Bruce Evans:
CLASS OF 1969
Vinita High SchoolClass of 1969
Vinita, OK
Will Rogers Elementary SchoolClass of 1963
Vinita, OK
Bruce's Story
Well, after High School, the class of '69, I attended OSU for a couple of years majoring in Animal Science. Unfortunately, I didn't pass enough hours to maintain my draft deferment and was reclassified to 1-A in April 1970. I had drawn #68 in the military draft lottery, so it was a big deal. My Mom passed away in June 1970 while I was in Summer School trying to increase my hours and get my deferment back. Well, that did't work out, so I headed down to Houston TX for the next few months and waited to see if I was going to be drafted. I had passed my Pre-Induction Physical with flying colors. In April of 1971 Mrs. Freeman, from the local Draft Board, reclassified me from 1-A to 1-H. Things were starting to look up. On one of my trips back to Vinita I bought an old 1957 bread truck that had been made into a sweet camper, from Max over in Ketchum at Max's Bait Shop, that truck became my home on wheels. Then after a short stay back in H-town hanging out at my sister Martha's place I headed out to California to my sister Barbara's graduation from Cal Poly St. Univ. in San Luis Obisbo in June if 1971 . While in California, I parked the truck and I hitchhiked up to San Fransisco to visit a friend. I saw The Tower of Power play in Berkley and an MC Escher exhibit in downtown SF. Mark Twain was right when he said the coldest winter of his life was a July in SF. Somehow that old truck stayed together long enough for me to get back my Dad's place in Beaver, Okla. It was really a kind of a bus because I picked up just about every hitchhiker I came to. I spent a few days at Lake Tahoe, crossed the Great Salt Plains, visited Mark Elem in Salt Lake City, crossed the Rockies at Monarch Pass where I spent the night just below the summit, it snowed and I froze my ass off. I diverted over the Royal Gorge and followed the Arkansas River into Kansas, turned South at Liberal and into the Oklahoma Panhandle. The Oklahoma Panhandle is like on a different planet compared to Vinita. I spent a lot of Summers out there though with my Dad but this time I spent the winter of '71 & '72. I moved back to Vinita in the Spring of 1972 and ended up buying the old Holcome's Cafe next to the Center Theater. My Mother had left me a...Expand for more
little money and I could see the end of it. So, I figured I could either work for someone else or myself. The Talk of the Town Cafe opened on March 21, 1972. Homemade pastry & pies, Fried Chicken every Saturday, Breakfast and Lunch 6 days a week. It burned in the late Summer of 1974. I was back to zero so I started driving trucks, 1st at Vinita Hay & Grain then Grand Lake Cement between Ketchum and Langley. I was able to get myself fired and then moved to Austin TX. I took everything I owned and $140.00. I left Vinita in November 1976 with an ice & sleet storm bearing down. When I crossed the Red River the back of my 1949 Chevy Panel Truck was encrusted with ice. Once in Austin I worked Causal on the freight docks and eventually got my Teamster card and was a full time pickup & delivery driver. Austin is a great town, you can ask Craig Campbell he's been here longer than me. We have occasionally run into each other over the years and it is always kinda cool. I joined the Austin YMCA in 1982 and worked out with a group using the Medicine Ball. We eventually started making our own medicine balls and attracted the interest of the University of Texas' Strength and Conditioning Coach. He offered me a position in the Fall of 1984. I went back to school and finished my degree in Kinesiology in May 1992, and worked at UT as a strength & conditioning coach till July of 1997. I met my wife while at UT and we married in June of 1993. Our 1st child was born in 1995 while my wife was in Law School and our second child was born in 2000 after we moved to Dallas to following my wife's career. In 1997 we decided I would be a Stay-at-Home-Dad when we moved to Dallas. It has been the best job I could ever have imagined. Luck would have it Ana got a job back in Austin in 2003 as General Council for a BioTech company. We sold the Medicine Ball company I founded and play golf 2 or 3 times a week while the girls are in school. I served as PTA President at our elementary school last year and helped organize an Athletic booster club at my 13 year old's middle school. I was just back in Vinita for my 40th HS reunion in late July. I have gone back to my FFA roots and am now an Urban Farmer. A good time was had by all.
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