Original cover.
Bill and Christine Verner moved from town years ago and built a rambling ranch house on a small spread of land.
According to Christine; they never intended to raise anything but cattle and their seven kids there; which now age from 53 to 42.
Plans change. They adopted a baby buffalo years ago; and called him Ben. “If you take a calf before it begins taking milk from it’s mother, and bottle feed it yourself you can settle it down, but not much. It will still be a wild animal.”
One of their gates.
They took it to a McAlester High School game in that first year, as a mascot. “Go Buffs;” can be seen all over town, as well as statues of buffalo; as McAlester is “Home Of The Buffs”. Christine is also a huge fan of exotic animals and has been to Africa to take photos of them to use as subjects in some of her paintings.
Christine’s painting.
She is a well known local artist; who still teaches classes to her grandchildren and anyone who shows promise.
‘A Summer Storm’ by Christine Verner.
I arrived at their ranch which is located West of town; past Indian Nation Turnpike; about a mile past Coal Creek, and could see two buffalo in a corral on the left side of the road. No one was home yet. I was ten minutes early of my scheduled appointment with Christine and daughter Melissa; so I decided to take some photos of the animals before they arrived. A lucky break; the fenced pasture next door to the buffalo was empty so I climbed in.
The buffalo were barely moving, but their distance and angle wasn’t good. I walked deeper into the pasture for a better shot. It wasn’t until walking over a ridge, I discovered that I had inadvertently gotten into a pasture with a Texas Long Horn. I moved slowly and took a few shots of the nervous buffalo and left.
Ben was the first of the buffalo; but the Verners began raising them; as well as antelope, deer, ostriches, emu, and cougars. They opened their ranch to local schools for field trips and built a picnic building near a pond on their property with a full kitchen for the groups to use. At the height of their collecting they had around 100 buffalo; but at some point the government began taking exotic animal licenses away from citizens due to mallings; and animals escaping in other parts of the country.
They would sell off their herd and other exotic animals. They located a buyer for the buffalo in Kansas; and were upset to discover that the group was offering the buffalo up for hunters to shoot them for sport; and charging $1,500 for the opportunity.
Bill and Christine refused to sell Ben; and four cows that had escaped into a back pasture. All four cows hid in the woods through the winter. Two of them died in birthing; and the other two had live birth. Many years pass.
These two buffalo are the only ones left.
When they pass on; McAlester; “Home Of The Buffs” will no longer have a buffalo. Ironically “You don’t have to have an exotic animal license to raise buffalo anymore; ” Christine said; “because you can eat them.”
Talking now to daughter Melissa; the sixth of her seven children. “Mom raised all us kids and her grand kids.” We had a friend who lost her mom and mom raised her too. We all had ATV’s my dad got us one Christmas; my brother had a racing one; and we used to ride them through the fields. I was about eleven, maybe.
When I got a little older I hooked a wagon to it and squeezed about five of the grandkids in it and took them for rides around the pasture.”
“It’s definitely true about …buffalo roam. They were always breaking through the barbed wire fence when we had them over here in the (deeper) pasture.”
“They haven’t broken out up here.” (Near the road). “People were really interested in them. I mean, WHO ELSE HAS BUFFALO? Nobody in McAlester has buffalo.”
“Some smart butts would want to climb into the pin with them for pictures, and we had to tell them; “They’ll charge you; and then they’ll kill you.”
“My sister Vicky and her first husband were riding ATV’s out in the pasture once wearing red; and the buffalo charged at them! That was scary, but they got away. I was 15 or 16 at the time.”
“I hate to admit this in the interview, but buffalo meat is really lean; and delicious. It’s better for you than beef. I’ve lived in town, and out here in the country, but I love it here. Everybody in my family except my sister Vicky lives on the ranch; 5,000 acres. We can all go to see each other without getting on the road. Vicky’s husband has a ranch in Kiowa and she lives there with him. They raise cows and horses.”
“Our land goes from highway 270 to 31 highway. Dad didn’t have that much at first. He leased a large portion of land and when the owner wanted to sell, and offered it to him; then some people from Kansas asked my dad if he wanted the land where my brother lives now; so little by little my dad got land. We can go by mule or (John Deere) Gators; Have you seen those? They are so much fun! We go through the pasture… The back side of the property is so pretty with the rolling hills.”
“Did you see the fence yet?” The Verners have a fence made of metal plates on the property painted with large cartoon characters; mostly Looney Tunes.
“Dad really is a kid at heart; he really is. I remember him watching cartoons with us all the time; especially Looney Tunes.”
Galllery and Studio on the Right.
“Are you going over to mom’s gallery? Mom’s an amazing artist; she studied all over the United States and even studied art in France. My little nephew Nick can really draw and paint. His grandma on the other side paints too. He did the Yosemite Sam. That’s dad’s favorite. Mom teaches her grandchildren art three days a week during the Summer and on weekends when they are in school. I hope you can cover my mom’s art.” Melissa said; as I was leaving. “She doesn’t get the recognition she deserves.”
Christine collects bronzes.
The two story metal barn had beautiful knotty pine paneling. Christine was upstairs in her lesson area.
Click to enlarge.
Melissa was right; her mom has quite a collection of work in her gallery downstairs, and more upstairs. She collects bronze statues and western paintings too of her favorite artists. She has sold some of her work for thousands of dollars; but is so proud of a former student. Some of his art sold for more.
“I have lived a charmed life.” she said; her blue eyes flashing; I have my kids, my grand kids, and my art. I always say if I were to die tonight; I’d die happy.”
Long Way Home; Christine Verner.
“I met my husband, Bill, when I was 16.” Christine said. ” I just thought he was the cutest thing! We both went to McAlester High, but he was a little older than me and out of High School when we met. He is the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, but he was a cool cat… I married Fonzie but I ended up with John Wayne.”
I had contacted Christine’s husband, Bill Verner by phone before the interview. By all accounts; he is a hard man to reach. Now in his later seventies; he still remains busy with the day to day operations of his massive businesses; “Big V Feeds” and overseeing the family’s cattle ranch.
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