User talk:Powynne

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Jim O'Brien and Peri Gilpin
You've added some information to these two articles, but it needs cleanup, and you haven't cited any sources. How do you know the information you posted? Where did you learn it? - Brian Kendig (talk) 18:15, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

I am Peri's sister, Patti Jo Oldham (Gilpin) Wynne. Peri and I were both born, 1961 and 1963 respectively, in Waco, Texas while our parents, Jim O'Brien (ne' James Franklin Oldham) and Sandra Jo Hauck were students at Baylor University and married August 27, 1960. A. Wesley Gilpin and Sandra Jo Oldham were married April 3, 1969. Peri and I were their flower girls. (Peri was just here in Dallas a few weeks ago as I have recently been diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma; a disease that took our mother in 1997 (Sandra Jo Gilpin b 1941 - d. 1997.)

Please see[].

Peri is incredibly busy these days with her girls starting kindergarten. She is a great homemaker and wife. She currently is also working on a play concurrently with her series, "Make It or Break It" - ABC Family (which has just been picked up for a second season!). All is well here, yet it was wonderful of her to make a two (2) day turnaround trip to see me to make sure : )

Our father was tragically killed in September, 1983 at the pinnacle of his life and career. Among other sports and interests, he was a maticulous pilot with his own small plane. He was a member of a skydiving team with whom he jumped every Sunday in Bethleham, PA. It was his 814th jump. My picture was on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer from his amazing funeral as Patti Joe(sic)Oldham. He was beloved in Philly and had just turned down "network". He had also just negotiated the highest dollar contract ever with Cap Cities - ABC for an affiliate broadcaster. He had just visited his family (of origin) in Houston. Jim felt like he had found his home in Philadelphia.

Jim had been born to William Howell Oldham and Frances Catherine Sodich in Galveston, Texas on November 20, 1939. His mother, Frances, had come directly from her home country of the former Yugoslavia from a town which is now Trieste, Italy along with her mother. They ran a rooming house on what is(was)now The Strand in Galveston. His formative years were spent on the family's farm in Cypress Fairbanks, Texas, a suburb of Houston, Texas. Jim's father, Bill, was also a very talented electrical lineman and was called in emergencies, weather and otherwise.

In his high school year book, Jim was awarded every single one of those senior recognitions such as Mr.Cy-Fair and Most Handsome, Most Athletic, etc. They almost didn't have a prom because of his Baptist leanings; he would have preferred a dinner banquet but tradition prevailed. (The next year only one person could receive one of those senior superflurous honors:) His mother, Frances (age 94) and sister, Nancy, along with his nephew,Brandon, are still in Houston proper. Now, Cy-Fair is no longer considered the countryside, as such. It's been developed as just more of Houston. They built Hwy 290 right through their farm.

My acting credits include a Main Stage credit at Williamstown Theatre Festival - Tennesee Williams' The Night of the Iguana (Charlotte)in 1987. Funny enough, the only two call-backs were Non-Eq - Peri Gilpin and Apprentice - Patti Wynne (which was ridiculous as the Non-Eq year is intended for the acquistiotion of their Equity cards; Apprentices are first year peons there paying their dues). So many incredibly famous, talented and kind people were there. It was like a leveled-field summer camp and a priviledge to be there. The director from Yale had no idea that we were sisters.

Peri has many theatre, including WTF, credits. Most of my work now is volunteer voice-over work for Books on Tape and North Texas Radio for the Blind. Our brother, Marc Gilpin, has many acting credits including "Jaws II" (Sean). Our sister, April Gilpin, in addition to many acting credits, was nominated for an Emmy for her performance in the ABC Afternoon Special "Me and Mr. Stenner" with David Ogden Stiers.

Anyway, and actually, Peri was born Peri Kay Oldham after a Walt Disney squirrel (our mother was 19 at the time : ) but we like it that Wikipedia says "Periwinkle", as many of her friends and I have called her that for years. She is a great gal and a superwoman; she definately deserves all the good for which she has always worked so hard. She has many true, long-time friends and is a fantastic sister.

All of us "kids" have gone by "Gilpin" since Wes became our step-father. (Peri and I were not formerly adopted by Mr. Gilpin; we just wanted to be and also have worked as a family since October, 1969).

Thank you for going to the trouble to check this out and maintain the integrity of Wikipedia. I have yet to see your edit, I just assume your writing abilities surpass my own.

Sincerely, --Powynne (talk) 02:01, 26 August 2009 (UTC)Patti O. Wynne


 * Thank you for that information! Because of the nature of your edits, I somewhat suspected that you might be related. You've provided some terrific details which really help the articles come alive. I haven't edited these articles yet, but when I have time I'd like to clean them up somewhat for grammar and consistency. I need to do some research and find out what is standard procedure for information from someone close to the subject, such as yourself; but typically, Wikipedia values cited sources more than it values personal anecdotes. (Especially for articles on living persons, which are held to a much higher standard regarding the need for cited references for any information contained in the articles; see Biographies of living persons.) If you know of any online biographies we could cite for this information, I'll add the cites. - Brian Kendig (talk) 21:01, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Dear Brian, Thank you for your comments (they felt encouraging). Certainly, I understand that these sometimes silly and/or irrelevant additions are of use only to identify myself as a verifiable (I hope) source. It's been an opportunity to think about and honor two of the most dynamic and charismatic people I have ever met....even though I'm related : )

Best to you, Patti

P.S. Oh! I know one more grammatical thing I should have implemented and that is '....Philadelphia Inquirer as Patti Joe Oldham(sic)...' --Powynne (talk) 13:55, 27 August 2009 (UTC)Powynne


 * I've edited Peri Gilpin somewhat, bringing in some information which was lost a while ago and removing some anecdotal material that's more about your father than about her. I've tried to make the article more encyclopedic. If there's any information that's incorrect or misleading, I'll gladly help you address that; if there's anything left out that you feel should be in there, please let me know. Anecdotal stories from you are wonderful, but they're hard to defend against Wikipedia policy if another editor should come and demand they be removed unless they're cited properly. May I suggest that you might want to start your own web site for your family history, and share your stories about your father and sister and other family members there? That would give me a first-hand source to reference in this article! - Brian Kendig (talk) 00:32, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, Brian. Surely, I will look into that (it's just intimidating). It would be fun to tell about while Peri's friends were "partying" @ UT she was home building a set from popcicle sticks and toothpicks for class. Peri started her theatre studies at the Dallas Theatre Center in Dallas when she was eight (8). She did her apprenticing there by ushering, etc. during any given semester. Her first main Stage (Children's Theatre) acting credit at DTC when she was eleven-ish (11) years old was "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown". She played Charlie....lol. She's notorious partially for that velvety low voice. Thanks again for your kindness and help, Brian. I am going to look at Peri's page now. Enjoy yourself. Sincerely, Patti --Powynne (talk) 12:40, 28 August 2009 (UTC)


 * Your stories are terrific! :) I think it would be great if she had a personal web site on which you could put them - I'm sure her fans (and yours) would really enjoy that! You can probably find a web site provider that'll host space for a web site and give you a nice layout and an easy way to post information to it. (I haven't used a service like this, but you may want to ask friends "in the biz" and see what they use.) Please let me know if I can be of any help. - Brian Kendig (talk) 13:14, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, Brian, thank you, this was a fascinating process. I will, I just will follow up on how such a page could exist. It's silly, but there are sites that talk about Peri that topically are kind of just fodder. So, what's to say light and sometimes hilarious or at least insightful antecdotes with respect to Peri wouldn't be interesting to a certain demographic? She does make for very good subject. Thank you again for working with me, Brian, you are very good at what you do. Farewell, Brian...Patti--Powynne (talk) 16:01, 29 August 2009 (UTC)