A Real McCoy

Seventy-five years in the making, the son of one of the only Republicans in Craig County, Glenn Elliott was born at home on December 16, 1941, on a dairy farm in Vinita, Oklahoma, the third son of Wilmer Ray and Flossie Ann (Thompson) Elliott, a late-in-life child. His father was 40-years old at the time of his birth. Glenn started 1st grade a year early following friend Sam Moseley to Wayside, a one-room schoolhouse, where Glenn walked one mile directly to the east of the family farmhouse, through the fields. The Moseley's lived south of the school about 200 yards.

He did not know his grandfathers, but he knew his mother's mother, Grandmother Thompson, and his father's mother, Grandmother McCoy. That's right, Glenn Elliott was a Real McCoy. Grandmother Thompson lived in Vinita and may have played the mandolin and fiddle when she was younger. Grandmother McCoy lived on the farm for a spell and she and Glenn got crosswise a few times, very few, because disrespect for one's elders was not tolerated in the Elliott house. Famously in family lore, Glenn accidentally locked Grandmother McCoy in the chicken house. That didn't go over well with his father. At age seven, Glenn drove the newly acquired Allis Chalmers tractor into the barn because he couldn't get the clutch to engage.

By the time Glenn was in 3rd or 4th grade, he would ride his bike to school and sometimes after school Patti Boatright would pick up the boys in her big Pontiac and take them home. Along the way, Glenn acquired a wooden rifle from the Five & Dime and he always liked to eat Cheerios or Kicks cereal for breakfast. Glenn had a big voice at an early age. His friends called him "leather lungs" because, as the story goes, if you were in the cellar or a good distance away, you could hear his voice loud and clear.

Glenn's father had survived the Great Depression and persevered through hard times. Reflecting on the influence of his dad, Glenn said, "I am sure most of my work ethic came from my father. He believed you never whined about having work because there were a lot of people that didn't have anything to do. He taught us to be thankful for having something meaningful to do."

Brothers Curtis (b. June 4, 1930) and Carl (b. April, 1, 1935) were 11 1/2 and 6-and-two -thirds-years older and so Glenn learned early how to fight for his share of the daily meal. He never stopped fighting for what he believed in the rest of his life.

In about 1948, Curtis joined the Navy. On October 28, 1953, Flossie died. This left Wilmer, Carl and Glenn to fend for themselves--Wilmer without a wife and the boys without their mother. Carl was 18 and Glenn was almost 12.

Growing up on a dairy farm, Glenn awoke early, helped milk the cows and then was off to school. He had afternoon chores and milking the cows again, a dairy farmer is always on call as Glenn would be for the rest of his. Though polio outbreaks were common in cities before the polio vaccination, in Vinita they were not very worried about contracting polio; they were more worried that the cows would get anthrax.

When Glenn was 13 or 14, he had saved up enough of his own money to ask his father if he could buy a motorcycle. Glenn was a saver and from an early age liked to invest in something of value. Getting around on a motorcycle was a great value and loads of fun for him. In a few years, he would save up enough money to buy a '56 Chevy.

In 1955, Carl graduated from Vinita High School and on October 19, 1957, he married Virginia Copeland on October 19, 1957 in Miami, Oklahoma, at the First Baptist Church. On August 4, their first child was born and they named her Terri. On September 13, 1960, they had their second child, Jerri.

Growing up in Vinita near Grand Lake of the Cherokees, when Glenn had time to spend with his friends, they would go to the nearby lake to hang out. Glenn graduated from Vinita High School in 1959 and enrolled at Oklahoma State University. His aptitude tests indicated that he would make an excellent engineer. Instead, initially, he chose forestry as his major.

During the summer of 1960, forestry major 18-year old Glenn Elliott accepted a job with the National Forest Service and drove his '56 Chevy to Idaho along with a friend. They drove straight to their post with minimal stops, but the going was tough along the way in the Western states because the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System had not been completed. They might drive on five miles of Interstate and then 50 miles or more of winding roads that were built in the 1920s and 1930s. These roads were in need of repair and were largely in bad shape. Glenn carried tools to fix little problems along the way like the distributor which always seemed to cause problems and he carried a case of oil in his car.

They arrived on June 10. For the first several weeks, they worked from sunup to sundown, doing the backbreaking work of clearing the underbrush leftover from logging operations. That summer, one day after celebrating on the 4th of July, the Nation's Independence of 174 years, forest fires began to breakout. The backbreaking work continued but now the danger level rose significantly as they protected the Nez Perc Forest in the Bitteroots Mountain Range.

Returning from his summer's work in Idaho, Glenn continued his studies at OSU, living with Dick Randolph. Dick liked eating but wasn't much on cleaning up the dishes. Their favorite meal was spaghetti and meatballs. It was during that fall semester of 1960 that Glenn met Judy Curry of Sapulpa, a doctor's daughter who had gone to William Woods for her first year of college and then transferred to Oklahoma State. She first laid eyes on Glenn at the Sonic in Stillwater, the first Sonic drive-in restaurant in the United States that would later be known as America's Drive-in. She was with a group of girls from her dorm who happened to be from Vinita and she noticed the guy in the '56 Chevy, Glenn Elliott, who was also hanging out with friends from Vinita. Judy told her girlfriends that she thought he was cute and she hoped to get a chance to go on a date with him. They went out and then he asked her out on another date. Her girlfriends told her that he did not typically take a girl on a second date and the rest was the beginning of 57-year love affair. (As the years passed, he would tell her that he loved her more each year and it showed in the way he cared for her.)


Glenn and Judy got married at the Methodist Church in Vinita, Oklahoma. Judy, not much of an outdoors girl, was game to accompany Glenn to Idaho and help him manage the work he had procured as a lookout for the summer of 1961. They would be living in a small, cramped-for-space, log cabin, below the lookout station he would man. It was in the wilderness about 25 miles from Elk City, somewhere between the Red River Ranger Station and the town of Dixie overlooking the Salmon River near Grangeville, Idaho. The next closest town, Elk City, Idaho, Glenn described as "a one-bar affair that looked like a John Wayne western movie type of town that had a store with some groceries." Elk City was eight miles from their lookout station on Jack Mountain.

As for provisions, they brought a case of canned tamales from Oklahoma and the mailman delivered groceries: ground beef, hot dogs, the best cinnamon rolls Judy remembers ever eating, cured bacon and a ham that they hung from the side of the house because it was cooler outside. Jack Mountain was at an elevation of more than 6,000 feet. The meat was fine until it became infested with maggots. The senses are heightened when sight and smell combine to revile a person. They never forgot the discovery of the rancid meat. They also ate a steady diet of peanut butter sandwiches, which were a staple of Glenn's diet later in life when Judy might go visit her brother, Frank Curry, in Spring Hill, Tennessee. She would lovingly make homemade dishes for him and freeze them but he preferred to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and let her heat up the meals when she returned home.

It was a rustic lifestyle living in a log cabin, especially for Judy, but this was one of the happiest times in their lives, young, in love, in nature, and they were doing vital work for the U.S. Forest Service. Glenn spotted thirteen fires that summer as a lookout.

Glenn was a fearless young man willing to fight forest fires, brave electrical storms in a steel-framed tower that would test your mettle if you had any fear of heights, which Judy had. Her first climb to the top of the tower was harrowing and frightening. She said, "I think my handprints are indelibly set in the ladder frame because she was holding on so tight."

At the end of the summer of 1961, Glenn and Judy visited Yellowstone and noted that those were the days when people were allowed to feed the bears. They moved to Tahlequah so that he could attend Northeastern State University. He was now an accounting major and taking a heavy load of classes and working at various jobs including a liquor store. He didn't work there long because he found out that the owner was taking cash out of the till, not making a proper accounting of his sales. Judy was pregnant and taking care of herself and anticipating the birth of their first child. As it turned out, being a loving wife and mother was her calling.

Just after the new year, on January 7, 1962, Judy went into labor. The painful contractions continued through the 8th and into the 9th as the weather worsened. The final 10 hours were hard labor but it was all worth it as she gave birth to a daughter. They named her Denise Michelle Elliott.

With renewed effort, Glenn continued his studies. By now he worked on campus at the university's power plant--all the heating was done centrally--looking at gauges to make sure nothing overheated which might cause an explosion. Glenn's father also contributed to keep the young family afloat. He understood the value of Glenn's studies and that his personality and aptitudes were pulling him away from farm life. Judy loved her father-in-law, Wilmer, and called him Dad from the day she married his son. She was forever thankful for his belief in his youngest son. Glenn lived up to his father's hopes and exceeded these rigorous expectations.

During the summer of 1962, Glenn did a short stint as a forest ranger in Idaho along with friend Billy Hill for about a month until the 10th of July. Judy spent that time in Sapulpa with her father, Dr. James Franklin Curry, stepmother, Janette Curry, and sister and brother, Jan and Bill Curry. Soon Glenn returned to Oklahoma, picked up Judy and Denise and returned to Tahlequah, glad to be reunited with his wife and 5 months old daughter. Glenn also worked on campus for the power plant. All the heating was done centrally looking at the gauges making sure it didn't blow up.

Along with friend Sam Bates, they applied to join the Navy. Both of them thought they wanted to be Navy pilots and fly fighter jets off aircraft carriers. Though each of them passed the exams, it turned out that each young man had a disqualifying trait: Sam had a bit of a hearing loss and Glenn's eyesight was not that of a fighter pilot.

Glenn graduated with his degree in accounting in the summer of 1963 with the goal of going into public accounting. He received a job offer from Davis CPA in Muskogee but Glenn and Judy couldn't find proper lodging. Every home they looked at would have required them to live on the second floor with an outside entrance, and she knew it was going to be hot in the summertime with no air-conditioning.

Instead of beginning in public accounting, he went to work for MAPCO in September 1963, in Tulsa. Judy was relieved that he was not going to go into the Navy because she was now pregnant with their second child and they were going to be living in Tulsa near her family in Sapulpa. As a married couple, they faced their first adversity in November 1963 when Judy's father passed away. This was devastating to her but she contained her grief and continued to take care of herself in preparation for the birth of their child. It was also a trying time for the United States as John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November, 22, in Dallas, Texas. In less than a year, there would be the Gulf of Tonkin Incident on August 2, 1964, leading to the scaling up of military operations in Vietnam.

"The only things we keep permanently are those we give away."Waite Philips epitaph in 1964

On Friday, April 3, 1964 in the early evening Judy, Glenn and Denise were visiting with the aunt and uncle that would take care of Denise when her parents needed to go to the hospital for the birth of her new sibling. In those days, there was no way to tell the gender of the child to be born, until he or she arrived. The baby that was due in exactly one week, decided to arrive early, and this was just fine with his mother. She was ready! While they were visiting with Judy's mother's sister and her husband, Jackie and Owen Walker, around 7 p.m. Judy began to realize that she was having some muscle cramps in her back and no matter how she tried to sit she was only comfortable for a few minutes and then the uncomfortable feeling would come back. It wasn't long before she realized she might be in labor. She knew that her second child would take less time to arrive but she wasn't in any hurry to get to the hospital.

They left Denise with Jackie and Owen, thinking that tonight would be the night. Glenn was hoping it would be after midnight. After leaving Denise with her aunt and uncle, they went to their apartment that was located at 1344 S. Rockford and waited to see how things were progressing. At that time, Johnny Carson was King of the late-night TV airways. Glenn and Judy watched The Tonight Show to help distract her from the pain, which was quite frequent. She decided they should go on to the hospital, located about a mile away, but Glenn kept saying if she could just hold on until after midnight, they could save money on the hospital bill. Health insurance was relatively rare in those days. He had just graduated from Northeastern and had been gainfully employed only for a few months. Reluctantly, Judy hung on. It was not long after midnight they she checked into St. John's Hospital on the corner of 21st and Utica, for what was the rest of her labor process. She wouldn't wait long. Brett was born at 3:30 a.m., weighing in at 7 lbs 4 oz and 21 1/4 inches long.

As it turned out, Brett was born into a loving family with a father driven to be a success, a nurturing and loving mother and a sister who has been with him all along the way. Denise was 2 years and 3 months older than he was. So that Denise wouldn't feel left out, Judy and Glenn had purchased a Pebble's doll to give her when they brought her new sibling home. Denise loved watching The Flintstones cartoon. Pebbles, was Fred's and Wilma's baby girl. She had a shock of red hair on the top of her head that had a bone in it. Denise liked to carry Pebbles by that shock of hair.

In May of 1964, Glenn, Judy, Denise and Brett, now little more than one month old went to Tahlequah to go through formal graduation since Glenn had graduated during the summer of 1963. The bond between son and father is captured in a photo on that spring day in 1964 as Glenn, wearing cap, gown and mortar board, held his infant son. As far back as Brett could remember, his father stressed the value of a college education for many reason, highest on his list was the fact that it taught a young person how to think critically.

In October 1966, he left MAPCO to go to work for a Big 8 CPA firm (one of the eight largest public accounting firms in the United States) Lybrand, Ross Brothers & Montgomery as an auditor and became a Certified Public Accountant in 1969. After graduating with his degree in accounting, he had two short-term goals, and Glenn was always goal oriented, to work in the challenging field of public accounting and become a CPA.
By 1971, having lived on Lakewood since 1964, the Elliotts had many deep friendships with the Robinsons, the Rigdons and in the summer enjoyed 4th of July parties at the Chads' house because they were the rare family in that neighborhood to have a pool.

In the late 1960s, a married couple moved in next door, Al and Susie West. Soon, Susie became pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl they named Jennifer. The Wests were the "neatest people", according to Judy, and the friendship between the West family and the Elliott family was tight. Al had served in Vietnam and like most vets who had seen combat was reticent to talk about the terrors of war. Through sharing many meals with the Wests, the Elliotts learned that he had experienced food poisoning in Vietnam. Because of the violent response of his body to being poisoned by rancid food, before he took ate, he would always smell the food. He also taught Brett a little trick about using your sleeve as a napkin. He had a great sense of humor and was to married to the beautiful and amazing Susie. They owned a dog they called Shasta, named after Mount Shasta in California. She was a gorgeous Irish Setter. They bred Shasta and she had a litter of puppies. They were going to keep one of the puppies, the largest and most beautiful dog of the litter, and they named him Big Mac. They promised the Elliotts that they could have the pick of the rest of the litter at the cost of her shots--$35 instead of the market value of each puppy of $70. Having grown up around animals, Glenn did not want to own a male dog because of the inevitable "alpha" struggle that would go on between him and the dog. He informed Judy, Brett and Denise that they could choose the dog they wanted but it must be a female. When they inspected the dogs, the one that seemed to want to become a member of the Elliott family was the "runt"of the litter whose tail was a little crooked. After the Elliotts chose the dog, Al cut a little chunk of fur out of her tail for easy identification until she was weaned properly from Shasta. They named their dog Brandy and she was a "fine girl" an excellent addition to family.

During the summer of 1972, Glenn and Judy were ready to move from their 3-bedroom, 1,000 square-foot home near the corner of 21st and Sheridan south 3 1/2 miles to a larger home with about 1,700 square-feet, two blocks from Salk Elementary School and one block from Byrd Junior High School. As a mother, and a hovering one at that, Judy felt much better about living within a short walk of school.

Glenn's job as an auditor forced him to travel on business trips periodically and he kept long hours. He was a no-excuse guy, did his job well, and progressed rapidly at the firm for the next eight years, rising to the level of manager. Inside the medicine cabinet, on a post-it note, he had written three goals, one of which was his goal to become a partner at the accounting firm by the time he was 35 years old. He was being groomed to move into the higher echelons of the firm but it was going to require moving to a larger city. He made the case for why he should be allowed to stay in Tulsa. Glenn and Judy had set deep roots in what was known as The Oil Capitol of the World. They were active at John Knox Presbyterian Church. For many years, he was the treasurer and once a month, it was his turn to count the money. Those were the longest days at church for Brett and Denise, but it was teaching them a valuable lesson about the importance of sharing your talents. They were members of Mariners, a small group of Christians growing in faith and fellowship. Some of their deepest friendships developed from this group. They would gather once a month and have potluck dinners at one of their houses.
In 1976, the Bicentennial year, Glenn turned 35 on December 16, 2016, and his goal of becoming a partner at the accounting firm was on hold because he wasn't willing to move.

In 1977, he came home from work and said to Judy, "Let's go for a walk." This was akin to the "We need to talk" line when couples are in trouble, but Glenn and Judy were happily married so Judy knew that this uncharacteristic request to go for a walk was about something else. They went on a stroll and it was then that she found out that he was going to be tender his resignation and go out on his own.

Please check this website in the next few days to read more of Glenn Elliott's story.

Glenn Elliott, 75, of Tulsa, OK, passed away Saturday, February 4, at 9:03 p.m. at Saint Francis Hospital. He was born on a farm outside of Vinita, OK, on December 16, 1941 to Flossie (Thompson) Elliott and Wilmer Ray Elliott. He had two older brothers, Curtis, born on June 4, 1930 and Carl, born on April 1, 1935. Carl married Virginia (Copeland) Elliott. They had two children, Jerri and Terri. Glenn graduated from Vinita High School in 1959, attended Oklahoma State University where he met his future wife, Judy Curry, and Northeastern State University where he earned his degree in accounting. On January 9, 1962, their first child was born, Denise Michelle, and on April 4, 1964, their second child, Brett Glenn.

Glenn went to work at MAPCO in 1963 and in October 1966 went to work for Lybrand, Ross Brothers & Montgomery. In 1969 he passed the CPA exam becoming a Certified Public Accountant. In 1977, he started his own firm, Glenn Elliott, CPA, and eventually it became Glenn Elliott & Associates. In 2013 he sold the accounting practice and shared an office with his son. They worked together on portfolio management and he supervised the management of Clear Water Car Wash.

He enjoyed playing golf, first on public courses, and then as a member at Cedar Ridge Country Club. Most of all he liked the camaraderie. Glenn and Judy faithfully attended John Knox Presbyterian Church until 1977 when they became members at Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church. In the words of his daughter, Denise: "He was a loyal husband, dad and friend. He loved to laugh, learn and impact the world for the better. Although his life is finished on earth, he has entered the church Triumphant and is an angel in heaven. He was a giant in my life and showed me that it is best to live every day, see the world around me, keep learning and seek knowledge, have deep friendships, love your family and contribute to the community in which I live. He also taught me the value of work and of having faith."

Glenn is survived by his wife of almost 56 years, Judy Elliott; daughter, Denise Geiger and son-in-law, Brent Geiger of Cedar Park, TX; grandsons Elijah Luke Perkins of Austin, TX and John Elliott Geiger of Cedar Park; son, Brett and daughter-in-law, April of Broken Arrow, OK; Brett's son Henry James Elliott of Wichita, KS; April's daughter Paige Timmons and her son Landon of Tulsa; April's son Aaron Timmons of Springhill, LA; niece Terri (Elliott) Billen and her husband Larry of Claremore, OK; their daughter Marcie and her husband Hansom Wong of Norman, OK; niece Jerri (Elliott) McComb of Jenks, OK; her daughter Kendra and son-in-law Bill Briggs of Broken Arrow, OK, and their children Samuel and Simon; brother-in-law Frank Curry of Spring Hill, TN and his wife Johnnie; their children Bart Curry of Spring Hill, TN, and Christy Curry, of Thompson Station, TN; sister-in-law Jan Curry of Sapulpa and brother-in-law Bill Curry of Broken Arrow, OK; his sons Brian of Broken Arrow, OK, Patrick of Norman, OK and stepson Craig Shults of Tulsa, OK.

Burial will be at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, February 11, at Memorial Park Cemetery, Tulsa, OK, followed by a memorial service at 3:00 p.m. at Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church, Tulsa, OK, officiated by Dr. Wayne Hardy and Dr. Dan Bair. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: The Deacon's Fund c/o Kirk of the Hills 4102 E. 61st St, Tulsa, OK 74136 or a charity of your choice. A more complete obituary of Glenn's life is available online at http://www.moorefuneral.com/obituaries/WGlenn-Elliott/ . Moore's Southlawn 918-663-2233