Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

Above: First National Bank of Snyder
President T. C. Huckabay, 1948.
Below: T. C. and Areta Huckabay, 1975.
Skipping to 1941 when the United States
joined World War II, T. C. continues:
Two men in their early 30’s, Joe Krejci
and Jerry Cooley, owned control of the First
National Bank of Snyder, and in the early part
of October 1943, they offered to sell me the
bank. I talked to our local draft board and
they told me on account of my occupation
I was draft exempt. Krejci and Cooley were
being drafted into the armed services is why
they offered to sell me the bank. At that
time the bank had approximately $45,000 in
capital, surplus and undivided profit and
about $500,000 in deposits. One of their
selling points was that the bank might
someday have deposits of $1,000,000. I didn’t
believe it would ever reach that point during
my lifetime and I doubt that they believed it
either. At the present time (1995) our deposits
exceed $26,000.000. They owned slightly
over 50 percent of the stock and their price
was $39,000. I contacted a friend of mine,
Bob Scott of Lawton, who was in the bank
stationery and office supply business and we
purchased their interest in the bank, each of
us sharing equally in the amount of stock
bought. It was necessary that I borrow the
full amount of the money for my half and I
borrowed it from a bank in Wichita Falls
pledging my part of the stock, my cattle and
land. The deal was completed and I resigned
my position at the bank in Mountain Park and
become president of the First National Bank
of Snyder on November 8th, 1943, at a salary
of $250 per month. (T. C. was 35 years old.)
About 1 year later I sold my farms, cattle, etc.
for enough money to pay for my part of the
bank. Approximately 58 months later I purchased
Bob Scott’s interest in the bank and
paid him a nice profit for his interest. We had
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