Richard Donley "Dick" Braden, born on November 12, 1929 in Blackwell, Oklahoma to Kathryn and Harry Glenn Braden. Became better known to friends and family as "Dick".

The family moved to Oklahoma City, in 1935 shortly after the birth of a brother, Robert Glenn Braden, then to Norman, Oklahoma where both Dick and his brother started grade school. In August 1941 the family moved back to Oklahoma City where Dick graduated from Classen High School with the class of 1948. His graduation present was a new Samsonite suit case and a one-way train ticket to Riverbank, California where he spent the summer and part of the fall with some cousins while working in a cannery.

Upon returning home and waiting to be drafted he worked for the Oklahoma Transportation Co. in their home office. When drafted he was sent to Pine Bluff, Arkansas at the Arsenal where he was assigned to the Chemical Corps. Later he was sent to Korea and assigned to the 25th infantry Division and was then assigned to the APO and guarded the mail going to and from the front lines. He was discharged and returned to Oklahoma in February 1953, where he enrolled in Oklahoma A&M, now OSU. He met the love of his life, Betty Jo Jenkins of Stroud, Oklahoma and they were married the following November 25, 1953. Three years later on August 24, 1956, they were blessed with a daughter, they named Belinda Sue.

After graduating and a brief tenure as a teacher in the Oklahoma City public schools he was hired by the Insurance Company of North America in the claims deparment where in time he rose into claims administration and was transferred up and down the East coast and Mid South and South eastern part of the USA. At last he was transferred back to Oklahoma from the Chicago area, where he became the manager in the office he was originally hired. From there he retired after a couple of years.

Having purchased some land SE of Stroud several years before, Jo and Dick had a log house along with a barn, corrals and several outbuildings built and started a "cow - calf operation" and maintained this life style for about 20 years.

Shortly after starting this new business Dick was given the opportunity to work for Oklahoma Farmers Union as a claims adjuster, which he did for better part of 8 -9 years when he retired from this secondary job. A few years later they retired from the cattle business and moved into Stroud where they started a rental business and established the company "D/J Rentals" and operated this business for a number of years.

When age crept upon Dick and the demands of owning numerous rental properties got too much, this company was dissolved and at last true retirement became a real reality this time.