Uncle Buddy sold real estate, at least some. I remember that. I believe he also tried selling freight damaged merchandise, like his brother Loyd. He was a member of VFW, American Legion, and Woodmen of the World. He was a member of the US Army TEC 4 407 QM Platoon WW1 & 2. He was Baptist.
He was married twice. Once to a woman named Pearl. She had a young son named Eugene, but I don't know their last name. That marriage ended in divorce in the early 1950's. Uncle Buddy's second marriage was a very strange story, which I will relay to you. I don't think he would mind:
Now, he wasn't a young man. He had to be in his 50's. He was in love with a lovely, dark-haired woman, named "June". They planned a beautiful wedding, in the home of Claude's sister, Laura. June came down the staircase wearing a white wedding gown and veil. It must have been moving. However, in just a few months June left.. Claude didn't understand why, or what was happening. Then he received a letter from June. She was pregnant..... with twins!! She needed money, and of course Uncle obliged. I don't know how much he sent, or how often. But I do know he never found her, or his ..............children. But, one day a gentleman called on him. He asked if he knew this woman, and of course Claude relayed the story to him. Yes, the man declared. He too was married to June, and there were others. She was getting money from all of them!!! I know it broke Claude's heart. He had no children, and would live the rest of his life with no wife. - Joy Burt Dupy - Niece

Notes by Jimmy Gayle McKinney - Nephew

Joy, I think what you have on Uncle Buddy is excellent. He would not mind and I certainly feel that the story bears telling.

Buddy was, to me, a kind and gentle man. He had a somewhat sordid and violent youth but was friendly and always courteous to me. He would tease me on occasion and smile as I rebuffed. I remember how sad he was after June left.

I remember going fishing with Buddy and Lloyd at the river as a teenager. We caught lots of fish and I got to fetch and carry "everything". It was a fun thing to go fishing on a Sunday afternoon with Lloyd and Buddy in Lloyds old black 54 Chevy pickup truck with the starter on the floor and the racks on the back. Claude was in the river running lines with Lloyd when he had the stroke which he eventually died from. Uncle Buddy was laid to rest in Little Cemetery next to his father in '64 or '65 (I'll check next time I'm at Little).        

Claude got crosswise and fought with Asbury (over work, plowing or feeding or picking or something un-pleasurable for a teenager) at, I think, 16 or 17 (that would be 1915, 16 or 17) and left home to make his way. Katie fretted over him constantly, for the family did not hear a word from him in over two years. He had settled in Lubbock, Texas and had contracted a fever, which Laura said lasted almost a year. An old woman, which he boarded with had fed him and nursed him back to health over this extended almost fatal illness. Grandma told me that she had prayed for him every day that he was gone and that she had sent an angel to watch over him when he left. According to her, the old landlady had done divine work by saving her oldest son.

A World War II veteran of Europe, uncle Buddy was pretty stolid most of the time. Very stout and muscular. It was reported that men would come from Seminole and Pottawatomie County to have bare fist fights with him for sport. There was some money won in those bouts, according to Lloyd. The "meetings" would take place behind the old Public Market, down on the creek, on E Highland in Shawnee (am unclear as to the years). Lloyd said Claude's hands were like large hams and his arms were so strong and quick that one powerful punch would sometimes result in an unconscious opponent.
I could never tell if stories told by Lloyd, or anyone else for that matter, about Claude were just good stories or what. However, I could always tell when Lloyd was exaggerating or yarn telling by the twinkle he got in his eye. Laura couldn't spin a tail if her life depended on it and a lot of the stories I heard about Buddy were verified when I asked her about them. Either way, there is always some fact present in a good yarn. There are some tales that are real duzies and would curl your toes.

The days of Claude Burt were in the early 1900s through the oil booms and wars of the 30s and 40s. Claude owned and operated a small cafe in Earlsboro during the boom. Oil had been discovered and a huge lawless tent city immerged overnight. Oil field hands, grease, grime, mud, gambling, prostitution, murder and the lot fell upon the little burg of Earlsboro in a matter of days.

There are very many interesting stories of the boom at Earlsboro. However, the one I remember most is that of the man who came into the cafe and pulled a gun to rob uncle Buddy. He stuck the gun in Buddies stomach and demanded his till. Buddy allowed that he had earned the money and would be damned if he'd give it up to some low life who was out to steal it. He grabbed the gun and took it away from the man. I understand that some "powerful misery" (quote Laura) was dealt after that. Lloyd used the word "bludgeoned". Don't really know if this is too spicy a story or not, but it is told as it was related to me.

Obituary from the Shawnee News-Star January 21, 1964

Services for Claude F. Burt, 64, of 611 W. Tenth, who died at 5:40 p.m. Saturday in a local nursing home from a heart attack, will be at 2 p.m. today, in Roesch Brothers Funeral Chapel.

Rev. Lowell Milburn, pastor of First Baptist Church, will conduct the services.  Burial will be in Little Cemetery.

Active bearers will be Hank Cannon, Don Cannon, Jerry Cannon, Jim McKinney, Harold Gagnon and Clarence Walker.  Honorary bearers will be Ben McAlester, George F. Campbell, Hank Hoskins, Austin Nail and H.A. Gentry.

Burt was born May 1, 1899 in Pottawatomie County.  He moved to Seminole County as a child and returned to Shawnee in 1922.

 He was a retired real estate broker in Shawnee for several years until he retired due to ill health.  He was a member of Blackburn Chapel Baptist Church, VFW, American Legion, and the Woodmen of the World.  Burt served in the U.S. Army in both World Wars.

 Survivors are his mother, Mrs. Katie I. Burt of the home, two sisters, Mrs. Roy McKinney of 416 N. Beard and Mrs. N.C. Burkett of Midwest City; three brothers, Loyd of 309 N. Pesotum and Joe and Paul, both of Midwest City.