The Grove Clan, Ch. 5

Flora Irene Grove, or “Scrap” to her friends and family, grew up with her sisters in Coalgate, Oklahoma.  She graduated from Coalgate High School in the class of 1918, and went on to attend “District School.”  She eventually went on to college, and graduated to become a teacher like her sisters, Hazel and Ethel.  Flora got her first teaching assignment in Ada, Oklahoma, about 30 miles from the home in Coalgate where she grew up.

 Flora Irene Grove, ca. 1916

One day Flora took her students on a field trip looking for possums, when they accidentally strayed onto land owned by the parents of Sterling Arnold Jones.  Sterling worked in the oil fields in the area while his parents farmed.

Sterling Jones, ca. 1920

The story has it that Sterling went to remove Flora and her students from his land, and that is how Flora met her future husband.  From that chance meeting, love blossomed.  Flora and Sterling were married in 1924.

Flora and Sterling Jones, ca. 1918

Flora and Sterling stayed on his parent’s peanut farm near Maxwell, OK, and started their family with the birth of Kenneth Wayne on December 29, 1925.  Kenneth was born in Coalgate so it is reasonable to believe that Flora was either at the home of her parents for the holidays, or she wanted to be near her family during her first delivery.  A year later, Wanda Florine was born on January 22, 1927.

 Wanda Florine Jones, ca. 1948

Wanda was born outside of Ada, Oklahoma, in the township of Maxwell, probably at home.  It was two and a half years before the next child, Arlene Joyce was born on July 3^rd, 1929, also at home in Maxwell.

Arlene Joyce Jones, ca. 1950

A year and a half later, the last of their 4 children, Murray Sterling, was born on February 4^th, 1931.  His birth took place in the town of Stratford, about 8 miles from the family farm.

Murray Sterling Jones, ca. 1948

Arlene Joyce remembers the peach tree out back where Flora would send her to “get a switch” if she misbehaved.  She remembers, very fondly, of being “daddy’s girl” and the favorite of her older brother, Kenneth Wayne.  She remembers how much her father, Sterling, enjoyed hunting during the deer season, and the venison he provided for the dinner table.

Flora was an excellent seamstress, as all the Grove girls were, and made dresses for her girls from the proverbial “flour sacks” that were prevalent during the depression era.  Flora’s daughter Arlene Joyce remembers that her mom put so much starch in the dresses that there was barely enough room in the back seat of their automobile for the two girls when they went to church on Sundays.  Flora was also very good at canning and preserving, and would often sell her goods at the local fairs.

 Sterling and Flora, ca. 1936

Life in a small rural town was good, and it was quite a change to move from that environment to the big town of Oklahoma City, with all its hustle and bustle of wartime activity.  Sometime in 1940, with the storm clouds of World War II looming on the horizon, the family moved to Harrah, Oklahoma right outside of Oklahoma City.  Both Sterling and Flora went to work at the Boeing airplane factory and stayed there until after the war.  Kenneth Wayne enlisted in 1944, and his sister Arlene Joyce prayed for him every night until he returned.  Arlene Joyce graduated from high school in 1946 and shared an apartment with her sister Wanda Florine while she worked at Walgreens and attended “Capitol Business College.”  After graduation, Arlene Joyce went to work for AT&T and stayed with them for 30 years.

 Flora Irene Grove, ca. 1983

Sterling passed away on January 16^th, 1962 from a case of “3-day pneumonia,” and was laid to rest at Memorial Park cemetery in Oklahoma City.  It was all very sudden, and Flora was left alone.  All the children had grown and gone on with their lives.  Flora had always been very spiritual and fully involved in her church activities and this kept her going through these troubled times.  Later, to keep busy, Flora took a job at a posh restaurant called O’nealys.  She never remarried, and visited Sterling at Memorial Park every weekend until she died on June 25^th, 1988, a full 26 years after she lost her beloved husband, Sterling.