Herb McSpadden elected to Will Rogers Heritage board

Herb McSpadden, elected to the Will Rogers Heritage board, stands on the porch of the house were Will Rogers was born and where, in 1935, the year of his death, Trent McSpadden (Herb’s father) was born.

 

Rogers County native Herb McSpadden, perhaps best known for his leadership of Rogers County Youth Services, is getting better acquainted with the rich heritage he inherited from his father.

The son of the late Trent McSpadden and Leota McSpadden of Chelsea, he has been elected to the board of Will Rogers Heritage, dedicated to raising funds to help perpetuate the memory of Will Rogers.

Trent McSpadden was born on the Will Rogers Ranch in the same house as his famous great-uncle, but never mentioned that — even to his children.  Trent’s father, Herb, managed the ranch from 1928 until Oologah Lake started filling and he moved to Chelsea in 1961. His wife, Madalyn, raised her three sons (Clem was born before they moved to the ranch and for some reason she was in Chelsea with Bob was born) to never use their uncle’s status for their own promotion although they lived on the ranch until they were grown.

Trent never knew Will Rogers. He was less than a month old when Will and Wiley Post were killed in an Alaskan plane crash. 

“In high school he (Trent) started talking about the barns, cattle drives from the Rogers place to the McSpadden ranch across the river, taking cattle on a train to Kansas City,” said Herb, “more about the ranch, never about Uncle Will.”

“All of Dad’s life, he never talked about the relationship.”

His father, a retired rural mail carrier, died in 2000 in a freak accident while mowing along a county road.

At 41, Herb is learning more about his uncle, his father’s birth and life on the ranch, and is getting acquainted with his Rogers’ cousins.

It was cousin Kem who broke the ice. The family representative on the Will Rogers Memorial Commission and Will Rogers Heritage, he approached Trent to serve on the Heritage board with him, Commission Chairman Jim Hartz, Vice Chairman Steve Turnbo and retired Tulsa businesswoman and philanthropist Gordona Duca-Heiliger.

“It was great to speak with Kem. Perhaps because of the generation gap, I didn’t know him personally, bur this year I have been getting to know him better,” Herb said. “This is the first time I have felt a strong family connection.”

He said although he thought “long and hard about accepting” the challenge, his strong family commitment to public service was the guiding force in accepting. “I am glad to be considered and look forward to learning more about the family and helping with the museum.”

His father, he said, was a dedicated public servant. “I remember as a child my father delivering the mail to the door or porch of people who for some reason were unable to get to the mailbox, checking on them if they hadn’t picked up their mail. I would occasionally go along with Dad on his mail route. He always carried bubble gum and when kids would run up to the car he would hand them gum.”

He was still in junior high when his father started delivery the Claremore Progress after he finished his regular mail route. Each of the five children helped with the newspaper route, which helped put them through college.

Although intrigued by the cowboy world and loving horses and riding fence lines with his father, Herb said his roping skills were limited to “roping an anvil in the barn.”

He earned bachelors in sociology at the University of Oklahoma, where his roommate was his cousin, Bart. On a whim, after graduation he went to Alaska and worked a year in a fish factory.

“I wanted to do something different, an opportunity before I got a real job, something crazy,” he said.

He and some friends drove the Alcan Highway from Texas to Alaska. One of those friends was Stephanie. It was after she returned to the lower 48 that he knew he was in love and after a year came home. Herb and Stephanie have three children. Quiny is nine, Herbert “Tate,” is seven, and “recently decided he want to be called Herb,” and Sadie, is five All are Claremore Westside students.

The youngest of five siblings — and the only son — all are work in some kind of public service. Virginia McSpadden works at Claremore Indian Hospital. Sharon Moore is a former schoolteacher, former Oklahoma Education Association executive and now a school consultant with a private company, Mary Norwood is with the Social Security office in Miami and Madalyn Captain is a Chelsea teacher.

Herb went to work 14 years ago as a counselor of Rogers County youth Service Inc. and earned his masters as an adult student. He was named agency director 10 years ago.

It is said a busy person is one to take on new challenges. Herb is the incoming Claremore Rotary president, RCYS is embarking on building a new facility, he is on his church finance committee — and by example — his family is the most important thing in his life.

Will Rogers Heritage funds help fill the Memorial Museums mission to “collect, preserve and share the life, wisdom and humor of Will Rogers for all generations.