Gary Grover
After Col-Hi days I went to SMU for 5 ½ years receiving a B.B.A. in Statistics and a MBA in
Economics. I played fraternity intramural golf and continued to drive my red MG. During graduate school, I bought a red Ford and then met Cynda Cason, an SMU graduate from Corsicana, TX who was teaching in the Dallas system. We became beer drinking friends and married a year later. A couple of weeks after the honeymoon we were living in an apartment on Shawnee Street, a block from Peck's Liquor Store and ½ block from Zimmerman's Grocery Store, home of Joe the Butcher. Joe helped us with cooking and introduced us to Herkimer (N.Y. sharp cheddar) cheese.
My work at Cities Service Oil Co. was fun and varied for the 5 years in big "B". Our son, Michael, was born in 1968 at Jane Phillips Hospital much to the dismay of our "only" dog, Snoozy, a Bassdale or Airsett. We thought she was a Bassett but evidently her mother had an affair with an Airedale so thus the new name for her breed. He was supposedly the first puppy born to a couple living in Country Club Terrace. We moved to Tulsa in 1970 as the Cities Service Company building was being completed. Cason Edward, our second son, was born in 1973. Snoozy said, "Not again!!!". My work continued to be varied and interesting for the next 10 years, then came the merger - no merger - merger - no merger - merger with Occidental Years. The kids grew up fast in the Jenks school system. Both went on to graduate from OSU's School of Geology in 4 years and got work in their field. Michael is in California and Cason is in Dallas.

After Cities Service implosion I went through 2 small business adventures before settling into sales with Firestone. I retired with 10 years at Firestone and now golf. We stilll live in the home we bought in south Tulsa in 1977. I now own a red Jaguar XKE convertible . . . . . some things never change!!

But things do change. Gary's beloved wife Cynda died on Aug 25, 2012. In July, both Cynda and Gary had to be admitted to the hospital with West Nile virus. Gary was able to go home earlier in the week, but for Cynda it was harder because she was already fighting Rheumatoid Arthritis.