20 August 2006
Michael Edward Locke
A Young Boy Remembered
Michael was 12 years old when he died and that was in the summer of 1960. He was collecting for his newspaper route on a Saturday afternoon. I worked as a soda jerk in the Rush Springs Rexall Drug Store. Mike had come in for a coke on a hot afternoon and when he finished his drink, he got up and got his bicycle and took off to complete his business.
About a 1/2 hour later, some excited boys came in to the drugstore telling us that a truck carrying drill stems for oil wells was headed south and Mike was bicycling next to the highway going north----one drill stem came out of the load and hit him in the back of the head and killed him instantly.
The poor truck driver never knew it happened and was stopped in Duncan and told about it. We heard that he was in such horror of killing a young boy and not even knowing, he had to be medicated and taken to the hospital for a while.
Mike's parents moved within a few months of his death and I never knew what happened to them. They had a daughter, Julie, who was close to the same age as Mike and I believe she was the age of my sister who was 9 at the time.
Mike and Julie both had dark hair and light olive skin and were beautiful children. I don't remember the parents names but I will never forget the boy. I do know that family was never the same.
LaDonna Hinch | 
