Along about 6:30 tonight Altoonas population listed at 380 will swell when senior citizens stream into town for the Saturday night dance.
They like old country, songs by Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Bob Wills, all the others, said Lynn Oliphant, age 70, and a junior member of the set.
Lynn and Jerry Cole, longtime Fredonia musician, will have their guitars tuned well before starting time at 7 oclock. When the first strains of a Williams standard begins, maybe Theres a Tear in my Beer, couples will flood the floor. The two-step is popular, but some will make up steps as they go.
A popular part of the evening is the chair dance, a mixer often seen at the start of social life in middle school.
LYNN CAME from a family that liked to make music. They never missed the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights by way of radio station WSM.
His dad, Owen, formed a group with Bud Larson and Wimpy Yockey. Old hymns and honky-tonk were their staples from the Depression and into the 1950s.
After he graduated from Humboldt High in 1966, Lynn had several jobs in the shop where Red Rider three-wheel utility carts were made in Humboldt. He also was on the road with pipeline crews.
Lynn had a hankering to join the Navy, but by 1970 had been rejected twice because of his weight.
You really want to get in the Navy, dont you? a Navy recruiter said.
I do, Lynn replied.
After admitted, Lynn lost 50 pounds during basic training and went on to serve eight years, including off the coast of Vietnam on the USS Constellation.
The last two years at a Naval Air Station in Washington led to what hes doing today. I had fooled around with the guitar, and a Navy friend taught me to play, he said.
Out of the Navy, Lynn married Patriea a year later and spent most of his work-a-day life in public safety in Chanute. When health concerns put him on the shelf from that demanding life, he transported foster kids for Kaw Valley Center, a child welfare group.
In retirement, Lynn turned to music and coupled it with computerized back-up music.
