1958 capsule reveals contents
Taking time to dig up our past
1958 capsule reveals contents

FORT SUPPLY — Not many letters begin this way: "To the Openers of this Time Capsule.”

But such a letter was among the things found on Tuesday as a 50-year-old time capsule was unearthed in front of the old administration building at the former Western State Hospital in Fort Supply.

The letter continued: "We hope that you have as much pleasure in opening this capsule and investigating the content therein as we had in assembling and loading them.”

It is signed by then-hospital Superintendent Dr. Reba Edwards, and then-business manager Warren A. Thomas.

Their wishes seemed to have been granted Tuesday as the children, grand-children and great-grandchildren of Western State Hospital employees dug through the capsule's contents.

The capsule took 45 minutes to unearth and offered an intimate look at life at Western State Hospital 50 years ago. The contents consisted mostly of paperwork — the annual budget, a dining hall menu, a list of medications used, local newspapers, and a map of the grounds.

A small crowd gathered as each onlooker took turns poring over the papers, pictures and other items stuffed in a six-foot-long metal pipe.

"Here I am!” exclaimed Wyandotte's Belinda Stevenson, pointing to a black-and-white photograph. "That's me!”

Stevenson is shown in the photograph on the living room floor of her Western State Hospital grounds home, playing "Sorry” with her family — parents Morris and Wanda Neighbors, and siblings Tim and Kelly.

Stevenson, who is 55, was 5 when the photo was taken.

"This is amazing,” Stevenson said. "I have so many wonderful memories about living here. This is like a family reunion, really. I was six at the time they buried the capsule. I remember it distinctly.

"Of course, at the time I never thought I'd live the 50 years to see it opened. Fifty years just sounded so long.”

Hal Thomas, 75, was one of the few people present Tuesday who also saw the time capsule buried on May 5, 1958.

"This is a day I have lived for,” Thomas said.

Officials buried the capsule to commemorate the 50th anniversary of one of the first mental health hospitals in the state. The hospital was founded in May 1908 after 406 patients were transferred to Fort Supply from the Oklahoma Sanitarium in Norman.

Patients were taken by train into Kansas before being carried to Fort Supply by local farmers aboard wagons and buggies.

By Tuesday, Thomas and others were speculating on what exactly had been stored in the time capsule. Rumors swirled. Some were told of a nurse's cap, pristine 1958 pennies, or letters from employees to grandchildren yet born.

Still others were told nothing.

Laverne Ashlock of Yukon said her mother-in-law, Bessie Ashlock — a hospital nurse — refused to disclose what she had stored in the time capsule.

"She was ornery,” Ashlock said. "She never would say. She'd just say, ‘If I can't make it, I want you to be there.'”

Among the more popular items in the capsule was a simple list of all hospital employees and their heirs. Many of those in attendance found their names listed.

Other items pulled from the capsule included: an issue of Oklahoma Today magazine; an issue of New Horizons, the hospital's monthly newsletter; a patient's outfit; a maintenance worker's overalls; the 50th anniversary program; a hospital canteen card, a roster of patients and an inventory list of hospital supplies.

The canteen card showed a half-pint of milk cost 6½ cents.

Elaine Ramirez drove an hour and 15 minutes from Booker, Texas with her two daughters for such a joyous moment. Her name was typed on the list by her late grandmother, Margaret Boise, then a hospital dietitian.

"I really wish my mother (Lorraine Swallow) could have been here,” she said. "She always wanted to be here for the opening of this time capsule, but she passed away in December.”

"We promised her we'd all be here, and we kept our promise,” Ramirez said.

"This is like a family

reunion, really.”

Belinda Stevenson, of Wyandotte

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