John Alvin Partain

556-22-4229

John Alvin Partain was the second of 10 children born to John Thomas and Julia Partain. He was born in Settlement, Arkansas March 15, 1891 and died at Stigler, Oklahoma November 19, 1971 at the age of 80.

John was 12 years old when the family moved from Arkansas to Spiro, Oklahoma. His mother died when he was 16 and two years later his father married Etta Elliott. John and Etta did not get along well at all and he soon left home.

During his late teen years, John stayed on the move. He had some dogs and hunted and fished and lived off the land part of the time. He would go over to McAllister, Oklahoma and join up with people following the wheat harvest. This would carry him as far North as Canada. When that was finished he would follow the corn harvest or he would go over to Muskogee, Oklahoma and work at whatever jobs were available.

On December 18, 1916, John married Lena Ruth Watson. Lena was born in Hartford, Missouri, March 26, 1894, and lived there until she was 11 years old. At that time (1905) her parents moved to Spiro, Oklahoma. John Thomas and Julia Partain lived in the next block and the two families became friendly neighbors.

When Lena’s family left Spiro they moved to Vinita, Oklahoma, then on to Claremore, Oklahoma. They bought a home in Claremore and Lena’s father worked in a creamery, did farm work, and helped clear land. Lena wrote to John and his sister, Ollie, during the time they lived in Claremore.

John and a buddy named Lon Dabney went to Skiatook, Oklahoma to join the service. Lon joined but John changed his mind and went to work for the phone company in Skiatook. He would go to Claremore on weekends to visit the Watson family.

When Lena was about 17 her family moved to Iowa. John was following the harvest and shucking corn and when his work took him close enough he would always visit Lena and her folks and spend his weekends with them. The Watson family moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma when Lena was 19 or 20 and she went to work for the Muskogee Wholesale Company. John lived in Spiro at this time and would visit as often as he could. They would visit medicine shows for entertainment or, sometimes, hypnotic shows. One time they saw a man hypnotized in a casket that was in a store window. Forty-eight hours later they went back to see him awakened, and he was hurried away to get food and drink.

When Lena was about 22 she took a bus from Muskogee to Bokoshe and John took a bus from Spiro to Bokoshe and they were married. They made their home in Spiro.

Children born to John A. and Lena Partain:

Glenn Alvin Born September 6, 1918 in Spiro

Arthur Thomas                       Born April 15,1920 died Nov.29, 2001

                                              Buried in Green Acres Cemetery Bloomington, Ca.

Mary Mae Richards               Born Oct. 3, 1921

Flossie Marie Evans               Born July 25, 1924

In October of 1919 he, along with his brother Arthur, purchased land on Bokoshe Mountain.

John and Lena moved back to Spiro where Arthur, Flossie and Mary were born.

Arthur was born at John Thomas Partain’s house. The place bordered property John had bought. John and Lena’s home was built just before Mary was born. The window and doorframes and finishing were completed after they moved in as they needed to be in the house before the new baby arrived.

In 1935 or ’36 the family moved to Fontana, California. Most of the time they were there, John worked as an irrigator for Fontana Farms.

In 1950 or ’51 the family moved to Crossroads, 2 ½ miles East of Stigler on Highway 9. John bought 40 acres just behind the Crossroads Baptist Church and farmed for a living.

In 1953 he sold the land and bought a Service Station/Grocery Store on the highway at Crossroads. He sold the store to Lena’s brother, Homer Watson, two years later, and moved to a house in the middle of Stigler on Highway 9. They later moved to a house at 105 N.E. 6^th Street a few blocks away. He lived there until he died, in spite of having to have both legs amputated due to poor circulation. John suffered from sever asthma the last years of his life.

Lena remained in the home until she had to be moved to a nursing facility after also having her legs amputated. She died in February of 1986.

John and Lena are buried in New Hope Cemetery in Spiro, Oklahoma.

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