Columbus Smith Peniston is my great great uncle. Carlton Measels COLUMBUS SMITH PENISTON FUNERAL SERVICES FOR PIONEER CITIZEN OF COUNTY HELD MONDAY THE LIFE OF ONE OF RYAN'S MOST BELOVED AND HIGHLY RESPECTED CITIZENS AND HUMANITARIANS, CAME TO A PEACEFUL END, SATURDAY MORNING, JULY 12, 1941, WHEN DEATH CLOSED THE EYES OF C.S. PENISTON, OR "UNCLE BUD" AS EVERYONE LIKED TO CALL HIM, AT HIS FAMILY HOME HERE IN RYAN. THE PASSING OF UNCLE BUD HAS TAKEN FROM THIS COMMUNITY, ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR OF THE EARLY PIONEERS OF RYAN AND JEFFERSON COUNTY. HE WAS A FRIEND OF OLD AND YOUNG. HE THRILLED MANY A YOUTH HEART WITH HIS TRUE STORIES OF ADVENTURE AND HARDSHIPS OF THOSE, WHO LIKE HIMSELF, HELPED TO BUILD UP THIS COUNTRY AND MAKE IT A PLACE WHERE THE GENERATIONS TO FOLLOW MIGHT FIND A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL PLACE IN WHICH TO MAKE A HOME. YES, THE PEOPLE OF JEFFERSON COUNTY HAVE MUCH TO THANK MR. PENISTON FOR. IT TOOK MEN OF HIS DETERMINATION AND WILL POWER TO SHOW TO HIS FELLOW THAT OKLAHOMA AND INDIAN TERRITORY HAD GREAT POSSIBILITIES. HE HELPED TO BUILD THIS COUNTY AND ENCOURAGED THE DISCOURAGED TO STAY AND FIGHT THE BATTLE WITH HIM. UNCLE BUD WAS 21 YEARS OF AGE WHEN HE LEFT HIS NATIVE STATE, ARKANSAS, AND WENT TO MISSISSIPPI WHERE AS HE HAD OFTEN LAUGHINGLY RELATED THE CHILLS AND FEVER RAN HIM OUT OF THAT STATE. HIS TRAVELS LED HIM NEXT TO HENRIETTA, TEXAS, BUT AFTER ONLY A BRIEF STAY THERE, HE DECIDED TO LOOK UP HIS BROTHER, WAYNE, WHO LIVED IN INDIAN TERRITORY AND LOCATED HIM ONE MILE WEST OF THE PRESENT SITE OF RYAN. WANTING TO LIVE NEAR HIS BROTHER, UNCLE BUD SECURED A JOB ON THE SUGGS RANCH OPERATED BY ELI AND JOSEPH SUGGS, FAMOUS RANCHMEN IN THE TERRITORY. IT WAS HERE THAT MR. PENISTON HAD HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH REGISTERED CATTLE, BUT BEFORE LONG, HE WAS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE BEST AUTHORITIES AND IN YEARS TO FOLLOW, HIS ADVICE PERTAINING TO THE CATTLE INDUSTRY WAS SOUGHT BY CATTLEMEN IN SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTH TEXAS. HIS AMBITION TO OWN A HERD OF CATTLE AND ACQUIRE A RANCH OF HIS OWN LED HIM TO THE FIRST GREAT LAND OPENING IN OKLAHOMA ON APRIL 22, 1889. HE WAS AT SILVER CITY, WHICH IS ABOUT THREE MILES EAST OF THE PRESENT TOWN OF MINCO. AFTER THE FIRST SHOT OF THE CANNON FIRED BY THE SOLDIERS, UNCLE BUD HEADED HIS HORSE TO THE NORTHEAST AND HERE SECURED A CLAIM ABOUT THREE MILES SOUTHEAST OF THE PRESENT TOWN OF YUKON. HE LATER SOLD THIS CLAIM AND WORKED A WHILE IN A HARDWARE STORE IN OKLAHOMA CITY. FROM THERE HE WENT ON TO GAINESVILLE, TEXAS, AND THEN ON TO BELCHERVILLE, TEXAS, THEN A GROWING LITTLE CITY. AT THIS PLACE HE WORKED IN THE GENERAL STORE OF RALLS AND GARRISON, WHO LATER MOVED TO TERRAL AND THEN TO RYAN. UNCLE BUD MOVED WITH THEM AND CONTINUED IN THEIR EMPLOY FOR MANY YEARS, MAKING HIS EMPLOYERS A MOST VALUABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY HAND. BY HARD WORK AND THRIFTINESS, UNCLE BUD ACCUMULATED MANY ACRES OF FARM LAND AND HERDS OF FINE CATTLE. NO ONE WAS MORE HIGHLY RESPECTED, NO ONE HAD MORE TRUE FRIENDS THAN THIS BELOVED PIONEER HAD. NO ONE HEARD HIM SAY A HARSH OR UNKIND WORD OF HIS FELLOW MAN, AND IN TURN HIS FELLOW MEN HAVE NOTHING BUT THE KINDNESS MEMORIES OF HIM. COLUMBUS SMITH PENISTON WAS BORN NEAR HAMBURG, IN ASHLEY COUNTY, ARKANSAS, ON APRIL 4, 1862, THE SON OF J.G. AND SALLIE ANN SMITH PENISTON. HE WAS 79 YEARS, 3 MONTHS AND 8 DAYS OLD AT HIS PASSING. WHEN HE WAS TWO YEARS OF AGE HE MOVED WITH HIS PARENTS TO DREW COUNTY, NEAR MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS, WERE HE GREW TO MANHOOD. ON JANUARY 17, 1894 HE WAS UNITED IN MARRIAGE TO MISS MINNIE SCHOOLFIELD AT TERRAL, OKLAHOMA. TO THIS UNION ONE DAUGHTER WAS BORN. MRS. PENISTON PASSED AWAY AUGUST 15, 1907. ON NOVEMBER 25, 1915, MR. PENISTON WAS MARRIED TO MISS NORA HARDY OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS. HE UNITED WITH THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SOON AFTER IT WAS ORGANIZED HERE, BUT AFTER THE CHURCH DISBANDED HERE HE UNITED WITH THE METHODIST CHURCH AND WAS A FAITHFUL MEMBER UNTIL HE DIED. UNCLE BUD LIVED AT ALL TIMES A LIFE OF DEVOTED SERVICE TO HIS FELLOWMEN, ENJOYING THEIR FRIENDSHIP IN HIS BUSINESS AND IN HIS COMMUNITY LIFE. HE WAS A TRUE HUSBAND, A KIND AND DUTIFUL FATHER AND A GOOD NEIGHBOR IN THE FULL SENSE OF THE WORD. FUNERAL SERVICES WERE HELD AT RYAN METHODIST CHURCH MONDAY WITH REV. CLARENCE BOUNDS, PASTOR OF RYAN METHODIST CHURCH, OFFICIATING. A BEAUTIFULLY ARRANGED SONG SERVICE IN CHARGE OF MRS. G.J. WILLIAMS WITH MISS DOROTHY JEAN NESMITH AS PIANO ACCOMPANIST, CONSISTED OF THE SONG, "I WILL SING YOU A SONG", BY THE CHOIR, MRS. J.D. THOMPSON, MRS. G.J. WILLIAMS, MRS. W.W. GUEST, MRS. RICHARD STARK, N.B. SMITH, L.E. DURHAM, BILLY CLAUD GRANHTHAM, JAMES READER SAVERS; THIS CHOIR ALSO SANG "HOME ON THE RANGE". MRS. M.L. HUTCHISON OF DENTON, TEXAS, AN OLD FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, RENDERED THE SOLO, "ONE SWEETLY SOLEMN THOUGHT". MRS. WILLIAMS SANG "A SUNRISE", JAMES SAWYERS RENDERED A VIOLIN SOLO, "AVE MARIE", AND THIS WAS PLAYED AS THE RECESSIONAL BY MISS NESMITH. INTERMENT WAS MADE IN RYAN CEMETERY WITH FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS IN CHARGE OF THE CLAUD GRANTHAM FUNERAL HOME OF RYAN. THE LOVE AND ESTEEM IN WHICH DECEASED WAS HELD WAS SHOWN BY THE GORGEOUS AND BEAUTIFUL FLORAL PIECES. THE ENTIRE FRONT OF THE CHURCH WAS HIDDEN BY FLOWERS, THE SILENT MESSENGERS OF SYMPATHY FROM FRIENDS FAR AND NEAR. THE FUNERAL WAS ATTENDED BY MANY FRIENDS FROM OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS. DECEASED IS SURVIVED BY HIS DEVOTED WIFE, MRS. NORA PENISTON; ONE DAUGHTER, MISS NELLIE PENISTON, A BROTHER, JOE PENISTON, A SISTER, MRS. MARY SCARBOUGH, OF RYAN, A SISTER, MISS VIRGINIA WILSON, MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS. A NUMBER OF NIECES AND NEPHEWS ALSO SURVIVE. PALLBEARERS WERE A.J. WILLIS. D.L. NASH, CHARLIE DODD, GILL BOND, L.J. BROWN, AND JESS REYNOLDS. FLOWER GIRLS WERE MRS. ED WORRELL, MRS. TOM HUGHES, MRS. W.T. REED, MRS. ROY GARRISON, MRS. J.R. EPPERSON, MRS. J.H. BARRETT, MRS. D.L. NASH, MRS. W.A. MANNIN, MRS. ANDREW WILLIS, MRS. CHARLIE DODD, MISS THEO ARMSTRONG, AND MISS LOIS WALLACE. FRIENDS AND RELATIVES FROM OUT OF THE COUNTY TO ATTEND THE FUNERAL WERE; MR. AND MRS. F.B. MARSHALL AND DAUGHTER, CORDELIA MARY, OF DALLAS, TEXAS; MR. AND MRS. ERICK HARDY AND SON, BOBBIE, OF MONTICELLO, ARKANSAS: MRS. H.C. BURKS OF DERMOTT, ARKANSAS: MR. AND MRS. J.H. WHITESIDE AND SON, CLARENCE, OF LUBBOCK, TEXAS; DR. AND MRS. M.L. HUTCHISON OF DENTON, TEXAS; U.W. RAY, MRS. DIZMANG AND DAUGHTER, MRS. COKER, MRS. WEEDEN, MISS MABEL ARMON, MISS THOMPSON, MRS. SAM HILL, ALL OF DUNCAN: JAY PENISTON, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS; AND MRS. KELLER OF BOWIE, TEXAS. A HOST OF OTHER FRIENDS WERE HERE FROM WAURIKA AND OTHER POINTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY. NOTE: THIS OBITUARY WAS FROM THE WAURIKA NEWS-DEMOCRAT