It was the kind of drizzly Oklahoma morning that settles deep in your bones—gray skies, slick sidewalks, and the sort of chill that clings. But step through the doors of the Sunshine Café in Erick, and you’d think you’d walked straight into the kitchen of your favorite aunt. The windows were fogged, the griddle was hot, and the laughter rolled louder than the coffee pot hiss. Breakfast had come and gone, but the heartbeat of the place hadn’t slowed. Inside, Connie Carpenter and her family were already in motion—part kitchen crew, part welcoming committee, all heart.
Connie didn’t come to Erick on purpose. Life, as it tends to do, had its own plan. Born in Corpus Christi, her path weaved through Lawton, Elk City, and eventually, a fateful cruise down the drag in Elk City where she met a boy from Erick. ‘I told my best friend, I’m gonna marry that boy,’ she said, her voice warming like a skillet. ‘And I did.’ Some people just know. For Connie, it was written in the stars—or maybe in the salsa. Either way, it stuck.
Nearly 40 years later, her life is built on that kind of certainty. Four kids, nine grandkids, and a community that comes through her doors hungry for more than just a meal. ‘I learned in both my grandmothers’ kitchens,’ she said. ‘One Mexican, one Southern. Everything from scratch. Everything with love.’
That love shows up in the little things. Like the day she cooked 69 club sandwiches for Meals on Wheels. ‘They told me it’d be 25 to 35 people max. There’s 78 signed up now,’ she said, still stunned. That morning, her daughter-in-law Natalie fried more than 200 slices of bacon before the sun came up. Pineapple sheet cake cooled beside a stack of sandwiches tall enough to rival the post office drop box. The café was open for business—but Connie’s kind of work doesn’t stop there. She was juggling dine-in service with an entire fleet of Meals on Wheels trays, her family turning the café into a full-blown production line.
Not long after, the café pivoted to a full-on catering operation for a cowboy roundup out in the Breaks. ‘We also took on full-service catering for a cowboy roundup,’ she said. Four briskets smoked to perfection, 25 meals prepped, packed, and picked up. It took a small army of family: one daughter carved brisket, another plated, her son-inlaw manned the dish pit, and Natalie was back at the grill. ‘You’ve got to be family to work here,’ Connie joked. ‘If you see a hairnet, it probably means someone’s married in.’
The Sunshine Café isn’t just a restaurant. It’s a relay race with aprons. When Connie isn’t cooking, she’s baking cookies for a custom order or planning her next rotation of casseroles for Connie’s Kitchen— a take-and-bake service that once delivered ready-tocook meals to busy parents, singles, and elderly couples across Sayre and Elk City. ‘You just popped it in the oven and dinner was done,’ she said. ‘Beef enchiladas, meatloaf, you name it.’
Even vacations revolve around food and family. ‘We like to take big trips together— usually Breckenridge for spring break,’ she said. ‘All the kids learned to ski in Monarch.’ Three of her four children stayed in Erick and farm the same land their great-great-grandparents worked. The fourth? ‘She had the good sense to move to Florida,’ Connie laughed, ‘so now we’ve got a built-in vacation spot.’
Connie says she doesn’t know how to relax. ‘My first job was in third grade— babysitting. I haven’t stopped since.’ Her life has been stitched together with hard work, hot meals, and a whole lot of heart. But ask anyone who’s tasted her chicken fried steak or caught a glimpse of her family hustling behind the scenes, and they’ll tell you: Connie’s not just feeding people. She’s giving them something to come home to.
The Sunshine Café may be small, but it’s mighty. With a menu seasoned by heritage and a staff built by blood, it’s the kind of place where meals aren’t just cooked—they’re handed down. ‘I want everyone who leaves here to have a full belly and a happy heart,’ she said.
*And Connie Carpenter will keep on serving Erick, Oklahoma—one BLT at a time.*
