Update on CRC progress at the Cleveland County CHRISTMAS Grocery Store-
Almost 400 families have volunteered to spend 2 hours per family qualifying as "clients" in the grocery store, reading the tiny expiration dates on thousands of cans of soup, beans, corn, ramen and other donations, sorting each onto a shelf and then bagging these goods for the"grocery shopping days of December" (see right hand column). The CRC volunteers have carefully watched over this process and helped the "clients" with the sorting and shelving of goods.
The schedule beginning December 11 at 9am is when these same clients will come to the grocery store and shop for many of the goods they sorted. (Only families who spent time working in the Christmas store and pre-registering as clients, will be allowed to take from the store for their families, assuring some dignity in this process).
CRC volunteers will be on hand to oversee this process and be sure things run smoothly, and also assist some of the more disabled clients with their selections in getting the bags to their cars. And so we need volunteers to do this last portion of our commitment, 2 per shift. If you are able and willing to do this, please text Dave Saunders at 405-406-3730 and tell me when you are available. Also be sure to text your name, as I do not have everyone's names in my phone. I will then comfirm the date is open, post your name on the website and let you know when to show up. And thank you for doing this.
Our photo of Mitch, happy new owner of a Camaro he purchased last month at the Norman Swap Meet.
The last car show of 2023 was held in ASHER, OK, population 376 on Saturday November 18th....and I think Scuby-Do came out for it. But keep polishing that classic, the CRC team will be back in 2024 with shows for the Veteran Center, Food and Shelter, Rose Rock, Thunderbird Casino, and Moore..........and when we are not raising money for charity, Ray always has a great show or two for you every week. Most car shows raise money for something, so your entry fee usually goes to a good cause.
THe CRC would like to thank Tommy and Natalie for hosting our fall shop tour of Tommy's garage, south to Riverwind. Tommy the welder, Tommy the mechanic, and Tommy the lover of interseting motorcycles, makes it his priority to pluck old cars our of a farmer's field, and get them running. Take a look at his "push button drive" Edsel and you can see he loves to save a car from the crusher. The 1964 Maurauder is sitting on a F-150 chassis that Tommy shortened by 18", along with numberous other modifications. Most of these are fun works-in-progress, but he does drive the Edsel to coffee call. The shop is fully equipped to handle most projects and we enjoyed the tour and seeing their nice subdivision. Rumor has it that there are numerous spare motorcycles that are hidden behind the shop in the back.......
The club would like to welcome our 305th member Kyle Windrex, of Lexington, Ok....Kyle drives an OU Red Corvette. Welcome KYLE!
The club would like to welcome our 304th member, TARREN SHAW, who joined this week. As a piece of information, our Facebook page now has about 400 people who use it. Some of these Facebook users are also club members on our webpage. If you are interested in joining the Facebook group, you may find us under CANADIAN RIVER CRUISERS CAR CLUB In either case, THANK YOU for being a member.
We had a great weather day for our ORPHAN APPRECIATION coffee call at Rudy's BBQ - (left to right, top to bottom) Willys, Olds, everyone inside, Pontiac, Ron's EV, Mercury, Edsel, Studebaker......thanks everyone for owning and driving these fun makes and models.
Photos from the Pauls Valley Airport where classic cars and classic planes met over the weekend for a fun time. Photos thanks to James.
The club would like to welcome two new members, David W. Clark and Jeff Curren who signed up via our website in the past week. We hope to see both of them and their classic rides in the weeks to come.
November 2, 2023 - Financial report: The club currently has $4645.76 in our car show checking account. These funds are controlled by the car show team, rather than the club at large, and are specifically for the purchase of trophies and car show related items. We earn money for this fund by doing the Noble, Thunderbird, and Moore car shows. In addition, the club has about $1000 buried deep in Jim Hoffman's back yard in a cookie tim. This money is used for club operations, including the cost of the website, various donuts and coffee supplies throughout the year, fronting money for t-shirts and other cool club merch, the picnic and the Christmas party.
News flash......Lani sold her classic Mustang "Steve the wonder pony" this week. Following club rules......(ahem)......she sold it LOCALLY, so we will still occasionally see it on the streets of Norman. I believe this leaves Lani with her little green frog truck, and a sky blue Ford Galaxie 500, once owned by CRC member Dennis Cotton, who came last week to reunion day at the car swap meet and hung out. See how this club rule works? If you sell your car locally, it really doesn't leave........just like members of our club.....and the Hotel California song....."You can check out but you can never leave!"
The CRC would like to welcome John Hood and also Dennis Seeger (2003 Pontiac) who both joined at the Norman Swap Meet last week. We welcome you and look forward to seeing you soon.
While our booths at this year's swap meet were not a big financial success for the club, they did pay for the $75 of donuts we ate and the gallons of coffee that were consumed. We also got to say hello again to some members we have not seen in a while. It was great to catch up with the likes of Chuck Angie, Don Gardner, Dennis Cotton, Larry and Jan Hinton, and several others who came in and visited.
I think it is the laughter and the craziness of what we do out there that can have no financial value attached. The last hour or two on Saturday we tried to find homes for most of the things that had not sold. Topping the list are usually items like used magazines that nobody really wants, but everyone already has. So we resort to trickery and make our customers take one or two magazines with every item they really want. We even stopped strangers and tried to foster off magazines if we gave them a donut or cup of coffee. At the very end, magazines were being unknowingly placed into boxes of unsold parts of members to be carried back home until the spring meet. The photo to the right showing Lawrence says it all......we were thrilled with someone's final $3.00 purchase! A magazine or two might have been slipped into their bag... it was all in good fun. Below is a shot of our booth on Friday morning early with Ray standing in front of it. Our booth is always the more active and colorful of any out there and we certainly have the most fun. See you in the spring Norman!
Vinny added to the growing 1957 Bel-Air fleet when he bought this white over red Chevy in Texas last week. Vince is currently waiting delivery so we will see it soon.
Often at the swap meet, a car comes along that calls your name....in this case, such a car landed VERY NEAR to Terry's wallet.....he was finally able to resist the temptation, but we were all hopeful he would buy it, because it is always better to have another beautiful car in the club, especially if someone else is shelling out the money for it. In this case it didn't happen, but instead of Terry bringing in a 1929 Model A, Mitch came home with a beautiful Camaro today. Sadly we didn't get a video of the proud new owner or the car.
Update on Food and Shelter......the first major phase of the F&S expansion has been completed and opened. The video in the left hand column is when we went out the "resource center" as they were stocking it, and took an early video. It has now been completely stocked and is operational. The next phase is for the City of Norman to give authority to sell the land adjacent to F&S to the shelter and at that time F&S will complete the land purchase and begin the construction on the second phase of tiny houses, one of which will have the CRC logo on it.
FROM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 NORMAN TRANSCRIPT:
Mary Frances Henry, devoted wife to her husband, Billy, and the most wonderful mom, Grammie, sister, aunt, and friend, passed away on October 18th surrounded by her loving family.
Mary's family was the absolute love of her life. She is survived by her husband, Billy; four children, Quin (David) Berry, Cindy (Eddie) Kear, Buddy Henry, and Carrie (Gary) Flippen; seven grandchildren, Dwayne (Sarah) Kear, Christy (Michael) Russell, Tim (Lakyra) Henry, Andy (Jackie) Henry, Courtney (Kevin) Wright, Ashlea (Sam) Zook, and Derek Kear; and thirteen great grandchildren.
She met Billy in the third grade. They married November 10th, 1957 after which they spent four years of military life in South Carolina, Alaska, and Eagle Pass, TX. After their time in the military, Billy and Mary made their home in Norman, OK where they raised their family and were active in their church.
Mary spent her life caring for everyone she met. She loved God and her family fiercely. The family gatherings brought her the most joy. She and Billy loved traveling all over the United States in their RV and spending winters in Llano Grande, Texas every year after Billy retired. Mary also enjoyed joining Billy in participating in the classic car club, spending time outdoors doing various activities on the lakes or in the mountains and tending to her many beautiful plants.
Mary Frances Todd Henry was the epitome of grace with a sharp wit. She had a strong, stubborn side that got her through many challenging times in her life, but always maintained a positive attitude. She fought hard and was strong until the Lord told her it was enough. We will miss her always and love her forever.
Online condolences may be shared at www.tribute.care... or on the Canadian River Cruiser Car Club Facebook Page
Above, Mary...on one of our cRuises to Medicine Park and Mount Scott......
Above, Mary with Billy Henry and Carol Mayes at one of our Christmas parties....
The Thunderbird classic car that Mary often drove to coffee.
MARY FRANCES HENRY
1939-2023
A visitation for Mary will be from 5pm-7pm, Sunday, October 22nd at Tribute Memorial Care, Norman. Funeral Services will be at 10:00am, Monday, October 23rd at Alameda Church of Christ, Norman.
...and from the club to the Henry family....we grieve with you over the loss of a grand lady, one of the best. We share the deep feeling of loss that we know you all feel this week. Mary was a quiet but forceful presence within the club, loved and admired by all who knew her. We will miss her kind smile and her thoughtful words in the months and years ahead. Our best wishes and prayers go with you all during this time of sadness.....
...and from CRC members from our Facebook page.......
Dennis Cotton......"I am so sorry"......
Jim and Carol Hoffman....."so very sorry to hear of her passing. We will be out of town and will miss her service. Our hearts are saddened"....
Bill Faris....."so sad"....
Sam and Sheri Klatt...."condolences to the family. Although our paths never crossed, I’m sure she was a wonderful and kind person. Thoughts and prayers from the Klatt Family".....
Zac Brouillette..."very sad to hear this. I always looked forward to her and her kindness. She will be missed!"
Richard Pray...."it is always sad to hear that we have lost another wonderful person. She has no doubt gone on to a better place. God bless the Henry family in their hour of sadness. Our hearts and prayers are with you"...
Dan and Flo Haggarty..."Flo and I are both saddened by your loss. We will miss her smiles"...
Mitch Phillips..."my condolences. I so sad for your loss. She was a sweet wonderful lady. I will keep you and your family in my prayers"...
Ron Borum..."condolences to the family.
Greatly saddened to hear of this wonderful lady passing. May God bless the family. She was such a beautiful person and will be greatly missed by many"...
Dave and Marilyn Saunders..."Mary was very special to us. She was not just a member of our car club, she was a friend. We deeply regret we are out of town and will miss her services on Monday. Thoughts for healing to all the family".....
Michael Fain..."truly saddened to see this. Her gentle kindness will be missed"....
Gary and JoNell Lunow..."our deepest condolences to Billy and his family and Dave you're right, one of the nicest ladies that we ever met"...
Kim Dewbre..."she was the sweetest!!! When we first moved to Norman, we lived in a rent house next door to Mary Todd, her Mother. I also worked with her daughter, Cindy, at Dale's Office Supply. Praying for the family and friends who will be missing her terribly"....
Photos of the Nazarene Church Show this past weekend.........thanks James for the photos........
Photos from Saturday October 14th - FIRELAKE CASINO SHOW
9/30 Dan and Sam replace the carpet in Dan and Flo's 1962 Chevy....NICE!
From Pauls Valley downtown car show........9/30......and cRc member James is there.
Featuring Sheri Klatt's new 1957 blue Chevy Belair.......400cin short block, a sweet ride by any measure.
Coffee call at Rudy's was DRIVE YOUR CHEVY DAY and we had these nice examples of General Motors engineering on display.
