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December 1971: Modesto, California—Dad Walkling— Walkling heads out to milk his Swiss nanny. I first met Orlando “Dad” Walkling at his house in the airport district of Modesto just before his 104th birthday. Walkling was born in Indian Territory January 2, 1868, near a town now called McAlester, Oklahoma. His mother was Shawnee and his father, whom he didn’t remember, was an Englishman named Orlando. He later used the name Walkling instead of his Indian name of Skipocase. On September 16, 1893, Skipocase O. Walkling, then 25 years old, was among thousands of settlers who rode into the Cherokee Strip Land Run of Oklahoma to make a free land claim. Walkling told of how he rode into the 226-mile long "Strip" to claim 160 acres. "There were thousands of men who waited at the line until noon that day. The army gun was fired and chaos broke out. Every man carried a gun. There was no law, no sheriff, nothing. People had to fight for their claim even though they were first." Walkling made a claim, but later gave it up when he had a chance to farm a piece of land in Noble County, Oklahoma. He cleared the land with six yoke of oxen and planted peach orchards. He and his first wife ran a combination grocery store and hotel there. He had nearly 1,000 trees and began a cannery to process the crops. "One day when the train came in a woman dressed like a Salvation Army woman handed me a bundle as I stood on the ramp, then she jumped back into the train. I opened it and there was a pair of twins, a boy and a girl," Walkling said. He and his wife did not have children, so they adopted the twins legally and raised them. He said they raised six others but did not adopt them. He came to Modesto in 1944 at 76 years of age and went to work for a meat firm before he opened a poultry store. After that store closed, he made bullwhips and wove rope for truckers at his home. In 1968, Dad Walking, then 100 years old, visited Oklahoma for the 75th anniversary of t

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December 1971: Modesto, California—Dad Walkling— Walkling heads out to milk his Swiss nanny. I first met Orlando “Dad” Walkling at his house in the airport district of Modesto just before his 104th birthday. Walkling was born in Indian Territory January 2, 1868, near a town now called McAlester, Oklahoma. His mother was Shawnee and his father, whom he didn’t remember, was an Englishman named Orlando. He later used the name Walkling instead of his Indian name of Skipocase. On September 16, 1893, Skipocase O. Walkling, then 25 years old, was among thousands of settlers who rode into the Cherokee Strip Land Run of Oklahoma to make a free land claim. Walkling told of how he rode into the 226-mile long "Strip" to claim 160 acres. "There were thousands of men who waited at the line until noon that day. The army gun was fired and chaos broke out. Every man carried a gun. There was no law, no sheriff, nothing. People had to fight for their claim even though they were first." Walkling made a claim, but later gave it up when he had a chance to farm a piece of land in Noble County, Oklahoma. He cleared the land with six yoke of oxen and planted peach orchards. He and his first wife ran a combination grocery store and hotel there. He had nearly 1,000 trees and began a cannery to process the crops. "One day when the train came in a woman dressed like a Salvation Army woman handed me a bundle as I stood on the ramp, then she jumped back into the train. I opened it and there was a pair of twins, a boy and a girl," Walkling said. He and his wife did not have children, so they adopted the twins legally and raised them. He said they raised six others but did not adopt them. He came to Modesto in 1944 at 76 years of age and went to work for a meat firm before he opened a poultry store. After that store closed, he made bullwhips and wove rope for truckers at his home. In 1968, Dad Walking, then 100 years old, visited Oklahoma for the 75th anniversary of t