“Grambo” turns 100

Not a lot of people have had careers that span from beautician to bounty hunter, but Leatrice Carter of Spiro can claim that story. A century of life for Mrs. Carter has been full of family love, adventure and a unique career. Born in 1924, she was named after a silent picture movie star, Leatrice Joy.

Most of her adult career was as a bounty hunter, then process server. She retired at the age of 96. If she hadn’t suffered a heart attack, she would probably still be working at age 100!

Mrs. Carter’s success as a bounty hunter earned her the nickname “Grambo.”

Mrs. Carter said, “Back in the day, I decided I wanted to become a beautician. I went to beauty school and worked at a salon until 1970.” She was living in Kansas during her beautician years. “My mother had moved down here (to Oklahoma). My mother had cattle and was getting to the point she couldn’t throw feed out to them, and so on.” Mrs. Carter moved back to Oklahoma. At this time, she was married to her fifth husband. She obtained work at a Sentinel Bonding in Ft. Smith. “I was the bounty hunter. I went after bond jumpers, and sometimes my life was in danger. I carried what they call a “slapper” (blackjack) and handcuffs.” She also had a pearl-handled .38 Special.

Asked if she ran into many problems with the bond jumpers, Mrs. Carter replied, “Some tried to get a little “bronci”, but I carried the difference!” She held up the slapper. “One time somebody got their hand on me, but that was it. I shoved them off. That surprised them, and they gave up. I had a belt you put on the bond-jumper to put (attach) the handcuffs. Sometimes they objected, but didn’t object very long. You locked the belt on them and the handcuffs were behind them.”

The ‘wanted’ people Mrs. Carter collected were in a multi-state area including Oklahoma and Arkansas, Kansas and Colorado. “I went wherever I had to go,” she said. “When the judge wanted someone back for trial, I would go get them.”

She said she worked for the bond office from age 56 until age 96. “I was doing process serving, where you served papers for the courts. I miss it. I miss getting out.”

The sparkle in her eyes when telling about events she experienced are testimony to her enjoyment of the adventure and excitement of bounty hunting.
The Ft. Smith office Mrs. Carter worked from was a branch of the main bond office in Enid, Oklahoma.

Mrs. Carter was born at Tuskahoma to Florence Lawyer and Berry Bishop. She was sent to St. Agnes School in Antlers at four or five years old. “I was the youngest student there,” she said. After St. Agnes, she went to school at Haskell in Lawrence, Kansas. Her chores at St. Agnes were mostly housekeeping in the dorms.

“Dust mopping under the beds, whatever needed done. We had a little cloth bag we kept our toothbrush and toothpaste in and we had to see that they were all hung up and kept straight.”

Memories of activities included playing with paper dolls cut out of catalogues. “In my day, you made your own fun.”

Mrs. Carter said that her mother had moved from Enid to Tuskahoma with grandparents in a covered wagon. “Not many people get to ride in a covered wagon!” Mrs. Carter’s parents met at a Tuskahoma dance. Her father passed in 1984 and her mother passed in 1999 at the age of 94.

“My mother used to play at the Council House,” said Mrs. Carter. “It wasn’t active for the tribe then. We went down when they first started having meetings again and my mother said she thought the same curtains were hanging as when she was little!”

Mrs. Carter had two daughters with her first husband, Farrell Frank. Their names are Ann and Sandy.

She has lived through seventeen U.S. Presidents, starting with Calvin Coolidge. After him were Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden. “The first President I voted for was Roosevelt.”

Asked about great inventions and innovations, Mrs. Carter replied, “Putting a man on the moon.” She also said advances in technology amazed her.

Mrs. Carter doesn’t have a specific favorite food, but is looking forward to her birthday party, where the planned menu will include fried fish and crappie cakes.

When asked how she would describe herself, Mrs. Carter said, “I am just a common person.” She smiled and said,”I know at the doctor’s office they ask if I feel safe. I tell them my family is afraid of me!” She laughed. “I drive a pretty tight ship, but I don’t think I am mean.”

“I am not exactly happy (for living so long), but I feel grateful that I am living to be with my family. We have five living generations and I am very grateful for that,” said Mrs. Carter.

Her advice for future generations? “Get an education! It is the only way they are going to be able to make a living!” Her personal message to the younger generation is “Do whatever you can and do the best you can.”