OAImages Blog

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain
And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain…

I thought it was well past time to return to a state that actually had some state shaped patches.  Some of these are classics of the hobby, too.

This is the sixteenth in an ongoing series of posts about state shaped patches. Previous entries have covered state shaped patches from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia.

There seems to be an affinity of sorts between lodge Texas and Oklahoma when it comes to OA collecting.   A couple of lodges chose to use the combined shape of the states of Texas and Oklahoma on their patches.   I will mention them here as well as the post for Texas.

Ema’o Mahpe 14 issued a “bus patch” along with Wichita 35, Wisawanik 190 and Nischa Achowalogen 486 for the 2006 NOAC.   It is a small pocket patch shaped like the states of TX and OK.  Each lodge’s totem appears to be placed on the patch in their lodge’s approximate geographic location.  I have tentatively labeled this X3?

The patch bears the name of a fictional lodge, Newo Memsochet 725.    The ”lodge number” is the sum of the lodge numbers for the four participating lodges.  This follows the precedent of other multi-lodge issues from Texas, such as the eS1975-1 from lodge 489, Miki Ciyapi A Pe Lachi 646

Okiciyapi 56 used the shape of Oklahoma on two of their events flaps.  Blue Book lists these two items as eS1991 and eS1992.   The profile of Oklahoma can be seen behind the thunderbird on each of these flaps.

When John Berry was elected Southern Region Chief, Tejas 72 honored their lodge brother with the lodge’s S26.  The design features a map of all the Southern Region states.

Mikanakawa 101 issued an attractive jacket patch, Blue Book J3, with the shape of Texas and Oklahoma combined.

Ma-Nu 133 issued two flaps for a variety of events including the Oklahoma statehood centennial.   Blue Book lists these as S20 and S21.  The S20 was also issued for the lodge’s 50th anniversary.   The S21 did extra  duty as the lodge’s 1989 National Jamboree flap as well as being a 50th anniversary issue..

Inola 148 issued a two part set, S18+X2.  The set has a rather simple representation of the lodge’s thunderbird totem.  The head of the thunderbird on the S18 is shaped like Oklahoma.

The Wisawanik 190 X3, is a CSP shaped patch naming both the Arbuckle Area Council and the lodge, featuring the profile of Oklahoma in its design.   It was issued for the 1995 Boundary Waters trek.

Black Beaver 281 was the first lodge to issue a patch shaped like Oklahoma.   All the lodge’s official issues, X1 through X3, use this shape.  There are also three contemporary fakes, ZX1-ZX3, that use this shape.

Sometime prior to 1960, the lodge changed its name to the Lenape word for Black Beaver Sekettummaqua.

Sekettummaqua 281 continued the tradition, first started when they were called Black Beaver, of using profile of Oklahoma on their patches.   The lodge’s R1, R2, W1, W2, and S1 through S21 appear to use this shape.   I am missing images of several of this lodge’s flaps, so I am assuming they use the Oklahoma shape like the others do.  In addition, C1 through C3 are in the shape of Oklahoma.

The shape of Oklahoma was also used on two recent private issue flaps bearing the names of two lodges, Shawnee 192 and Cimeroon 283, that have no known official issues.