American Acorns

People

Ivan Ray Oak

His life, his family, his stories

Ivan Ray Oak grew up in Skowhegan, Maine, the son of a power-company lineman, and became an electrical engineer. He studied at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Maine, served in the Army, and made his career in communications engineering with Western Electric, the Bell System's manufacturing company. With his first wife, Evelyn, he raised four children in Danville, New Hampshire, where he served on the regional school board. In later life he made his home in Hondo, Texas, with his wife, Marilyn. This page gathers what records and family memories show about his life, and leaves room for the stories only he can tell.

An elderly man in glasses, smiling, wearing a black cap embroidered "U.S. Army Veteran" and a dark plaid shirt, seated in a restaurant.View larger
Ivan in a family photograph, wearing a U.S. Army Veteran cap.

Explore the photographs Share a memory

Story

Growing up in Skowhegan

Ivan was born in 1931 into a family that had already known loss. In February 1930 his parents' infant son, Donald, had died. According to his family, Ivan was a twin; his sister, Iris Mae, did not survive infancy. The Morning Sentinel reported her death that summer: a prayer service was held at the family home, and she was buried in the family lot in Skowhegan's South Cemetery.

Ivan grew up in Skowhegan in the home of Irving and Nellie Oak, with his older brothers Allan and Wendell. In the spring of 1940 the census found the family there: Irving working as a lineman for the power company, and Ivan, then eight, in school.

His high-school yearbook calls him "Oakie"; he took the College Course, ran track, and belonged to the Journalism Club and the Lever Board, and the line beside his name reads, "My brain is my kingdom." His mother, Nellie, died in August 1948, after an illness of a year and a half, when Ivan was seventeen.

A strip of a handwritten census page listing Irving, Nellie, Allan, Wendell and Ivan Oak, with their ages and birthplace.View larger
The Oak household in the 1940 census of Skowhegan, Maine: Irving, head, a lineman for the power company; Nellie; and their sons Allan, 14, Wendell, 12, and Ivan, 8. April 1940
A short newspaper notice headed “Donald Russell Oak”, reporting the death of the infant son of Irvin G. Oak and Nellie Russell Oak.View larger
“Donald Russell Oak, infant son of Irvin G. Oak and Nellie Russell Oak, died Saturday.” February 10, 1930

College, the Army and marriage

In September 1949 the Portland Press Herald reported that Ivan, a graduate of Skowhegan High School, had won the Maine state scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines for 1949–50, and the school's 1950 yearbook lists him among its freshmen. How long he stayed is not known.

The early 1950s are known only in glimpses. A 1951 pictorial review of the Army's 47th "Viking" Infantry Division at Camp Rucker, Alabama, names an Ivan R. Oak in Battery A of the 188th Field Artillery Battalion. In early July 1952 Harrison County, Mississippi, issued a marriage licence to Ivan R. Oak, "of Keesler," and Evelyn Dixon, of Amory; the Biloxi Daily Herald printed it on July 11. Where and when they married is not recorded in what has been found.

At Christmas 1953, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported, Sgt. Ivan R. Oak was one of three men who led his battery's drive at Ladd Air Force Base in Alaska, which brought fresh fruit to children at the Maranatha Orphanage and toys, fruit and candy to children at St. Joseph's hospital. That month Evelyn, 21, born in Birmingham, Alabama, sailed from Seward, Alaska, reaching Seattle on December 22, bound for his father's home in Skowhegan. Both Army records are very probably Ivan's; no service record has been read.

By June 1954 Ivan and his wife were living in Orono, where a newspaper listed them among the guests at Wendell's wedding in Old Town. In the fall of 1955 he was registered at the University of Maine, and on June 9, 1957, the university's 108th Commencement program lists Ivan Ray Oak of Skowhegan among the graduates receiving the Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. His aunt and uncle, Mary and Henry Foss, came from Madison for the ceremony.

A short newspaper item headed “Colorado Scholarship” about Ivan R. Oak's state scholarship; a street address is masked.View larger
“Colorado Scholarship”: Ivan R. Oak, a graduate of Skowhegan High School, is awarded the Maine state scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines for 1949–50. September 5, 1949
A newspaper column headed “Change OD to Santa Red” about an Army battery's Christmas gifts to children.View larger
“Change OD to Santa Red”: Battery B of the 274th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, at Ladd Air Force Base, brings Christmas to the Maranatha Orphanage and St. Joseph's hospital. “The drive was spearheaded by Second Lt. Ludwig N. Ladas, Sfc. Herbert H. Taylor, and Sgt. Ivan R. Oak.” December 30, 1953
A newspaper column listing the University of Maine students from Orono registered for the fall semester, among them Ivan R. Oak.View larger
“Penobscot County Students Registered at University”: the students from Orono registered for the fall 1955 semester, among them “Ivan R. Oak.” October 5, 1955
Three lines of a newspaper wedding report listing out-of-town guests, among them Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, all from Orono.View larger
Among the out-of-town guests at Wendell's wedding at Old Town: “Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, Mrs. Herbert Spencer and Mrs. Albert Goodin all from Orono.” June 29, 1954
Three lines from a newspaper's Harrison County marriage-licence list, naming Ivan R. Oak, Keesler, and Evelyn Dixon, Amory, among other couples.View larger
The Harrison County marriage-licence list: “Ivan R. Oak, Keesler, and Eve-lyn Dixon, Amory” (the name hyphenated across a line). July 11, 1952

Communications engineering

A newspaper article headed “U-M To Get Amplifier” about a Western Electric grant to the University of Maine.View larger
“U-M To Get Amplifier”: the Western Electric Fund grant to the University of Maine's College of Technology, presented by “A. F. Strazdas, New York, college relations representative for the company, and Ivan R. Oak, who is stationed at the North Andover, Mass., plant. Oak is a 1957 graduate of the U. of M.” July 16, 1966

By 1966, nine years after he graduated, Ivan was an engineer at Western Electric's plant in North Andover, Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley Works. That July he returned to Orono with a company representative to present a Western Electric Fund grant for an amplifier for the university's electrical-engineering laboratories.

His published work places him in the Bell System's long-distance telephone equipment. In 1975 "I. R. Oak" of Western Electric, North Andover, very probably Ivan, and a plant colleague wrote a paper with three Bell Laboratories engineers. It covered designing the quartz-crystal filters of the A6 channel bank for manufacture, and how the plant judged the quality of each filter it shipped. The A6 channel bank was equipment that carried many telephone conversations over a single line.

His family remembers him as an electrical engineer who worked on transcontinental communications and lab-grown crystals, a memory that fits the 1975 paper. According to his family, his work later reached into the early days of the mobile phone: in the 1980s he flew repeatedly to Chicago for meetings on cellphone development, and he remembered one project stopping after an executive doubted there would be demand for personal cellphones. The family also notes an irony: his retirement now comes through Nokia, which acquired Alcatel-Lucent in 2016.

Family life in Danville

In January 1959 Ivan and Evelyn bought property in Danville, New Hampshire, and the family remembers Danville as the Oaks' home for decades, the house where they raised Cathy, Richard, Russell and Judy.

Christmas brought family visits. In 1959 a holiday visitor from Skowhegan stayed with Ivan, Evelyn and the children at South Danville. At Christmas 1961 Ivan, Evelyn and the four children spent a Saturday at Madison, Maine, with Ivan's aunt Mary and her husband, Henry Foss.

Evelyn gave years to 4-H. In November 1966 she received the Silver Clover for five years as a 4-H club leader.

Aunt Mary, the younger sister of Ivan's mother, was a living link to the family's Maine past. Born in East Madison in 1904, she received the Boston Post Cane in 2005 as Madison's eldest citizen, celebrated her 106th birthday in July 2010, and died the following May; her obituary called her Maine's oldest citizen.

In September 1981 Ivan and Evelyn's son Russell died, aged 21; his memorial stone says his ashes are "part of the mountains he loved." Evelyn died in September 1997. She and Ivan share a stone inscribed "The Lord is my shepherd."

A newspaper holiday note in two parts, joined in reading order: its first two lines, “Arthur J. Flemming visited over the holidays with Mr. and”, then, after a dashed line marking the column break, its last five lines, naming Mrs. Ivan R. Oak and family at South Danville, N. H., and two other families.View larger
Holiday notes from Skowhegan: “Arthur J. Flemming visited over the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Ivan R. Oak and family at South Danville, N. H.” The item begins at the foot of one column and ends at the top of the next. December 30, 1959
A short newspaper item naming Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak and their four children as Saturday guests of his aunt and her husband.View larger
Christmas visitors at Madison: “Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, Cathy, Ricky, Russell and Judy of Danville, N. H. were Saturday guests of his aunt and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Foss.” December 28, 1961
A newspaper paragraph listing the Rockingham County 4-H leaders who received Silver Clover awards, among them Mrs. Ivan Oak of Danville; it continues, after a dashed line marking the column break, at the top of the next column.View larger
Among the Rockingham County 4-H leaders honored for five years of leadership: “Mrs. Ivan Oak, Danville” (Evelyn). November 15, 1966
A flat granite memorial stone inscribed “In memory of Russell A. Oak, June 1, 1960 – Sept. 1, 1981. His ashes are part of the mountains he loved.”View larger
Russell's memorial stone. Photograph date not recorded

On the Timberlane school board

The New Hampshire Register listed Ivan R. Oak among the school district board members for Danville in every edition from 1970 to 1975–76. Danville was one of four towns served by the Timberlane Regional School District, with Plaistow, Atkinson and Sandown.

When the district's teachers went on strike early in 1974, Ivan was at the center of the dispute. Through March, wire reports named him as chairman of the Timberlane Regional School Board. He said the strike was illegal and that the teachers were disrupting the lives of the children, and he said the board had offered a mediator whom the teachers rejected. Early in March the board voted 5–2 to ask the state to revoke the striking teachers' certificates. On March 19 Governor Meldrim Thomson, intervening in the dispute, sent a telegram to him as chairman, and at the district's annual meeting on March 23 he explained the board's position; afterwards he said he was pessimistic. By April, reports identified him as the board's vice chairman; the records found don't show when or why the change came. By mid-April the teachers had been on strike for seven weeks. In April the board voted 6–3 to reject proposals from both administrators and teachers to end it. Ivan gave the board's reasons: the teachers' proposal called for no reprisals and sought advisory arbitration. "We believe it is in the best interest to proceed in operating the schools without the striking teachers," he said, in remarks carried by the Associated Press.

The dispute was still unresolved at the end of June. Striking teachers who had hiked to Chicago were greeted there by a crowd of 3,500. The Boston Globe reported that the board's vice chairman called the march "an exercise in futility." He said a New Hampshire Supreme Court decision expected that month would determine the strike's outcome, and that there were between 1,200 and 1,400 applications for the striking teachers' positions.

The dispute also ran through the courts. In April 1974 the New Hampshire Supreme Court upheld a lower court's refusal to order the teachers back to work, noting that the two sides had not yet exhausted the possibilities of compromise. Its opinion records that the board had declared most of the teachers' remaining proposals non-negotiable and had declined an offer of federal mediation. On April 4, after a hearing, the board voted 7 to 2 to sustain the superintendent's decision not to renominate the striking tenured teachers; the records do not show how each member voted. On August 15, 1974, the court upheld that decision in Farrelly v. Timberlane Regional School District, ruling that by striking during their contracts the teachers had abandoned them. That November the State Board of Education said it would not seek to revoke the teachers' certificates.

A short newspaper item about the Timberlane school board's 6-3 vote.View larger
“Elsewhere in the News”: the Timberlane board's 6–3 vote, and the reasons given by “Ivan R. Oak, school board vice chairman.” April 13, 1974
Two newspaper columns reporting the Timberlane school board's rejection of proposals to end the teachers' strike.View larger
Associated Press report in The Boston Globe, “Timberlane pupils plan 2d walkout to support teachers”: “Ivan R. Oak, board vice chairman,” gives the board's reasons. April 14, 1974
A short newspaper paragraph quoting Oak: “We believe it is in the best interest to proceed in operating the schools without the striking teachers.”View larger
“We believe it is in the best interest to proceed in operating the schools without the striking teachers,” Oak said. April 14, 1974
A front-page newspaper headline: “Hiking Timberlane strikers greeted by 3500 in Chicago.”View larger
The Boston Globe's front-page headline on the Timberlane teachers' march to Chicago; the article continues on page 8. July 1, 1974
A newspaper column beginning “In New Hampshire yesterday, the vice chairman of the Timberlane School Board, Ivan R. Oak, called the Chicago action ‘an exercise in futility.’”View larger
Page 8, continuing the front-page report: “the vice chairman of the Timberlane School Board, Ivan R. Oak,” calls the Chicago march “an exercise in futility” and says the striking teachers have hurt their cause. He ends: “This whole strike is part of an NEA ploy to begin with.” July 1, 1974

Later life in Texas

By 2000 Ivan had moved to South Texas, and in May of that year he and Marilyn were licensed to marry in Nueces County. His son Richard, who grew up in Danville, died in February 2008, aged 51; his obituary described Ivan and his stepmother, Marilyn, as both living in Texas. Ivan outlived both his brothers: Wendell died in 2010 and Allan in 2012.

Ivan's home in his later years is in Hondo, Texas, according to his family. Family notices from 2008 to 2021 name him as living there, and one in 2008 listed Ivan and Marilyn together among its survivors. The family remembers his quieter later years, and Ivan and Marilyn's involvement at Tarpley Baptist Church.

Ivan's grandchildren include Richard's sons, Richard Jr., Travis, Michael and David. In August 2021 Ivan lost two of them, Travis and David. Travis's obituary says he had been affected by addiction and mental illness most of his life.

Family

Parents

  • A newspaper notice headed "Irvin G. Oaks To Be Presented Safety Medal."View larger
    Morning Sentinel, February 24, 1942: "Irvin G. Oaks To Be Presented Safety Medal."
    About this clipping

    This report says the accident happened “last summer” and gives 6900 volts; the October 1941 report of the South Channel dam accident differs on the season, the voltage and whether the man was unconscious.

    Father

    Irving Gilbert Oak Likely

    born 1901

    Irving was born in Skowhegan in 1901, and the censuses of 1910, 1920 and 1940 all find him there.

    • In 1910, at eight, he was attending school.

    Family recollection According to a family recollection, Irving left school at 12 or 13 to work as a cook in a logging camp and help his mother with the younger children. Unconfirmed

    • In 1940 he gave the fifth grade as the highest he had completed.
    • By 1920 he was working as a conductor on the electric railway, and by 1925 he was a lineman for the Central Maine Power Company, work he was still doing in the 1940s.

    Newspaper accounts credit Irving with reviving two people: a woman rescued from a car in Austin Stream at Bingham in September 1925, and fellow lineman Ralph R. Wentworth after an electrical accident at Skowhegan in October 1941. He received the National Safety Council's President's Medal in February 1942 for the latter rescue.

    The South Channel dam rescue · Irving's records in the family tree

  • A newspaper marriage notice for Irving Gilbert Oak and Natalie Mildred Russell.View larger
    Marriage notice of Irving Gilbert Oak and Natalie Mildred Russell, July 1925.

    Mother

    Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak Unconfirmed

    1902–1948

    Nellie was born in Madison, Maine, on May 12, 1902, the daughter of Lewis W. and Lillace Ames Russell.

    • The family tree places her family in Madison in 1910 and in Cornville in 1920.
    • She married Irving in July 1925, and they made their home in Skowhegan, where they raised Allan, Wendell and Ivan.
    • In the winter of 1947 her mother, Lillace, lived with the family for two months before going into the hospital.
    • Nellie died at a Waterville hospital on August 4, 1948, at 46, after being ill for a year and a half.

    Nellie's records in the family tree

Grandparents

On his father's side

  • Grandfather

    George Franklin Oak Unconfirmed

    died by July 1925

    • George lived in Skowhegan.
    • On May 3, 1895, a Portland newspaper's list of marriages recorded "George H. Oak and Mrs. Lizzie Ames" as married in Skowhegan.
    • The couple raised a large family in Skowhegan; the census found them there in 1910 and 1920, with Irving among their children.
    • They lost a young daughter, Verna, at their home on East Front Street in 1912.
    • George had died by July 1925, when Irving's marriage notice called him "the late George Oak."

    George's records in the family tree

  • A woman in a long dark dress standing on the steps at the doorway of a clapboard house; the print has a tinted appearance.View larger
    Lizzie, as the family's label on the photograph identifies her, standing at the door of a clapboard house. The print appears tinted; date and place not recorded.

    Grandmother

    Lizzie (Elizabeth Evans Ames) Oak Unconfirmed

    • Lizzie had been married before, and she came to her marriage with George as "Mrs. Lizzie Ames."
    • She was the mother of Irving and his many brothers and sisters, at the center of a large Skowhegan household in the 1910 and 1920 censuses.
    • The family recollection of Irving going to work young to help his mother with the younger children is, in part, a story about her.
    • The family tree records her death in Skowhegan in 1936.

    Lizzie's records in the family tree

On his mother's side

  • Grandfather

    Lewis Whittier Russell Unconfirmed

    1882–1964

    • Lewis was born in Cornville, Maine, on April 2, 1882, the son of Harlow S. and Abbie Whittier Russell.
    • He married Lillace Ames in 1901.
    • Until he retired he was a self-employed farmer on the Lakewood Road.
    • In his last years he lived with his daughter Roxie and her husband. He died at their summer cottage on Lake Wesserunsett in July 1964, at 82.

    Lewis's records in the family tree

  • Grandmother

    Lillace Alma (Ames) Russell Libby Unconfirmed

    died 1947

    • Lillace was born in Canaan, Maine.
    • She married Lewis Russell in 1901, and Nellie was one of their daughters.
    • She later married Elmer Libby, and by 1947 she was his widow, of Madison.
    • That winter she spent two months living with Nellie and Irving's family in Skowhegan before going into a Waterville hospital, where she died in February 1947.

    Lillace's records in the family tree

The label on each card describes the evidence linking that person to Ivan in the family tree, not every statement on the card.

The labels say how well the records support each family link: see what the labels mean.

Photographs

  • An elderly man in glasses, smiling, wearing a black cap embroidered "U.S. Army Veteran" and a dark plaid shirt, seated in a restaurant.View larger

    Ivan in a family photograph, wearing a U.S. Army Veteran cap.

    Date not recorded

  • A newspaper notice headed "Irvin G. Oaks To Be Presented Safety Medal."View larger

    Morning Sentinel, February 24, 1942: "Irvin G. Oaks To Be Presented Safety Medal."

  • A newspaper marriage notice for Irving Gilbert Oak and Natalie Mildred Russell.View larger

    Marriage notice of Irving Gilbert Oak and Natalie Mildred Russell, July 1925.

  • A woman in a long dark dress standing on the steps at the doorway of a clapboard house; the print has a tinted appearance.View larger

    Lizzie, as the family's label on the photograph identifies her, standing at the door of a clapboard house. The print appears tinted; date and place not recorded.

  • A strip of a handwritten census page listing Irving, Nellie, Allan, Wendell and Ivan Oak, with their ages and birthplace.View larger

    The Oak household in the 1940 census of Skowhegan, Maine: Irving, head, a lineman for the power company; Nellie; and their sons Allan, 14, Wendell, 12, and Ivan, 8.

    April 1940

  • A short newspaper notice headed “Donald Russell Oak”, reporting the death of the infant son of Irvin G. Oak and Nellie Russell Oak.View larger

    “Donald Russell Oak, infant son of Irvin G. Oak and Nellie Russell Oak, died Saturday.”

    February 10, 1930

  • A short newspaper item headed “Colorado Scholarship” about Ivan R. Oak's state scholarship; a street address is masked.View larger

    “Colorado Scholarship”: Ivan R. Oak, a graduate of Skowhegan High School, is awarded the Maine state scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines for 1949–50.

    September 5, 1949

  • A newspaper column listing the University of Maine students from Orono registered for the fall semester, among them Ivan R. Oak.View larger

    “Penobscot County Students Registered at University”: the students from Orono registered for the fall 1955 semester, among them “Ivan R. Oak.”

    October 5, 1955

  • A newspaper column headed “Change OD to Santa Red” about an Army battery's Christmas gifts to children.View larger

    “Change OD to Santa Red”: Battery B of the 274th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, at Ladd Air Force Base, brings Christmas to the Maranatha Orphanage and St. Joseph's hospital. “The drive was spearheaded by Second Lt. Ludwig N. Ladas, Sfc. Herbert H. Taylor, and Sgt. Ivan R. Oak.”

    December 30, 1953

  • Three lines of a newspaper wedding report listing out-of-town guests, among them Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, all from Orono.View larger

    Among the out-of-town guests at Wendell's wedding at Old Town: “Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, Mrs. Herbert Spencer and Mrs. Albert Goodin all from Orono.”

    June 29, 1954

  • Three lines from a newspaper's Harrison County marriage-licence list, naming Ivan R. Oak, Keesler, and Evelyn Dixon, Amory, among other couples.View larger

    The Harrison County marriage-licence list: “Ivan R. Oak, Keesler, and Eve-lyn Dixon, Amory” (the name hyphenated across a line).

    July 11, 1952

  • A newspaper holiday note in two parts, joined in reading order: its first two lines, “Arthur J. Flemming visited over the holidays with Mr. and”, then, after a dashed line marking the column break, its last five lines, naming Mrs. Ivan R. Oak and family at South Danville, N. H., and two other families.View larger

    Holiday notes from Skowhegan: “Arthur J. Flemming visited over the holidays with Mr. and Mrs. Ivan R. Oak and family at South Danville, N. H.” The item begins at the foot of one column and ends at the top of the next.

    December 30, 1959

  • A newspaper article headed “U-M To Get Amplifier” about a Western Electric grant to the University of Maine.View larger

    “U-M To Get Amplifier”: the Western Electric Fund grant to the University of Maine's College of Technology, presented by “A. F. Strazdas, New York, college relations representative for the company, and Ivan R. Oak, who is stationed at the North Andover, Mass., plant. Oak is a 1957 graduate of the U. of M.”

    July 16, 1966

  • A short newspaper item naming Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak and their four children as Saturday guests of his aunt and her husband.View larger

    Christmas visitors at Madison: “Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Oak, Cathy, Ricky, Russell and Judy of Danville, N. H. were Saturday guests of his aunt and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Foss.”

    December 28, 1961

  • A flat granite memorial stone inscribed “In memory of Russell A. Oak, June 1, 1960 – Sept. 1, 1981. His ashes are part of the mountains he loved.”View larger

    Russell's memorial stone.

    Photograph date not recorded

  • A newspaper paragraph listing the Rockingham County 4-H leaders who received Silver Clover awards, among them Mrs. Ivan Oak of Danville; it continues, after a dashed line marking the column break, at the top of the next column.View larger

    Among the Rockingham County 4-H leaders honored for five years of leadership: “Mrs. Ivan Oak, Danville” (Evelyn).

    November 15, 1966

  • A short newspaper item about the Timberlane school board's 6-3 vote.View larger

    “Elsewhere in the News”: the Timberlane board's 6–3 vote, and the reasons given by “Ivan R. Oak, school board vice chairman.”

    April 13, 1974

  • Two newspaper columns reporting the Timberlane school board's rejection of proposals to end the teachers' strike.View larger

    Associated Press report in The Boston Globe, “Timberlane pupils plan 2d walkout to support teachers”: “Ivan R. Oak, board vice chairman,” gives the board's reasons.

    April 14, 1974

  • A short newspaper paragraph quoting Oak: “We believe it is in the best interest to proceed in operating the schools without the striking teachers.”View larger

    “We believe it is in the best interest to proceed in operating the schools without the striking teachers,” Oak said.

    April 14, 1974

  • A front-page newspaper headline: “Hiking Timberlane strikers greeted by 3500 in Chicago.”View larger

    The Boston Globe's front-page headline on the Timberlane teachers' march to Chicago; the article continues on page 8.

    July 1, 1974

  • A newspaper column beginning “In New Hampshire yesterday, the vice chairman of the Timberlane School Board, Ivan R. Oak, called the Chicago action ‘an exercise in futility.’”View larger

    Page 8, continuing the front-page report: “the vice chairman of the Timberlane School Board, Ivan R. Oak,” calls the Chicago march “an exercise in futility” and says the striking teachers have hurt their cause. He ends: “This whole strike is part of an NEA ploy to begin with.”

    July 1, 1974

In Ivan's words

This part of the page is waiting for Ivan's own memories. If you are sitting with him, the questions below may help. Anything he shares can be added through the family's private memory form.

Any answer is welcome, including “I don't remember.”

  • What was it like growing up in Skowhegan with Allan and Wendell? What did the three of you do together?
  • What do you remember about your Army years, and about that Christmas drive for the children in Fairbanks?
  • How did you and Evelyn meet, and what were your first years together like?
More questions
  • What was a working day like at the Merrimack Valley Works? What part of your work are you proudest of?
  • What was family life like in Danville: holidays, the children, Evelyn's 4-H club, visits to Aunt Mary?
  • How did you and Marilyn come to make your home in Hondo, and what do you enjoy about life there?
  • Would you like to tell us about this cap and what it means to you? See the image
  • What would you like the younger members of the family to know about you?

Share a story or photo about Ivan No sign-in needed: send this link to relatives and friends. What they send is saved privately and read by the family historian before anything is added here, and words are kept exactly as they are given.

Family members who are signed in can also add a memory from the family area.

Evidence

The notes below identify the records and recollections behind this account. Corrections and additions are welcome through the family's memory form.

  1. 1940 United States census, Skowhegan, Maine: the Oak household
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan, Irving Gilbert Oak, Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak
  2. Obituary of Nellie Oak, August 7, 1948
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan, Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak
  3. Ivan's high-school yearbook entry (the copy held does not name the school)
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan
  4. Colorado School of Mines yearbook (The Prospector), 1950: the freshmen The yearbook for the 1949–50 school year; a listing, not a record of how long he attended.
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  5. University of Maine Prism yearbooks, 1957 (page 23, juniors) and 1958 (printed page 78, seniors, with his portrait) Cited, not reproduced (the university reserves its rights).
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  6. Bangor Daily News, June 14, 1957, page 4: the Madison news column The Madison column: Mr. and Mrs. Henry Foss attended the commencement at Orono, where “Mrs. Foss' nephew, Ivan Ray Oak” was in the graduating class.
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  7. 1910 and 1920 United States censuses, Skowhegan, Maine
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak, George Franklin Oak, Lizzie (Elizabeth Evans Ames) Oak
  8. A family recollection, written down in 2026, as told in The South Channel dam rescue
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak, Lizzie (Elizabeth Evans Ames) Oak
  9. Kennebec Journal, October 6, 1925, page 8
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak
  10. Kennebec Journal, February 25, 1942, page 3
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak
  11. Morning Sentinel, Waterville, February 24, 1942, page 12
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak
  12. Evening Express, Portland, July 1925: the marriage notice of Irving Gilbert Oak and Natalie Mildred Russell
    Supports: Irving Gilbert Oak, Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak, George Franklin Oak
  13. Portland Daily Press, May 15, 1895: list of marriages
    Supports: George Franklin Oak, Lizzie (Elizabeth Evans Ames) Oak
  14. Independent-Reporter, Skowhegan, May 30, 1912
    Supports: George Franklin Oak
  15. Obituary of Lewis W. Russell, July 16, 1964
    Supports: Lewis Whittier Russell
  16. Obituaries of Lillace Libby: Evening Express, Portland, February 15, 1947, and Bangor Daily News, February 17, 1947
    Supports: Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak, Lillace Alma (Ames) Russell Libby
  17. The family tree
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan, Later life in Texas, Irving Gilbert Oak, Nellie (Natalie Mildred Russell) Oak, Lizzie (Elizabeth Evans Ames) Oak, Lewis Whittier Russell, Lillace Alma (Ames) Russell Libby
  18. Rockingham County Registry of Deeds, New Hampshire, index: deeds recorded January 31, 1959 and September 25, 2001 Index entries only; the deed images were not read. They show ownership, not where he lived.
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  19. The family's account of the Danville home, recorded privately in September 2026 A family account, not a documentary record.
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  20. New Hampshire Register, State Year-book and Legislative Manual (Tower Publishing), Danville entry, "School District - Board Members", editions 1970 to 1975–76 Edition years are publication years, not term dates. Read in HathiTrust search results and a Google Books snippet; no page image.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  21. Associated Press, Plaistow, N.H., "Timberlane pupils plan 2d walkout to support teachers", The Boston Globe, April 14, 1974, page 14 The same AP report ran on April 13, 1974 in the Concord Monitor, Nashua Telegraph, Portsmouth Herald and Lewiston Sun-Journal; one report, not several.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  22. The Boston Globe, April 13, 1974, page 2, "Elsewhere in the News" A digest item that follows the AP report.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  23. "Hiking Timberlane strikers greeted by 3500 in Chicago", The Boston Globe, July 1, 1974, pages 1 and 8 The Globe's own staff report.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  24. 47th Viking Infantry Division, Camp Rucker, Alabama: pictorial review (Albert Love Enterprises, 1951), Battery A, 188th Field Artillery Battalion The name is in a company photograph's caption (second row); the photograph is not reproduced here. The 188th Field Artillery Battalion heading (leaf 344) precedes the Battery A photograph (leaf 347).
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  25. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, December 30, 1953, page 6, “Change OD to Santa Red”
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  26. The family's account of Ivan's later years, recorded privately on September 26, 2026 A family recollection, not independently verified. No dates of church membership or activities are given.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  27. Obituary of Antoinette P. Oak, Legacy Remembers, October 21, 2008 Lists Ivan and his wife among the survivors as living in Hondo, Texas: a residence reported on that date. Read as a text record; no image is held.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  28. Evidence note: Medina County, Texas, property records (a deed recorded April 7, 2000, and the county appraisal district's 2026 roll) County records place Ivan's land near Hondo from 2000; the 2026 appraisal roll names Ivan and Marilyn as owners with a Hondo mailing address. Cited as evidence only: ownership and a mailing address are not the same as residence. No street address, parcel number or value is given here.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  29. Tarpley Baptist Church, Tarpley, Texas (church website) A link to the church only, for context. The website does not confirm Ivan's or Marilyn's membership, involvement or dates.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  30. Bangor Daily News, July 16, 1966, page 7, “U-M To Get Amplifier”
    Supports: Communications engineering
  31. “A6 Monolithic Crystal Filter Design for Manufacture and Device Quality,” Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on Frequency Control, 1975, pages 105–112 (DOI 10.1109/FREQ.1975.200070) Authors and affiliations, the first page and the references were read; the full paper was not. “I. R. Oak” is very probably Ivan: the initials, employer and plant match. He is the second of two Western Electric authors, with three Bell Laboratories co-authors; the paper does not say which part was his.
    Supports: Communications engineering
  32. Context: G. Bleisch, “The A6 Channel Bank,” IEEE Transactions on Communications, 1972; and a 1970 Western Electric author's affiliation naming the North Andover plant the Merrimack Valley Works Background on the equipment and the plant; neither names Ivan. The 1970 affiliation is IEEE Xplore document 1536736.
    Supports: Communications engineering
  33. The family's account of Ivan's work, recorded privately on September 26, 2026 A family recollection, not independently verified: the transcontinental communications and lab-grown crystals, the 1980s Chicago meetings, the stopped project and the Nokia retirement. No executive is named or quoted.
    Supports: Communications engineering
  34. Company history: Western Electric, Lucent Technologies and Alcatel-Lucent (Wikipedia, revisions read September 26, 2026) Context for the family's remark only: Western Electric's business became AT&T Technologies in 1984, Lucent Technologies in 1996, part of Alcatel-Lucent in 2006, and Nokia's in 2016. This is the companies' history, not Ivan's employment history; it does not show when he retired or which of these companies he worked for.
    Supports: Communications engineering
  35. University of Maine, One Hundred and Eighth Commencement, June 9, 1957, program, page 19 Lists “Ivan Ray Oak … Skowhegan” under the Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering. The Prism yearbooks of 1957 (page 23) and 1958 (page 20) list “Ivan R. Oak, Electrical Engineering.”. Cited, not reproduced (the university reserves its rights).
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  36. Portland Press Herald, September 5, 1949, page 20, “Colorado Scholarship” (also on page 9 of another edition)
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  37. The Commercial (Bangor), October 5, 1955, page 6, “Penobscot County Students Registered at University”
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  38. Bangor Daily News, June 29, 1954, page 7: the wedding of Wendell Oak and Antoinette Paradis at Old Town Lists Ivan and his wife, from Orono, among the out-of-town guests. A residence, not a record of enrollment.
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  39. List of In-Bound Passengers, U.S.N.S. Thomas Jefferson, Seward, Alaska, to Seattle, arriving December 22, 1953 (Washington, Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, Ancestry) Cited, not reproduced: the page lists other passengers and addresses. It does not name Ivan.
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  40. Morning Sentinel (Waterville), December 30, 1959, page 12, Skowhegan personal notes
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  41. Bangor Daily News, December 28, 1961, page 8, State and County News, Madison
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  42. The Portsmouth Herald, November 15, 1966, page 6, “Thirty-One 4-H Leaders Receive Awards at Kingston”
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  43. Morning Sentinel, July 10, 2010, pages A1 and A8: Mary Foss's 106th birthday
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  44. Morning Sentinel, May 20, 2011, page B4: obituary of Mary Russell Foss Quoted for the Boston Post Cane (2005) and “Maine's oldest citizen”; its list of relatives is not reproduced.
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  45. Family photographs of the memorial stones of Russell A. Oak and of Ivan and Evelyn Oak (Danville, New Hampshire), held in the family tree Only Russell's stone is shown; Ivan and Evelyn's shared stone carries a living person's birth date and is not reproduced.
    Supports: Family life in Danville
  46. Family notices naming Ivan as of Hondo, Texas: obituaries of Antoinette P. Oak (2008), Wendell M. Oak (Bangor Daily News, October 23, 2010), Mary Russell Foss (2011), Alan E. Oak (2012) and Travis R. Oak (2021) Each is a statement of where he lived when it was published. Their lists of relatives are not reproduced.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  47. Daily Kennebec Journal, February 10, 1930, page 2, “Donald Russell Oak”
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan
  48. Morning Sentinel (Waterville, Maine), July 1, 1931, page 5, Skowhegan column: the death of Iris Mae Oak Cited, not reproduced. The notice spells her name Iris Mae; the family tree has Iris May. It does not use the word “twin”: that Ivan was a twin is the family's account.
    Supports: Growing up in Skowhegan
  49. Daily Herald (Biloxi), July 11, 1952, page 14: marriage licences issued in Harrison County The list prints “Ivan R. Oak, Keesler, and Eve-lyn Dixon, Amory” (the name hyphenated across a line). It is a licence, not a record of the wedding.
    Supports: College, the Army and marriage
  50. New Hampshire Supreme Court opinions: 114 N.H. 245 (April 3, 1974); Farrelly v. Timberlane Regional School District, 114 N.H. 560 (August 15, 1974); and 115 N.H. 77 (February 28, 1975), which recites the State Board of Education's statement of November 20, 1974 None of the opinions names Ivan or records how any board member voted.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  51. Corpus Christi Caller-Times, May 25, 2000, “People” section page 4: marriage licenses Cited, not reproduced. The list records the licence, not the wedding.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  52. Obituary of Richard D. Oak Sr., Valley News (West Lebanon, New Hampshire), February 25, 2008 Read as a text record; its list of relatives is not reproduced.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  53. Obituary of Travis R. Oak, 603Cremations, August 2021 Quoted for one statement, attributed to the obituary; the page is not reproduced.
    Supports: Later life in Texas
  54. Context: WE Magazine, September–October 1981, page 21: a cultured quartz crystal grown at the Merrimack Valley Works The plant grew its own quartz for such filters. The magazine does not name Ivan, and nothing here says he grew quartz or set the plant's test regime.
    Supports: Communications engineering
  55. March 1974 wire reports naming Ivan Oak as board chairman: AP in the Concord Monitor, March 1 and March 5 (“Revocations Asked”), page 2, and the Nashua Telegraph, March 4, page 6; UPI in the Nashua Telegraph, March 19, page 9 (“Gov. Thomson Intervenes In Timberlane Dispute”), and the Valley News, March 25, page 2 The other pages are Newspapers.com images 835191198, 835191856, 78280450 and 833398255. The telegram's content is not reported; individual board votes are not reported.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board
  56. AP, Concord Monitor, May 24, 1974, page 2 Names a different board chairman; it does not name Ivan.
    Supports: On the Timberlane school board

To print this page, use your browser's Print command.