Ernest Peniston is my great great uncle. Carlton ERNEST PENNISTON SILENTLY, ONE BY ONE, LIKE THE SERE AND WITHERED LEAVES OF, AUTUMN, THE PIONEERS OF OLD INDIAN TERRITORY ARE LEAVING US, THEIR RANKS GROWING PITIFULLY THIN WITH EACH VACANCY. APRIL 8, AT THE HOME OF HIS BROTHER, J.A. PENNISTON, OF RYAN, ERNEST PENNISTON CROSSED THE GREAT DIVIDE AND JOINED AN EVER INCREASING GROUP WHO HAD PRECEDED HIM ON THE JOURNEY. FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD THE FOLLOWING DAY AT THE METHODIST CHURCH IN RYAN AND WERE CONDUCTED BY THE PASTOR, REV. A.H. OGLE. INTERMENT WAS IN THE RYAN CEMETERY. ERNEST PENNISTON WAS BORN JUNE 15, 1875, AND THUS FOR NEARLY A DECADE HAD BEEN LIVING ON "BORROWED TIME". HE MOVED WITH HIS PARENTS TO ARKANSAS WHEN HE WAS TWO YEARS OLD AND CAME TO RYAN, INDIAN TERRITORY, IN 1889, AND HAD MADE HIS HOME THERE EVER SINCE. HE SAW THE COUNTRY CHANGE FROM THE WILD PRAIRIE AND THE OPEN RANGE TO A COMMUNITY OF SMALLER FARMS AND MODERN RURAL HOMES. HE LIVED THROUGH THE DAYS WHEN MAIL WAS DELIVERED BY MEN LIKE J.M. HUDLOW, DECEASED, RIDING A PONY OVER COW TRAILS, SWIMMING STREAMS AND COUNTING IT ALL A PART OF THE DAYS WORK WITH THE LONGED FOR LETTERS AND NEWSPAPERS BEING DELIVERED PERHAPS WEEKLY, PERHAPS NOT SO OFTEN. AND LIVED TO SEE SCIENCE IN ITS GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS, DAILY NEWSPAPERS, RADIO, TELEPHONE, TELEGRAPH, AUTOMOBILES, AND AIRPLANES, AND TO ENJOY THEM ALL. AN OMNIVOROUS READER AND ALWAYS WELL INFORMED ON THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY, "UNCLE ERNEST" WAS A TOWN CHARACTER, HIGHLY RESPECTED AND LOVED, WHOSE OPINIONS WERE OFTEN SOUGHT. MR. PENHISTON HAD TRAVELED EXTENSIVELY AND COULD RELATE MANY BRAVE TALES OF EARLY DAY ADVENTURES AND SOME OF LATER TIMES. HE WAS AN OUTSTANDING PATRIOT AND WHEN THE WORLD WAR CAME ON, WAS ANXIOUS TO ENLIST. BEING TOO OLD TO QUALIFY FOR ARMY SERVICE HE ATTACHED HIMSELF TO THE CAMP AT SAN ANTONIO AND BECAME PART OF IT, ACTING AS A REMOUNT MAN AND LOOKING AFTER THE HORSES. WHEN THE WAR CLOSED HE WAS GIVEN AN HONORABLE DISCHARGE THE FITNESS OF WHICH WAS NEVER QUESTIONED FOR HE HAD SERVED HONORABLY AND WELL. MR. PENNISTON WAS QUIET AND UNASSUMING, LOVED AND RESPECTED, FRUGAL AND UPRIGHT, HE HAD THE GREATEST ABHORRENCE OF DISHONESTY IN ANY FORM. TERMED EASY GOING IN CONDUCT, HE WAS AS FIRM AS THE ROCK OF GIBRALTAR ON ANY OF THE QUESTIONS WHICH INVOLVED THE OLD FASHIONED VIRTUES ON WHICH PIONEER LIFE WAS SO LARGELY FOUNDED. UNSELFISH AND KIND, HE TENDERLY CARED FOR HIS PARENTS UNTIL THEIR DEATH. IN THE FAMILY HE CLUNG TENACIOUSLY TO ITS SOLIDARITY WITH THE FAITH THAT WHAT BELONGED TO ONE BELONGED TO ALL. THERE WAS A PECULIAR LOVE BINDING HIM AND HIS BROTHERS, J.A. AND S.C. PENNISTONS AND SISTERS, MRS. SCARBOUGH, ALL OF RYAN AND MRS. VIRGINIA WILSON OF MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS, TOGETHER, GOING MUCH DEEPER THAN THE CASUAL AFFECTION WHICH IS EXPERIENCED AS FAMILIES GROW OLDER. HE IS ALSO SURVIVED BY FOUR NIECES, MRS. LYLE HENSHAW AND MRS. BLANCHE RICTTER, MISS ANNIE WILSON, MISS NETTIE PENNISTON AND A NEPHEW, G.J. PENNISTON OF COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS. HE NEVER MARRIED AND THUS A LOVE THAT MIGHT HAVE GONE TO WIFE AND CHILDREN WAS BESTOWED ON THESE DEAR ONES. MUCH MIGHT BE WRITTEN OF "UNCLE ERNEST"; HIS UPRIGHTNESS OF CHARACTER, HIS NEIGHBORLINESS AND ALL THE OTHER THINGS WHICH RELATE TO HIS LIFE AND THE INTEGRITY OF HIS CONTACTS WITH HIS FELLOW MEN. HIS LIFE IN THE COMMUNITY HAS SPOKEN FOR ITSELF AND AS WE LOOK UPON IT, WE FIND IT GOOD. BACK IN OUR YOUTHFUL DAYS NO BAR E"ER CLOSED THE DOOR OF HOME, THOUGH FAR AND LONG WE WANDERED IN OUR PLAY. AND SEEMS TO ME THAT IS THE WAY HE FOUND IT ON THAT APRIL DAY WHEN LOVE, WHICH SEES US CLEAN AND FAIR BADE HIM COME IN, A HOME TO SHARE. NOTE: THIS OBITUARY WAS TAKEN FROM THE WAURIKA NEWS-DEMOCRAT, FRIDAY, APRIL 24,1936. HIS NAME WAS SPELLED PENNISTON IN THIS OBITUARY.