2026 -1 He Followed His Heart - And the Oil

 

Charles Bertram “C.B.” Wallis, My Paternal Grandfather

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 1 – January 1–7, 2026

Prompt: An Ancestor I Admire

Most of what I know about my Wallis grandfather I have gleaned from letters written by his daughter, my Aunt Gladys, and from newspaper articles. He died on April 4, 1962, when I was nine years old. We lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and he lived in El Dorado, Arkansas, so we didn’t see each other very often—maybe once a year.

I do have a photograph of him holding me with my step-grandmother, Mam Maw, standing beside us on the sidewalk in front of our home in Bartlesville. In another picture, it appears that I have run straight into his arms as he kneels down to give me a big hug. I look to be about three years old, so we had recently moved to Bartlesville from Tulsa. The purpose of that visit may have been to bring me the cedar chest he made. It was bigger than I was and still bears a rope burn from being tied down during shipment. It was as long as my bedroom closet, and we had to remove the sliding doors just to fit it inside.

C.B. Wallis holding granddaughter, Libby Wallis with Stella Wallis beside them. 

Libby Wallis getting a big hug from her Grampa Wallis. 

I remember having to get up very early for the long drive to El Dorado in our station wagon. Daddy would put a full-size mattress in the back so we kids could go back to sleep. We would stop for breakfast in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. We knew we were nearing the end of our trip when the smell of the paper mills in Camden, Arkansas overwhelmed us. I remember playing under the big magnolia tree in his front yard. But I don’t really remember any interaction with Grampa Wallis.

The red station wagon loaded with a mattress and boxes - apparently we didn't use suitcases - for the long drive to El Dorado, Arkansas in 1960. 

The 1960 visit came after C.B. had suffered the stroke that left him an invalid. In every photograph from that trip, he is wearing a bathrobe. Yet he is not confined. He is shown walking outside his home with a cane and sitting with others, playing dominoes.

Three generations, Ralph, Dave, and C.B. enjoying a game of dominoes. 

C.B. still able to walk following a stroke. 

C.B. "still able to take nourishment" as my father would say after his stroke. 

C.B. and my father, Ralph.

Looking at those images now, I realize that although I didn’t have long conversations with Grampa Wallis, I was present during a meaningful chapter of his life. The long drive, the mattress in the back of the car, and the quiet moments captured in those photographs carried us to him at a time when his world had narrowed, but not entirely closed.

Following His Heart

One of Aunt Gladys’s letters explains how C.B. and my grandmother Gertrude met. By then, he had already served in the Spanish-American War in Manila, Philippines, and had been married and divorced. He left his home in Iola, Kansas, to visit his brother Scott, who was a lease foreman for an oil company in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. From there, he planned to travel on to Panama to work on the Panama Canal.

But he met Gertrude Goldsmith, fell in love, and stayed in Oklahoma to work in the oil fields instead.

That is why I admire him.

He followed his heart.

C.B. and Gertrude were married on March 6, 1910, in Creek County, Oklahoma. Their marriage license states that both were residents of Kiefer, near Sapulpa.

Postcard photo sent to Gertie's double aunt, Mrs. M. E. Goldsmith, 5 weeks after their marriage. 

Their first child, Gladys Juanita, was born in 1911 in an oil-field shack somewhere between Oilton and Drumright, both in Creek County. Their second child, Charles Bert Jr., was born in 1917 in Quay, Payne County. These were all oil-boom towns tied to the nearby Cushing Oil Field.

A Soldier Before the Oil Fields

Private C.B. Wallis, Indiana Volunteers, Spanish-American War era, c. 1899–1901. This studio portrait was likely taken before he shipped out to the Philippines. His expression suggests a young man learning how to be a soldier.

Before oil fields and before family life anchored him to Oklahoma and Arkansas, Charles Bertram “C.B.” Wallis was already a soldier.

He enlisted on September 4, 1899, as a Private in Company E, 35th Indiana Volunteers, serving in the Spanish-American War and the Philippine conflict that followed. His discharge certificate records his release from service on May 2, 1901.

At first glance, Indiana may seem an odd choice for a Kansas-born young man, but it fit his circumstances. His parents and grandparents had lived in Indiana, and at age eighteen he was working on a farm there when he enlisted. Indiana was not a detour—it was part of his family landscape.

C.B.’s service took him to Manila, where he served under General Fred Funston, who—like C.B.—was from Inola, Kansas. A newspaper article from the time reports that C.B. wrote to friends back home, saying he was now under Funston’s command and reassuring them that “the gallant Fred is all O.K.”

Funston was no obscure officer. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines and was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, becoming a nationally recognized figure during the conflict. His fame was such that a cigar bearing the name General Funston was marketed during that period—most likely a private-label brand produced for a Kansas cigar wholesaler or grocer. That detail helps explain why C.B. referenced him so casually in letters home.

Military service was not something C.B. set aside when his enlistment ended. According to a note from Aunt Gladys, while working in the oil fields he found time to drill the local “home guard”—boys preparing to leave for war. Even in civilian life, he stepped naturally into a role shaped by discipline, readiness, and responsibility.

Decades later, he remained active in Spanish-American War veterans’ organizations, eventually serving as Department Commander for the Department of Arkansas in 1956–1957.

Business Card Front

Business Card Back

Commander Wallis wearing convention badge and holding his ever present pipe.

These artifacts reflect a man who never stopped identifying as a soldier. Service, once claimed, stayed with him for life.

Following the Oil

In the early 1920s, the family moved to Homer, Louisiana, where C.B. worked for Magnolia Petroleum Company. My father was born there in 1926. Shortly after his birth, the family followed the oil boom again, settling in El Dorado, Arkansas.

Reverse side says, "Daddy Bert holding Ralph."

C.B. worked for Magnolia until his retirement.

In 1959, Magnolia merged with Mobil Oil, whose symbol was the red Pegasus.

This unused decal was found tucked into the family Bible.

Another artifact from that period is a gold pocket watch engraved with his initials. 

Inside it reads "Presented to C.B. Wallis by "The Gang" Dec 25 '26"

 Possibly a farewell gift as he was leaving Homer. 

Sports and Teamwork

C.B. was sports-minded for most of his life, remaining active until ill health eventually curtailed his activities.

C.B. Wallis is on top row, second from the right. 

An early photograph from 1901 shows him as part of a football team in LaHarpe, Kansas, where he worked for a time in a glass factory that produced fruit jars before the era of standardized molds. The team itself was composed entirely of factory employees—working men who carried teamwork and camaraderie from the factory floor onto the playing field. The opponent is unknown, but LaHarpe won 107-0.

During the oil-boom years, C.B. worked for Kathleen Oil Company and lived in Shamrock, near Drumright, Oklahoma. He captained the company baseball team.   By 1916, he helped organize and lead a “home players” baseball league made up of oil-field workers and local talent from towns around the Cushing Oil Field. Newspaper coverage emphasized that no salaried players were involved—baseball, for C.B., was about teamwork, fairness, and community rather than profit.

Later, in El Dorado, Arkansas, that same commitment found expression in mentorship.

Coach Wallis, the white haired coach, top right. 

For several years, C.B. coached the Christian Church Boys Club baseball team. One photograph shows him with the team after they won the city championship—a fitting image of a man whose love of sports had evolved into leadership and guidance.

Loss, Loneliness, and Companionship

C.B.’s long partnership with Gertrude came to an end in August 1943, when she died of complications due to diabetes. Her death marked a profound turning point in his life. After decades of shared work, movement, and community, he was suddenly alone.

August 1943, C.B. Wallis returned home after Gertie's funeral. 

In a letter written to my father, C.B. spoke openly of how very lonely he was—an unguarded glimpse into the emotional cost of losing the woman who had anchored his adult life.

In February 1944, he married Annie Mabel Walker Evans, the mother of my father's best friend, but the marriage was short-lived. 

That loneliness did not keep him from showing up when it mattered most. In January 1945, he traveled alone to Tulsa to stand as best man at his son’s wedding. It is a small but powerful moment: a father, recently widowed, putting aside his own grief to support the next generation at a pivotal milestone.

January 21, 1945 Sand Springs, Oklahoma
Rev. James E Greer, Elizabeth Nolen, Ralph Wallis, Margaret "Peggy" Nolen, C. B. Wallis, Betty Nolen, Leonard Nolen

Later that year, on December 22,1945, C.B. married for the fourth and final time. His bride, Stella Dean Morgan Kinard, had cared for Gertrude during her final months and would later care for C.B. himself. Their marriage brought stability and companionship in his later years, and they remained together until his death.

December 30, 1945 Hot Springs, Arkansas
C.B. Wallis and Stella Dean Morgan Kindard Wallis

C.B. suffered a stroke that left him an invalid, and Stella cared for him until he died in 1962. In that final chapter, as in so many earlier ones, the story circles back to the same themes—service, loyalty, and quiet endurance.

C.B. and Stella, wife, companion and caregiver. 

Why I Admire Him

I admire C.B. Wallis because he followed his heart, served his country, worked hard, built community, and endured loss with quiet resilience.