Arthur Ray Slinkard

Memorial Service will be 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 11, 2022, at Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Chickasha, Oklahoma.

On Monday, August 30, 1948, I came into the world by C-section in the Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital in El Dorado, Kansas.

In El Dorado, Ks. I attended Lincoln grade school K-6, and Junior High 7-9. Then the family relocated to Rosalia, Kansas. A terrific little town 13 miles east of El Dorado. It was at Rosalia that I gained a great love for the German language. In 1966 I finished High School in Rosalia graduating salutatorian out of a class of 11. After graduation, I began a career as a "professional student", as they were called at the time.

During my freshman year at Bethel College in North Newton, Ks, I took instructions in the Catholic Faith and was received into the Church on May 28, 1967, at St. Mary's Church in Newton, Kansas. Although I was never a super faithful Catholic, becoming a Catholic made a wonderful difference in my life. The church gave me great stability in an otherwise chaotic life.

My first, and always favorite place I ever worked was St. Frances Hospital in Wichita, Ks. It was very orderly. I worked at the hospital part-time while attending college at Wichita State University majoring in German. Before going to KCMO, I was able to go to summer school in Germany. Ten heavenly weeks. This was through Kansas University.

In 19711 moved to Kansas City, Mo. While I was there, they were advertising "fall in love with Kansas City", and I did. To this day I do not understand why I left a good, union job and friends and somehow wound up for the rest of my life here in the hinterland of the outback. Years ago, J.C. Penney sold t­ shirts that said "Chickasha is not the end of the world, but you can see it from here."

After coming to Chickasha, I found out that Mom's side of the family had begun here. My great-grandfather was a telegraph operator and my grandfather was married the first two times in Chickasha. My aunt was born in 1916 in a dug-out somewhere East of Chickasha. After her birth, as soon as my grandmother was able, they loaded a covered wagon and went to Missouri and by 1918 lived in Mont Ida in Eastern Kansas where my mother was born.

In 1976, ten years after graduating from high school, I graduated from USAO with a business degree. For the next 34 years, I worked at the First National Bank in Chickasha, OK.

All my immediate family has preceded me in death. Both of my brothers died at birth and I am an only child. I was never married. There are no children nieces or nephews. There are some cousins, but I don't know where most of them are.