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Co-ops Celebrate 75 Years Bonus Content


Connected to PEC... since the lights came on


Niney-eight-year-old Lavonia Deaton of Ada, Okla. vividly remembers when the lights came on. To her, the process began when her husband, T.O. (now deceased) started working on a right-of-way crew in 1948 to clear the parth for the power lines. For the Deaton family, the privilege of hav- ing lights in their home located in the Lovelady community came in 1949 through People’s Electric Cooperative (PEC). Deaton recalls two pull-string lights were installed in the ceiling of the house to replace col oil lamps—one in the living room and one in the kitchen, the two most used rooms in the Deaton home. Plugs and switches came later around 1950 during a remodel of the home.


According to Deaton, quite a few locals would come to visit the Deaton


home to see the “light,” and enjoyed the “new electric.” Mary Reynolds, one of the Deaton’s daughters, was seven years old when the lights came on. Her most vivid memory was seeing her grandpa Jared’s house that had just received electric lights.


“It was so lit up, it looked like a whole town,” Reynolds said. Today, Deaton lives in an assited living center and her daughter, Reynolds, owns the family’s old home that is still served by PEC. The Deatons did not know they would eventually be even more tightly connected to PEC. One of their daughetrs, Debbie Christian, born and raised at the Deaton home in Lovelady community, went to work for PEC on Octo- ber 9, 1972. Today, Debbie is close to approaching 40 years of service at PEC where she serves as the co-op’s Vice President of Ac- counting.


Photos by Jennifer Boeck/PEC


Above: Debbie Christian (right), PEC’s vice-president of accouting, visits with her mother, Lavonia Dea- ton (left). Below: The Deaton’s family home received electric power for the fi rst time in 1949. The home is still served by PEC, and a PEC transmis- sion line now towers above the home directly in front of the house.


“I remember how nice it was to have ice. It meant a lot to me in the last few months before my son was born to be able to have a cold drink, es- pecially iced tea, anytime I wanted. It was a treat to be able to make ice cream and jello (...) You fi lled a #3 washtub with water and let it set in the sun all day. After dark, you went outside and took your bath (...) You had to heat water on the stove and carry it to the washing machine. A foot crank operated the gasoline engine but it was so hard to start that lots of times your wash water would get cold before the engine got started. ”


- Gladys Longest, Red River Valley REA member, Marietta, Okla.


“For a vast number of years I have lived and worried among the rural people. My opinion is that no asset to the farmer can be compared to that of the Rural Electrifi cation Cooperative Program. Out of it has grown the greateast conveniences the farmer and members of his family have ever known. Effi ciency looms up all phases of farm living wherein electricity is present for use. It is a marvelous time and labor saver. Only as the drudgery of farm life is removed can the farmer become happier at his tasks and nothing helps to lighten their burdens more than the installing of electricity.”


- Eva Jo Minter, Oklahoma Electric member, in 1940, Norman, Okla.


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