Will Rogers, Wiley Post tributes planned in four areas
Seventy-five years ago on Aug. 15, Will Rogers and Wiley Post perished in an Alaskan airplane crash a few miles from their destination — Point Barrow. On Sunday, Aug. 15, tribute to the two aviation boosters will be headlined by a fly-in on a grass strip at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch near Oologah and more somber afternoon ceremonies. The 4 p.m. rite at the Will Rogers Memorial will be simultaneous with events at Barrow, the Will Rogers Ranch in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and pilot Wiley Post’s monument in Edmond Memorial Park Cemetery
Pilots of vintage warplanes, antique and new aircraft, power chutes and helicopters will start landing about 8:30 a.m. on the 2,000 foot strip adjacent to the house where Will was born. The event, lasting until 1 p.m., will be filled with activities for all ages — close-up look at planes and visits with pilots, inflatable amusements for children, Cherokee Indian storyteller under a shade tree, music, antique and classic car show, tours of the birthplace home and barb and food concessions.
After the crash, Post’s body was brought to Oklahoma for burial and Will Rogers’ body was moved from California to where a tomb was built six years after the Memorial opened in 1938.
A wreath will be placed at the tomb of Will Rogers’ family on the grounds of the Claremore Will Rogers Museum in a 4 p.m. ceremony. At that same hour, tributes will be taking place in California, combined with a polo match, and Barrow, combined with the Clare Okpeaha Run. Okpeaha is the Eskimo who heard the plane go down and carried the news to Point Barrow. From there it was broadcast to the world by radio. The Wiley Post Commission will host
the Edmond tribute.
8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Will Rogers & Wiley Post Fly-In
Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch
9501 East 380 Road (2 miles east of Hwy. 169 on 380 Road)
BRING YOUR LAWN CHAIRS!
4:00 p.m. Will Rogers Tribute
Will Rogers Memorial Museum
1720 West Will Rogers Blvd., Claremore, Oklahoma 74017