Nowata, Oklahoma - 2012
At the entry to his place.
Inside the little house of bowling balls you saw the other day.
Some of these balls and pins were quite collectible he told me.
The local newspaper did an article on Chris.
He was the nicest guy.
So you may be wondering how this guy got going on bowling balls. He told me he worked in the oil industry then the last ten years at a printing business in town. The rural property he lived on belonged to his parents and when they died he decided to move there for his retirement years. He and his wife bought a large mobile home and had it installed on the land. His wife had 14 bowling balls that she fixed up and put among her roses for decoration. When she died he figured there was no need to continue to make payments on such a large mobile home for one person so he had it removed then converted the storage shed on the property into his home.
He felt he should do something with the 14 bowling balls of his wife's and thought about making a fence with them. He figured if he collected some more balls it would take 2 or 3 years to build the fence he had in mind. In May of 2006 he started collecting bowling balls from thrift shops and the like and it soon evolved into art objects. He estimates he has well over 2000 balls most of which are from donations. He knows pretty much where every ball came from.
To the right of the house you can see the rusty steel door for the storm cellar. The cellar leaks and water collects inside which he'd have to pump out onto the grass. He later realized the waste of water that was so now has collecting tanks in the cellar. He pumps the water up to cans, pots, bathtubs, sinks and toilets that set on top of the storm cellar all containing his vegetable garden.
