By J. M. Hall

© Karolyn Kay Garland 1997

Page # 50

He is 87 now. The writer has known him for more than 40 years. For 44 years Mr. Tinker has represented James H. Forbes Tea & Coffee Co. of St. Louis. He visits Tulsa every four weeks.

The love for the road keeps him going. He doesn't have to work. He is a stockholder and director in a bank and has other investments. The interest on his Liberty bonds amounted to $3,800 in 1926.

Mrs. Tinker died some years ago and is buried at Springfield, Mo., the family home. Mr. Tinker wants to be buried at her side when his day comes.

The elderly traveling man has one son who is a dentist in Pierce City, Mo., and a second son and a daughter in California.

Bob Bradford is another drummer known to all the old timers. He represented the Greely-Burnham Grocery Co. of St. Louis and made regular trips to Tulsa, where his laugh need only be heard to be enjoyed. He died a few years ago.

C. B. LYNCH

C. B. Lynch arrived in Tulsa from Arkansas in 1891 and clerked in the Hall store for a few months, later engaging in business with his brother. Still later he and Henry Calhoun conducted a clothing and furnishing business. When they sold out Mr. Lynch and Jay Forsythe opened the Lynch-Forsythe addition to Tulsa on the east side, and Mr. Lynch has been dealing in real estate since that time, although the oil business has been his major activity. Recently he sold one of his farms for $36,000.

He has been a strong advocate of moral principles in business and his friends attribute much of his success to these high standards. He married after coming to Tulsa and he and Mrs. Lynch have two sons, Hayden and James, who live with their parents at Thirteenth street and Baltimore avenue.

Mr. Lynch has always given freely of his time to the development of the city through the chamber of commerce and through public donations to public enterprises. He also served as a city commissioner.

Throughout his career he has been an extreme optimist concerning Tulsa's future. One of the best stories about him arises from this irrepressible strain. More than 25 years ago Mrs. Lynch wanted a rug for their home, and wanted it badly. Her husband told her at first that he could not buy it, but during the day he thought over his refusal, and returned home at night with this announcement: "I made $2,500 today and you can buy the rug." Mrs. Lynch was overjoyed, of course, but presently inquired the source of his wealth. "I advanced the price of our home $2,500," her husband replied. She got the rug, and the home has advanced several times that amount since.

Mr. Lynch was named for Cornelius Boudinot, one of the great Cherokee statesmen. Probably that is the reason he has been successful. The writer has known him over forty (40) years. Fine fellow - many friends in Tulsa.

'While I think of the many fine things you have done, C. B., there is one more I think of. Remember the First Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund in your will.