Elderhostel group tours
Will Rogers’ museums, Oologah

CLAREMORE — Visitors from 10 states, from as far away as California and Oregon, made the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore, Oologah birthplace ranch and downtown Oologah stops on their Elderhostel tour.       “This is our second trip here this year,” said Linda Bradbury, Carl Albert State College Eldershostel program director. “It (Will Rogers Museum) is very popular, all filled, people from all over the country.”       Andy Hogan, Claremore Museum tour guide, talked about the offerings in the nine-gallery museum. Visitors particularly enjoyed reading the sayings of Will Rogers, laughing about their continued appropriateness of the times.       Steve Gragert, Will Rogers archivist, completed the educational program with a presentation at the College in Poteau.       He discussed Will Rogers’ reputation as a “trickster”, traditions of the Cherokee culture in his life and his Cherokee heritage, especially his relationship with Charlie McClellan. He showed copies of documents that relate to Will’s life through his papers.       Gragert is co-editor of The Papers of Will Rogers, a scholarly project to collect, edit, research, annotate, and publish a definitive edition of the previously unpublished writings of Will Rogers. The final two books in the five-volume Papers of Will Rogers series, a collaboration of Rogers State University and the Will Rogers Memorial Commission, focus on Rogers’ life and career during his most prolific, productive years, 1915–1935. Volume 4 is in production at the press. Volume 5 has been accepted for publishing.       Elderhostel, headquartered in Boston, is America’s first and world’s largest educational travel not-for-profit organization for adults 55 and over.       “Seniors, after retiring don’t want to stop learning,” said Bradbury.       Experts share information through lectures, field trips and cultural excursions from Paris to Oklahoma, music from Memphis to New Orleans and India temples, the Grand Canyon and London.       Elderhostel tours are all inclusive. In addition to accommodations, many times on college campuses or in lodges, included items included meals, lectures, field trips, excursions, gratuities and medical or insurance coverage.       Note: Information about Elderhostel is available on the web at Elderhostel or by contacting Bradbury at Carl Albert State College.