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The Campus was lovely and pulled at my heartstrings as far as taking me back to the times we strolled about on the manicured lawn hand in hand. A small group was in attendance at the alumni meeting, April 16, 2011. We sat around a number of round tables in the newly restored Student Union building to enjoy a delectable meal and later to have our meeting while we looked out to the well kept grounds through the large windows which were replaced after having vandals bash them out. The view was a far cry from the poison Ivy along walk ways we encountered when we first started trying to accomplish a saving of our school.
Most of the discussion with the alumni went to the planning for the yearly meeting of their meeting this year at the Choctaw casino in Durant, Ok. Garland Kent here in Ponca city will have all the information on that. He is listed in the phone book.
Now the school is once again under the federal government through a lease from the five tribes. They have an agenda and are using the place which is the reason for the grounds to be so well done. It is under lock and key again and I understand will have around the clock security due to some vandalism recently.
For whatever is and will happen comes a time when I must step out of the picture.
My original goal was to bring a museum to the place. The detailed record keeping via the annuals and yearbooks are an excellent means for Native American genealogy with actual pictures of students all the way back to the beginning in the
1800's. No genealogy is that easily found, not anywhere. One person as curator
could have printed off information from a computer a picture for a person who only knew their grandparent attended Chilocco through family oral history.
There are many people who are skilled at computer work and writers of grants for
museums that would have given the school a status of a living museum. There is a great income through the casinos if this could have actually been brought about. Back when we started it was my wish to employ young people with the work of restoration. These times of economic pressure has even more of a relevance toward this kind of a goal.
I don’t understand the workings of politics and often wonder how money can be
given where it is given, rather than money to provide jobs for plumbers, electricians, roads on this small town, historians, maintenance, so on and so forth, all for the rebuilding of a town in America. Seems to me if we can rebuild a country after war, it should be easy to rebuild a town of Chilocco, here.
It doesn’t matter to me anymore, though. I’ve moved on and am working double hard to complete my small museum. The work is slow because I’m not educated
for this kind of work, neither it or genealogy. However, I do get visitors from all over the country who are so pleased to be able to have a picture of a grandparent printed off, one they have never seen before. If I can leave a legacy to my own so that they may learn from their ancestors successes as well as mistakes this is important to me.
My hope is even though I may not ever see a world of peace, appreciation for ancestors albeit more resent or back into the annals of history I’m very thankful to
have given some one a story or a vocation, an ancestor’s vision for his descendants, and simply the joy of seeing the gratitude on their face as they actually see their grandparent for the first time.
With no judgement on my part for or against gambling I do and cannot be a part of
the alumni because in the casinos is where they hold their meetings . This part of Native American’s is simply their culture and I do not condemn or condone. This is simply not something I wish to practice. When we started out we had a
different goal, that of working together for restoration of Chilocco grounds and jobs for our young people.. This has changed and the alumni will continue with their agenda which is really okay with me. This is a pleasure to many of our Chiloccoans and has its place, but is not for me.
What I am trying to say is there will be little written here about Chilocco other than if it deals with requests for information regarding genealogy and history of ancestors.
So, indeed, I’m a bit like the old girl, our school, we all loved so much. I’m all dressed up with no place to go, too, which is quite all right. There’s plenty to do on the Rhonda Lou.
Most of the discussion with the alumni went to the planning for the yearly meeting of their meeting this year at the Choctaw casino in Durant, Ok. Garland Kent here in Ponca city will have all the information on that. He is listed in the phone book.
Now the school is once again under the federal government through a lease from the five tribes. They have an agenda and are using the place which is the reason for the grounds to be so well done. It is under lock and key again and I understand will have around the clock security due to some vandalism recently.
For whatever is and will happen comes a time when I must step out of the picture.
My original goal was to bring a museum to the place. The detailed record keeping via the annuals and yearbooks are an excellent means for Native American genealogy with actual pictures of students all the way back to the beginning in the
1800's. No genealogy is that easily found, not anywhere. One person as curator
could have printed off information from a computer a picture for a person who only knew their grandparent attended Chilocco through family oral history.
There are many people who are skilled at computer work and writers of grants for
museums that would have given the school a status of a living museum. There is a great income through the casinos if this could have actually been brought about. Back when we started it was my wish to employ young people with the work of restoration. These times of economic pressure has even more of a relevance toward this kind of a goal.
I don’t understand the workings of politics and often wonder how money can be
given where it is given, rather than money to provide jobs for plumbers, electricians, roads on this small town, historians, maintenance, so on and so forth, all for the rebuilding of a town in America. Seems to me if we can rebuild a country after war, it should be easy to rebuild a town of Chilocco, here.
It doesn’t matter to me anymore, though. I’ve moved on and am working double hard to complete my small museum. The work is slow because I’m not educated
for this kind of work, neither it or genealogy. However, I do get visitors from all over the country who are so pleased to be able to have a picture of a grandparent printed off, one they have never seen before. If I can leave a legacy to my own so that they may learn from their ancestors successes as well as mistakes this is important to me.
My hope is even though I may not ever see a world of peace, appreciation for ancestors albeit more resent or back into the annals of history I’m very thankful to
have given some one a story or a vocation, an ancestor’s vision for his descendants, and simply the joy of seeing the gratitude on their face as they actually see their grandparent for the first time.
With no judgement on my part for or against gambling I do and cannot be a part of
the alumni because in the casinos is where they hold their meetings . This part of Native American’s is simply their culture and I do not condemn or condone. This is simply not something I wish to practice. When we started out we had a
different goal, that of working together for restoration of Chilocco grounds and jobs for our young people.. This has changed and the alumni will continue with their agenda which is really okay with me. This is a pleasure to many of our Chiloccoans and has its place, but is not for me.
What I am trying to say is there will be little written here about Chilocco other than if it deals with requests for information regarding genealogy and history of ancestors.
So, indeed, I’m a bit like the old girl, our school, we all loved so much. I’m all dressed up with no place to go, too, which is quite all right. There’s plenty to do on the Rhonda Lou.