Charles Ephraim Wall, 95, of Perkins, died on Sunday, April 19, 2009, in Stillwater. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday in Perkins First United Methodist Church with the Rev. Steve Bredesen officiating. Interment will be in Perkins Cemetery. Strode Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.I am Charles Ephraim Wall, born January 21, 1914, north of Chandler Oklahoma. My mother was the daughter of German emigrants; my father, Charles Ephraim Wall, Sr., married her when she was 14 years of age; she had been a pupil in his school. His parents had come to Oklahoma from Illinois, but his roots were in Boone county, Kentucky. ("Ephraim" was a name that had been passed down through generations of "Walls".) They became farmers; they farmed all of his life. Eph and Loise Wall never struck it rich, but they made it pay. I took over their farm in 1940 -- my son and grandson still farm it. They had four children; raised three of them; sent them through college. I was the youngest by ten years.
I finished college at Oklahoma A. & M. (now Oklahoma State) in 1935, married a neighbor, Sybil Fiala, whose Czech parents had come to central Oklahoma from Nebraska. We had five children (no "Ephraims"), who all graduated from Oklahoma State. Charles, the eldest, is my farming partner; I am still involved in the farm business, but not the work.
During the years Wall and Sons has grown to 1500 acres; with multiple enterprises -- a dairy herd, a beef herd -- we grow wheat, corn, milo, alfalfa, and have 1000 acres of pasture, along the Cimarron River and in the hills adjoining.
Sybil died in 1980. I remarried, to Florence, who is a Porcelain artist (not professional but very good). We have our home in Perkins.
Though I never left the farm until 1982, I taught for 22 years, finishing up as a Professor of Physical Science at Langston University (ten miles from my farm). I have a Masters degree in Natural Science, and a Doctors degree in Education, with a minor in Chemistry. I retired in 1978.
I am an avid reader, interested in a variety of topics. I am active in the First United Methodist Church in Perkins, Oklahoma. I read the National Geographic, the Smithsonian, and several farm magazines. Most of my TV is spent on the Oklahoma Public TV station, except for news.
I have traveled with Oklahoma Friendship Force. I have had home stays in Mexico, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, England and the British Isles, Central Europe, Denmark and Norway, Israel, and Russia. I am like Will Rogers -- "I have never met a man I did not like". I am never quite ready to come home.
My Apple II GS computer occupies much of my time. I use the classic Appleworks for word processing and accounting. I subscribe to the network Genie and go to Internet through Genie. I E-Mail my children (even my son-in-law in Japan); I regularly pick up messages from other Apple II people on Genie. There is a very active A-2 roundtable on Genie; I download current inputs and my E-mail each night. I am in two agriculture E-Mail groups on Internet; I have so far not done a good job picking up Home Pages on WWW, but give me time.
Now you probably know far more about one 82 yr. old "Ephraim" than you wanted to know.
Ephraim Wall
Perkins, OK
