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Today's Featured Biography

 
Betty Wilson Hood

Even though I was not able to stay in Shawnee after my Father passed away in 1963,
Shawnee is my home. I am proud NOT to be a guest on this website! My mother was a Pool, so most of you know Jesse Pool and Vernon Pool owned Pool Construction, and were my uncles. So all those five Pools named Martin, Barbara (Sissy to me), Jane who is now a Ramsey, Dot whose last name I can't spell but starts with an L, and then Mike who has passed away are my wonderful cousins. Uncle Vernon only had one daughter Nancy, who also has passed away. Then we have Uncle Joe Pool in Tecumseh with Robert, Louie Joe, Chrystal, Susan and I know I am forgetting someone, but I still have 26 living cousins from 10 original Pools. They span Fairview, OKC and McAlester. Then more in CA and TX. So give me a break!

We moved to Miami, OK in 1964 and I made some wonderful friends, but missed Shawnee so much. We bought the DQ there and lived there three years until I graduated from High School. Just a little trivia about Miami. One of my very best friends was Cassie Gaines and her brother who was a year younger, Steve Gaines. If you know the history of the Lynard Skynard band you know Cassie was lead female backup singer and Steve was lead bass guitar player and they both died in the plane crash. They were crazy and so much fun. I also was friends with Steve Owens who was one of the star players at OU. He has since passed away also.

We then moved to Norman, OK and I began dating my future husband, Ralph. He is now a retired Lt. Col with 10 years active and 20 years Nat'l Guard. Served in Vietnam and Desert Storm flying Chinook choppers. He flew 35+ years and also worked for Associates Corporation of North America located in Las Colinas, TX at the same time he served with the Guard. After retirement he flew for Air Evac Life and then Evergreen Aviation off of Navy ships in the Arabian Sea. Came home after six weeks and said he had enough of that Arabian sand! We have been married over 45 years now. We have a daughter and a son and five grandchildren now from 16 to 4. We are very blessed to have them all within 30 min from our home out in the country in Denton, TX.

Now, my jobs I had over the years were boring compared to Ralph's, so let me just say it went from Loan Officer to Circle R Ranch which is a corporate event facility, a wedding chapel etc. Had long horns too! After 40 years I finally went back to my art, but not to paint. Found my own nitch which was designing and creating one of a kind jewelry using sterling silver wire, hammered brass and cabachons. Throw in the funky and that's me. I hate ordinary. Stan Sewell and his wife walked inside my vendor tent one afternoon at the Lavender Ridge Farm, Gainsville, TX without knowing who I was. Asked where they were from and when he said Shawnee and told me his name I just about fell over. He was with my brother's (Gene) band along with Bob Crothers. Stan says he was the man behind the scene. For those of you that knew Gene in HS you should have seen him right before he became ill and died in 1982. Yes he still was 6'4" but he was over 200lbs and not the Human Bean he was tagged with in HS. He was living in Newport Beach in CA and owned his own business. Drove an Alfa Romeo and life was good. He always played his music and turned down several offers from very well known groups, but did sing with Up With People several years. He left because the music was consuming his life and he needed more. He is missed every day. My sister Karen, Gene's twin died two years ago of cancer. She was a wonderful artist. Please pull up her website karenholt.com to view her work. One of her paintings hangs here in Denton at North Texas and many others at other universities nation wide. When you see her paintings you will know why. The one of a young lady sitting on a stool eating yogurt is my daughter when she was 19. Notice the basketball says Wilson.

I can't believe I actually am still typing. Think it is the Shawnee thing pulling at me again. Let me tell you I may have been born in San Antonio, but I am an Okie and proud of it. Ralph says they are all red necks and I say thank you very much. He was born in England with his Mother still a British citizen, so he has dual citizenship. Father was military so he lived 9 years in Germany and all over U.S. The interesting thing is his dad retired in Lawton, OK, so Ralph graduated Lawton High and graduated OSU. So I say he is an Okie. Truth be told, he really does love OK, just hates Lawton.

Well, I am ending this book now, but let me just say that I am a true, all the way military wife. I can even change out the guts of the toilet, take the sink piping apart to unclog, use just about any power tool made, put air in my own tires, shoot a glock 9mm, know how to defrost a frozen well pump and done it many times, install a built in 30" stove (needed help lifting), and I will stop with that one as I think you get the picture. So to all you wonderful Veterans out there I thank you for your service because I know what sacrifices you made and your families made for you to do what you had to do. You gave up a lot and you are loved for you gave.

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