About Us
Ray and Dot Mabe's story began in 1978 when Dot sat on her porch and prayed for a man to help her make it to Heaven. Along came Ray, and Dot knew he was the one. Ray and Dot got married in 1979 and shortly after the Lord brought them their home place on Ranger Creek, located in the foothills of the Boston mountain range, sitting on the side of Peckerwood Hill. They felt like it was in Heaven.
Ray & Dot's vision was living on the land. Thus, they became D&R Enterprises. After a few failed ventures, D&R Enterprises went to a hill to pray and saw the greatest natural resource, ROCK; big, beautiful, moss-covered boulders. As they took pictures of their rock and went to the landscape companies in Tulsa, Ray & Dot received orders, thus, we became D&R Rock and developed our logo “Building on The Rock.” At that time, the market was hot for boulder scaping, retaining walls and pool scaping. Ray continued this business until 2003. In 1986, with the help of The Lord and Dot's Parents, they opened The Smoke Stack Restaurant, on Hwy. 51, across from Sequoyah State Park. As they compared their years in the restaurant business to the journey in the wilderness, learning many lessons, Ray & Dot worked hard, met many people and made some good friends along the way. Ray & Dot had a son born in 1983 named Nathan and a daughter born in 1985 named Rachel. It was a juggling act to raise children and run a restaurant. Thus, they were restaurant-raised kids, learning to work at an early age. Nathan & Rachel learned many life lessons about work, people and money. After many successes and some failures, The Smoke Stack restaurant closed in 1999. The biggest success story for the Mabe Family for almost 14 years in the restaurant business was the Smoke Stack BBQ Sauce. The Mabe family took their sauce and put it in place of a commercial kitchen on their land at Ranger Creek. Thus, the new business name became Ranger Creek Inc. Ray & Dot obtained state and federal inspections and a food manufacture license. Now as Ranger Creek Inc., they produce, bottle, label and distributed Ranger Creek BBQ Sauce. Ray & Dot also have Ranger Creek Catering which includes a full line of BBQ and sides. Ranger Creek Catering offers events for picnics, family reunions, company parties, weddings, receptions, holiday parties and any gatherings people might want to have catered. One more perk Ranger Creek also offers is BBQ by order from the public on holidays. Ray will prepare your Hoilday Dish for pick up! After many years, we are trying to stay true to “Building on The Rock!” Love, The Mabe Family |
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