Well, I’m proud to be...‘True’ or ‘transplanted,’ Okies celebrate Muskogee

By Donna Hales
Phoenix Staff Writer

September 08, 2008 12:48 am

— Jim Wiseman’s family worked on a Kansas family farm for years, and he has worked in a business his parents have been building in Muskogee for the last 39 years.
He’s a great believer in family working and playing together — supporting each other emotionally and in every way.
He got that from his parents. In 1969, his mom and dad sold the family farm in Oswego, Kan. Instead of spending the money for their retirement and traveling, they built a business their four sons and their families could make a living in and be able to remain close.
“We still work together, and the next generation will take over,” Wiseman said.
He and his brothers and their sons operate two Discount Tires establishments in Muskogee.
“We have problems like anybody else, but nothing we can’t work out. Everybody listens, and everybody talks,” Wiseman said.
The family also often plays together. Jim’s 84-year-old mother, Jerri Wiseman, has her own metal detector. She helped Jim Wiseman hunt for treasure during a trip to Galveston’s beach area in August.
Her favorite objects to hunt for are arrowheads and beads. But on their recent out-of-state jaunt, she snagged a shark’s tooth, her son said, chuckling about her excitement.
Some sharks teeth are millions of years old, he said.
“She’s only good for an hour or so, and then she’s worn out,” he said. “I can go all day if I’m finding something.”
He said they’ve had a lot of fun sharing the hobby. In Galveston recently, his mother also found coins.
When at home, he often keeps busy restoring a 1968 Camaro convertible. He’s put a new frame under it and new floorboards.

Metal detector helps in treasure hunts
Jim Wiseman’s treasure hunting has brought him some rare finds and a lot of fun times.
He has metal detectors for dry land and for under water.
Class rings are something he’s found for years around area lakes. He’s had a lot of fun hunting down the owners and surprising them by returning them to him.
Civil War “stuff” is a fun find, he said. One of his favorite finds was in the Fort Gibson area. He found half of a Confederate soldier’s sand belt buckle. They come in two pieces.
“I found half of it, and five years later my brother found the other part in the same place but deeper in the ground.
“I was told it was worth $4,000.”
After farmers plow and disc fields, you find things you couldn’t find before, Wiseman said.
He and others who found a total of 500 half-dollar pieces of silver dated from 1776 to 1837 were elated.
A road grader near Stilwell kicked some of them out of a road ditch, he said. The grader operators collected about 200 coins. Wiseman and others went later and he ended up finding 86.
“My family members found at least one apiece,” he said.
He always researches what he finds.
“In 1837, the average wage was 15 cents a week, so one half-dollar was a month’s pay,” he said.

Playing includes weeks on annual motorcycle jaunt
Wiseman takes an annual motorcycle jaunt with 10 friends. Last year, they covered 3,500 miles. The jaunts most often last from 10 to 14 days.
When he and his wife of 45 years, Sandi, travel in their RV, they enjoy going to historical places. This year’s travels included a visit to the second-oldest church in the United States in New Mexico.
It has adobe walls with grass baked in — grass and clay floors. It’s in Pueblo country. But the ceilings are the real draw.
Twelve people carried “sacred” tree trunks for the ceilings from 30 miles away in the 1700s, he said.
There was no stopping for a rest and lying the huge trunks down. The feat had to be accomplished by relay teams of carriers, he said.
“If they dropped them, they weren’t sacred anymore,” Wiseman said.

Wiseman’s given $35,000 in fishing lures and baits for kids
“When a kid’s got a fishing license in his pocket, you kind of know he’s headed in the right direction,” Jim Wiseman said.
He has closed his Millenium Lures Inc., plant he and a friend started in 1989 and sold $34,929.42 worth of lures and baits at wholesale price to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
They are used for the department’s fishing programs with children, Wiseman said.
An acknowledgment from Jim Burroughs, regional fisheries supervisor, wrote about the approximate 10,389 lures. They are flukes, rattle traps, crank baits, deep divers, etc.
Wiseman said he has about 100,000 baits left and probably will supply another 15,000 before the year is out.
“The Wildlife Department has events going on all the time. It’s good to get kids interested in stuff like that,” he said.
“I just love to fish since I was a young boy. So, I thought I needed to build my own fishing lures.”

Q&A
How did you come to be an Okie from Muskogee?
“My father sold the family farm in Kansas and my parents, me and my three brothers moved to Muskogee to open a family business so we could keep our families together.”

What do you do with your free time?
“Treasure hunt, ride my Harley-Davidson, travel, fish and rebuild cars.

How do you make a living in Muskogee?
Part owner and operator of the family business — Discount Tires.

What would make Muskogee a better place to live?
“Get more industry into Muskogee with better-paying jobs. We get them and lose them. We need to keep them.”

Is there an Okie from Muskogee who you admire?
“The new mayor, John Tyler Hammons. I admire him and his family.”

What’s the most memorable thing that has happened to you since you have lived in Muskogee?
“My family working together here for 38 years.”

How would you sum up Muskogee in 25 words or less?
“A friendly, people town. Business people here pretty much work together.”

Meet James ‘Jim’ Wiseman
AGE: 63.
HOMETOWN: Columbus, Kan.
CAREER: Part owner and operator of Discount Tires in Muskogee since 1971, a family business.
EDUCATION: Graduate of Altamont High School, Altamont, Kan.
FAMILY: Wife, Sandi, and sons Mike, 43, and Mark, 42.
HOBBIES: Treasure hunting, fishing, street rods, traveling with his wife in their RV and riding his Harley-Davidson.

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