2014 Abernathy Day

Jaye McLaughlin (left) as Jessie Pearl Abernathy and Fred Peters (right) as Jack Abernathy visit with Frederick youngster Jake Schreiner (center) who portrayed Bud Abernathy at last year’s Abernathy Day. The car is a 1910 Brush Runabout like the one that Bud and Temple Abernathy drove from New York City to Oklahoma in 1910.

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Abernathy Day Dinner Set for June 7

The Tillman County Historical Society’s 2014 Abernathy Day Dinner will be held Saturday evening, June 7, 6:00 p.m. at the Pioneer Townsite Museum in Frederick.

In addition to a complete chuck wagon BBQ dinner, the event will feature two acclaimed storytellers who will perform as early Frederick area settlers Jack and Jessie Pearl Abernathy.

Fred E. Peters will portray Jack “Catch ‘em Alive” Abernathy, famous wolf hunter and friend to Theodore Roosevelt. Abernathy served as U.S Marshal in Oklahoma Territory and later, the young state of Oklahoma. Jaye McLaughlin will portray Jessie Pearl Abernathy, Jack’s wife and mother to his six children.

They will present an original program titled “The Intrepid Adventurers: Catch ‘Em Alive and the Boys”. They plan to perform this program at the National Storytelling Conference in Phoenix this July. Peters and McLaughlin live in in Fort Worth, Texas, and have told the story of the Abernathys in many performances to school and civic organizations throughout the region.

They are associated with Tipi Storytellers and are members of the Tejas Storytelling Association and the Tarrant Area Guild of Storytellers.

The dinner and performance will be held on the beautiful museum grounds east of the townsite’s red barn. Ticketholders should bring their own lawn chairs.

Tickets to the dinner are $15 for adults and $7 for children 10 and under. All proceeds will be used for operations of the Pioneer Townsite Museum.

Tickets will be sold through Friday, June 6, at the Pioneer Townsite Museum’s general store.

Tickets are also available at the following Frederick businesses: Frederick ACE Hardware, KC’s Gift Shop, BancFirst, First National Bank of Altus (Frederick branch), and Tillco Supply.

The tickets may also be purchased at the Frederick Chamber of Commerce, 580-335-2126.

The Abernathy Day event, held annually in Frederick on the first Saturday of June, celebrates the 1905 visit of President Theodore Roosevelt to Frederick for a hunting expedition with famous wolf hunter Jack “Catch ‘em Alive” Abernathy. It also celebrates the remarkable exploits just a few years later of Jack and Jessie Pearl Abernathy’s young sons Bud and Temple, including the boy’s 1910 trip from Frederick to New York City and their return trip to Oklahoma driving a Brush automobile.