Alton J Hoyle - The legacy of a good and humble man begins...
A standard newspaper obituary might sum up his life this way:
"ALTON J (JAY) HOYLE 91, of Morrilton, Arkansas passed away due to natural causes on April 23, 2006 in Morrilton.
Alton Hoyle - all of his friends and family knew him simply as 'Jay' -
was born in Frederick Oklahoma on April 5, 1915. He moved to California in the late 1930s,
to Nebraska in the 1960s,
and finally to Morrilton in the 1970s.
He graduated from Frederick High School in 1934 and worked as an auto mechanic for most of his life. He served with the United States Army during World War II, and was honorably discharged in 1945.
He and his wife Patricia raised three children while living in Riverside, California
and Columbus, Nebraska. Jay was preceded in death by Patricia, his wife for
over 40 years, his second wife Bertha, and his brother, Bertram Verl (Pat) Hoyle of Meeker, Oklahoma. He is survived by two
sons, John Alan and Dennis Wayne Hoyle of California, and one daughter, Donna J. Ferren of Morrilton, Arkansas. Mr. Hoyle is also survived by seven grandchildren, five step-grandchildren,
and seven great grandchildren. He was an active Jehovah's Witness for much of his life. Memorial services were held at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's
Witnesses in Morrilton on Sunday, April 30, 2006. At the family's
request, Brother Rick Garlington, a long-time friend of Jay and his daughter
Donna's family, conducted the memorial service and led the group in prayer."
Jay's life simply cannot be summarized in one long paragraph. For those who knew him well, his rock hard commitment to trying to do the right thing for his friends and family was balanced only by his equally strong commitment to stand true to his religious beliefs. Throughout his life, his actions always spoke much louder than his words. He may have seemed to be a simple man on the surface, but in reality he faced challenges and complex issues that many other "common" men will never have to face.
The Early Years
Frederick, Oklahoma was just a small farming community located near the Texas line in the
southwest part of the state. Frederick eventually became the Tillman County seat,
resulting in its growth being a bit greater than other surrounding communities. It
was able to support its own separate high school, although class
sizes required combining some grades. Typical graduating classes of 100 or less included
students from Frederick
and surrounding communities. Frederick would
experience
occasional growth spurts, but would eventually become only a minor footnote in
Oklahoma history and is now nearly invisible on many state highway maps.
It was Frederick that became home for John Richard Hoyle and his family.
John Richard's step-father, George W. Woodall, had been employed by the railroad to
lay track between
Jacksboro, Texas and central Oklahoma. For his efforts on behalf
of the railroad and also for his Civil War service (he earned a Medal of Honor, although
he served for the
Confederacy), George Woodall was rewarded with one of several special land grants during a
visit from President Theodore
Roosevelt. Located near Frederick, this land eventually became the site of the
Hoyle family home and farms.
John Richard's son Claude and his wife Hersa Mae, also made their
home in Frederick. They had two sons, Bertram Verl (later known as "Pat") born in 1912, and
Alton J (later to change his middle initial into the name "Jay") born in
1915. Never much of a farmer, Claude spent most of his early
life helping out his father and learning to work on automobiles. Figuring
that there was more of a future in auto repair than in farming, Claude also taught both of his
sons how to make basic repairs. As the "Great Depression" deepened and
money became harder to come by, getting work repairing other peoples cars
became even more available
because no one could afford to buy new automobiles - even at prices under $600.
Money was tight for everyone, so Jay and his brother Pat would spend their time trying to find small jobs to make some money for themselves. Unfortunately, Claude would often confiscate their earnings for his own or other family needs. In one case, Jay had worked hard for his father to earn a few extra dollars to buy a bicycle. When he finally had enough to actually buy the bicycle, his father refused to give him the money, instead buying a watch with the money Jay had set aside. Jay wanted a bike, not a watch, but Claude could be cruel at times, so instead of explaining his actions and possibly offering a future payback or alternative, Claude just told Jay that it was his hard luck and that's the way it was going to be. Jay was brokenhearted over the loss of his hard earned bike, and his father's handling of the issue left a deep and lasting wound.
Although Claude always provided for his family and no one ever went hungry, he had some demons that created stress within the family. Although Frederick was located in a "dry county" and Prohibition was still the law of the land, Claude managed to develop a drinking problem. This only added more stress and friction within the family, so Jay and his brother found friendship and support among their aunts, uncles, and cousins who also lived around Frederick. One female cousin, Annis, became one of Jay's best friends and they spent much time together playing, plotting and supporting each other.
As Jay grew into a young man, he became interested in sports. He could hear radio broadcasts and read news stories about the great sports stars of the time - Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe (another Oklahoman), Bobby Jones, and others who later became legendary Hall of Famers. Even at 5'9" and only about 145 pounds, Jay was surprisingly one of the taller kids in his high school class. This gave him the opportunity to play in several team sports, but football became his game. He was fast on his feet, fearless, and he truly loved the game. With so few students available to play, making the team was a cinch for anyone with his skill and determination. Most games were scheduled after the local harvests - so Jay could get a pass from his father to actually play on the team.
Playing football in those days was not at all as it developed later in the
20th Century. Football uniforms all looked basically the same, and did not come
in "home and away" versions. All players tended to look the
same on the field, making it tough at times to determine who was actually a teammate. Playing in
the mud made every player anonymous - and in
the winter meant playing in the mud, making it difficult to tell the teams apart. Unlike
modern high school games, the game lasted a full 60 minutes and team members
played in both directions - offense and defense. If a player was hurt and
no backups were available, the team often had to play with fewer than eleven men
on the field. Sometimes, in a spirit of sportsmanship, the other team would
allow a couple of their players to rest on the sidelines, making the game a bit more
even - at least until they fell behind in the score.
Other teams, however, just saw this imbalance as the luck of the
draw, playing even harder and dirtier, often finishing a play by "piling on"
after a tackle in
the hope of injuring another player from the opposing team.
Jay still loved the game and became a minor star of his high school team as one of its halfbacks. In those years, a halfback carried the ball more, frequently handing-off and also passing the ball, so Jay developed into a well rounded player. He described his high school football field as uneven and covered with rocks, with a noticeable rise in the area between the 40 yard lines. It was often difficult to see his receiver when he set up to pass - because the other fellow would actually disappear "over the hill." Since there were usually not enough helmets to go around, Jay often played without one - suffering through the season with bruised and bloodied ears and knots on his head. He was able to wear some shoulder and knee pads, so he considered himself pretty lucky to play so often and yet survive the season with only minor injuries.
In spite of his difficulties with his father and the tight economic times, Jay always felt that he had a pretty good childhood thanks to his love of sports, his friendship with his cousins, and his mother's good cooking. He always said that "things could have been worse."