Doctor Oscar H. Loyd

Doctor Oscar H. Loyd. Oldham County's first physician. A civic leader, weather researcher and humanitarian. Born in Kansas, he attended medical school in Missouri, and in 1907 moved to Vega with his wife, Lulu Mills Loyd. , Despite opposition from ranchers, he introduced farming to the area; broke sod with county's first steam tractor; exhibited best produce in the county -- first at the Tri-State Fair (which he helped to organize) in Amarillo, and then at state fairs in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Texas., A volunteer weather observer for over 30 years, he telephoned daily reports at his own expense to the Amarillo Weather Bureau. His weather notes are now in Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon., To make sick calls, Doctor Loyd bought a Maxwell, the first automobile in the county. During the 1918 flu epidemic he not only cared for the sick day and night but also dispensed food and buried the dead., As a civic leader, he organized the county's first Chamber of Commerce and a baseball team which he transported to its games. He actively sponsored the original Highway 66 Association. His estate was left to religious and charitable groups in the county.