This Land

“His presence was big,” Blakely said. “I mean, he was a pretty big guy himself, over six foot and with his big beard. But you knew when Joe was around. Outgoing as anybody ever could be, and ready to make you laugh.”

Blakely’s role at the shop was installing Merz’s…

In a world where it’s all about whom you know, Norma Stone had it all. Her resume would astonish even the savviest networker, with titles like Executive Secretary, Secretary to the Treasurer, Office Manager of the Staff, Secretary to the Senior Partner, and Executive Assistant decorating it. Norma Stone knew…

Rachel Robinson remembers a lot of her father’s quirks—the way he’d shout “Judas Priest” when something upset him, the way he remembered the birthday and anniversary of everyone he knew, and the way he didn’t care for his own first name. Mostly, though, she remembers the movies.

Bluford Johnson was head…

John Sands got married in Ireland, got a job in Canada, then changed careers in Seattle before making it to Tulsa to work as an aeronautical engineer for American Airlines. But he started out in England, where a war caused his first relocation.

“My dad was born in London,” daughter…

“He was our most excellent historian,” North Tulsa Historical Society President Charlotte Bates said at Littlejohn’s funeral. “He was very instrumental in correcting the history of those of African descent.”

Littlejohn was active in just about every historical club in Tulsa and was often recognized as the go-to guru of…

If you’ve visited the Tulsa Air and Space Museum in the past 10 years, there’s a good chance you’ve met Tom Parkinson. He probably welcomed you, handed you a map, and answered your questions about the Jenks-manufactured, XTC ultralight aircraft on display. Unless he was busy shredding documents.

“Jim loved…

“Oh, I met Joe probably a dozen years ago,” said Lee Anne Zeigler, executive director and CEO of Tulsa Foundation for Architecture. “But I knew who he was long before that. As a preservationist, he was very well known. Few architects were as open-minded and forward-thinking as he was.”

Possibly…

“George was Italian,” his partner, Bill Ferguson, said, “and Italians in Brooklyn didn’t leave home until they got married. So when he wanted to move out of his parents’ house and in with me, a man, that was just too much for his family. It wasn’t going to work. We felt…

Most know Rich Hewitt as “The Mushroom Man”—the guy who started a Tulsa-based mushroom business in his garage, growing hard-to-find varieties and selling them at the farmer’s market and to local restaurants. Overwhelmed by the demand for their organic, edible fungi, he and his wife chucked their day jobs to…

“He’s got quite a story,” Doug Bracken said of the man who used to own his business. “Ernest had a lot of tragedy in his life. But he knew how he wanted to do things, and he always did them just how he wanted.”

Ernest Wiemann grew up in Bramsche,…