In a letter dated January 27, 1995, Glen Abney wrote about his life.  It is condensed and summarized as follows:

 After their marriage, Glen and his wife, Judy, first moved in with Judy's grandmother, Estel Blevins, who lived in Byars.  She owned and rented about 3,000 acres, some of it along the South Canadian River.  She ran 500 or 600 head of cattle.  Glen worked the calves, the roundups, and shipped her cattle.  Judy's mother and aunts also had cattle, so in the spring of the year, he and the other hands would start in one pasture and keep rounding up and working the cattle until they had worked all them all.  In the fall, they would round up the cattle and ship the big steer calves, what heifers, and old cows that were to be sold.  Glen's job was to drive Grandmother Blevins's old red Dodge cattle truck to all the pastures, help with the roundup, and then work the calves.  He said it was hard work, but he enjoyed it. 

He and Judy bought a ranch east of Byars and lived in a new brick home.   They lived there from 1965 to 1974, when they divorced.  During the time he lived there, he was also  running mostly Hereford cattle.  He and Judy owned 290 acres and rented another 510 acres.  They had 30 head of cows and  a herd bull.  He also raised and showed Appaloosa horses.  Their herd of horses consisted of 12 mares and colts and his stallion, which was named Quavo's Rocket.  The offspring of Quavo's Rocket, Quavo's Fancy, placed fourth in the 23rd National Appaloosa Horse Show in Huron, S.D. in 1970.  One of his horses, Sugar Foot, won the National Appaloosa Show for the head and heeling for three-year-olds.  Glen was one of eight directors of Sooner Appaloosa Horse Club of Oklahoma.  In addition to his ranch work, Glen was employed full time at the Kerr McGee Refinery at Wynnewood.  As he stated in the letter, all this activity didn't leave him with much time on his hands.

 After his and Judy's divorce, he owned and ran a ranch near Elmore City named Abney Appaloosa.  There, he also raised Texas Longhorn cattle. 

Glen was an avid hunter and had several adventures in that.  Once he went to Alaska to hunt caribou, bear and moose.  When they were put down in a drop camp, they were there five days before the plane returned for them.  One problem was that the plane didn't leave them any food, so they survived for five days, living off of caribou meat, blue berries, and what  fish they caught.  He also hunted in the Bitter Root Wilderness and the Idaho Wilderness.  Among his hunting successes, in addition to the caribou, he killed a mule deer, three trophy buck antelope, one bull elk, a cinnamon colored black bear, and a female mountain lion, which weighed 125 pounds and was 7 foot long from nose to the tip of her tail.

 Glen was proud of his two children, Bryan and Michele.  His son, Bryan, taught school in Wynnewood Schools for several years before going to work at the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center at Pauls Valley.  Glen's daughter, Michele was Valedictorian at Washington High School.  She was on the Washington track relay team where her team set a new state record.  She also did some modeling and was featured in the Sunday Women's feature wearing swim wear in the March 29, 1987 issue of the Daily Oklahoman.

GLEN ABNEY died on December 27, 2001 at Baptist Intregis Hospital, Oklahoma City from multiple heart-related problems and the results of a stroke.  His cousin, Jesse Spurlock, assisted in his funeral services and delivered the following eulogy.

 

EULOGY FOR GLEN THOMAS ABNEY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2001, 2 P.M.

UNITED PENTECOSTAL HOLINESS CHURCH, PAOLI, OKLAHOMA

 Trying to sum up what I want to say about my cousin, Glen Abney, is one of life's more difficult challenges for me.  Not that I don't have anything to say, but rather I don't know what to say and what to leave out.

 He was my Uncle Tom Abney's youngest child.  Tom Abney was one of the most respected and  best-liked men in Garvin County.  He  served five years as Deputy Sheriff of Garvin Country.  Then he was elected as Garvin County Sheriff and served in that capacity for 16 years.  Tom next served two terms as County Commissioner.  What a big shadow Tom Abney cast!  What large shoes for his son to try to fill!

 Although in the last several years, Glen began to physically resemble his dad more than ever before, I want you to know, Glen Abney was not Tom Abney and never even tried to be!  He never tried to fill his dad's shoes.  He never tried to fill anyone else's shoes.  He was his own person in his own right, as anyone who knew him will affirm.

 Many terms come to mind in describing Glen.  However, I think Acolorful would be the most descriptive.  He was an artist.  He was a horseman.  He was a cowboy.  He was a hunter.  He was retired from the Kerr McGee oil refinery.  From his jokes, he could have been a stand up comic. The obituary information says he was a carpenter.

 As I worked to assemble an Abney genealogy book, I asked Glen to give me some information on himself.  He wrote a 12 page letter containing information on his life and adventures.  I condensed it down for the book, but I had to leave out a lot because of space limits.  However, I was fascinated with some of the information of what Glen had accomplished.

 He had raised prize winning Appaloosa horses.  One of his stallions, Quavo's Rocket, sired several winners in various horse shows.  One of his horses, Sugar Foot, won the National Appaloosa show for the head and heeling for three-year-olds.  Glen served as one of eight directors of the Sooner Appaloosa Horse Club of Oklahoma.   He also raised long horn cattle on the Abney Appaloosa Ranch near Elmore City.  He had hunted in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, and numerous other places.  Among the animals he killed was a black bear and a 125-pound mountain lion.  He provided me with pictures of his cattle, horses, and various wild animals he had killed in hunting expeditions.  I've been in his house and have seen his many stuffed animals, including his stuffed rattle snake.  Was that thing  really a pet when it was alive, as Glen told me??  Man, what a pet!!  He told me once that he threw it a live mouse to eat.  He said the rattler struck and killed it, but didn't eat it.  He said, AI reckon it just wanted to kill something!

 Glen was an excellent artist, painting and sketching western scenes.  I was looking at several of his sketches one day and was very impressed with the talent displayed in those.  I said, A Glen, these are very good.  Why don't you sell them?  He grinned and said, A That's a very good idea! and then he laughed.  Of course, I had forgotten he had sold many of his paintings.  He gave many to friends and relatives.

Glen was an excellent shot with either rifle or pistol.  One incident that would have been embarrassing to most good shooters, didn't even phase Glen.  He was hunting with my brother, Jim, in Colorado.  He had a scope on his rifle and leaned across the top of Jim's Buick to shoot down range.  Of course, with the scope, Glen didn't realize that the barrel of his rifle wasn't clearing the top of Jim's car.  When he fired the round, he put a hole in the roof of Jim's Buick.  Most shooters would probably have been mortified, but Glen just asked Jim if he could have the hood of the Buick to mount as a trophy.

 As I think about Glen's humorous stories, I can't help but remember one story that came out differently the second time he told it.  I sort of chided Glen for the discrepancies.  He laughed and said, AIt's my story.  I'll tell it the way I want to!   When you tell it, you can tell it the way you want to!

 As everyone who ever visited Glen knows, whether in or out of the hospital, you could not be around him and remain serious for the entire visit.  He always had a joke to share.   When Glen first entered Baptist Hospital several years ago, I was concerned about his spiritual condition and I went to see him with the intent of finding our about his status with the Lord.  It was far too important to guess about.  After he shared a few jokes with me and we had some laughs,  I asked him directly if he had been Saved.  Glen told me he had been.  I asked him to tell me about that.  He told me that he had gone to Love Baptist Church out southwest of Pauls Valley, when Bro. Howard Moore was the pastor.  He said he had gone to the altar and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.  He was baptized by Bro. Moore at Love Baptist Church.

 When Glen's health broke, to the point he was in the hospital, seemingly more than out, I visited him and asked him on other occasions about his spiritual condition.  He always came back to his account of Love Baptist Church and Bro. Howard Moore.  That was one of his stories that always came out the same.   He assured me that he was prepared to meet the Lord.

 A few months back when it appeared certain that Glen was going to leave us, I visited him in Intensive Care.  I spoke again of his spiritual condition.  He never hesitated when he told me again that he was ready to meet the Lord.  I held prayer with him before leaving.  He said, A Thank you, Jesse Ray!@  (He always used my middle name when he addressed me.)

 My brother shared with me last night that Glen had told him that one of our wayward relatives had gotten their life  straight and was to be baptized.  Jim said that Glen had brought that up himself and was very happy that a soul in danger was now safe.  Glen's  concern and use of the term Asoul in danger@ is certainly something I take as a positive sign of his own spiritual condition.