Equity Bank honors Joe Glaser with Exceptional Citizen Award

Joe Glaser was born in a small two-room house on a farm north of town in 1939.

“We had no running water, electricity or indoor plumbing,” he said “It was a simple and hard-working life, but I never forgot the lessons I learned from my Mom and Dad as I grew up there. We raised cattle and all kinds of other livestock and chickens. We also farmed and raised a large garden every year.”

Glaser said after had grown up, he farmed with his cousins until he joined the Army.

“After the Army I cam home and went to work with a new Composite Can plant which was just getting started in Ponca City. I worked there for 25 years and when the plant was shut down in 1987, I was the plant supervisor,” he said. “I  then opened a gun repair shop, but the following year Conoco called me and I went to work for them in the Lubes Division.”

He worked as a maintenance/electrician for several years until the Lubes Division downsized, and then moved  the the Grease Plant, where he was Maintenance Supervisor until the plant closed down in 2001.

“I then took retirement and continued to work in my gun shop, which is still open sometimes. I’m still trying to retire,” Glaser said.

He said he has a number of activities that keep him busy. They include the 101 Ranch Old Timers Association, which he has served as Secretary/Treasurer for nearly 20  years. He is Vice President of the 101 Ranch Collectors Association, which he has been associated with for 20 years.

Glaser is President of the Friends of Marland’s Grand Home, a member of the Citizens Police Academy Committee, and a member of the Veterans Parade Committee.

In his spare time, he keeps the farm, where he was born, going and raises a large garden.

“I have given up on trying to retire,” he said.

Wednesday morning Joe Glaser received the Exceptional Citizen Award at Equity Bank, followed by a reception hosted by the bank and surrounded by friends and members of the bank.