Since 1977, friends have called me Obiwan. This got started with a young co-worker, because we were both Sci Fi (and Star Wars) fans. I commonly go by Orville Boyd. But this is hard for people to get out, so many call me Orville.
A few friends prefer to call me Boyd, which I also like. I am named Boyd after my Uncle Russell Boyd and like that association. The Boyd family name is an honorable Scottish name, also known as Bute or Buit, a sub-sept of the Stewart clan, which produced the Royal Stewarts of Scotland and England. The name is from the word in the Scots (Northern Anglian) language, originally from medieval French, that also has come into the English language as "butte."
My Kenyan friends and colleagues normally just call me by my initials: OBJ. In my international radio broadcasting in Kenya, I used the radio name O. B. Jay.
I am descended from the original Mullinaxes, John and Sarah. Two direct descendants of John and Sarah, the surname Mullinax are my direct lineal grandmothers. One channel of direct descent is from Sarah Mullinax, born 1826, who married Marick (Merrick) West.
Sarah Mullinax (1826 - 1914) is your 3rd great grandmother:
?
Augustus Lafayette West (1853 - 1888) son of Sarah Mullinax
?
Luada Caldonia West (1877 - 1907) daughter of Augustus Lafayette West
?
Alpharetta Mae Green (1895 - 1963) daughter of Luada Caldonia West
?
Lou Ila Gregory (1920 - ) daughter of Alpharetta Mae Green
?
Orville Boyd Jenkins. You are the son of Lou Ila Gregory.
Another channel of descent connects through George Ross Mullins, son of Frances Ann Mullinax and John M Mullins.
Frances Ann Mullinax (1799 - 1870) is your 5th great grandmother
?
George Ross Mullins (1819 - 1896) son of Frances Ann Mullinax
?
Nancy Elizabeth Mullins (1843 - 1911) daughter of George Ross Mullins
?
Amanda A Tatum (1860 - 1945) daughter of Nancy Elizabeth Mullins
?
Luada Caldonia West (1877 - 1907) daughter of Amanda A Tatum
?
Alpharetta Mae Green (1895 - 1963) daughter of Luada Caldonia West
?
Lou Ila Gregory (1920 - ) daughter of Alpharetta Mae Green
?
Orville Boyd Jenkins You are the son of Lou Ila Gregory.
You can see that from the two charts above, the dual chain of descent joins into my maternal line with Augustus Lafayette West, son of Sarah Mullinax, and his wife Amanda Tatum, daughter of Nancy Elizabeth Mullins, who was the granddaughter of Frances Ann Mullinax.
I grew up in Quanah under my dad's tutelage in the radio business. He owned KOLJ, and I tagged along with him from early years. I began working on the air at age 9 and for 4 years I worked on the air, running the end-of-day program, "The Six Twelve and Twenty Show," a request program.
Dad was very big on natural health and we raised a totally organic garden on a half-acre, a quarter of a city block behind our home on 11th Street (US Hwy 287). We three boys worked in the garden, helped dad plant an orchard or fruit and nut trees over the acre of our home and garden plots. We sold vegetables at a stand in front of the house along 287, and were involved in other business ventures, like selling greeting cards and delivering papers. All three of us brothers sold the Grit newspaper , each to our own set of customers.
I distributed the Sunday Oklahoman weekly newspaper. I remember having to get up early, even on snowy, icy winter days, before the rest of the family was up, to roll and bag my papers. I would deliver them on my Cushman Eagle motor scooter, an 8 horsepower motorcycle style scooter, which was very popular among guys in Quanah. Quanah, Texas, was a small place, safe for children to roam and work, and full of opportunities.
I participated in school band from the 5th grade, playing the tenor saxophone. The band was responsible for half-time activities at the school football games. I hated marching and slogging through the mud churned up by the cleats of the football team in the rainy fall. I just wanted to play music. I stuck with it and continued with music and play the saxophone today. I later added the guitar, bass guitar and others along the way.
We were members of the First Baptist Church, where I was baptized at age 6. I was in graded choir from my earliest memories, and learned music theory there. This was very important in the music foundations that later expanded to singing in various music groups, serving as the music leader for several churches from age 13 on. I was also nurtured in an exploring faith in those early years at First Baptist, and at age 15, felt a call to preach (or ministry that would unfold in various channels and forms as my faith and experience developed).
I actually preached my first sermon at age 13, in the mission church of First Baptist, on the north side of Quanah, called Quanah Baptist Chapel. Our family was already involved in this mission on the north side of Quanah, and I was the regular music leader for the worship services. Southern Baptist Churches have an annual event called Youth Week, which was an opportunity for youth of the church to be involved in all the church leadership activities as part of their discipleship. My assignment was to preach the evening message in that church, where I was already the regular music leader. Due to my already long experience, I was ordained the week I graduated from High School in Conway, Arkansas. I had already been serving as the pastor of a church for the last two years of High School.
From the week of graduation, I worked as a disk jockey-announcer and producer at a local radio station in Conway. I later worked at another station in Conway. During the first year of classes in college, I also served as a pastor. But I dropped that after the first year. I was also working as a radio announcer, to help pay my way through school, and i was living on my own. I later had a similar job at another station, together with a freight dock job for a trucking company in Little Rock.
I was also leading a successful music group (first a folk group called The Folk, then a folk-rock band called The New Light), and we were traveling around the state in music programs, mostly at churches or university music events, as well as local events around Conway and Faulkner County. In 1971 The New Light recorded an album, which we sold at our appearances. What a schedule!
One public record reports our Dallas address on Colorado Blvd. This is actually the address of our friends, Jerry and Martha Gilmore, with whom we stayed at times on visits from our Kenya assignment and used their address as a permanent address for a time.
U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
Orville B Jenkins
Birth Date 21 Jul 1948
Address 1608 W Colorado Blvd, Dallas, TX, 75208-2718
The following Irving, Texas, address was our permanent address for one period of our service when were overseas. This was the first home of our son Gareth Boyd.
U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2
Orville Jenkins
Birth Date 21 Jul 1948
Address 2110 Cunningham St, Irving, TX, 75062-4292