Published: March 30, 2008 01:35 pm            

Duncan home featured

Homrig honored and a bit amused to find his house in a new book

DUNCAN — Duncan residents who drive in the area of 11th and Beech are familiar with the large house on the northwest corner of the intersection that is surrounded by a yard filled with plants, statuary and lacy white wrought iron.

The silver-haired owner, Patrick J. Homrig, can often be seen working in his yard or planning his next project, but he is rarely too busy to offer a friendly wave to passers-by.

The house, with its ever-changing seasonal rainbow of colorful flowers and foliage, has become a Duncan landmark that the owner enjoys sharing with the community, but Homrig was honored and a bit amused to find his home featured in a new book, “Oklahoma Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities and Other Offbeat Stuff,” by PJ Lassek, a longtime writer for the Tulsa World.

“Some people have thought the house was haunted, and I’d have to admit to being a bit eccentric, but I’m not sure about the other terms,” he said with a laugh.

“I am honored to have been one of two Duncan attractions mentioned in the book, however. The book, intended as an Oklahoma Centennial project, was designed to promote tourism in the state of Oklahoma. Ms. Lassek ranged throughout the state of Oklahoma, selecting, photographing and interviewing for her inclusions in the publication,” Homrig said.

The criteria for inclusions explore the historical, unique, unexpected, well-known to unknown, eccentric and rare, and also contains many humorous wildest, wackiest, most outrageous people, places and things the Sooner State has to offer, he noted.

The publication is both informative and serious, yet contains a great deal of humor and fun, with on-site photography by Lassek for each entry.

“The two inclusions from Duncan — Great Plains Country — include a very complimentary overview of the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center. Bill Benson, the museum’s executive director, was interviewed and related the museum’s outstanding interactive theater presentations, important artifacts and Western artists exhibitions. The center also features the largest bronze sculpture in Oklahoma of Paul Moore’s Chisholm Trail cattle drive,” Homrig said.

He encouraged people to visit the heritage center at 1000 N. Chisholm Trail Parkway, or to call 580-252-6692 or check out the Web site at www.onthechisholmtrail.com.

His own home, which he calls Homrighausen Galleries, Gardens and Collections, is an historic 1906 home that contains many museum-quality, 18th- and 19th-century and earlier antiques, fine arts and antiquities, and arts and humanities collections from Homrig’s world travels.

A native of Wisconsin, he has called Duncan home since the 1960s.

Numerous guests from local to international have visited the unique, eccentric — there’s that word again! — and eclectic collections, he said.

“I enjoy sharing the collections with visitors, by appointment only, however,” Homrig said.

He is so busy with his appraisals, research identifications, occasional conservational restorations, financial investment advisement for quality and serious collectors and museums on an international scale that he must make advance arrangements for visitors.

He can be reached at 580-255-3331.

Homrig is known to many Duncan residents as a favorite art teacher who, for more than 25 years, encouraged the careers of many a budding artist. Local artist Leigh Ann Vinson, who was featured a few weeks ago in The Banner as one of Duncan Art Guild’s artists of the month, gave Homrig a lot of credit for her successful art career. She studied commercial art with him for a year at Red River Technology Center.

“He is a very good teacher. He opened up my eyes to a lot of things. He was very encouraging,” Vinson said.

And, of course, Homrig spends a lot of time in his yard, which features 700 species of horticultural pleasures, according to Lassek’s book.

Lately, Homrig has been renovating the plantings that had become overgrown to the extent that some people jokingly asked him if there really was a house on that corner.

Now, passers-by can have a better view of the vintage home and the ornate wrought iron that encloses the property.

Then there are the cats that call the Homrig property home.

“What can I say? I love cats. Every time I look out, there seems to be more of them. I think people drop them off in the neighborhood or something, but they always seem to find their way to my house. I find homes for as many of them as I can.

“Many of my friends have adopted cats that came to my house,” Homrig said.

When he’s not out standing in his yard, Homrig is outstanding in his field — so to speak. Several fields, in fact.

He is a member of and has served as a Southwest USA regional representative for the New England Appraisers Association, and has accrued a long list of other recognitions, such as the international honorary art fraternity, Kappa Pi, in which he is the only life member in Oklahoma. The clientele is international.

He is also an expert and certified in many types of art, ranging from Oriental to American Indian, and counts many well-known artists among his worldwide friendships.

In addition to his artistic pursuits, Homrig attended the University of Wisconsin on a summer music scholarship with his French horn and later graduated from the university.

He also earned degrees or certifications from Chicago Art Institute, the University of Oklahoma, University of Science and Arts, Oklahoma State Tech and Oklahoma State University. He has bachelor’s degrees in fine arts, art education and design, and master’s degrees in commercial art and art history.

In addition to the two actual Duncan sites mentioned in the book, also noted was the Ultimate Cow Tongue Tournament held annually by the youth of First Christian Church — a happening more in line with the volume’s title, perhaps?

        

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