Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1900.434.038 |
Collection |
Condon, Glenn |
Object Name |
Print, Photographic |
Date |
circa 1940 |
Description |
Black & white photograph measuring 5" x 3.25" and depicting (left to right): Glenn Condon, Gordon William Lillie "Pawnee Bill," and Brigadier General Alva Joseph Niles. Homer Glenn Condon was born October 13, 1891 in Greenfield, Iowa, the third son of George Washington Condon and Mary E. (Benson) Condon. In 1892, the family moved from Iowa to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Territory. George Condon worked as a building contractor, but became an invalid shortly after his third son was born. Thus, the Condon family lived on the merger income earned by the three Condon sons. Glenn Condon earned money working as a messenger boy for Western Union and as a newspaper delivery boy. In 1907, Glenn Condon and his mother moved to Tulsa, where his older brother, Henry Shadrach Condon, worked for the Wright Clothing Company. Glenn Condon began his career as a printer's devil for the Tulsa Democrat newspaper. Eventually, he became a reporter for the Democrat. The newspaper fired him two years later for embellishing news reports. The Tulsa Post, a rival newspaper, hired Condon. In 1911, Condon began work at the Tulsa World newspaper. He worked there as a reporter, sports editor, city editor, and managing editor. On June 15, 1913, Condon married Eula Youngblood in Tulsa. Condon had known Youngblood in Oklahoma City, where they lived across the street from each other and attended the same grade school. In 1913, Youngblood performed at Tulsa's Wonderland Theater as part of the women's musical group Cora Youngblood Corson's Sextette. Soon afterward, Condon and Youngblood were married. A daughter, Coranna Mary Jane Condon, was born to the couple in 1916, but the child died on August 30, 1917. While Condon worked at the Tulsa World newspaper, he reported upon the activities of the Oklahoma state legislature. In 1916, Condon ran for a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a Republican. He won the election and was among the legislators that convened in the newly completed Oklahoma State Capitol. However, Condon did not complete his term due to his decision to join the military. In 1917, Glenn Condon enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and toured the European front during World War I. He achieved the rank of sergeant and was discharged on April 14, 1919. He returned to Oklahoma and toured all seventy-seven Oklahoma counties promoting the sale of Liberty Bonds for the war effort. Following his return to Tulsa, Condon began managing the Majestic Theatre. His theater contacts soon landed a job for him in New York City as the editor of the Vaudeville News. From 1919 to 1926, he edited that publication. Condon hired Walter Winchell as a reporter, giving Winchell his first writing job. As editor of the Vaudeville News, Condon became friends with many prominent musicians and celebrities, including Will Rogers. Also during this time, Condon and his wife became parents to a daughter, Jerry Ann Condon, born May 5, 1924. Condon returned to Tulsa in 1926, and became manager of the Orpheum and Rialto Theatres. In 1927, Condon began work for the Skelly Oil Company and formed the company's public relations department, of which Condon served as director until 1933. One of Condon's tasks was implementing KVOO radio station, which William Grove "Bill" Skelly purchased and moved to Tulsa from Bristow, Oklahoma. Condon later continued in broadcasting and later managed KOME radio station. In 1942, Condon resigned from KOME to become news editor of KTUL radio station. He worked there until 1946, when he assisted Sam Avey to organize and implement radio station KAKC. In 1949, Condon began work for Tulsa station KRMG, owned by Oklahoma Senator Robert S. Kerr. During his broadcasting career, Condon served as president of the Oklahoma Associated Press and Broadcasters Association and the United Press International Broadcasters of Oklahoma. Condon was also active in numerous organizations in Tulsa. He was a member of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce, Tulsa Downtown Rotary Club, the Tulsa Akdar Shrine, and the First Press Club. Condon also served as master of ceremonies each year for the Gridiron Show, a spoof on Oklahoma politics. During his career, Condon met and interviewed numerous celebrities and politicians. These individuals included the following: Will Rogers, Susan Hayward, Patti Page, Jennifer Jones, Robert Walker, Jim Thorpe, Charles N. Haskell, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. Eula Youngblood Condon died in Tulsa on March 7, 1965. She was buried in Rose Hill Memorial Park. Homer Glenn Condon died August 24, 1968 in Tulsa. He is also buried at Rose Hill Memorial Park. Alva Joseph Niles: Major Alva Joseph Niles, who is also entitled to be called General by reason of his service with the National Guard, while his title of major was won in the World war, is now the president of the Security State Bank of Tulsa. A well-defined policy has characterized his entire life and thoroughness and earnestness of purpose have constituted the basis of his constantly growing success. He was born at Whitehall, Illinois, on the 5th of April, 1882, and back of his own military record was the example of his father, Albert G. Niles, a veteran of the Civil war. The father was born in Sandusky, Ohio, and when but fourteen years of age enlisted in the Union army, becoming a member of Company C, Fifty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he fought from the beginning until the close of hostilities. He was the youngest man to enlist at the first call of President Lincoln for troops to crush out rebellion in the south. After the war he became a farmer of Illinois and eventually settled in Oklahoma, during the period of its early development. The last fifteen years of his life were spent in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and other sections of the state with his son, and he passed away on the 19th of April, 1917. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah Ruth, was born in Greene county, Illinois, and died when her son, Alva J., was quite young. The family numbered seven children, of whom one died in infancy, while the others are still living. Alva J. Niles was educated in the public schools of Winfield, Kansas, and in the Winfield College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1900. His youthful experiences were those of the farm-bred boy who is reared upon the western frontier and who bears his part in the arduous task of developing new land. He was ambitious to gain a good education and it was his own labor that made this possible, for he provided the funds that enabled him to pursue his college course. At length he entered the real estate and loan business in Newkirk, Oklahoma, as an employee, there continuing for a year, and later he spent three years in the same line in Blackwell, Oklahoma. In 1903 he was appointed treasurer of school lands of Oklahoma, with headquarters in Guthrie, then the capital of the territory. There he remained until 1906, when he received appointment to the position of adjutant general of Oklahoma by Theodore Roosevelt and continued to serve in that capacity until Oklahoma territory became a state, continuing his residence in Guthrie through the intervening period. It was then that he turned his attention to the banking business and became active in the management of a chain of banks in various towns of this state. He so served until 1914, when he came to Tulsa and entered the business circles of this city in connection with the oil industry. In this he met with substantial success. Steadily he had worked his way upward, but the mere outline as herein given indicates little of the plans and methods which he has followed. He has always pursued a definite purpose and has been inflexibly loyal to seven rules which he laid out for himself in young manhood. His observation of life and its opportunities, his study of the methods of successful men and his sound deductions led to his adoption of seven principles which are briefly summed up as follows: Be honest; Hustle ; Be courteous ; Be a good American ; Stay by your friends ; Apply what education you have ; Plan for the future. He knows that no man can win legitimate success if he be not honest and no one has ever questioned the integrity of his methods. He has been equally loyal to the other principles which he has laid down for himself and which young men might well adopt as a course to pursue if they would attain an honorable name and place as Mr. Niles has done. Mr. Niles' father was but fourteen years of age when he became connected with the Civil war. Mr. Niles was a youth of sixteen when the country again needed military aid and he together with two brothers at once responded, becoming a private of the Twenty-first Kansas Volunteer Infantry in 1898 for service in the Spanish-American war. He was the youngest man to respond to the first call for volunteers for that struggle and served throughout the war in the Philippines. In 1916, when it seemed expedient to send troops to the Mexican border, Mr. Niles went with General Pershing as captain of infantry and was on active duty from June, 1916, until March, 1917, being connected with Company C of the First Oklahoma Infantry, which company he organized in Tulsa. At the outbreak of the World war he recruited Company C, First Oklahoma Infantry, to its full strength and later was promoted to the rank of major. He was made inspector general of the Seventh American Division. and was in active service in France until February, 1919. He participated in engagements in the Toul sector, also in defensive operations in the Toul sector and offensive operations in the Meuse-Argonne engagement. He had formerly become adjutant general of the territory of Oklahoma and has held every rank from private to that of brigadier general in the Oklahoma National Guard, extending over a period of seventeen years. Immediately upon his return to the United States after serving in France he organized the Security State Bank of Tulsa, of which he became the president. The bank has enjoyed notable growth under his control. His policy is well defined, his progressiveness is tempered by a safe conservatism and he most carefully protects the interests of depositors while upbuilding the institution along lines of substantial improvement and advancement. In January, 1906, Mr. Niles was united in marriage to Miss Ethel M. McNeal, who was born at Medicine Lodge, Kansas, but was reared and educated in Guthrie, Oklahoma, a daughter of the late Joseph W. McNeal, a very prominent citizen of Oklahoma, who opened the first bank in the state at Guthrie. He was also the republican nominee for governor in 1910. To Mr. and Mrs. Niles have been born two children, Joe Allen and Marie Louise, aged respectively fourteen and twelve years and both now in school. Mrs. Niles takes a very active and helpful interest in church and philanthropic work and is continually extending a helping hand where assistance is needed. Mr. Niles is a member of the Spanish War Veterans, being twice elected department commander, and is one of the national organizers of the American Legion. He is likewise a member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In politics he is a republican, active in support of his party, and was chairman of the republican state campaign committee in 1910. Both he and his wife are consistent members of the Presbyterian church and their social position is an enviable one. Major Niles was the youngest man ever created a thirty-third degree Mason. He belongs to Delta Lodge, No. 425, A. F. & A. M.; has taken all of the Scottish Rite degrees and is a member of Akdar Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. He likewise belongs to the Elks lodge, is a member of the Tulsa Country Club and of all the leading clubs and social organizations of the city. He is president of the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce and is keenly interested in everything that has to do with the welfare, progress and upbuilding of the city. His is a notable career, for at the age of thirty- eight years he is a veteran of three wars, has been a recognized leader in political circles, is a prominent figure in banking circles and, moreover, is a truly representative American citizen, loved and honored by all who know him. Source: Douglas, Colonel Clarence B. The History of Tulsa, Oklahoma: A City with a Personality. Vol. 3. Chicago, IL: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1921, 534-536. |
Search Terms |
celebrities Wild West shows headdresses |
People |
Condon, Homer Glenn Lillie, Gordon William "Pawnee Bill" Niles, Alva Joseph |
Place |
Tulsa, OK |