April 2021

John Eischen was born to Jack and Anna (Naberhaus) Eischen on Oct. 29, 1932, in Okarche, and died peacefully on March 29, 2021.

John graduated from Holy Trinity School in 1950 and Oklahoma A&M with a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1956. He married Anita (Hufnagel) Eischen on Aug. 17, 1957. He joined the U.S. Army and was honorably discharged in 1959.

John was a successful businessman, founding the Canadian Valley Animal Clinic in 1959 and the Big Red Dog Food Company in 1968. After a successful private practice, he continued his veterinary career with the USDA.

Marilyn “Katy” Kay Wilds was born March 4, 1942, in El Reno to Raymond and Opal (Swaffer) Arnold. She passed away March 29, 2021, in El Reno.

Marilyn grew up in Calumet, where she graduated from high school. Following high school she attended Draughn’s Business School.

On March 13, 1964, she married M.G. “Chigger” Wilds and together they shared 57 wonderful years. The two of them enjoyed farming together for over 50 years and loved spending time with their family. Marilyn and M.G. were members of Putnam City Baptist Church.

Funeral services for Betty Jane ZumMallen will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Okarche, with burial following at St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery. Come-and-go viewing will be held at Wilson Funeral Home in Kingfisher on Monday, April 5 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Betty passed away March 30, 2021, in Oklahoma City. She was born Sept. 19, 1930, in Little Rock, Ark. She was a graduate of Oklahoma A&M, now OSU. Betty married LeRoy ZumMallen on April 12, 1958.

Facing the two bottom schools in the latest District 5A-2 standings, El Reno High School’s baseball team used timely hits and a slew of free passes to sweep home doubleheaders from both Guymon and Southeast.

El Reno improved to 9-6 on the season and 6-0 in district play after beating the Tigers 27-5 and 24-3. A day later the Indians dispatched the Spartans by scores of 12-0 and 13-3 to extend their current winning streak to five games.

El Reno High School’s boys and girls tennis teams kicked off the 2021 season last week. Both teams visited the Oklahoma City Tennis Center on different days to take part in the Putnam City North Invitationals.

Between those outings, the EHS squads played host to the Piedmont Wildcats for a dual at the Legion Park courts, with the visitors winning the outing over the Indians.

Termed young squads by head coach Jennifer Myers, El Reno will be back in action Monday in Shawnee for the 2021 Suburban Conference championships.

Paced by Caroline Huber’s first hat trick of the season, El Reno High School’s girls soccer team rebounded from back-to-back tournament losses to defeat Southeast 5-1 last week at Memorial Stadium.

El Reno improved to 5-3 on the season and 1-0 in District 5A-1 action. The Indians are third in the district under the new ranking system behind Bishop McGuinness and Noble.

The Indians dominated Southeast in three key statistics, leading in total shots (35-4), on-goal shots (21-3) and corner kicks (7-0). The Spartans did hold a 41:31-37:12 edge in time of possession.

Breaking into the state rankings for the first time this season, Calumet High School’s baseball team has won four of its last five games including a runner-up finish in the recent Vici Invitational.

The Chieftains, ranked 19th in Class A, improved to 7-3 on the season after shutting out New Life Christian Academy.

Calumet defeated Fargo (12-2) and Seiling (9-0) in the tourney before losing to Vici 12-4 in the finals. The Indians are ranked 10th in the same poll.

Calumet batted .385 as a team for the four games, logging 30 hits, with 22 walks and 16 strikeouts.

After being shut out in the first game back from spring break, Union City High School’s slow-pitch softball team has reeled off five straight victories to break into the double-digit win total for the season.

The Tigers, ranked 20th in Class A, improved to 12-7 on the season with wins over Ninnekah (10-9), Calumet (10-8), Verden (14-8), Fort Cobb-Broxton (11-10) and Watonga (10-3).

Union City hit .441 as a team for the five-game stretch, logging 64 hits, 21 of those going for extra bases. The Tigers had 44 walks and seven strikeouts.

El Reno High School kicked off the 2021 track season recently by competing in the 2021 Bethany Invitational, with eight runners earning places in the 58th annual event.

El Reno’s boys were led by distance runner Jacob Long, who placed 17th in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 12 minutes and 21.51 seconds. He also ran the mile (5:39.38) to place 28th.

Matthew Chaffee took 23rd in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:33.69, followed by Wyatt Mehan (2:35.50) in 25th place.

El Reno High School’s Christian Diaz battles for control of a bouncing ball in front of the Southeast goal during last week’s District 5A-1 match at Memorial Stadium. The Indians lost 4-0 to the Spartans for their fourth straight shutout loss. EHS is now 1-7 on the year and 0-1 in district play.