LIVING Country HOME SWEET HOME IN RURAL OKLAHOMA Story and photos by Laura Araujo E


very home tells a story. Like a well-crafted novel that brings its characters to life, a home’s design tells the tale of the people who dwell in it—the places they have been, their accomplishments, what they love.


A home with history


For Jim and Joan Derby, East Central Oklahoma Electric Cooperative members, their home highlights the story of their heritage and life experiences.


Located in southern most Tulsa County, the Derbys’ 272-acre Concharty


Ranch is situated on the crest of the northwest-sloping ridge of Conjada Mountain. This acreage, purchased in 1963, originally belonged to Bessie Gilcrease, sister of oilman Thomas Gilcrease. The homestead is adjacent to properties Joan and her cousin Galia Williams inherited from their grand- mother, Neosho Brown, who received a deed to her 160-acre allotment in 1899. Joan recalls spending childhood summers with her grandmother who was on the original Creek Nation rolls. At the time, they had no running water or electricity.


“I remember being worried when I heard people say, ‘The REA is com-


ing,’” Joan says. She didn’t realize the REA, or Rural Electric Administration, was the organization that would bring electricity to the rural land.


“I am fortunate to have had a tiny foot into that world,” she reflects as she recounts rich memories from the early days with her grandmother. Over the years, the family enjoyed many gatherings in a cabin on the property they purchased in the ’60s. As Jim, a geologist, and Joan, a nursing professor, transitioned into retirement in the late-’90s, they decided to leave the fast pace of Tulsa living behind and relocate to the ranch. With the help of architect Joe Wilkinson and designer Molly Gerkin


Johnston, they made plans to build a home on the site of the original cabin. The Derbys were inspired by Arts and Crafts-style homes they enjoyed while visiting their daughter, Jane Breckinridge, in the Twin Cities as well Frank Lloyd Wright homes they toured in Chicago. In keeping with this architectural style, Jim says they tried to “bring the outside in” as they constructed and designed their home. Johnston, a Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative member, helped them to incorporate details into the home that highlight their unique history and interests.


Upon entering the home, one of the most stunning features is the rich pecan wood flooring, trim and shelving. Sourced from a friend’s pecan mill, the wood nicely ties in with Jim’s retirement enterprise of tending to the ranch’s 85-acre pecan grove. Due to Jim’s lifelong interest in rocks, native stone features strongly into the home’s design. The California native and former geology professor still serves as a part-time docent and the resident geologist at the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Pawhuska. The focal point of the Derbys’ living room is a stone fireplace, modeled after a photo Joan saw in Architectural Digest. They


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