Today, I talked with longtime Stillwater entrepreneur Joe George. He wrestled for Oklahoma State, and has had a slew of businesses over the years in Stillwater. He and Myron Roderick opened the Big Eight Drive-In in Stillwater in 1957. Roderick owned it, but George created the Big Eight-conference based menu. George, who will be 73 soon, says he is on his 15th and final business. He owns Sawgrass Equipment, LLC, formerly Honda Power of Stillwater. Read more about George in Sunday's NewsPress.
By telephone, I interviewed former Cushing resident Laura Shofner from her home in Boston. She was on her way to visit friends at Walden Pond. Shofner credits her small-town Oklahoma upbringing with helping her shine on stage in opera and musical theater. On May 8, she sang the national anthem at the unveiling of the Katharine Hepburn stamp, and will be performing all summer on the East Coast. Shofner said she begged her parents to let her do Star Search, the American Idol of the time. Her parents refused, waiting her to have a normal childhood, she said. "I glad they did. I had so many more opportunities in Cushing that I would have had anywhere else," she said. "I was able to spread my wings because I grew up in a small town." Kids growing up in Tulsa or Oklahoma City didn't get those opportunities. "In Tulsa or Oklahoma there are a lot of kids and fewer opportunities," she said. A story about Shofner is slated in June.
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