Just Thinkin’ -
Thanksgiving 1936 -
A frequently cited Thanksgiving cliché states that the holiday is family, food, fun and football. Although some contend the football part has its origins in the explosion of the NFL, the truth is, football and Thanksgiving go back to the Yale-Princeton game of 1876. A time when not sustaining a serious injury was something to be celebrated.
Every family has its own collection of holiday tales. Thanksgiving of 1936, my mother and father were freshly married. Dad was the first of the four McBride children to marry. They gathered at 605 NW “A” Street in Stigler.
The men had gone bird
hunting while the women placed the finishing touches on a depression era Thanksgiving feast. Among her task, mother was assigned preparing the gravy. Well, it seems the gravy got a touch thick.
So, China and silver set, meal spread and prayers said, Howett, the eldest, a University of Oklahoma graduate now teaching in a Haskell County school, decided to tease his younger brother and his bride.
“Shearon, would you pass the gravy knife?”
My mother began to sniffle and then broke into tears. My father stood in a rage, and began to pursue the laughing Howett,
cursing him as he chased around the table.
It was said that at this point, my grandfather “got his Irish up.” He marched his sons to the kitchen.
Upon their return to the dining room, apologies were made to the ladies. To their mother, to my mother and to their sisters.
I suspect it took a few years for this story to become family legend. Ah, but our baby boy produced an instant classic. As prayers made their way around the table to him, he paused and prayed, “God feed the birds!”
“There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving is the one day that is purely American.” — O. Henry
