17, 1997.  After Rosemary Bolinger, his wife of 55 years passed away in 2012, his daughter Micki Taylor continued to keep the headdress undisturbed in the trunk.  Micki, Karen, and Rick  donated the headdress to honor their father’s memory and to preserve the headdress for future generations.  Justice Gurich is responsible for securing the headdress for the Colony Museum. The headress is displayed in the Mayor’s office.

Artist Studio and Artists in Residence

Currently Colony has two artists in residence with studio’s in the Fred Kauger Building. Patrick Riley and Jim VanDeman. “Patrick’s Eagle” graces the John Kauger Memorial Park and the Town Mural, which he and the town’s children painted is on the east side of the building. Jim VanDeman’s flutes are displayed in the Colony Museum. Other artists in residence include Eric Tippiconnic, Ron Lowry, and Glen Henry.