Kansas Depot Bench
Donated to Waynoka Station
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Santa Fe Depot bench from Frontenac, Kansas donated by Marvin and Ruth Johns of Frontenac.
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Waynoka Station is the new home of an old depot bench with a fascinating history. Marvin and Ruth Johns, Shell Knob, Missouri, had bought the bench from their friend, Lloyd (Captain Appleblossom) Yarbrough, in about 1980. They had the 8-foot bench restored, using all the original wood and ironwork. The bench had come from the Frontenac, Kansas Santa Fe Depot.
Captain Appleblossom was an early-day disc jockey in Ft. Worth on WDAF. He was the first disc jockey to play Bob Wills' music on the radio. He was also a singer and a barbershopper, and recorded four songs on the Okey label in 1929: Timetable Blues, The Cowboy's Lament, Then Father Put the Paper on the Wall, and The Book of Etiquette. One of the songs, Timetable Blues, can be found on the Rounders' Train 45 CD, an anthology of train songs, available on the Internet.
Yarbrough, aka Captain Appleblossom, wasn't making enough money in the music and radio business, so in the 1930s or 1940s, he went to work on the Plains Division of the Santa Fe Railroad, retiring probably in the 1960s, according to Marvin Johns. Yarbrough knew J.B. Briscoe, Division Superintendent. After retirement from Santa Fe, Yarbrough moved to Shell Knob, Missouri, where he met Marvin and Ruth Johns, who had retired from teaching in Wichita, Kansas.
Marvin Johns, originally from the Quinlan area, had worked for Santa Fe Railroad in the Waynoka area after his military service in World War II. Ruth Johns persuaded Lloyd Yarbrough that the bench should stay in the Santa Fe family, and thus was able to buy it when Yarbrough finally decided to part with it. He has since passed away.
Marvin and Ruth Johns, who are members of the Waynoka Historical Society, visited the Waynoka History Museum in early 2006. After the visit, they called to see if the Society would be interested in receiving the Frontenac Depot bench. The answer was Yes!. When the Johns made the trip to their family reunion in Quinlan, they delivered the prized bench to Waynoka Station where it now provides seating for those who enjoy watching the trains pass by on the BNSF Transcon.
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