A Patchwork of Memories

SWIFT NAIFEH

<Personal Information only - no story>

SWIFTLY GO THE YEARS

I was born 70 odd years ago in a mountain village, near the famous Cedars of Lebanon. During this period in history Lebanon was ruled by the Turks, who were very cruel rulers, causing a great deal of migration to Europe and America. My parents came to Oklahoma and settled in Glenpool in 1914. There my father began a small country food store, where people lived on oil leases and my brother at the age of 14 would deliver groceries on a horse and buggy to their homes.

We later moved to Sapulpa, where I graduated from high school in 1929. I left Sapulpa and went to Evanston, Illinois where for two years I attended Northwestern University. In 1931 I returned home to Sapulpa and went to Oklahoma A & M College in Stillwater. My major was in journalism and during my last year in 1933, I wrote a feature column for the O'Collegian. I also wrote a few feature articles for the Tulsa Wor1d.

I got out of school in 1933 when jobs of any kind were few and far between. I went to Washington, D.C. where I obtained a job in government working for the Triple A Administration. During this period I had time to write a few feature articles and detective stories. In 1943 I married and started a family, then went to work to support them. We raised and educated two daughters and a son. My youngest graduated from OSU in May of 1982, and now I feel free to pursue my hobbies again.