One day his cousin and friends from 15 miles up the river drove down in their Model T to challenge him to dive to the bottom of a deep "hole" in the river that none of them were able to reach the bottom of. Velvin agreed to the challenge and made the trip back with them. Standing about 16 foot above the river, Velvin prepared to dive into the deep hole below as about 10 boys stood watching on the riverbank across from him. However, he had decided not to dive into the hole since there was no telling what all could be in there since no one had dove into it before. He went about 10 feet under the water and swam to the side of the riverbank and grabbed a handful of "evidence" that he had touched the bottom - a fistful of Oklahoma red clay. As he sprung up from the water with his hand raised in triumph above his head the boys shouted, "He got it!" Many years later, Velvin confessed to his cousin that he hadn't gone to the bottom of the hole, indeed if he had he would have had a fistfull of white sand, not red clay.

Velvin has many fond memories of growing up on the Washita River, but also remembers fondly, the summer of 1938 that he spent in Watonga, Oklahoma. He lived at the Civilian Conservation Corp. Camp on the west side of town. He spent all of his days at the Roman Nose State Park Swimming Pool, from 8:00 am - 9:00 pm and earned $2.00/day. By the end of the summer, Velvin had worked 745 hours and earned $116.00. Several nights, after work he would go to the drug store, which was the social spot for Watonga teenagers at the time. He made several friends including Ira Thomason, who ran the bathhouse, "Rod", whose family owned the funeral home, "Mary Jane", who was 14 at the time and had an older brother Velvin's age, "Barbara", and "Jerry", the prettiest girl he ever saw, but was engaged to a boy who worked at the telephone company.

In 1938, Roman Nose State Park, was composed of a bathhouse, concession, and swimming pool. There was a 10 foot rock tower for diving off of as well as a 3 foot spring board on the East shore of the concrete bank. Folks would pay a dime for a bath and then head down to the swimming pool. They could shower afterwards, but there was no need since they didn't use chemicals in the pool then. They filled the pool with spring water which was 53 degrees, then emptied and refilled it every Sunday, by the time they refilled the pool, the water had warmed to 63 degrees. It proved to be a fun and memorable summer for many, including the first lifeguard for Roman Nose Swimming Pool, Velvin L. Stout.

Velvin Stout to return to Roman Nose State Park after 66 years Dear Folks, I'm calling you folks because for 58 days in the summer of 1938 I was one of you. I stayed in the CCC Boys Camp on the west side of town, and was the first 'life guard' at Roman Nose Park Pool. I felt honored to be trusted with the 13 hours per day job of showing love, care and concern in protecting the hundreds of folks from drowning in that brand new, cold, clear and blue waters in that lovely Roman Nose Park Pool. My name is Velvin L. (Blackie) Stout. My farm home was 5 miles northeast of Hammon, Oklahoma in east edge of Roger Mills County, that is also 8 miles northeast of Butler in Custer County.