There's no test with this review
There's no test with this review

I never minded the reviews — it was the final exams themselves that always caused me great distress.

And since no one mentioned last November there would be a test on what we learned during the Oklahoma Centennial celebration, we'll skip the final.

But let's have that review.

So here we go, back more than a year to a column in August 2006 about "The World's First Telemovie Theater.”

Today we think little of buying movies off our TV that are only a short-time removed from the theater.

But I had no idea, until coming across an exhibit at the Oklahoma History Center, that during a period from 1957 to 1958 Bartlesville residents could have the same movie being shown at the theater piped into their homes.

The Bartlesville Telemovie project didn't last long, but it generated attention from Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal and was well ahead of its time.

Occasionally, I'd glean some centennial news by phone only.

This, in one instance, led me to an interview with entertainer Amy Grant about her husband Vince Gill.

She gave me a great story about how his unselfishness has really touched people, including a former New Orleans police officer.

Gill had volunteered to help build a playground after Hurricane Katrina. He worked side-by-side with the retired officer, who at first was skeptical of Gill's commitment.

By the end of the day, the officer was so moved by Gill's hard work, he offered the country singer his old badge.

And I came to appreciate that Vince and Amy traveled all night from an event in Nashville on the tour bus so he could be in Oklahoma for the debut of "Oklahoma Rising,” for which Jimmy Webb wrote the lyrics and Gill the music to celebrate the centennial.

Stories like this are a blessing to me, and so was a column about the Progressive Outlook Study Club, which formed in 1924 with the objective "To keep in constant knowledge of contributions made to American society, by black writers and creative writers.” Norma Carruthers, the club's president, not only provided me information about the history of the club but reminded me how important journalism can be by preserving history.

The centennial year also brought about the "Going Home” series, which appeared several times in The Oklahoman this past year.

The series took me deeper into lives of some Oklahomans, including myself.

It was during a visit to my hometown of Enid that Watermelon Campbell, with whom my dad Clarence Painter worked at the Frisco Railroad, explained a detail about those long hours dad worked during and right after wheat harvest. Campbell said they were allowed to work 15 hours and 55 minutes — but not 16 hours — and be eligible to come back to work in eight hours. And I was reminded of just how much rain fell during the Enid flood in October 1973 — 15.68 inches of rain in about 12 hours.

During the "Going Home” series, I learned that Seiling, the hometown of long-time KWTV NEWS9 chief meteorologist Gary England, was a lot like the rural towns of many Oklahomans' childhoods. Downtown was the place everyone gathered on Saturdays, not only to shop, but just to visit and catch up on the news of the week.

Through the series I learned that Laverne, which honored Jane Jayroe when she was named Miss America 1967, also was quick to support her and teammates when they lost the girl's high school basketball state championship in double overtime to Mangum in 1964.

While I had worked with England and Jayroe, I had never met Ben Harjo Jr. But I'm glad that changed. The well-known American Indian artist has won awards including the 1987 Red Earth Grand Award, 1993 Heard Museum 34th Annual Featured Artist honor and the Gold Medal Award at the 1990 American Indian Cowboy Artists Wichita Show.

Plus, the Oklahoma Centennial Commission released a poster honoring the state's American Indian influence. Created by Harjo, who is Shawnee/Seminole, it is titled "A Returning of Nations” and is a tribute to past and present tribal nations here.

But the really cool aspect came when Harjo led me into the woods near Byng. The woods are very significant because as a child he would take some No. 2 pencils and a notepad and disappear for the day. He would draw all day and then return to the house late in the evening or at night.

A fact like this would have been an excellent question on a final exam about this year's centennial.

But like I said, the reviews of such information are much more fun.

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