Bessie Oklahoma is a town with a rich and vibrant history. Residents there are proud to continue their tradition of holding a tri-annual reunion to celebrate that history.
A town originally started on May 4, 1903, Bessie has seen many things throughout the years such as the establishment of its school district in 1904, a town fire in 1930, its final graduating class, and its annual pancake supper event.
Though the Bessie School District merged with Cordell’s in 1970, residents of the town have continuously worked to give its current and former residents a chance to gather together in their town once again in the form of the Tri-annual Bessie Reunion.
What is the Bessie Reunion?
Though started as a school reunion for previous Bessie School alumni, the reunion has expanded to invite “all who have gone to school, lived in, or just have a warm place in their heart for Bessie and small-town America.”
The event, held every three years, will be on Saturday, October 16, and attendants will get the chance to enjoy a meal, partake in a silent auction, play Wahoo, and talk about all things Bessie.
Bessie Alumni Association Committee received 74 registration forms to attend the reunion, and committee member and Bessie City Clerk Marilyn Bentley said those were good attendance numbers all things considered.
“We weren’t sure how many were going to be able to make it with the COVID and all that going on,” Bentley said. “I think we’re really excited because every three years our numbers really seem to drop. So getting that to 74, we were pretty excited.”
Though registration is required to attend and the deadline for it has passed, those interested can be on the lookout for the next event’s invitation in 2024.
“We’re still not getting our Bessie people there,” Bentley said. “We’re getting all of our people that were in school when we had a school, but we can’t seem to get the others.”
The reunion is put on by the Bessie Alumni Association Committee which consists of seven Bessie Residents: Mike Goeringer, Marilyn Bentley, Matt Goeringer, Sherri Goeringer, Kevin Intemann, Brenda Mueller, and Cherilynn Rea.
“We’re looking forward to it! We always enjoy seeing everybody,” Bentley said.
If you would like to keep up with the happenings of the town of Bessie, you can find Bessie Town Hall on Facebook for up dates.
History of Bessie
The town of Bessie officially formed on May 4, 1903, though trains first began arriving in the Bessie area on February 22, 1902. Two other towns, Shelly and Stout, were started ahead of Bessie, however, the two towns fell.
“Bessie derived its name from the railroad establishing it. The Frisco Railroad called this line of track the “BES Line” (Blackwell, Enid, and Southwestern Line), and purchased the line in 1903,” said Bessie Alumni Association Committee member Matt Goeringer who researched and wrote up Bessie’s history in a document provided to the Beacon. “The abbreviation of the line is not where the town got its name from. It was named after the daughter of a division superintendent of the Frisco Railroad.”
Goeringer went on to find that the Bessie School District formed on November 23, 1904, making it one of 109 districts in Washita County.
The Bessie Breeze newspaper in 1904 reported that the first elected Bessie school board consisted of A.J. Williams, H.A. Wiens, and J.B. Boone who all voted to open the school on the first Monday of October 1904.
“The December 2, 1904, Bessie Breeze reported that Mrs. Francis Walls, who was the first teacher of the newly organized Bessie school system, reported that 17 students enrolled,” Goeringer wrote.
Bessie Schools’ first graduating class was in 1924 consisting of only two students, Emma Miller Intermann and Otto Reuber.
A fire affected the town in October of 1930 which burned down the community center. The Bessie Fire Department, the first fire department to have been established in the county, fought the fire alongside Clinton and Cordell’s fire department.
Bessie High School would have its final graduating class in 1941 consisting of only three students before the high school was discontinued.
While the grade school remained, attendance would fall before having to officially close the school in 1970 and merge the Bessie School District into Cordell’s.
The first reunion began on September 26, months after the closure of the school. This first reunion was for those that had graduated from Bessie High School between 1924 to 1941 as well as instructors.
The reunion took place at the Bessie Gym with Austin Sipes as the master of ceremonies, and a banquet was held after at the Pop Hicks restaurant in Clinton.
The first Alumni Association was voted on at the reunion with the elected officers being Gilbert Meier, Gilbert Wollman, and Esther Gorshing.
“Few things remain from Bessie Schools. The grade school and bus barn are still there,” Goeringer wrote. “The grade school has since sold and become Granna’s, a food manufacturing facility, [and] the gym is still used by the community as a gathering place.”
Today, the Reunion has expanded to include “all who have gone to school, lived in, or just have a warm place in their heart for Bessie and small-town America,” and is held once every three years.