"Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Reinterprets the Life of Ponca City's Controversial First Lady
Click here to join the Facebook Group for Doctor Pickens Museum of Turquoise Jewelry.
"Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Reinterprets the Life of Ponca City's Controversial First Lady
"Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Asks the Audience to Reinterpret the Life of Ponca City's Controversial First Lady
by Hugh Pickens, June 2017
In 2009 poet and playwright Isabella Russell-Ides and her husband were returning to Dallas after visiting family in Kansas. “We saw a sign on I-35 advertising the Marland Mansion,” says the playwright. “We visited the mansion and fell in love with its beauty and its history.” The result was a play written about Lydie Marland that reinterprets the life of Ponca City's iconic and controversial first lady. "Russell-Ides said it was the broken marble statue, one made in Lydie’s youth that had been supposedly destroyed before she disappeared, that made her fall in love with the story," says Mary L. Clark. “She called it 'a case of broken identity.'”
Russell-Ides' visit to the mansion inspired her to write the play “Lydie Marland in the Afterlife” that Ponca Playhouse will be presenting this summer as part of the "Oklahoma Pride" series. This will be the world premier of the two act play which was written especially for production by Ponca Playhouse and will be sponsored and produced by Hugh Pickens and Dr. S. J. Pickens.
Loosely based on the life of Lydie Marland, as told in the book “The Marland Tragedy,” by Kim Brumley, the play follows Lydie as she returns to consciousness after her death and retraces her life as a debutante, wife of oil magnate E. W. Marland, first lady of Oklahoma, and as a vagabond who went missing for almost a quarter of a century. In the play, “Old Lydie” meets her younger self in the afterlife and comes to terms with her life as the niece and adopted daughter of Marland who later married him in a love affair that scandalized Ponca City as her life changed from a fairy tale of riches into a Greek tragedy.
The cast and crew of “Lydie Marland in the Afterlife” have come to have a new appreciation of the many facets of Lydie Marland as they have developed their characters for the play.
Ryan Brown, director of one of the play's two casts, has a personal connection to Lydie through his father. "When my father was a teenager he worked at Miller's Market on Highland and Lydie would go to the store and buy a penny's worth of grapes because that's all she could afford and my father was the one to sell her those grapes. She would come in and she would put a penny on the counter with a handful of grapes and my father would say no ma'am you can just take them and she would insist on paying for them,” says Brown. “What I find so cool is that my father does not remember a statue, he does not remember a princess, he remembers a woman that couldn't afford to feed herself and feeling pity on her. It was my grandmother that eventually told him after she passed that Lydie was the former first lady of our state and he was just baffled. My father had no idea and he thought it was just a shame that that sad lady had to starve the way she did and that's how my father knows her.”
Morgan Ham, who plays “Old Lydie” in one of the casts, remembers Lydie as a princess. “For me growing up in Ponca City she was the girl we all wanted to be. My friends and I would go to the mansion during Oktoberfest and I remember all my friends just wanting to be Lydie wearing her beautiful white dress. We all loved her bedroom so she was kind of like a Disney princess and every girl wanted to be Lydie Marland in her mansion back in the 1920s.”
Faith Greenhagen, who plays “Young Lydie” in one of the play's two casts, says that the play demonstrates that Lydie was much stronger than people give her credit for. “I think what's so incredible about Lydie is she's more than just a pretty face. I think a lot of times she's just reduced to this beautiful socialite, the wife of E. W. Marland but she was more than that,” says Greenhagen. “She was so much stronger than I think a lot of people give her credit for because she went through so much and she just kept going when she could have just quit and given up. She just kept going and she was strong the whole way through.”
Shelby Cargill, who plays “Young Lydie in one of the casts, says there are lessons to be learned from the play. “I didn't really know before that Lydie left Ponca City and then came back in such terrible conditions,” says Cargill. “I hope the audience takes away the idea of how “Old Lydie” in the play dealt with her demons by looking back at her life and putting her demons to rest and feeling at peace and moving forward. I hope that's something that everyone can do in their own life. It's a really difficult thing to look at your past and know that everything happened for a reason.”
Meghann Borum who plays “Old Lydie” in one of the play's two casts, says she respects the way Lydie made a life for herself after Mr. Marland died. “I always thought of Lydie as a sad character when I was growing up and she really isn't. The more I learned about Lydie, I learned that some sad and terrible things happened to her but she made her own life. She made choices for herself especially after Mr. Marland died,” says Borum. “It might not have been what all of us would have chosen but she chose a life for herself and that's what I respect.”
Sam Stuart who directed one of the play's two casts, says that the play shows that Lydie tried to get out from under E. W.'s shadow and be her own person and in this she succeeded. “When I was asked to direct the show I did some research on my own trying to find out who Lydie was based not on people who were in love with her. I tried to find some some relatively neutral people to do my research from and what I've discovered is that she was just a person,” says Stuart. “She was a woman who was in some ways a victim of the men in her life. In many ways Lydie was flawed, she was human, she wanted to be loved, but she wanted to be her own person and I think one of the things that this play will bring out is the fact that she was her own person at the end. She did finally get out from under Mr. Marland's shadow and become somebody whether it was the person she envisioned herself being or not. She became somebody who was Lydie Marland instead of Mrs. E. W. Marland. There's a big distinction there.”
“Young Lydie makes a comment at one point in the play about how people can come through the mansion and see her wallpaper and judge how she lived,” concludes Meghann Borum. “If you didn't know her, it's easy to walk through the mansion and judge her or walk through the Grand Home and judge her. I hope people will take away from the play that Lydie was a real person who had hopes and dreams and desires that none of us will ever know and that's a beautiful thing.”
"Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" will be presented at Ponca Playhouse at 301 S 1st St. in Ponca City and will be performed on July 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22 at 730 pm and on July 16 and 23 at 2 pm. Tickets are on sale for $20 at the box office of Ponca Playhouse. The box office is open Monday - Friday from 11 am to 3 pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 580-765-5360 or purchased online at www.PoncaPlayhouse.com.
“The story of the E. W. and Lydie Marland is a big part of Ponca City's history,” says Hugh Pickens. “Everyone knows the dry facts of the Marlands' lives but sometimes it takes a playwright or a poet to help us understand those facts. I hope everyone who comes to see this play will leave with a new recognition of the role E. W. and Lydie Marland played in our community, a new understanding of the decisions they made in their lives, and a new appreciation of the influence the Marlands continue to have on Ponca City right up through the present.” Caption: The world premier of the two act play “Lydie Marland in the Afterlife” will be performed at Ponca Playhouse on July 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22 at 730 pm and on July 16 and 23 at 2 pm. Photo: Lowell Sargeant
Facebook Posts
Post on July 24, 2017
Final Performance of "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Ends in Triumph
Caption: Left to Right, All the Lydies and directors (but one) - Morgan Ham, Shelby Cargill, Ryan Brown, Sam Staurt, and Faith Greenhagen share a final moment at the conclusion of the successful run of "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" at Ponca Playhouse on Sunday, July 23. Meghann Borum is missing from the photo.
Ponca Playhouse did the impossible. We de-mythologized Lydie Marland. She is no longer the girl who was born in poverty and turned into a princess. Lydie Marland is no longer the girl who married her father. Lydie Marland is no longer a statue on a pedestal. Lydie Marland is no longer the bag lady who wandered the streets of Ponca City. Lydie Marland is a real person.
Thank to all the people who made "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" a great success. The final performance on July 23, 2017 before a full house exceeded all expectations.
Special thanks to Ryan's crew including Blake Brown (Stage Manager and Light Board), Shannon Dunnigan (Costumer), Ron Davis (Sound and Slides), Dave Guinn (Lighting Design), and Megan Phipps (Hair and Make up) for the contribution they made to the play's success.
Special thanks to Sam's crew including Caroline Homer and Ron Davis (Stage Managers), Todd Stuart (Sound Design and Stage Crew), Bubba Keltch (Sound Board and Light Board), Kat Long (Costumes and Program Design), David Guinn (Lighting Design), David Wilkie (Lighting) and Megan Phipps (Hair) for the contribution they made to the play's success.
Congratulations to Director Sam Stuart and her cast of Meghann Borum and Faith Greenhagen and to Director Ryan Brown and his cast of Morgan Ham and Shelby Cargill. Both casts gave inspired performances.
See you next year for Oklahoma Pride. And the year after.
Interviews with Cast and Crew of "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife"
Faith Greenhagen, “Young Lydie”
Who was Lydie Marland to you?
Lydie is very special to me because I had the opportunity to play her in “The Broken Statue” so that experience made me feel very close to Lydie's story so I was really excited to get to play her again in this show.
I think what's so incredible about Lydie is she's more than just a pretty face. I think a lot of times she's just reduced to this beautiful socialite, the wife of E. W. Marland but she was more than that.
She was so much stronger than I think a lot of people give her credit for because she went through so much and she just kept going when she could have just quit and given up. She just kept going and she was strong the whole way through.
Lydie really had the spirit of a strong Oklahoman woman and it's very inspiring to me to try to live up to that and portray her as someone who is strong and more than just a wealthy socialite.
What does the play “Lydie Marland in the Afterlife” mean to you?
I'm going to be honest. When I first read the play I was kind of like “I don't know how this is going to go over.” But the more we worked on the play the more I loved it.
I think the lines are very lyrical and at first I thought it was wordy but it's really beautiful when you start working on the script and putting some feeling behind the words.
What I like about this show is that it examines the story of Lydie Marland in a new light, in a way that we haven't really seen at the Playhouse before.
It's very different from “The Broken Statue.” I think it shows Lydie more as a real person and less as a fairy tale. You get to see that she had desires and interests and resentments outside of who she was under E. W. Marland's shadow.
How are you interpreting the character?
I played Lydie once before so I came into this thinking well “I played Lydie before so it shouldn't be too hard” but actually this Lydie is very different than “The Broken Statue” Lydie because it is gritty.
It's more of a real person because “The Broken Statue” is a great show but it is more of the fairy tale. This play shows Lydie as angry, as bitter, and as resentful and she's she's upset about everything she's been through. She's not only just bitter but she's kind of angry at Mr. Marland.
What's the most interesting part of being this play for you?
I've always thought of the Marland story as a tragedy and I think a lot of people do and in most ways it is a tragedy but something that this play gets into and that we really try to show in our production is that even though Lydie lost everything materially she gained her freedom.
She roamed around the country all those years but she was the one calling the shots. She was the one deciding okay I'm going to go to New York now or I'm going to go to California and protest now. She didn't have anyone telling her what to do and in a way that's kind of kind of a little bit of victory. Lydie finally was able to own herself and be in control of who she was.
What do you hope the audience will take away from this play?
This is a very different show than “The Broken Statue” and I think a lot of people are going to come in and it might be a little bit shocking and there might be some things in the show that are hard for people to hear especially for Ponca Citians like me who have grown up just knowing the Marland story and the mythos surrounding that.
I really hope that people will walk away seeing the Marlands as real people and not just a fairy tale because Lydie suffers and she did have real troubles. I hope that this show will make people think about Lydie and Mr. Marland in a new light and in the way they haven't before.
Meghann Borum, “Old Lydie”
Who is Lydie Marland for you?
You know it's a funny thing because I when I grew up in Arkansas City and I visited the mansion a few times as a little girl but the story of the Marlands wasn't nearly the legend for me that I think it was for people who grew up in Ponca City.
I always thought of Lydie as a sad character when I was growing up and she really isn't. The more I learned about Lydie, I learned that some some sad and terrible things happened to her but she made her own life. She made choices for herself especially after Mr. Marland died.
It might not have been what all of us would have chosen but she chose a life for herself and that's what I respect.
What does the play “Lydie Marland in the Afterlife” mean to you?
I loved the play from the first time I read it but I wasn't sure how it how it could be presented in a way that would be respectful towards someone who was a real person. It's been very powerful to work on it and it feels very empowering to play this woman who is coming to terms with her life and coming to terms with the choices she made for better or for worse.
What does the character of Lydie Marland mean to you?
I am a little bit of a method actor and I'm actually trying hard not to do too much method with this character because I don't want to get lost in her. There's so much fiction in this particular play. There are things that we know about Lydie Marland and things that weren't true or we have no proof of them so I'm trying to respect the things that we know were true and be careful with the things that we know that weren't true but play her authentically at the same time.
What have you learned about Lydie Marland from this play?
I had never heard a lot of the stories about, for example, buying the single grape in Miller's market and some of the other stories that I've heard since we started working on this.
You know you get the museum version of the Marlands growing up, the public pretty version, but Lydie is much more human to me now and it's just made her more much real, much less statuesque, and that's where the real person is for me.
What's the most interesting part of the play for you?
The most interesting part is is working with Sam Stuart and working with Faith Greenhagen. Sam Stuart is an amazing director and she directs in a way that is so thoughtful and careful and precise but also very kind to her actors. She really lets you discover the role on your own and sort of guides you along and pull you back when you need it but that's always fun.
For me as an actress you don't you don't get an opportunity very often to do a part like this that's so big and a real person. I love that.
What do you hope the audience will take away from the play?
I hope they will take that Lydie was a real person that she had faults and she had wonderful things about her and she made her own choices and she was human.
Young Lydie makes a comment at one point in the play about how people can come through the mansion and see her wallpaper and judge how she lived. If you didn't know her it's easy to walk through the mansion and judge it or walk through the Grand Home and judge it.
I hope people will take that that this is a real person who had hopes and dreams and desires that none of us will ever know and that's a beautiful thing. I've never done a show quite like this this. This has been a neat process.
Sam Stuart, Director
Who was Lydie Marland for you?
It's a very interesting question because not being from Ponca City originally I got a lot of mythology about her when I first moved here. My husband took me and we toured the mansion and you get a very distinctive image of her in your mind based on what you hear in the tour.
When I was asked to direct the show I did some research on my own trying to find out who Lydie was based not on people who were in love with her. I tried to find some some relatively neutral people to do my research from and what I've discovered is that she was just a person.
She was a woman who was in some ways a victim of the men in her life. In many ways Lydie was flawed, she was human, she wanted to be loved, but she wanted to be her own person and I think one of the things that this play will bring out is the fact that she was her own person at the end.
She did finally get out from under Mr. Marland's shadow and become somebody whether it was the person she envisioned herself being or not. She became somebody who was Lydie Marland instead of Mrs. E. W. Marland. There's a big distinction there.
What does the play “Lydie Marland the Afterlife” mean to you.
To me this play is about identity and ownership. In a lot of ways women in the early 1900's were owned by their men, they were owned by their fathers, they were given away, they were owned by their husbands. In the end nobody owned Lydie Marland. She owned herself. She became her own person.
Whether that person was the glamorous woman that she started out as, that's not the answer. The answer is that she became her own person, she developed her own identity, and she owned herself and she owned her mistakes.
Lydie was not perfect. She was flawed. She was human but those mistakes that she made she owned them and I think that's one of the things that this play shows is that she was a flawed human being.
She wasn't a princess. She wasn't an angel. She wasn't a demigod. She was a woman.
What have you learned about Lydie Marland from directing this play?
I have learned that there were probably some very kind people in this city and some very cruel people in this city. I've learned that Lydie was probably taken advantage of because of who she was and what she had.
She's kind of a tragic figure in a lot of ways where you get this rags to riches and back to rags story behind her. She didn't age gracefully. It wasn't Sunset Boulevard where she went out with the lights. She was probably pretty unhappy toward the end of her life but trying to make the best of it.
What's the most interesting part of directing this play?
The most interesting part of directing this play has been working with the two women that I have in my cast because they're fabulously talented and these roles are so challenging to both of them.
It's very difficult for a 30 year old woman to play an 85 year old woman and then pull that back to a 52 year old woman. It's a lot easier to do 85 all the way through so watching Megan and watching what she's done with her body and her voice to bring that character to life has been truly amazing.
Watching Faith's progress and watching her gain confidence has been really beautiful to see.
I'm very proud to be working with both of these women.
What do you hope the audience will take away from this play?
I hope that when the audience leaves they see Lydie Marland as a human being not as an icon and not as some sort of mythical figure but as a flawed, happy, sad, beautiful, human being.
Come see the show.
Ryan Brown, Director
Ryan Brown, director of one of the play's two casts, has a personal connection to Lydie through his father. "When my father was a teenager he worked at Miller's Market on Highland and Lydie would go to the store and buy a penny's worth of grapes because that's all she could afford and my father was the one to sell her those grapes. She would come in and she would put a penny on the counter with a handful of grapes and my father would say no ma'am you can just take them and she would insist on paying for them,” says Brown. “What I find so cool is that my father does not remember a statue, he does not remember a princess, he remembers a woman that couldn't afford to feed herself and feeling pity on her. It was my grandmother that eventually told him after she passed that Lydie was the former first lady of our state and he was just baffled. My father had no idea and he thought it was just a shame that that sad lady had to starve the way she did and that's how my father knows her.”
Morgan Ham, "Old Lydie"
Morgan Ham, who plays “Old Lydie” in one of the casts, remembers Lydie as a princess. “For me growing up in Ponca City she was the girl we all wanted to be. My friends and I would go to the mansion during Oktoberfest and I remember all my friends just wanting to be Lydie wearing her beautiful white dress. We all loved her bedroom so she was kind of like a Disney princess and every girl wanted to be Lydie Marland in her mansion back in the 1920s.”
Shelby Cargill, "Young Lydie"
Shelby Cargill, who plays “Young Lydie in one of the casts, says there are lessons to be learned from the play. “I didn't really know before that Lydie left Ponca City and then came back in such terrible conditions,” says Cargill. “I hope the audience takes away the idea of how “Old Lydie” in the play dealt with her demons by looking back at her life and putting her demons to rest and feeling at peace and moving forward. I hope that's something that everyone can do in their own life. It's a really difficult thing to look at your past and know that everything happened for a reason.”
About the Author
Hugh Pickens (Po-Hi '67) is a physicist who has explored for oil in the Amazon jungle, commissioned microwave communications systems across the empty quarter of Saudi Arabia, and built satellite control stations for Goddard Space Flight Center in Australia, Antarctica, Guam, and other locations around the world. Retired in 1999, Pickens and his wife of 33 years moved from Baltimore back to his hometown of Ponca City, Oklahoma in 2005 where he cultivates his square foot garden, mows seven acres of lawn, writes about local history, photographs events at the Poncan Theatre, produces the annual Oklahoma Pride series with his wife at Ponca Playhouse, and recently sponsored the first formal dinner in the Marland Mansion in 75 years. Pickens is founder and Executive Director of Pickens Art Museum with locations at Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, City Central in Ponca City, and Pickens Gallery at Woolaroc. Pickens can be contacted at hughpickens@gmail.com. Pickens is a covid survivor and a stroke survivor.
Personal Statement
Most days you will find me sitting in my easy chair with an HP laptop or a book in front of me. I enjoy intellectual pursuits: studying, writing, reading, researching, analyzing, and predicting. During my off time I like riding the backroads of Oklahoma in my hot rod, working out, watching old movies on TCM, playing games like chess or dominoes, participating in community theatre, and, my secret pleasure, reading trashy detective novels by John D. MacDonald. I enjoy theater and concerts and I go to NYC several times a year to see Broadway shows and visit galleries and museums.
Pickens' Publishing
In 1996, Pickens edited and published ''My Life In Review: Have I Been Lucky of What?'', the memoirs of Jack Crandall, professor of history at SUNY Brockport. Since 2001 Pickens has edited and published “Peace Corps Online,” serving over one million monthly pageviews. Pickens' other writing includes contributing over 2,000 stories to “Slashdot: News for Nerds,” and articles for Wikipedia, and “Ponca City, We Love You”. Pickens has written the following articles available on his wiki at Research and Ideas.
- ''My Life In Review: Have I Been Lucky of What?''
- “Peace Corps Online,”
- 2000 stories to “Slashdot: News for Nerds,”
History and Biography
I enjoy doing in-depth research on one person and writing a detailed biography of lesser known events or figures. I like to find someone, an artist, a politician, a former Peace Corps Director, or an Oklahoman, that I like and am interested in learning more about them and writing their biography from scratch. I started and filled out dozens of biographies when I wrote for Wikipedia back in the stone age in the early 2000's when they were getting started. But Wikipedia became too bureaucratic and political for me so now I research and write biographies on my own mediawiki platform. (I only make anonymous edits to Wikipedia now usually on the discussion pages.)
- My Biography of Jon Carson -The Man Who Won the Presidential Nomination for Barack Obama (>888,000 pageviews)
- My Discovery that Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009 (>389,000 pageviews)
- Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Chris Terrio (>400,000 pageviews)
- Biography of Ninja of Go! Team (Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
- History of the 100-Year Old Oil Refinery in Ponca City, Oklahoma (>535,000 pageviews)
- My Uncle Donald and America's Fresh Water Submarines in World War II (>171,000 pageviews)
- What Happened to Okies after "The Grapes of Wrath" (30,000 pageviews)
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- President Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009
Science and Technology
I have a degree in physics from SUNY in 1970 and have worked in science and technology my entire career. I have held such jobs as Geophysical Observer on a geological survey crew in the amazon jungle, running a portable hydrocarbon detection laboratory on an oil rig, systems engineer for the microwave communications system and supervisory control system on the 800-mile long Trans-Andean Pipeline, independent contractor to Collins Radio in 1979 installing, commissioning, and testing microwave repeater stations all over Saudi Arabia, military advisor to the Royal Saudi Navy on naval communications, navigation, and fire control systems (1980 - 84), project engineer, then project manager for Bendix Fields Engineering (later becoming AlliedSignal Technical Services, then Honeywell Technical Services) from 1984 until my retirement in 1999.
- Building NASA's GRO Remote Terminal System (GRTS) in Australia
- Slashdot Posted a Story about me and an article I wrote about my recovery from covid in 2020 277 comments
- 2,400 Stories I have published on Slashdot over the years
- Why I enjoy Writing for Slashdot
- Contributions to Wikipedia]
- Why I enjoy Writing for Wikipedia
- Stories on Soylent News
Business and Investing
I am a speculator and enjoy designing and executing trading strategies that exploit market inefficiencies through my assessment and evaluation of information asymmetries, market psychology, and human emotion. Over the years I have put together several open-source histories of companies I am interested in including micro-caps that I have invested in.
- An Independent Evaluation of Phillips 66, its Business Strategy, and Execution (over 1,000,000 pageviews)
- Latest News from Phillips 66 (>450,000 pageviews)
- A History of the Ponca Refinery in Ponca City (>268,000 pageviews)
- A Financial Model for Tucows and Ting (over 1,000,000 pageviews)
- The Story of "Keep Burlington Local" and the Schurz/ZRF Conract Award
Ponca City, Oklahoma
I was born and grew up in Ponca City, Oklahoma, a town of about 25,000 somewhat isolated in North Central Oklahoma (a two hour drive to the nearest metropolitan areas in Tulsa, OKC, and Wichita.). After I left Ponca City to go to college, I worked overseas and on the East Coast for 30 years. But my wife and I came back to Ponca after our retirement in 1999.
Ponca City is an interesting amalgam of historical developments including being being founded and created from scratch during and after the Cherokee Strip Land Run in 1893, becoming an oil boom town in the 1920's, home of the "Palace on the Prairie" built by oil magnate E.W. Marland, home to Conoco's R&D facility employing hundreds of Phd.'s in the 1950's, 60's and 70's giving Ponca a character of a university town, and finally the continual influence of Native American tribes on our history especially the Ponca tribe and Osage Nation. Some interesting articles I have researched and written about Ponca City include:
- Hugh and Dr. S. J. Pickens Sponsor First Dinner Served in E. W, Marland Formal Dining Room in 75 Years December 18, 2016
- "Lydie Marland in the Afterlife" Reinterprets the Life of Ponca City's Controversial First Lady June 30, 2017
- The Pioneer Woman Models Should Return to Ponca City July 13, 2007
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- President Barack Obama's Mother Grew Up in Ponca City February 6, 2009
- Standing Bear Looks to the Future
- Ponca City, We Love You
- What to See in Ponca City
- Railroads and Ponca City
- Ponca Playhouse to Present "The Broken Statue" January 17, 2012
- What Ponca City Owes EW Marland June 20, 2012
- How Much Money Does the Marland Refinery in Ponca City Earn for Phillips 66? July 23, 2012
- EW Marland and the Movie "The Ends of the Earth" (320,000 pageviews) May 23, 2013
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- Ponca Playhouse Production of "Lydie Maryland in the Afterlife" Ends in Triumph
Pickens Museum
Pickens Museum is a distributed museum that is active in three location: Northern Oklahoma College in Tonkawa, Oklahoma, City Central in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and at Woolaroc Museum near Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The museum has plans to build a 15,000 ft2 art museum on highway 60 West of Ponca City, Oklahoma. in the next few years.
- Pickens Museum
- Doctor Pickens Museum Facebook Page
- Meet the Team that is Going to Design Doctor Pickens Museum May 21, 2018
- World's Largest Naja on Display Outside Ponca City by Stephen Schwark August 29, 2018
- A 1949 Hudson Limousine August 2018
- Jo Davidson Sculpture from 1929
- Native American Artist Tonya Rafael Visits Ponca City February 2018
- Pickens Museum Opens New Exhibition "Winter in New York" by Roger Disney January 22, 2020
- The Three Faces of the Pioneer Woman by Daniel Pickens February 2020
- Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Faith Ringgold February 21, 2020
- The Turquoise Guitar by Jolene Bird November 26, 2018
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- Doctor Pickens Museum of Turquoise Jewelry and Art
Art
- My Biography of Academy Award Winning Screenwriter Chris Terrio (>400,000 pageviews)
- The Pioneer Woman Models Should Return to Ponca City July 13, 2007
- The Pioneer Woman Models Come Home to Ponca City February 26, 2010
- Ponca Playhouse to Present "The Broken Statue" January 17, 2012
- EW Marland and the Movie "The Ends of the Earth" May 23, 2013
- Sculptor Bryant Baker's Lost Masterpiece November 3, 2015
- A Ponca City Mystery - Who is this man? April 5, 2018
- Ponca Playhouse Presents: August Osage County"
- Biography of Ninja of Go! Team (Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
- I Refuse to Be Lonely Phyllis Hyman's Final Album
Peace Corps Writing
I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru from 1970 - 73 working with the Peruvian Ministry of Education teaching high school science teachers how to build lab equipment out of simple, cheap materials. In 2000 I started "Peace Corps Online" to document the work volunteers are doing around the world both during and after the Peace Corps Service. I ran the web site for ten years and posted about 10,000 stories. Even though the site is no longer active, I still get over 50,000 monthly pageviews.
- Peace Corps Online
- Peace Corps Library
- The Peace Corps "Sharp Incident" in Kazakhstan
- My Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Nomination of Gaddi Vasquez as Peace Corps Director
- An Interview with Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter
- An Interview with Peace Corps Director Gaddi Vasquez
- A Profile of Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams
Personal
- Dr. S. J. Pickens October 21, 2017 (53,000 pageviews)
- Pickens Museum Opens New Exhibit Honoring Dr. S. J. Pickens
- I Am a Covid Survivor December 27,2020 (27,000 pageviews)
- The Anger and the Guilt I can Handle - It's the 'Missing Her' I Can't Stand June 1, 2018
- My Uncle Donald and America's Fresh Water Submarines in World War II (>171,000 pageviews)
- Death Be Not Proud - a Remembrance of my friend Peter Militch (58,000 pageviews)
- My Favorite Christmas
- A Victorian Mansion in Baltimore's Reservoir Hill (41,000 pageviews)
- Remembering John D MacDonald and His House on Siesta Key (75,000 pageviews)
- Remembrances of My Life as a Geophysical Observer with Petty Geophysical Working in the Amazon Jungle in Peru in the early 1970's (14,000 pageviews)
- My blog on Facebook
- The Time Somebody Tried to Light a Fire in Front of Our House on Good Friday April 7, 2015
- Pickens Answers on Quora on Investing, Day Trading, Becoming a Millionaire, Human Loss, and Faking Your Own Death
Phillips 66
For nearly 100 years oil refining has provided the bedrock of Ponca City's local economy and shaped the character of our community. Today the Ponca City Refinery is the best run and most profitable of Phillips 66's fifteen worldwide refineries. The purpose of this collection of reports is to provide a comprehensive overview of Phillips 66's business that documents and explains the company's business strategy and execution of that strategy.
