Anniversary of Ellis, Marvin & Wanda - Grady County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Sandi Carter 18 Jun 2006 Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== The Chickasha Express-Star Sunday, 27 November 2005 COUPLE CELEBRATE 60 YEARS OF MARRIAGE ON NOVEMBER 26 Wanda Lea Crumm and Marvin Eugene Ellis were united in marriage November 26, 1945 at the Missionary Baptist church in Chickasha, Oklahoma. The majority of their sixty years have been spent in Grady County. After Gene returned from the service, they slept on the scales at the G. W. Thomas grain elevator in Norge with only two Navy blankets. Gene ran the railroad track everyday to shovel gravel to a concrete machine that made concrete to be used to make storm cellars. He was paid $4.00 for nine hours work. We bought a 1920 one car garage building with the end out of it, because the door was missing. After some time we went to Richard's Furniture auction and bought kerosine for a two burner cook stove that had an oven, when needed. It cost $4.00. Bought a mattress, springs and a bed-stead for $1.95. Wanda gave $.95 for two plates, two forks, and a pan. We went by the Standard Grocery store, and the manager gave us two orange crates, and my boss gave me three wooden nail kegs. We put one orange crate on one of the kegs for a table, and set the other two kegs for chairs. You could have bought our home, our furnishings and clothes, for under $20.00. That winter when our first baby was only a couple of months old, I made her a little wooden bed to sleep on. I made a window about twelve inches square, and put it over her bed. One night a Winter snow storm came. Next morning she had eighteen inches of snow over her. I thought she would be dead, but when I dug her out, the blanket was covering her face, and she was still sleeping, no ill effects. I bought some land in Norge, and built a house on it. After eleven years of working for the same man, and going to carpenter school, I started my own construction company, and cabinet shop. I built houses, banks, a school house, dairy barns and service stations, and poured acres of concrete for street curbs, gutters, houses, and commercial floors. In the late sixties I became a building Inspector for Hud Housing in Grandfield, Okla., Temple, Okla., Waurika, Okla., Apache, Okla., Cyril, Sterling, Stillwell, Okla., Jay, Okla. I was the inspector of Cherokee Indian Nation at Tahlequah, Okla., in Northeastern Okla. I received an Achievement Award of Excellence. I was recommended as a G-15 man by President Nixon, and Congressman James Smith told me not to take any more jobs when I was through there, because he said that he had a good job for me in Washington. Just as I was finishing that last job, I had a heart attack. A short time after that I was told that James Smith was killed by a fire in his wheat field. I was never late on my paperwork, sending five copies every two weeks to Houston, TX., Kansas City, Lawton, OK and Washington DC. Keeping one for myself. That was in the days of manual typewriters and carbon papers. I was always on time seeing that the contractors were paid on the tenth of each month. Every time I called for a final inspection, they always wrote on the report 'fine construction.' During that time I received a Master's Plumbing license for the state of Kansas. After completing training through H. and R. Block, I prepared income taxes in my offices at Galena Kansas, Tahlequah, OK and Jay, OK. I also started in the ministry when I was thirty years old. I did pastor different churches and I was licensed under A. A. Allen World Wide Ministries in 1957. In 1957 I had a Nationwide Radio Program called "The Hour of Deliverance" airing Sunday mornings in Minneapolis, MN., Del Rio, Texas, Los Angeles, CA., and Oklahoma City. In all four stations I followed Billy Graham's program. In March 1974 I incorporated my own organization "Ellis Evangelistic Crusades, Inc." according to Oklahoma laws, so I coul teach and license ministers. We have had five homes, one in Tempe, Ariz., two in Chickasha, Okla., and two in Norge, Okla. We were occupied with raising five children at the beginning of our marriage, and Wanda worked as bookkeeper for Gene's Construction. In later years she worked as a Avon sales lady, and as checker to Lightner's Food. Sixty years later, we have nine grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Grady County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/grady/grady.html