Obit for Paul Sykes -  Kingfisher County, Oklahoma 

Submitted by:  Barbara Clayton		  OklahomaClaytons@aol.com
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Source:  KINGFISHER WEEKLY FREE PRESS, Thursday, October 3, 1929.


THE PASSING OF APOSTLE PAUL SYKES.


THE OLD ARK'S A MOVIN'.


(Composed by Rev. Paul SYKES)


They called old Noah a foolish man
Because he built his ark on sandy land.
But the old ark's a movin',
It's movin' right along.
I've never been to Heaven, but I've been told
That all them streets are paved with gold.
But the old ark's a movin',
So move along, children.
The old ark's a movin',
It's movin' right along.
Heaven's so high and I'm so low.
I don't know whether I'll ever get to
Heaven or no.
But the old ark's a movin',
So move along, children.
The old ark's a movin',
It's moving' right along.

The voice that for many years made Kingfisher famous the world over
and greeted weary passengers at every passenger train as it pulled
into Kingfisher, is stilled in death, but his memory will live in the
ages to come.  Even in the trenches in France during the World War
when some doughboy mentioned that he was from Kingfisher, Oklahoma, a
fighting comrade would reply, "Why, that's where the old darky sings
at the depot," and immediately the refrain of the "Old Ark's A-movin'"
would be heard.

Paul SYKES was born in slavery in Granda, Mississippi, March 2, 1842,
and departed this life at Kingfisher, Oklahoma, on October 1, 1929, at
9:10, age 87 years, 6 months, 29 days.

He came to Kingfisher in 1891, and shortly thereafter began preaching
on the streets of Kingfisher and in front of the county jail.  He soon
began singing the "Old Ark's A-movin'" at incoming Rock Island trains
and gathered up the pennies as they were tossed to him by the
passengers.

In 1894 the Apostle Pall SYKES, to use his own language, "set up a
table in Kingfisher for the poor," and called it the Lord's Passover.
"He continued to give these passovers as an annual feature each
Thanksgiving, until about four years ago, when old age and declining
health compelled him to abandon his trips to ******* and his feasts of
the passover."

FOUNDER OF THE STRAIGHT GATE CHURCH.

In 1898 he organized a church after the manner of the first church
from the fourth and fifth chapters of Acts, and called it the Straight
Gate Church.

Three degrees were required to become a member of the Straight Gate
Church, and Rev. SYKES baptised then by "laying on of hands after
telling how much you were worth."  The doctrine of the third degree
was:  "I is instructed for any one to receive the Third Degree of the
Straight Gate Church, that they give all they have, but if a person
have nothing and has a willing heart he will be accepted into the
sight of God."

Rev. SYKES was married three times and was the father of 1* children,
eight of whom are living, as follows:  Charles SYKES, St. Louis, Mo.;
Abraham Lincoln SYKES, Kansas City, Kansas;  Edna HORNBECK, Memphis,
Tenn.;  Elizabeth RICHMOND, Mempis, Tenn.;  Hattie BURGHARD,
Kingfisher, Okla.;  Roosevelt SYKES, Kingfisher, Okla.;  William
SYKES, Kansas City, Kansas;  George SYKES, Chicago, Ills.;  two
grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at the First Baptist Church (colored)
Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock.  And all that remains mortal of the
Apostle Paul SYKES will peacefully rest in Kingfisher cemetery, but
his memory will continue to live on.