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A Fool's Enterprise By Opal Bennefield Clark  $17.95 |
A Fool's
Enterprise
by
Opal Bennefield
Clark
ISBN:
0-9621444-0-1
Hardback, 272 pages
Dustjacket
From The Publisher
Charles Page came to Tulsa during the
oil boom at the turn of the century. After many failures he finally
made it rich in the oil business. He shared his fortune and his life
with hundreds of people in need.
Charles Page rescued twenty one
children from a defunct Tulsa orphanage. The result was the Sand
Springs Children’s Home built in 1918, followed by the Charles Page
Children’s Home, a modernistic building now in use.
Charles Page also created a Widow’s Colony where women could come to
find shelter and get back on their feet.
Charles Page is considered the father of Sand Springs, and his name
appears on street markers, over libraries and schools. A trust
continues to operate his benevolent enterprises.
The author, Opal Clark, came to Sand Springs to the Children’s Home
in 1916. She worked on the book off and on, for more than
twenty–five years. The stories of Charles Page’s childhood were told
to the author by "Daddy Page" himself while she stood at his knee as
an orphan.
Charles Page died in December, 1926. The author writes, "I shall
never forget that day (of his funeral). Church bells rang and
factory sirens gave a mournful wail as the wheels of industry in
both Sand Springs and Tulsa came to a halt for ten minutes in his
honor. As my sister and I stood weeping, strangers around us spoke
in hushed whispers of his greatness. We had never thought of him as
they pictured him. We knew him only as Daddy Page."
His memory and his accomplishments live on through A Fool’s
Enterprise.