Wynona Burney

Wynona Burney of the Miller Ridge community is as sharp as a tack when it comes to remembering people and names, especially those who are famous and may or may not be related to her, she says.

Born as Wynona Amos, Burney, 94, also known as “Granny Burney” to some, was born and raised in the small community located north of Central.

“I remember being here when I was a little girl but my family moved to California when I was 14 and I didn’t get to return here until 1980. I was sure glad to be back,” she said.

“I was Marvin Amos and Vinnie Lattimore’s daughter. My brother married Mary Floyd, whose brother was Charles Arthur Floyd, the famous outlaw also known as Pretty Boy Floyd,” she said.

“He robbed a lot of banks, even the one in Sallisaw,” she said. “His daddy said he was sitting on the car fender and waiting on Pretty Boy. He didn’t know he was robbing the bank!” she said, laughing.

Burney said she would see “Pretty Boy” from time to time.

“I remember one night I heard some noise coming from our garden. I was just a little girl at the time and I told my mother about it. She thought it was just my uncle, but turned out to be Charles Arthur. Daddy told me he was just ‘scouting.’ Didn’t know what it meant at the time but I guess he was scouting for the law,” she said.

Burney said she remembers attending Floyd’s funeral at Akins. “There were a lot of people from all over, cars everywhere and planes were flying above us. I had never seen so many people. I remember thinking to myself, I guess he had to be pretty famous to have that many people at his funeral,” she said.

“Times were a lot different back then. My daddy made moonshine. Everybody made moonshine,” she said. My sister had a pint bottle sitting on the dresser and one day the sheriff came down and looked in every room. He came to me and my sister’s room and grabbed the pint bottle and smelled it. My sister told him ‘Give me my coffee!’” she said laughing. “She was younger than me. I was around seven or eight and she was about four years old. My sister kept her coffee and sugar in the pint bottle. I guess the deputies thought it was moonshine,” she said.

Burney said she has spent much of her life as a housewife. She met and married her husband, Jerry, in California. She said she kept books for him and his construction business.

“He built houses for a living. He built 16 houses in Muldrow and he built our house out here,” she said.

“We raised our three girls in California. I have one daughter still living in Barling, Ark.”

Burney said she has six grandchildren but was uncertain about how many great and great-great-grandchildren she has. “I know there’s several. I could tell you but it would take some time to count them all,” she said.

Burney said some of her favorite things to do include going to town with her sister who still drives. She also enjoys going to church at Akins Baptist Church.

“I also still go to ballgames at Central School. My granddaughter is a coach and her daughter plays basketball. My sister and I would go and we would sit near the top row. Now we can’t get up that high so we sit on the second row closer to the floor,” she said.

Burney said she loves living in her community because everyone is family there “and I have big family!” she said.

“I believe I have a pretty famous family,” she said with a laugh. “We’ve had moonshiners, sheriffs, judges and famous outlaws in our family.”

Just Folks. Just Folks is Your TIMES way of honoring the regular people of Sequoyah County, recognizing their unique talents, personalities, jobs, abilities, etc. Your TIMES appreciates the cooperation of each Just Folks and the public’s nominations for this feature. If you know of someone you think might be a good story, contact Amie Remer or Lynn McCulley at 918-775-4433.