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Remembering Life in Centralia Early cooperative member Edwin T. Young shares


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dwin T. Young graduated high school in 1953 and leſt the small Craig County town of Centra- lia for bigger and better things. Bartlesville was


still booming from oil and opportunity abounded. Young went to work for Phillips Petroleum and also found time to attend classes at Central Pilgrim College. No matter how much the hustle and bustle of life


in the big city tugged at his small-town roots, hardly a day went by that Young didn’t draw from his past. Today, as the owner of several successful businesses, he still refl ects on experiences from his childhood. Growing up on the family farm kept the fi ve Young


children busy with chores. Edwin was the youngest of four boys born to Ed and Grace Young. He and his three brothers were later joined by a sister. T e kids were responsible for the maintenance of 500 feeder lambs, 500 hogs and 100 head of cattle on the family acreage southwest of town. In addition to his family chores, Edwin would wake


up at 4 a.m. each morning and milk cows for local dairy farmer Jim Christian. Christian’s operation was modern compared to most. Young said he used a ’45 model International milking machine and glass bottles. He said the cows didn’t take to the machine especially well and would always have to be fi nished by hand. But, he recalls making good money for the task—about 75 cents for three hours work. I had a thousand dollars when I graduated from


high school,” Young smiled. “I thought I was doing pretty good.” Once fi nished with his milking, Young would cut


back across the pasture to do his farm chores and then get ready for school. School was another mile away.


4 - Northeast Connection


The membership certifi cate issued to Centralia resident Ed Young in 1944.


“We had fun growing up, but it was a lot of work,”


Young chuckled. In 1944, the family added a grocery store to its


workload. Ed Young Grocery would operate for about twenty years. T e little corner store sold about the time the school closed its doors for good. Once a prosperous town of about 900—it has been


said that its height of prosperity was 1907 to 1915— Centralia would begin to experience a slow and painful decline. Fire devastated the town’s business district in 1917. T e promise of a railroad depot that never came about was also a bitter disappointment. Plans called for the “Vinita and Western” to pass through Centra- lia on its way from Vinita to Coff eyville. T e railway was staked and part of the grade built, but the line was never completed.


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