Benjamin F. Bruner Obituary

Frances Brown Bennett

Services for former Seminole County resident, Frances Brown Bennett, of Oklahoma City, are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2004, at the Stout-Phillips Funeral Chapel in Wewoka with Rev. Frank Moppin officiating.
Bennett died Wednesday, May 26, 2004, at the age of 85, at the Central Oklahoma Christian Home, in Oklahoma City.
Bennett was born October 19, 1918, in Sasakwa to Louis C. and Golda (Donaghey) Brown.
She was raised in Sasakwa, and left for her journey in life at the young age of 20 years.
She was also a Wewoka resident for a while.
She began her college education at Bacon College, in Fort Gibson, later attending East Central State University, in Ada, and graduating from Central State College, Edmond, with a teaching degree.
She lived in numerous places and taught school at Chilocco Indian School, near the Kansas border, for 10 years until it closed.
She then moved to Oklahoma City and taught until her retirement at the age of 69.
She moved back to Sasakwa until 2001 when she moved to the Central Oklahoma Christian Home, in Oklahoma City.
Bennett was the last surviving granddaughter of Governor John F. Brown, the last absolute Chief of the Seminole Tribe.
She was preceded in death by her husband; and two sons, Joe Brown Bennett, and John F. Bennett.
She is survived by her daughter-in-law, Judith Bennett, Oklahoma City, and three granddaughters, Jaa’ Soos, Jennifer Morrell, and Lisa Bennett.
Interment will be in the Oakwood Cemetery, Wewoka, under the direction of Stout-Phillips Funeral Home, Wewoka.

Richard Allen Bemo

Funeral services for Konawa resident Richard Allen Bemo are scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at Spring Baptist Church in Sasakwa.
Interment is to follow services at the Burgess-Bemo Family Cemetery in Wewoka under the direction of Stout-Phillips Funeral Home.
Wake services are scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Stout-Phillips Funeral Chapel.

Bemo, 87, died Thursday, March 17, 2005 at Carl Albert Indian Hospital in Ada. He was born Jan. 5, 1918 in Wewoka to George and Lena
(Fish) Bemo. He attended New Model Schools for nine years and married Irene Burgess Oct. 2, 1937 in Wewoka.
Bemo was an employee at Tinker Air Force Base for 30 years. In addition, he was a member of the Seminole County Sheriff Auxiliary,
Ocese Band of the Seminole Nation member, who served as Chairman in the 1970's, and served on the General Council of the Seminole Nation.

He was the adopted son of May Tobi of the Konawa Tribe and was a Spring Baptist Church Deacon who received a 35 year plaque from the
Seminole City Indian Credit Association.

His parents; wife Irene Bemo; two daughters, Bernita Whitekiller and Roxie Morris; two brothers, Simeon and George Bemo and sister Madeline Burgess.
Surviving him are sons Rickey Bemo of Tulsa and Charley Bemo of Twentynine PalmsCalif.; son-in-law John Michael Morris of Stafford, Va.; brother Glenn
Sharpe of Wewoka; sister Norma Sharpe of Wewoka; six grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

Pallbearers for the services will be Mitch Buck, Ricky Burgess, Roy Sisco, Michael Burgess, Russell Bemo, Tommy Gibson and Bobby Bemo.
Listed as honorary bearers are his grandsons, Bo, Kip, Eric, Michael Phillip, David Haney,Jerry Haney (former Principal Chief of Seminole Nation) and the
Seminole County Indian Credit Associate Members.

The body will lie in state at the home from Sunday at 4 p.m. until 1 p.m. Tuesday.

John F. Brown

Sergeant, U. S. Army. Home address: Sasakwa, Seminole County, OK
Louis C. Brown, Father, Sasakwa, OK
Born August 27, 1921 Enlisted September 16, 1940
Decoration: Order of the Purple Heart.
Grandson of Governor John F. Brown, chief of the Seminole Nation.
Enlisted as member of the Oklahoma National Guard, 1938.
Served in 45th Division. Died July 12, 1943, in action, in Sicily.

Oklahoma War Memorial

Benjamin F. Bruner

Saturday, June 10, 1939

Founder Of "Brunertown" Succumbs After Long Illness

Seminole Freedman Born Eleven Years Before Emancipation

With the passing of Benjamin F. Bruner, 87 year old Seminole Freedman and founder of "Brunertown", last week, Oklahoma lost another one of her native sons whose activities during the territorial days contributed to the colorful history of the state.

Bruner died May 31 at the family home in Holdenville. Funeral services were held at the Mt. Zion Baptist church in Seminole, Sunday June 4. The body was interred at Turkey Creek Cemetery.

Bruner was born on the banks of the Washita River a few miles from Calvin eleven years before freedom. His mother and father were natives of the Indian Country. As a boy he attended the missions set up by white church goers for the education of Negroes and Indians.

Soon after the Civil War, the Bruner family founded "Brunertown" a community that still bears the name of the founder. Shortly afterwards, Bruner then a young man married Jeanetta Shields and to this union were born 3 children.

In 1880, Bruner and his wife separated and he entered Hampton Institute in Virginia, where he studied for five years. Returning to the territory in 1885 he taught school until 1890 when he married Ellen Rentie. Six children were born to this union.

After his second marriage, Bruner established a home on his freedom allotment nears Earlsboro where he lived for fifteen years. During that time he served as a member of the Seminole Indian Council. In 1905 he moved to Holdenville, then an open country, where he became a "land baron" controlling 640 acres, representing an allotment to his wife and children.

On this allotment, Bruner built a $9000 home which was included among Oklahoma's land marks as long as it stood. For the sharecroppers and other Negroes in the section he built a school. He donated the land and then built the Unity Baptist church, although he had joined the Presbyterian church at Hampton, he had never been baptized, and it was one of the pleasurable moments to recall his baptism in the church he built. He served continuously on the deacon board of that church.

Survivors are a wife, Ellen Bruner, Holdenville; two sons, Jack Bruner, Seminole, and Edgar Bruner, Holdenville; three daughters, Ivory Hampton, Okmulgee, Leona Corbett and Edna Stewart, Tulsa; a brother, Tom J. Bruner, Holdenville; a sister, Annie Payne, Seminole.

-obituary courtesy of Charles Gibson, Benjamin Bruner's great-grandson

Maxey D. Little

30-January-1947 to 30-July-2001

Maxey was raised in the Strother community of Seminole County and graduated from Strother High School in 1965.
He was a member of the Seminole Hitchitee United Methodist Church.
He was an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Mekvsukey Band member and belonged to the Potato Clan.

Mr. Little was a veteran of the Viet Nam War, serving in Neu Ulm, West Germany in 1965-66 and later volunteered for duty in South Viet Nam 1966-67.
He served with the 161st Aviation Company, (a full combat helicopter unit), 14th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade as a radio repair specialist.
His citations included the National Defense Medal, Viet Nam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Viet Nam Campaign Ribbon with two battle stars,
Viet Nam Service Medal and Valorous Unit Citation.

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08/02/2015