I was recently texting back and forth with my two best friends from my youth. We grew up in Hollis, way down in the southwest corner of the state. It’s a place, by the way, that I considered to be the center of the universe way back in the 1970s. Pioneer Telephone employees here in Kingfisher will know about Hollis, as it’s the county seat of Harmon County, which is within their service territory. My friend Jerry Jones, who graduated with me in 1978, now resides with his wife on Bainbridge Island, a beautiful community just off the coast of Seattle, Wash. He is an accountant who specializes in a specific field that few others do. Sharp guy. One of the smartest I’ve ever known. Jerry and his wife, Kathy, have one daughter who is the age of our youngest son. She attends college in California. Jerry’s dad, Wayne, was superintendent of schools in Hollis and his mom, Marge, was my junior high school English teacher. Jerry was something of a regional phenom at basketball and he graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, where he excelled as a scholarship basketball player. My other good friend, Todd Taylor, was a 1979 HHS grad, and he also went on to graduate from SWOSU with an accounting degree, and then earned his law degree from the University of Oklahoma. He practices law in Oklahoma City. Another very sharp guy. He and his wife, Laura, reside in northwest Oklahoma City and their three kids all graduated from Deer Creek High School before going on to college. Todd’s mom and dad, Mitchell and Gracie, operated the clothing store in Hollis, where they were civic fixtures for many years until their retirement. Both Jerry’s and Todd’s parents are now deceased. They were, without a doubt, four of the finest people I have ever known. After texting back and forth, it was brought up that at one time Harmon County had a population of some 16,000 back in the 1940s. When I lived there, the population was less than 5,000, but the county had three high schools and the population of Hollis alone was over 3,000. Now the population of the entire county is less than 3,000, I am told. Hollis now has the only high school. Little known fact: For the better part of one season in the late 40’s, four of the 11 two-way starters on the national powerhouse University of Oklahoma football team were graduates of Hollis. Fullback Leon “Muletrain” Heath went on to have a long and colorful pro career, and University of Texas legendary coach Darrell Royal was the most celebrated of them all. During that same window of time, Hollis grads Bill Cummins, my high school football coach, and Ted Owens, longtime Kansas basketball coach, played on the OU basketball team. I have often wondered “what went wrong” at Hollis. The town is still filled with some wonderful people; there’s just a whole bunch less of them now. When my mom and dad purchased the Hollis News and our family moved to Hollis from Wewoka in the summer of 1969, I was 9 years old. The town had five grocery stores, two clothing stores, a ladies specialty clothing store, an OTASCO, a Western Auto, and many other retail stores, as well as three automotive and two farm equipment dealerships. If you were to drive through the town today, you would be reminded of a third world country, with many empty store fronts with roofs and walls falling in from neglect. Situated only three miles from Texas to the south, and also to the west, I suppose it was just too far away from anything to become a true center of trade. It’s not that Hollis didn’t have industrious, hard-working and forward-thinking citizens. It did. There simply wasn’t a reason for the offspring of those fine folks to stay. I’m also pretty sure that raising a large family on a quarter section of land in southwest Oklahoma was never really a viable option in terms of a long-term business plan in post-WWII America. The GI Bill sent many would-be Harmon County farmers, business owners and income producers on their way to becoming engineers, doctors, lawyers, manufacturers and business professionals throughout the nation. Thirty years later, our parents raised us to go out to earn our college degrees and do the same. Jerry, Todd and I also made our lives somewhere else. Compare that story to the one of Kingfisher. I honestly can’t think of a better place Mary and I could have raised our three sons and call home. We’ve been here 36 years now. Kingfisher County is blessed with mineral wealth. That certainly helps us all, even those of us who don’t directly benefit. And our quality of life is also benefited from the fact that we are within fairly close proximity of Oklahoma City. But…not too close. We still have our identity. Nothing against the communities that are a little closer to Oklahoma City, but those cities and towns have essentially become school districts connected by housing additions. Kingfisher meanwhile, has kept its identity as a hub of commerce and trade. We still have our automotive dealerships. We still have our farm machinery dealerships. We still have our lumber yard and hardware stores. We still have our grocery stores. Our retail stores are not what they once were, but what community’s are? Internet sales have taken a toll throughout the world in that arena. What other small city in Oklahoma can boast of having a State Senator (Darcy Jech) and the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives (Mike Sanders) as residents? Kingfisher is a community with a lot of civic pride. If you care to look it up, you will discover that ours has the No. 3-ranked most attractive downtown in Oklahoma according to the website: “Only In Your State.” When our hometown theatre burned down in 2004, a group of citizens saw the need, stepped up, and 15 years later we have a three-screen downtown theater that matches up favorably to those in any community our size in the nation. It took only a year to get it up and running. It’s certainly not a money-maker, but it’s not a big money-loser either. Due to the advertising support of businesses and citizens of our trade area, we have consistently made upgrades, and continue to provide our residents and visitors with a clean and well-run movie house . That’s yet another reason why Kingfisher is such a great place to live. We have elected city officials who don’t get bogged down in fights and grudges, but put aside their differences and work for the overall betterment of our community. You certainly can’t say that about all towns and cities. We are blessed to have John Gooden, Brian Walter, Dr. Russ Hopkins and the volunteer directors and crew of Kingfisher Trails, Inc., for all they have done regarding beautification and lifestyle improvements for our community. It’s been amazing to watch it all happen. Kingfisher Trails is set to begin the construction of a visitors center, to be located under the shadow of the Jesse Chisholm statue on the northeast corner of Highways 81 and 33. Upon completion, our chamber of commerce will move into the facility to better serve residents and citizens alike in a much more visible and acceessible setting. We have forward thinkers and problem solvers here. We also have an active chamber of commerce. Current board members are Kaci Murray, Beverly Bain, Phyllis Stinnett, Jenny Nusz, Sandra Kloeppel, Charles Walker, Mike Brown, Brian Henderson, Brandon Trachman, Chris Cameron and B.J. Waeger. Shauna Rupp is just beginning her job as the new chamber manager. And we are very proud of our next generation – those who are now in their 30’s and 40’s: Mark Snodgrass, Justin Mecklenburg, Derek Daugherty, Greg Garrett, Brent Snider, Chase Farrar, Tim Abercrombie, Kurt Bollenbach, Jared Harrison, Heath Myers, Jeff Johnson, (of which there are two), Jaye Rose, Michael Swisher, who works with us here at the newspaper, are just a few who readily come to mind. There are many, many more. I am proud to know them. Given the time, we could make a very long list of the young men and women here who go above and beyond to make Kingfisher such a vibrant community. All these family and community-minded young men and women have made the commitment to come to Kingfisher to raise their kids, improve their community and schools and reinvest in what in many instances, their parents and grandparents were part of way back when. When you stand still the world passes you by. I don’t think that’s going to be the case here in Kingfisher.