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Voters in Jeffco Reject SQ 788 Elect Martin, Eck, and Lara as Commissioners

By
Curtis Plant
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Dist 3 Commissioner

Ricky Martin 169

Macy Lovett   103

Kenneth 

Wilkerson        21

Waurika City Com.

Jacob Eck       271

Rickey 

Porterfield       82

Henry Lara    195

James Terry    149

The citizens of Jefferson County went to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes on the State Question 788 and local as well as statewide candidates.

Voters rejected SQ 788 by a narrow margin of 664 – 588.

Voters in precincts 3,4,7,8,10 and early voting favored the SQ 788.

In the 9th precinct 788 received as many no votes as it did yes votes 155.

District 3 voted to keep Ricky Martin as their commissioner. He received 169 votes while Macy Lovett received 103 and Kenneth Wilkerson 21.

The citizens of Waurika re-elected Jacob Eck and Henry Lara.

Eck received 271 votes while his opponent, Rickey Porterfield received 81.

Henry Lara was re-elected by a narrow margin.

Lara received 195 votes. His opponent James Terry received 149. 

Eck said after the election that he was grateful for the opportunity to serve on the Waurika City Commission.

In the close race between Lara and Terry, James Terry actually carried the 5th precinct by two votes 17-15.

 Jefferson county Republican voters cast the majority of their votes for Todd Lamb. He received 192 votes. 

Republican Candidate Kevin Stitt received 59 votes. 

Mick Cornett placed third in the county voting with 52 votes. 

Statewide, Cornett received the most of any Republican candidate—132,122. Kevin Stitt received 110,087 and Todd Lamb received 107,619.

For Lt. Governor, Republican voters in Jefferson county cast 195 votes for Matt Pinnell. Dana Murphy received 135 votes.

Statewide, Dana Murphy received the most votes of any Republican candidates for Lt. Governor—196,017. Matt Pinnell received 152,716.

Jefferson County Republicans cast 196 votes for Cindy Byrd for State Auditor. Byrd received the most votes statewide—203,373.

Mike Hunter did well in both the state and Jefferson County on the Republican ticket. He received 212 votes in Jefferson County and 190,710 statewide. 

Joy Hofmiester received the most Republican votes statewide (200,159) but actually came in second in Jefferson County. Will Farrell received one more vote than her in Jefferson County (159). 

Cathy Costello, candidate for Comm. of Labor,  received the most Republican Votes both in Jefferson County (149) and in the state (180,936).

For Insurance Commissioner Republican voters in Jefferson County cast the majority of their votes (205). However, statewide, Glen Mulready received the most votes (218,128). 

Republican Bob Anthony raked in the most votes at both the county and the state level. He received 189 from the county voters and 196,612.

Congressman Tom Cole picked up 293 votes in Jefferson County while his opponent, James Taylor drew 150 votes. Statewide, Cole received over 50,000 votes and Taylor brought in over 30,000.

On the Libertarian Ticket, Chris Powell received 3 votes from Jefferson county and 1,724 statewide.

On the Democratic ballot, Drew Edmondson drew the most votes in Jefferson County and statewide. In Jefferson County he received 443 votes and statewide received 242,071.

The Democratic race for Lt. Governor is tight. In Jefferson County voters favored Anna Dearmore with 384 votes. Anastasia Pittman received 250.

Statewide Pittman received 188,000 votes while Dearmore brought in 185,000. (average on both counts).

Democratic voters for Comm. of Labor at both the county and state level overwhelmingly favored Fred Dorrell. He received 537 votes in the county and around 268,000 statewide. Sam Mis-soum picked up 83 votes in Jefferson County and around 97,000 statewide. 

Ashley Nicole McCray, Democrat for Corporation Commissioner picked up 222 votes, Blake Cummings 192, Beau Williams 143 in Jefferson County. Statewide the gap was much wider. 

McCray earned over 180,000 votes and her nearest competitor Blake Cummings only garnered a little over 81,000. 

On the Democratic side, candidates for the seat currently held by Tom Cole are running neck and neck. 

Fred Gipson (See story above), picked up the most votes in Jefferson County (260) and statewide picked up a little over 22,000 votes. 

The other candidates, Mary Brannon, and Mallory Varner were close behind. Brannon received 167 and Varner received 101. 

Statewide Gipson and Brannon are the top two candidates that will possibly have a runoff in the fall before the upcoming general election. 

Round Ryan

By
Mollye Compton
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Ryan Main Street

This past Saturday was a great day for hunting Easter eggs around Ryan. Walker and Linda Ryan had a hot dog feed along with an Easter egg hunt just after dark, out at their house, east of Ryan.  There was a good crowd there and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

Brionna and I went over to Wichita Falls Saturday and went to the Whispers of Hope Horse Farm and visited Mary Elizabeth, that runs it.  We went to see the movie “I Can Only Imagine”. That was a really good movie.

Easter Sunday wasn’t quite as warm as we had seen on Saturday, but, we maybe saw a bit of precipitation for the day in the form of mist.  This morning, it was down-right cold again.  It is supposed to be in the 60s Tuesday and freezing Wednesday morning for this first week in April.  It’s amazing what changes we can have with our weather. 

I took Brionna over to visit her grandparents in Denison on Sunday afternoon.  We enjoyed lunch with them at the Cracker Barrel in Sherman.  Then we went over to their house to visit some more.  I stopped in for a visit with Mom that evening.  I played some hymns for them and they enjoyed singing with the familiar tunes.  We all had a good time.  Then I made it back to Ryan, safely before it was too late.  I watched Jesus Christ Superstar late Sunday evening.  I have heard mixed emotions about this production.  We got into a conversation about it during our Sunday school class and I just thought I would watch it for myself and form my own opinion.  I won’t publish my opinion about it.  The music was pretty good, though.

We had a good turnout for Brenda Johnson’s luncheon Friday afternoon. Three of her four kids were able to make it to have lunch with her.  There were some brother and sister-in-laws from Chickasha that came to celebrate with her.  She had all of her co-workers from the clinic with her, too.  There were friends and some of her patients from the clinic that came over to be with her, too.  I believe she enjoyed the lunch that we prepared for her.  We all had a good time eating and visiting together.  She actually got off work about an hour early Friday.  We will miss seeing Brenda in that clinic, but Cyndi Cosme has been working with Brenda and   Marc for a couple of weeks now.  Cyndi is the new LPN in our Ryan Family Medical Clinic. 

A number of Oklahoma teachers are taking a stand up at the State Capitol, asking for higher wages.  I saw a news clip on Channel 3 at 6:00 last week, where they interviewed a couple of students, as well as Mr. Chapman. They were discussing this issue on the news.

Joe Turner is still in the hospital in Duncan,  Ramona Johnson had her surgery in Dallas, and is expected to be discharged today. 

Kim’s news for this week:

Brionna lost her phone this week, but, Foxy had it in the back seat.

So, Gary Lee ran over his knee, working on his car alone. He almost hit his neighbor’s home.

Mollye, thanks a bunch for Brenda’s retirement lunch.

Dustan had a lot of snakes in a box. 

Resurrection Day, I can’t complain, I had a wonderful lunch at Blaine’s.

Everyone have a blessed week. Pray for each other and for rain.

Gov. Anoatubby says state of Chickasaw Nation is strong and getting stronger

By
Tony Choate
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TISHOMINGO, Okla. – During his annual state of the Nation address Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby said that successful business diversification has led to significant advances in health care, housing, education and other services.

Gov. Anoatubby delivered the address Saturday, Oct. 6 to a crowd which filled Fletcher auditorium as well as an adjacent overflow tent on the Murray State College campus.

“Our business ventures grow each year, and through these economic development efforts we are able to generate the revenue needed to develop, expand and enhance programs and services,” said Gov. Anoatubby.

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the 1983 Chickasaw Nation Constitution.

“We have experienced remarkable growth under that Constitution,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “In the years following ratification, we turned our focus to economic development and business diversification, while maintaining education, health care, housing and other services as priorities.

“Today, the state of the Chickasaw Nation is strong. Through hard work and commitment to the Chickasaw people, we have more opportunities than ever before.”

Business diversification

Tribal businesses have experienced record revenue and net profits this year.

“We have worked hard over the years to diversify our businesses to fund programs and services.”

“We have successful businesses in many different areas — gaming, hospitality, chocolate, tourism, banking, manufacturing and other industries.”

A number of key partnerships through Global Gaming, Bedré Fine Chocolate, Chickasaw Nation Industries and other diverse businesses have helped enhance growth and increase brand recognition.

Bedré Fine Chocolate developed licensing partnerships with the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. Plans are also underway to make Bedré the official chocolate bar of the Dallas Cowboys.

Aligning the Bedré brand with such high-profile partners is one key to continued growth. As part of a similar strategy, the tribe recently developed a partnership which makes WinStar World Casino the official casino of the Dallas Cowboys.

Chickasaw Nation Industries, a federally chartered corporation established in 1996, continues to experience significant growth. Wholly owned by the Chickasaw Nation, CNI serves as a holding company with more than a dozen subsidiaries. Several CNI subsidiaries are leaders in their respective industries.

One CNI subsidiary, Filtra-Systems has developed a mobile filtration system designed for use in fracking operations. This mobile recycling system is capable of filtering up to 10,000 barrels of produced water per day, saving energy companies time and money, while also preserving water resources.

Corvid technologies, CNI’s engineering subsidiary, is working on a number of projects with large defense contractors. Corvid is currently expanding its headquarters and expects to add more than 350 new jobs in the coming years.

Education

Growth in business revenues benefits education services in several areas, including increases in the amount of scholarships and text book grants.

“It is essential to offer the financial support that is often needed to earn a college degree or other types of higher education,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “This past year we provided close to $20 million in scholarships, grants and other forms of financial support to more than 5,200 students.”

The tribe increased the amount of scholarships for tuition, the number of credit hours funded per semester and the amount of the text book grant.

“Early education is also vital to the success of children,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “We recently opened a new Head Start Center in Sulphur further investing in development opportunities for our youngest students. We expanded the number of classrooms and staff to serve more children in the area.”

Health Care

Health care has long been a high priority for the Chickasaw Nation, which operates a hospital, four clinics, eight pharmacies, a diabetes care center, emergency medical services, four nutrition centers, eight WIC offices and five wellness centers.

This year alone, the tribe served more than 930,000 patient encounters, delivered more than 1,200 babies, filled more than 1.8 million prescriptions, served more than 60,000 meals to children and saw more than 177,000 visits to its wellness centers.

In February of this year, the Chickasaw Nation broke ground on a 32,000-square-foot pharmacy in Ada, which will enable the tribe to expand pharmacy services to include hypertension, asthma and immunization clinics.

Construction also began in February on a new 25,000-square-foot wellness center in Ada, which will be almost twice the size of the current facility.

Virtual Visit is a new initiative designed to allow patients to “visit” a doctor without leaving home.

“For certain illnesses and injuries, patients can see a doctor, receive a diagnosis and even medication using a smart device,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “Our goal is to ensure that all Chickasaws have access to quality health care.”

Housing

Housing was one of the earliest services, beginning with the first Chickasaw Housing project in Fillmore, Oklahoma, 50 years ago. Since that time, the Chickasaw Nation has developed a wide range of housing programs.

Passage of the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act in 1996 led to major improvements in housing programs.

“We immediately went to work conducting needs-assessment meetings to determine what building programs and services would most benefit Chickasaw families,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “From these meetings, among other things, we discovered that nearly 60 percent of the home loan applications being submitted by Chickasaws were being turned down by lenders.”

That led to development of the Chuka Chukmasi Home Loan Program. In the 20 years since the program was established, it has facilitated nearly $155 million in home loans to more than 1,400 families.

A variety of other services are also available.

“We have developed programs that assist with everything from home improvements, to down payment cost, and from counseling services, to installing storm shelters,” said Gov. Anoatubby.

Culture

Revitalizing Chickasaw culture and language is also a high priority. Therefore, the Chickasaw Nation takes a comprehensive approach, which includes the Chickasaw Press, fitness applications, online language lessons, stomp dance and traditional games.

Dozens of young Chickasaws are learning stomp dances through the Chickasaw Young Dancers program. This year, for the first time, the Chickasaw Nation sent its own team to the World Series of Stickball in Mississippi.

Aya, a walking and fitness app that integrates Chickasaw history, language and culture, was recently made available. An application featuring the songs found in the traditional Choctaw Hymnal was also released this year.

Level two of Rosetta Stone Chickasaw was released this year, bringing the total number of language lessons to 80. Forty more lessons are scheduled to be released this spring.

“Investing in our culture is a very high priority,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “The young dancers program, youth and adult stickball teams, language lessons, making traditional bows, flutes, beaded collars or corn husk dolls are important to who we are.

“We work to ensure that generations from now, Chickasaws will know who they are…that we are unconquered and unconquerable.”

Noting that the strength of the Chickasaw Nation is the result of a solid foundation and long-term strategic planning, Gov. Anoatubby said that the future is filled with the promise of even greater progress.

“Be certain, the Chickasaw Nation today is strong and getting stronger,” said Gov. Anoatubby. “With continued planning and a commitment to the Chickasaw people, we will prosper far into the future.”

Joe Allen Named New Eagle Football, Baseball Mentor

By
Trey Smart
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 Joe Allen was selected recently as the 38th head football coach in school history at Waurika High School.

Allen will not only be the grid mentor, but will also serve as the head baseball coach for the Eagles next spring.

 “I am really excited about coming to Waurika not just because of the job opportunities, but because my wife teaches at Waurika, we live here and my kids go to school here,” said Allen in a recent interview.

Allen, a 2009 graduate of Cameron University and a 2004 Ryan High School graduate, is looking forward to the challenge of continuing to build on the success Waurika has had in football the past couple of years.

For the past four seasons Allen has been the head baseball coach and assistant football coach at Walters High School. He guided the Blue Devils to one district title in baseball in the four seasons.

“The big selling point for the job was of course my family, but also the kind of athletes they had coming up at Waurika,” said Allen. “I was happy at Walters, so it had to be the right job for me to leave there.”

Allen began his coaching career as a lay coach for the Duncan High School baseball team for two years.

He became the head baseball coach at Rush Springs for two seasons before moving to Temple in 2013 to become the head football coach and head baseball coach for the Tigers.

It was his only season as a head football coach and he guided the Tigers to a 4-5 mark before the opportunity came to move over to Walters.

“Football and baseball were always neck and neck for me even when I was a little kid,” noted Allen when asked which sport was his favorite.

 Allen has not yet had an opportunity to meet with the football team, but is looking forward to getting together with them in the near future.

“Being in the area and living here in Waurika I have known the kind of athletes they have,” said Allen in reflecting on his new challenge.

“They have been really competitive in junior high and what I have been impressed with is they have a number of athletes that I have heard are willing to work hard to improve,” said Allen.

While the timing of his hiring did not allow him to get involved with Waurika’s summer league baseball team, he did see the squad in action in their final summer league game at Comanche.

Allen will take over for former Waurika football and baseball coach Glenn Howard, who moves over to Wilson to become an assistant for the Eagles.

“I was glad they had a team because it is hard to get a team together in many of the smaller communities around,” Allen said

Allen was an outstanding athlete during his high school career at Ryan. He excelled in football, baseball and track.

In the 2003 season football season Allen was the starting quarterback on the Cowboys’ semifinal squad that finished 9-4. He threw for 1,113 yards and connected for 11 touchdowns. He also contributed 553 yards rushing.

During his junior season for the Cowboy football squad Allen snared seven interceptions, which was the third most in the state among eight-man schools. He was also named to The Duncan Banner’s all-area football team.

Allen was a ringleader on the 2003 baseball squad that earned a district title – one of only three district titles for the Cowboys since 2000.

In track, Allen was a state track meet qualifier in the high jump in both 2003 and 2004 and was the Southern Eight Conference high jump champion in 2004.

Allen is married to the former Magen Wright of Ryan and she is currently a teacher in the Waurika Public Schools. They have three children with the oldest entering first grade at Waurika this fall.

Waurika Officer Wears Two Uniforms

By
Curtis Plant
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Waurika’s latest addition to the police department is a young man who was born in Duncan, Oklahoma in 1987. Duncan has been Matt Peck’s home all of his life, except for the six months his family lived in Guymon because of his dad’s promotion as an Oklahoma Highway Patrol Officer. Afterwards his family moved back to Duncan. 

Officer Matt Peck comes from a family of law enforcement. Not only is his father, Roger Peck, an OHP officer, his brother Andrew is an officer for Chickasha PD. 

Along with his commitment to law enforcement, Matt has a fondness for military life. He joined the Army Reserves on August 5, 2004, a week before he started his senior year of high school in Duncan. During that year he drilled with his unit and went to basic training after graduation. 

In 2008 Matt was deployed to Baghdad, Iraq conducting Route Clearance operations. After a year’s tour of duty he returned home to work for the Cotton County Sheriff’s Department. After a year and a half he transferred to Stephens County Sheriff’s Department where he served for five years. 

In 2012 Matt transferred from the Army Reserves to the Oklahoma National Guard. While serving in the National Guard he was deployed to Lviv, Ukraine as a part of a NATO mission. Matt serves as a Staff Sergeant of a nine-soldier squad. He is 1st Squad Leader and regularly fills in as the Platoon Sergeant of 1st Platoon, Alpha Company of the 545 Brigade Engineer Battalion. He holds a dual MOS as a Combat Engineer and Horizontal Engineer. When deployed he finds himself embedded with the infantry as a subject matter expert in mobility and dealing with obstacles that may come across their path. 

Matt while deployed to Iraq

While serving in Ukraine he was privileged to meet soldiers and civilians and learning about their culture. He has fond memories of the 7 months he spent helping train soldiers in defense military tactics, explosives and locating mines.

Matt says Lviv is a beautiful part of Ukraine. It was an experience of a life time, enjoying their food, coffee—they consume lots of coffee, and learning to navigate through four feet of snow at -8 degrees.

During Easter he and his fellow staff members were honored to celebrate the resurrection at an old church that had been damaged by invaders in years gone by.

Lviv has an interesting past. This appealed to Matt’s interest in WWII history. 

Matt has many stories about his time in Ukraine. (If you see him out and about ask him about Bubble Waffles). 

He enjoyed Ukraine so much that he and his fiancé, MiKayla may spend part of their honeymoon there. Their plan is to marry in May, 2020. The two have known each other for several years and are looking forward to spending many fulfilling years together. 

As much as he enjoys military life, he is just as happy to be back in the states wearing a police uniform. He’s enjoying his time in Waurika. He likes community policing, helping others and keeping the peace. 

He does have a personal life. Along with a wonderful fiancé, he has a six-year old son named Stetson Roger. He loves to hunt and fish. He especially loves duck hunting. He loves Mexican food as well as seafood. His favorite color is blue. Like most police officers, he has a few pet peeves. 

His biggest pet peeve is parents who threaten their children with the police taking them to jail if they don’t behave. He believes it teaches children to be afraid of officers. 

The other pet peeve involves children as well. Children who are not properly buckled with a seat-belt while riding in a car that is. 

Other than that, he is very approachable and doesn’t mind answering law-enforcement related questions. He doesn’t even mind if someone takes time to say hello.


Kindergarten Graduation 2018 for Waurika & Ryan

By
Curtis Plant
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Waurika and Ryan have both held graduation ceremonies for their Kindergarten classes.

This is just the beginning for these future leaders in Jefferson County.

The graduation edition for the High School Seniors will be out at the end of this month in the May 31st edition.

Top Row: Jayden Acebo, Makenzie Elliott, Elijah Foster, Bradli Allen, Benny Franco, Sadie Bayless, Asher Garison, Turner Graham, Bella Gutierrez, Kaitlyn Cast, Marley Herrera, Harlan Combs, Dominic Killgore, Maddex Denny, Hukston Krautlarger, Jackson Edwards
Bottom Row: Libby Langford, Johnny Lindsey, Rodger Moss, Lilly Poage, Stony Sellers, Cassidy Shea, Jaxon Torrez, Jesse Vega, Lilly White, Maci Wilkerson

 

Ryan Kindergarten Class
Left to Right:
LILY ADCOCK, CRUZ CHAPMAN, JODEE CHARMASSON, HUNTER LOFTIS, ISLA MARTIN, TINZLEE PARKEY, JAKE REAGAN, CASON ROLLINS, SIMON ROLL, JAIME SALINAS, TEMPER SPANGLER, PAYTON WILLIAMSON.
Not pictured is Joey Aycoth

Bond Election Passes in Waurika

By
Curtis Plant
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Voters in Waurika approved the bond issue Tuesday at the polls in a close election.

Yes 92

No 84

 Breakdown:

Absentee Yes 5 No 3

Early Voting Yes 12 No 13

Election Day Yes 75 No 68

“They are more than just numbers!” Waurika remembers those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

By
Curtis Plant
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 As rain fell gently on those gathered at Veterans Park in Waurika this past Monday, former Waurika School Supt. Roxie Terry delivered a moving speech honoring the brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. 

Waurika Supt. Cody Simmons

Terry recalled a time when he was a boy attending a Memorial Day ceremony and hearing a veteran talk about how members of his family had died in service to the nation. 

“I heard the speaker say, ‘My granddad is buried over there, my dad and brother are buried just down from his grave. They all died in combat, all in different wars.’”

Sheriff Jeremie Wilson offers the invocation

From then on when he would hear the statistics of those who had died in combat were more than just a number. They were a member of someone’s family. 

“I guess that was the first time that I realized that the term “Killed in Action” didn’t just mean a number that Walter Cronkite talked about on the evening news.”

He went on to say, “Every person that becomes a soldier takes an oath and when they sign those enlistment papers they are signing a blank check payable to their country in the amount up to and including death. They do this to stand up for our country, our freedom, our way of life. Many, many people have made the ultimate sacrifice for us and that is why we meet here today. To honor them, to thank them, to memorialize them and their families.”

Mallory and Chloe Adkins

Current Waurika School Supt. Cody Simmons conducted the ceremony.

He also recognized the veterans who had passed on during the previous year. 

Fittingly, a tribute to Command Sergeant Major Bennie G. Adkins was read by Jennifer Aldridge and Tim Adkins, both relatives. 

Jennifer Aldridge and Tim Adkins read the biography of Bennie Adkins.

The Waurika native received a Medal of Honor for his service and there is a statue of Adkins in Veterans Park.

The solemn service honored our heroes and their families. 

Waurika Boy Scouts
Waurika Band Director Everett Hodges performed taps at the ceremony. 
Several turned out for the memorial service despite the rainy weather.

Round Ryan October 24 2019

By
Dennis Underwood
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Last Saturday at the Regional Cross Country meet in Waurika, the Ryan Cowgirls made history by winning their first Regional Team Championship.  The team is comprised of Katelyn Dabbs, Grace Stamper, Alicen Williams, Lily York, Juliet Spangler, Whittany Spangler and Lilybet Harmon.  These young ladies have achieved so many first time accomplishments that I could probably fill the entire page of the paper, so I will just hit the highlights.  Besides the team championship, Lilybet Harmon had the best individual finish in school history with a 5th place finish and a time of 13:13.  It is also the first time that Ryan has had two girls on the medal stand in the same regional.  The Cowgirls have won 6 meets this year.  From here the young ladies go on to State.  It is worth mentioning that Ryan had only one Cowboy running at Regional and although he did not qualify for State, he did run his best time of the year.  Mason Adsit is young and it will be interesting to see how far he and the Cowgirls go in the future.  Congratulations to you all.

     Ryan Future Farmers of America will be walking on to the stage in Indianapolis, Indiana to receive the National Three star Chapter Award.  The three things that it takes to win this award are community work, agricultural work and building leaders.

     So far I have written about students accomplishments in sports and FFA, but I have to think that the qualities they are learning will make them the leaders of the future, be it at the local level or beyond.  It is a pleasure to see young people do big things.

     The ag boosters will be selling “Boo Bags” this week, if you are interested, contact any of them.(I had to ask what a boo bag is.)

     The Baptist Church is going to be working this coming Sunday doing clean up work around town as mission work.  They will be working all day and if anyone wants to help you can contact any of the Baptists or I am sure it would be okay to just show up.

     Books have played an important roll in my life.  From Dr. Seuss as a small child to the books I started checking out of the school library here at Ryan in the 7th grade.  I read whatever was available and I must have seemed like an odd kid to Clifford Peacocks parents, he would be playing with toys and I would be reading.  The first book that I remember checking out was a book about the racehorse, Man of War.  The horse was sold as a yearling for $5000 and became one of the biggest sports figures of the time.  At home I would read World Book Encyclopedias, novels or The Readers Digest.  As an adult, I discovered bookstores.  There was one in the mall in Duncan that was owned by an older gentleman and it was there that I discovered Robert Service, Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman.  Then when Hastings came to town, I thought that I had hit the mother lode.  I made many discoveries among the shelves and if you could not find it there then they would order it for you.  Waurika has a pretty good library and has always proven to be helpful in finding what you might want.

Montandon Pavilion History

By
Curtis Plant
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0

A letter dated January 2, 1980 from Glendora Montandon Hill to a Mrs. Davis contained an inquiriry into the possibility of a memorial in Waurika for the Rev. Charles Clay Montandon and his wife Myrtle who had once pastored the Nazarene church in Waurika and then later returned with plans to live out the rest of their days in this comunity they enjoyed. 

Unfortunately, Charles came down with Bright’s disease and heart trouble and passed away on December 31, 1941.

His wife, Myrtle, continued to raise their children here. 

Charles Clay Montandon was born in McMinnyville, Tennessee. 

Myrtle Taylor was raised in Texas.

According to a paper supposedly drafted by the family found in files at Waurika City Hall, the couple didn’t meet until after Charles had been ordained as a minister in the Congregational Methodist Church.

They were married at her parent’s home at Gouldbusk, Texas.

The couple had 8 children 7 of those survived. Carlos, Nina, Faye, Charles, Glendora, Pat and James. 

Charles Clay & Myrtle Montandon with their son Carlos in 1911.
Source: “Oh the Glory of it All” by Sean Wilsey

Myrtle once made the remark that they had children in school for forty-two years beginning with Carlos, the oldest, and ending with Jim, the youngest. 

Their ministry together consisted of revival meetings in communities where there were no churches. Once a church was established Charles would find a pastor for the congregation then move on to another community. 

Charles was known as a competent contractor and builder. He often built the new church buildings or surpervised their construction. 

According to the letter from the family, the couple were instrumental in establishing more than 31 churches of the Nazarene in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

According to family history, the Montandons pastored the Nazrene church in Waurika for a several years before continuing ministry in Texas.

Charles believed in the church being available to people of all races. This got him into trouble in Texas.

 After allowing African Americans to attend services one week, the KKK burned the church down then set fire to a cross on the lawn of the church parsonage. The church board felt this was too much heat for their small congregation and asked the Montandon’s to leave. 

This event lead the Montandon’s to retire from Ministry and move back to Waurika. Waurika was chosen because they had many friends here and it was by far the best place they had ever lived according to Pat Montandon’s memoir, Oh the Hell of it All. 

More than once in her book, Pat refers to “growing up” in Waurika, Oklahoma.

The family arrived in town just before WWII. Pat Mondandon can remember the time period because someone from Waurika was nice enough to loan the family a Philco radio so they could listen to news about Hitler bombing Poland. 

The death of Charles later on December 31, 1941 had quite an impact on the family. He was only fifty-six.

Myrtle stayed in Waurika to raise the three youngest who were still at home. 

The people here were always good to the Montandons.

After Charles passed away, someone in the community purchased them a small home.

An accidental fire burned the house to the ground. Within two months friends in the community found them a much nicer home in a better part of town and even furnished it. 

Myrtle would eventually pass away in 1979 in California. She had moved there to be near family, including her daughter, Pat, who had become somewhat of a celebrity by then. 

January 1980.

City Manager Stan Patty was given the letter Glendora had written and wrote her back about the possiblity of building the pavillion in their honor.

According the the letter several options had been considered, but the city commissioners decided on remodelling and expanding Harmon Park. Part of the improvements planned for the 22 acre park was to build two pavilions. 

The Montandon Pavilion under construction in 1980.
Source: Waurika News-Democrat August 14, 1980

Members of the city commission at the time were Mayor Terry Kirkland, Vice Mayor Earl Swanson, H.C. (Jack) James, Bill Fechtel and Ceburn Lovett. The city clerk was Billie Helm.

In the letter Patty advised the cost to build one pavilion was only $2000.00. 

In a forthcoming letter Glendora advised they would be happy to have a Pavilion named in her father and mother’s honor and promised a donation to cover the cost. 

Glenda Montandon Hill

The plan was to have a permenent marker attached to the pavilion which would read,

“In Memory and the Honor of Reverand C.C. and Mrs. Myrtle C. Montandon.”

According to a picture in the Waurika News-Democrat (see front page), construction was well underway on August 14, 1980. 

The contractor for the project was Ron Kerley.

The Montandon family left their mark on Waurika in more ways than one. 

Some may recall the fame of their daughter Patricia “Pat” Montandon,

who made a name for herself in San Francisco, California. 

Pat left Waurika when she was around 16 or 17 to pursue a career in modeling. Her brother-in-law Cecil Antrim (married to Faye) took money from his juke boxes and candy machines he had located around Waurika in order to pay for her trip to Dallas so she could work for Neiman-Marcus as a clothes model.

Later she migrated to San Francisco, California.

She worked as a columnist for the Sacramento Examiner and hosted her own televsion show. 

Montandon published several books including How to be a Party Girl,The Intruders, Whispers from God: A Life Beyond Imaginings, and Oh the Hell of it All. Her memoir Oh the Hell of it All was a response to her son, Sean Wilsey’s book Oh the Glory of it All. 

In it she talks about dating Frank Sinatra for a summer. Though she found him charming she didn’t want to marry him. 

Later she met and married Melvin Belli, the attorney known as the King of Torts, and the famous attorney who defended Jack Ruby. Their marriage, however, was short lived, lasting only a few days. 

Original memorial sign which was mounted on the pavilion and will be re attached once the pavilion has been rebuilt. 
Photo by Catrina Watters

Over the years Pat Montandon left her mark on the world. She fought for the rights of women, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times, met with 26 world leaders, including Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet President, and Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India. 

Some would consider her a force of nature.

During here lifetime she overcame many trials and tribulations. 

In 1987 she received the UN Peace Messenger award. 

The Montandons did more than leave their name on a Pavillion in Harmon Park. Through their lives and the lives of their children they left their mark on the world. 

A special thank you to Catrina Watters for obtaining the files in the archives from Waurika City Hall and for the pictures of the pavilion. 

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