The Jim Lucas Checotah Public Library recently hosted the Tabor Family Exhibit which consisted of the Tabor family portraits, photos and collected artwork from their world travels. Pieces of Britton Duncan Tabor’s art collection were on display as were family portraits the public had never seen. The Tabor family has been an influential and prominent family from Checotah since the town’s very beginning, shining a light on a lot of its history The Tabors gave the land that the library sits on and the family has been shipping pieces from Hawaii to the library to be put on display.
Mike Stidham recalls the Tabor family with fond memories as their family grew up with many of them.
“Britton was never married but he had a sister Betty who had two girls,’’Stidham said. “His two nieces, Rosemary, who is in California, and Kathy, who is in Hawaii, are still very involved in the Checotah community.
“Betty Tabor first married Mr. King but he died. Then Betty moved to Honolulu, Hawaii in the 50’s with the girls. This is where she met and married a man named Leo Andre who adopted the girls and they took his last name.
“The Tabor family first came to Oklahoma because of the opportunities that were available with the land and did quite well. Britton was well traveled and went everywhere. In his travels, he went to Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and beyond. In fact, for our wedding gift he gave my wife and I a piece of art called ‘The Temple Rubbing.’
“Both Jim Lucas and Britton Tabor grew up in Checotah and both were even on the state championship debate team. Ruby Buford, who used to be associated with the Democrat newspaper because her husband, John, owned the Democrat back when I was a boy, was also a member of the debate team with them.”
Checotah is rich in the history of this family with a park named after Bessie Tabor and the Tabor House which has been on the National Registry since Sept. 23, 1996. Interesting enough inside the Tabor House is a piano that has to stay within the home no matter who purchases it. Currently the Marion family owns the Tabor House.
“I have never seen this portrait of Bessie before,” Stidham stated as he pointed at one of the portraits on display. “But I remember the Tabors well. Mr. Tabor had a hutched back but pictures don’t reflect that which is interesting to me. “Britton had worked for Congressman Edmondson in Washington D.C. and in Muskogee. He was a very gentle and educated man who loved to travel but he was put into a combat position in WWII in the South Pacific which affected him greatly. So he came back home with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) but as part of his psychological treatment for his PTSD he did photography work and took wonderful nature scenes. My brother and sister and I own cabins in Wauhillau Outing Club in Tahlequah and we have pictures on the walls that Britton took from 1947 to 1951. There’s even a picture of me in a basket when I was two months old with my mother and my father.
“Like a lot of other lawyers and landowners around the turn of the century, Oklahoma depended upon the railroad which came through Checotah. So many came here as the land was being subdivided by the Dawes Commission and the Tabor family was one of those families, as Britton’s father was a lawyer and he came to practice law.
Britton’s nieces are still giving back to the Checotah community in their uncle’s honor today. Not by only bringing this exhibit to the library but by donated $100,000 to go towards Checotah school scholarships in which Peoples Bank is in charge of.
“I am thankful to have known this family and love that they are still investing in our children’s futures. We have been able to give away $4,000 in scholarships to one boy and one girl from Checotah High School and will continue these scholarships for many years in Britton’s honor. It’s just wonderful to have known this family and the impact they have made on Checotah.”
