This lonesome tree stands on the old family homestead near Antioch Oklahoma. It was planted in the early 1960's by my aunt Ila Ola (Wells) Smith. My sister Vickie Darlene Wells and I were raised by my aunt Ila (aunt Sister we called her) and our uncle Ivan Chester Smith. (Uncle Ivy) You can see the old wellhouse in the background. There are still some old mason jar's of green beans and other thing's Aunt Sister canned back in the 60's in there. Oh the memories!

My personal history at Antioch goes all the way back to 1954 when I was only three years old. The story of how my sister Vickie and I came to Antioch to live is still somewhat shrouded in mystery. Just a family situation. One of those thing's that no one wanted to talk about and everyone had a different story about. But I can tell you this much, the growing up year's were fantistic there. I left Antioch after graduating high school in 1970 but, in 1982 I went back there to live with my wife Kay and my daughter's Lisa and Sherry. Lisa and Sherry will quickly tell anyone that our year's there provided some of their most cherished memories.

As I recall Aunt Sister planted four trees in the yard around the house. This is the only one left. The house (gone now) sat between the tree and the wellhouse.

THE OLD HOME PLACE

The old homestead originally consisted of 160 acres of good farming and fair grazing land. Panther Creek ran right through the middle of it. When I was younger we raised cotton and broomcorn and had about 35 or 40 head of cattle on the place. If you've never picked cotton, cut broomcorn, chased cattle all day or mended fences in the rain then you haven't lived.

This one stand's in the northwest corner of the old home place. When we moved back to Antioch we lived in a small house by this tree. We called it the Little House. It was about 200 yard's west of the main house. It too is now gone. The short piece's of wood you see nailed around the tree were support for a treehouse I built for Lisa and Sherry.