Fading Picher

I will sadly miss my home town of Picher Okla. Some of the best people I have ever met were my neighbors and friends in Picher not excluding numerous relatives. The Town may disappear completely but its legacy will live in the hearts of true Picher people forever. Picher has quite a history that will forever endure in my heart. Outsiders may say good ridance but insiders will forever endure with memories not quite like others. This little town never met a stranger that it didnt welcome with open arms as I was growing up as a child. They took care of their own. Not a illness, or hardship of any kind went unnoticed by the town as a whole. We all pulled together and was there for one another. I can remember my mother taking things out of our cabinet many times to share with a neighbors or friends and even strangers when sometimes our cabinet did not have that much in it. I remember chili suppers where neighbors pulled together to help someone in need and raise money at that supper to fulfill their need.
I remember wonderful times spent at the fire station with my uncles discussing who they could help next with their problems. There is much to be said about Picher Oklahoma and not enough room to write it. I vision heaven with a little resemblance of Picher somewhere in the corner. Because its not the surface that counts but whats inside. God Bless my home town!

I have very fond memories of growing up in Picher. Climbing up the chatpiles and sliding down on a piece of tin or carhood. We used to pass out handbills for my grandparents store every Thursday, so I can honestly say I have walked every inch of the town. My brother Tim and I have been away for over 25 years this time and it's always been nice to be able to return home to visit my mother Diane and my brother Rick and his family. (We were up there this past Memorial Day weekend.)I guess in this case it's really true, you can never go home again. The little town that jack built will only be a memory in the hearts and minds of those of us who were lucky enough to call it home.

i lived in picher the first 15 yrs. of my life. grew up there went to school there and loved every minute of it. people say bad things about picher, but the truth is you couldn't ask for better people. my mom has lived on the same corner since 1948, she is 79 yrs old and now she has to move. its hard to think that everyone i know will be moving away, maybe never to see or hear from them again. it will be just a ghost town.i worry about my mom because she has to move somewhere,and the fear i have most is she might not know her neighbors. in picher she knows all her neighbors by name and you can trust them.
people who have lived in picher and moved away seem to say they never lived there, but they did. and are part of the families that still live there.
we will all miss the little town, but most of all the people that lived there.
i hate to see them all go, i wish that they had never even tested the ground. it seems funny to me that the chatpiles are still on top of the ground and haven't caved in.
goodbye to a old friend, the town of Picher, ok

I ended up on this site because I am a fan of Rascal Flatts. I had read a few years ago that Joe Don Rooney is from the town of Picher and that his family has a business there. Until I found this website I had no idea that the town will soon no longer exist! I would suppose that many of you know Joe Don and his family. Have they moved?

Good luck to all of you.

fine baby growing in the mother

I would suppose that many of you know Joe Don and his family. Have they moved?

They still live there. My cousin (heck I'm related to half the dang town) actually has played music with him. Picher will always have a fond spot in my heart!

I was born and raised at Picher.I have so many fond memories there.I remember when i was a small girl,no one had to lock their doors ,as it was a safe place to live.Everyone watched out for everyone else.Neighbors helped neighbors.It saddens me to even think that Picher will be no more.Each time I have gone back to visit,more and more of the town has been torn down .I was there in april of 2006 and hardly recognized the town.
If anyone reads this and has any pictures of Picher and would like to share them,you can e mail me at snookie43@cox.net
We will always have our memories of a great town,and of the best people in the world.

Lynda Martinez

misty lachance wrote:

fine baby growing in the mother

WHAT

Not to worry all of you who love it so much you moved away, as long as there is a Brass Rail there will always be a Picher, Ok. I understand the Mayor and other Rep's. have bought all of the other land to sell to the State of Oklahoma buy-out program but they do not have the Rail yet.

I think alot of people are making alot of money
off the buy out of our town. The sad thing is that
our school is slowly fading away. Due to just hear
say. The people that are making the big bucks
off of this do not even live here. And I am very upset my children really love our school and our town. And I do not plain to go any where. I wish that everyone would leave us alone and let us live where ever we would like and most of all leave our school alone. We were told in May 06. That if we wanted our children to play sports that we might want to take them to another school. So that is what most of us did. But this month September 06. We found out that we could have played sports here. So some of us are thinking of sending our kids back to school at picher. I have lived in Picher most of my life went away for a couple of years had kids and moved back. I love my town and my school.

i think that the town of picher is getting a bum wrap. people there are the nices people around. i think they should have kept the school open to all the kids with sports and when they bought the school out then shut it down. so many of the other towns think that because picher kids are now going to their school, is the reason they have lost their games. this is not true. the kids at picher have alot of school spirit and try their hardest at everything. why don't they do things the right way instead of going backwards. the kids at picher were happy kids, now i don't know.
this is the first year that there hasn't being a picher gorilla.

I am from a neighboring town,that Picher kids are now going to our school. I feel sorry for the kids that are having to go to another school for sports or just to be with other classmates. But however, these schools did not recrute these kids and for them to come to the schools and qualify to be a cheerleader, softball,or a football player and then were red bloomers under there cheerleading uniforms or red socks for the softball team, completely shows disrespect for the team they are now on. When I was going to school, they had talked about consalidation of area schools, I thought it was wonderful because my two best friends were from Picher, and many others were close friends. Had this happened, I feel school colors should change, mascots and the whole school ensemble. But please as parents of these children, please teach them respect for what these schools have after all the school board did not have to accept any transfers. We only had to take move-ins to our district.

And I hope that no one takes offense to this as a negative thing, because like I said some of my greatest memories are in Picher with some of the greatest people in Picher.

love and miss you Jen

i agree with you on showing repect to the school that the kids are going to now.But these kids were from Picher, not your school. they didn't ask to be moved from their homes or school.Give them a few years to adjust to their new surroundings and they will become like the rest of the kids. they are just trying to let people know that there once was a Picher Gorilla and that they loved their town just as much as you love your town, put your feet in their shoe for awhile, i'm sure if it was the other way around the kids from other schools would do the same. they are just kids.

I also heard about Picher through Joe Don and the band, but the more I heard, the more I thought he was talking about MY hometown of Milford, NJ! The similarities are insane... I'm sorry to hear that Picher's "not doing so well" =( and I completely understand--Milford is on it's last leg and barely hanging on...it's not a good feeling =(
God Bless Y'all!

High School

In the late 20s or early 30s my dad worked in the mines in Picher& cardin, he drove a team of mules I guess hauled lead out of the mine. I am 69yrs. old and can remember him talking about that when I was a kid. I read about this website in the Good News paper this week and would like to know if there is a site I can go to for some pictures of some of the men maybe pick out my dad.

Hope to get a reply from someone.

Thanks
Orlin e-mail ops5671@highstream.net

i lived in Columbus, KS from 57 thru 64 and went to high school there. our jr varsity football team played Picher in Picher and we won the game but left some of our blood there, those boys were tough as the lead that they mined!

one of my younger brothers has hauled contaminated dirt out of there and saw this coming over 3 years ago.

i remember a bar around there called the zig zag i think...anyways i went in there one night when i was 17 with a few of my friends....came out a whole lot faster than we went in....i had a broken jaw along with a friend of mine...you just didn't go into their area and start crap!

i'd leave my name but my brothers and mom still live in Columbus, and there seems to be some sort of territorial pride there still.

Bob Kauzlarich wrote:

I ended up on this site because I am a fan of Rascal Flatts. I had read a few years ago that Joe Don Rooney is from the town of Picher and that his family has a business there. Until I found this website I had no idea that the town will soon no longer exist! I would suppose that many of you know Joe Don and his family. Have they moved?
Good luck to all of you.

Yes, Bob, Joe Don did live here in Picher all his life. We were neighbors of the Rooneys for many, many years. Joe Don and my daughter were little girlfriend and boyfriend. His parents still live in the same house as he was raised in.
He also played on the chatpiles. We will all miss our town. And the people. If you will read the Joplin Globe for Feb. 09-2007 there is an artical you will enjoy about the brass rail. It has closed also.
Hope I have helped you with information.

I lived in picher my hole life, Graduated from there in 1992. My mom,[Linda] my aunts [lisa, connie, janie,] and uncle Mike all went to school there. My grandpa Wyan still lives there. And i even work in Picher. Althuogh i dont live there anymore i have and will always consider myself a "CHAT RAT"!!! So no matter what happens to picher in the future all of us chat rats are proud to say Picher is our hometown