News

Paula Perkins-Porter

1970 - 1972
1986 - 90

U.S. Air Force
Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma

Thomas E. Pitts

U.S. Army E-7
1968-1970

Vietnam vet

Martin Conrad Peters was born in Okarche on Nov. 10, 1938.

I met him in 1959 at Jobe’s Drive-In.

We decided to get married Jan. 27, 1961. I was still in high school.

We were afraid he was going to get drafted and he did in June. He went to serve his country, I stayed home and went to school. His basic training was at Fort Carson, Colo.

He wrote me a letter every day. I still have every one of them.

He was asked where he would like to be stationed and he told them Fort Sill. They sent him to Frankfurt, Germany.

Don Siler and George Haynes

U.S. Army

Korean veterans
1952-1954

Garland Parker

Army Air Corp

1945-46, served in Germany.

Mother — Helen Ozella (White) Von Werder was a past Royal Matron of Amaranth.

Father — Master Sgt. August H. Von Werder, U.S. Army Veterinary Corps, 1917-1944, World War I and World War II.

Was a Mason and worked at Fort Reno until its closure.

Brother — Lt. Col. Coleman Von Werder, born June 28, 1928, at Fort Reno. U.S. Army Artillery, 1946-1968, assisted Marines at Battle of Chosin in Korean War.

Brother — William Von Werder, private, USAF, 1952, medical discharge.

Dr. Bryan Blankenship, DDS

Son of Craig and Kim Mittelstaedt

Oklahoma National Guard
45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team

2002-2008.

Two tours of duty in Iraq

Ronnie Melton

U.S. Navy — Submarine

1968-71

Frank Casey

World War II
Jan. 18, 1943 – Dec. 26, 1945

Army Private

First Class Marksman Rifle
Two Bronze Service Stars
Good Conduct Medal
WWII Victory Ribbon
American Theater Ribbon
AP Theater Ribbon

Frank Welker Coit

Private, U.S. Army

Born Jan. 16, 1892 - Died Sept. 27, 1918

After his family moved to the El Reno area from Missouri, Frank Welker Coit — who like many during that era bore his mother’s maiden name as his middle name — attended grade school in El Reno.

He was among the 25 students who graduated from the El Reno Grammar School on Jan. 22, 1909, in a ceremony held in the auditorium of the El Reno Carnegie Library.

He then went on to attend El Reno High School for a time as well.