Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Colleen Marie Smith and Mrs. Dorothy Jean Thompson survive plunge. Shawnee, Aug. 17-(Special)-Two teen-age Shawnee girls, non-swimmers, escaped possible death here Thursday night after their car plunged off a county bridge into the muddy water of the North Canadian river. The two girls, Colleen Marie Smith, 18, and Mrs. Dorothy Jean Thompson, 16, sisters, crawled through an open window and escaped with only minor scratches. They were assisted to the bank by several unidentified men who were fishing nearby. Car Plunges Off Bridge The car landed on the driver`s side in about five feet of water. Most of the last four or five months, the river has been bank-full and has had a swift current. But the last two weeks it had fallen four or five feet. If the river had been at the higher level, several feet of water would have covered the car. Mrs. Thompson said she was driving the car across the bridge, which is about a half mile east of Shawnee. She said the car slipped off the plank runners which are on the bridge flooring. When she tried to bring the car back …

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph taken for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "Mrs. Orena Herd, left, Gordon Cooper's grandmother, and Mrs. Hattie Cooper, his mother, will watch Thursday's launch on television in Mrs. Cooper's Tecumseh home."

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "has been erected in Tecumseh behind the home of Mrs. Hattie Cooper mother of astronaut Gordon Cooper."

Photograph taken for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "will shrink to this scene when he thinks of home during his eight days of orbiting."

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph taken for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Newsmen wait at backyard gate of Mrs. Hattie cooper in Tecumseh as Walter Fruland, right, sent by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to help Mrs. Cooper, unlocks gate for them."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "New officers of the American War Dads are Dr. John W. Bridges, left, 904 NW 19, Oklahoma City chapter president, and Gail P. Short, Shawnee, president of the state organization."

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "He says Zimmerman is running a "real negative, mud-slinging campaign" at the direction of local insuranceman J.T. Weedman, a one-time associate of former Oklahoma Gov. David Hall."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company.

Photograph used for a story in the Daily Oklahoman newspaper. Caption: "CLASPED HANDS of Mrs. Orena Herd, Gordon Cooper's maternal grandmother, may be indicative that the prayer that she and Mrs. Hattie Cooper, the astronaut's mother, says will occupy considerable of their time until Cooper successfully lands after eight days of orbiting with fellow astronaut Charles Conrad jr."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Mrs. Orena Herd - Gordon Cooper's grandmother"