DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Doctor Oscar H. Loyd — and Oldham County, Texas, has never quite seen another one like him. He was born in Kansas, in 1868.
Studied medicine in Missouri. And then, in 1907, he and his wife Lulu Mills Loyd pointed themselves toward a little place called Vega, out on the Texas Panhandle, and that was that. Oldham County had its first physician.
Now, being the only doctor in the county might have been enough for most men. But Oscar Loyd was not most men. The ranchers out there had their way of doing things — cattle, open range, the land left as God and the Comanche had arranged it.
They were not exactly clamoring for change. But Doctor Loyd looked at that Panhandle soil and saw something else entirely. Despite their opposition, he introduced farming to the area.
And he didn't ease into it gentle, either. He broke sod with the county's first steam tractor. You want to talk about making a statement.
Then he took what that ground produced and he showed it off. Best produce in the county — first at the Tri-State Fair in Amarillo, a fair he helped organize, and then at state fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Texas. The Panhandle, going on the road.
And speaking of roads — when Doctor Loyd needed to make sick calls, he didn't saddle up a horse and hope for the best. He went out and bought a Maxwell automobile. The first automobile in the county.
Out on those Panhandle flats, here comes the doctor in a machine nobody had ever seen out there before. Now. There are moments in a man's story that stop the wry asides cold. 1918.
The flu epidemic. Doctor Loyd did not sleep. He cared for the sick day and night.
He dispensed food. And when there was nothing more medicine could do, he buried the dead. That is the measure of the man, right there.
But he kept going. For over thirty years he served as a volunteer weather observer — and I want you to hear that word, volunteer. Every day, at his own expense, he telephoned reports to the Amarillo Weather Bureau.
Rain, wind, temperature — whatever the Panhandle sky was cooking up, Oscar Loyd was watching it and calling it in. Those weather notes are preserved today at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon. On top of all that, he organized Oldham County's first Chamber of Commerce.
He put together a baseball team and personally transported them to their games. He actively sponsored the original Highway 66 Association. He lived until 1959.
And when he was gone, he left his estate to religious and charitable groups right there in the county he had served his whole adult life. Oldham County's first physician. First automobile.
First steam tractor breaking sod. First Chamber of Commerce. A man who organized fairs, watched the sky, hauled ballplayers, fought an epidemic, and still found time to fight ranchers over farming — and win.
Some men pass through a place. Oscar Loyd built one.
What the marker says
Oldham County's first physician. A civic leader, weather researcher and humanitarian. Born in Kansas, he attended medical school in Missouri, and in 1907 moved to Vega with his wife, Lulu Mills Loyd. Despite opposition from ranchers, he introduced farming to the area; broke sod with county's first steam tractor; exhibited best produce in the county -- first at the Tri-State Fair (which he helped to organize) in Amarillo, and then at state fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Texas. A volunteer weather observer for over 30 years, he telephoned daily reports at his own expense to the Amarillo Weather Bureau. His weather notes are now in Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon. To make sick calls, Doctor Loyd bought a Maxwell, the first automobile in the county. During the 1918 flu epidemic he not only cared for the sick day and night but also dispensed food and buried the dead. As a civic leader, he organized the county's first Chamber of Commerce and a baseball team which he transported to its games. He actively sponsored the original Highway 66 Association. His estate was left to religious and charitable groups in the county.