Glenn Tolbart Drake, Jr.

Glenn Tolbart Drake, Jr., 91, longtime Hooker resident, went to be with his Lord and Savior, on December 5, 2017 at Iris Memory Care in Edmond, Oklahoma.

The son of Glenn Tolbart and Sweet Marie Spradley Drake, he was born in Gracemont, Oklahoma on January 3, 1926 at his parent’s home. He was the eldest of two children. As a young boy growing up during the Great Depression, he was expected to work before and after school. He spent days at a time on his Grandparents farm picking cotton as well as working at his dad’s grocery store. Children of the Great Depression, for the most part, had to make their own toys. One of Glenn’s earliest toys was a hand gun that he fashioned out of a piece of wood and a leather holster to carry it. He used his woodworking skills later in life to make various items such as a play kitchen cabinet for his daughters and a miniature chuck wagon for his son to play with in their backyard giving them hours of fun. His talent carried on through to his granddaughters as well. In the Fall of each year while they were still in grade school, he and their grandma DeeDee would have them come and stay the night. After supper, the table was cleared off and newspaper would go down. Grandad would bring out the pumpkins he had carefully picked out at the store and would begin teaching them how to carve faces on them. It was a memory they all cherished in the years to come. Additionally, he made them several fun things for play including a wagon for their bike, a toy box which attached to their tricycle, and a sled. All of which were made with great care and precision and lots of love.

While still in school he learned how to play the piano and composed a song he entitled “Where or When”. He sent it to a publishing company in New York City; unfortunately, there was no copyright and it was quickly stolen. The song became popular and has been reproduced over the years with various arrangements and artists including Carlie Simon, Frank Sinatra, and Barry Manilow.

After completing his junior year of high school, Glenn enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on July 5, 1943. He graduated from Gracemont High School on May 11, 1944 and went into active duty on July 31, 1944. World War II was fast coming to a close, and Glenn was sent to Photography School at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado following Boot Camp. He was disappointed because he really wanted to be a pilot; however, years later he did have an opportunity complete ground school; but the greatest life changing experience he ever had occurred while he was stationed in Denver. During chapel one Sunday morning, Glenn received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Having received an honorable discharge from the Air Force November 6, 1945, he returned home to marry his high school sweetheart, Edith Darlene Corbin on July 15, 1946, at the Baptist Parsonage in Anadarko, Oklahoma.

They established their home in Norman, Oklahoma, where Glenn attended the University of Oklahoma School of Pharmacy. In the Fall of 1949, following graduation from pharmacy school, the couple moved to Texhoma, Oklahoma where Glenn began working for George Grey. While living in Texhoma their three children were born: Glenn Reece, Deborah Lynn, and Terry DeeAnn.

In the Fall of 1954, they moved again, this time it was to Hooker, Oklahoma, where Glenn began working for George Grey’s brother, Mike, at Grey’s Rexall Drug. Hooker became their permanent home. They joined the First Baptist Church and were members for over 56 years. Glenn served as a teacher and deacon. He authored numerous devotional booklets and participated in the jail ministry for several years. On one occasion, Glenn wrote a bookkeeping manual for a female inmate who was going to be released soon and needed a skill to help her get a job.

In 1963, Glenn and Darlene opened Glenn’s Pharmacy where they served Hooker and the surrounding area for over 35 years, referring to their customers as “The greatest people in the world”. Glenn had a side business in electronics for a few years repairing television sets for people. During this same time, Glenn and Darlene bought the old Baptist parsonage and moved it to 406 N. Jackson Street where they spent the next five years remodeling it. After finishing, Glenn was anxious to get busy with a new project. He enrolled in a correspondence study in law from LaSalle University in Chicago, Ill. Five years later he completed his studies and received his degree. During the years of study, the local librarian, Willibelle Paraham, administered his tests. Glenn spent the next several years preparing trust instruments for people pro bono.

True to form, Glenn was always interested in challenges and when personal computers first came on the scene, he enrolled in a computer course at Seward County Community College and bought his very first computer…a Commodore 64 which was based on the old Basic 2.0 operating system. Using the Basic 2.0 system, he developed a program designed to calculate interest using various parameters such as interest rates, principal amounts and time segments. In the years that followed he kept up with the technology and his computers became much more sophisticated. At the age of 80, he upgraded his computer system again and got the highest speed internet connection available. He was a student of economics and was well versed on the stock market.

Glenn’s greatest desire was to be a witness for Jesus Christ. He and Darlene were a team. He was the verbal witness and Darlene was the prayer warrior. When she went to be with Jesus on June 19, 2010, he was heartbroken, but he kept on going even in the midst of advancing dementia.

He was a wonderful husband to Darlene and father to his children. Detailed and thorough in everything he did, Glenn saw things through to completion. As the apostle Paul wrote in

2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:…”.

Glenn has fought a good fight, he has finished his course, he kept the faith and he is in the presence of his beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.

Survivors include his son, Glenn Reece Drake of Ponca City, Okla., his daughter, Deborah Lynn Perkins and her husband Dr. Jerry Perkins of Hooker, Okla., his daughter Terry DeeAnn Steiestol and her husband Orval of Busby, Alberta, Canada, two granddaughters, Carrie Catherine Perkins Farris and her husband Chris of Edmond, Okla., and Leslee Lynn Roybal and her husband Ronnie of Shawnee, Okla., one great-grandson, Zachery Daemon Roybal, and other nieces and nephews.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Glenn Tolbart and Sweet Marie Drake, and one sister, Anita English.

Funeral services will be held on Sunday, December 10, 2017 at 2 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Hooker with Brother Mike McReynolds officiating. Interment will follow in the Hooker Cemetery under the direction of Roberts Brothers Funeral Home in Hooker.

The family suggests memorials to the First Baptist Church of Hooker, the Hooker Cemetery Fund, or the charity of your choice and may be left at Roberts Brothers Funeral Home, P.O. Box 745, Hooker, OK 73945.