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Love and Money Makes the
Difference - Frontier School at Red Rock, Oklahoma
Jeff probably fell a bit in
love with one of the volunteers, Cindy, and she with him. The girl was
more mature and had a great dedication, as he did, to the goals she had
set for herself.
He carried one of the
children in his arms who had fallen asleep in the car while returning from
their field trip. His strong arms easily lifted the child. As he stepped
through the door, he spoke to Cindy who was already in the house. “I
wonder how it would feel to own something as special someone like this?”
He asked.
There was such a look of
yearning on his face and Cindy must have easily seen the feelings he had
for her. For an instant she looked like she wanted to respond. Instead the
girl looked away without a word. This wise person would not let herself
become involved with something that could never be. They were from
different worlds, too separate to ever meet, and he must have known this
because he too, dropped the matter.
Once in a while the two
could be seen working together on some project. The tender emotions they
felt, were mostly apparent only to each other because they were careful
not to let them be known to anyone else. Jeff did confide with sadness the
way he felt one time but then, never again. Cindy was as determined to
stay to her own path as he was to his. The sweet secret they kept and
never let their quiet love come into a place where it was or might be a
deterrent from what they hoped to accomplish. To weaken or adulterate
their work would have served no purpose and they simply did not do that.
There must have been strong orientation by the Vista organization because
none of the volunteers crossed the lines of propriety. They stuck to what
their purpose was in serving the community and didn’t deviate from it.
Jeff was documenting
everything he experienced on other matters and the material read like a
novel. Not a typo, a misspelled word, anything to ever let the manuscript
be called imperfect was made. The subject material was never shared with
Velma. Maybe she would not have approved if she had actually read all that
he had written. How Jeff had managed so quietly to go into records and
files to find some of the weighty things he revealed was a shock.
When he was asked, “What
are you going to do with this?” He replied.
“I’m sure not going to show
anyone around here.” Jeff was quick to answer.
The farmer’s wife was a
protection to him because she had given him a quiet, secluded place to
work and this is what he did. It wasn’t just his opinion but everything
was carefully backed up with research.
When the great Oklahoma
Natural Gas plant came into Red Rock after Jeff had left the tax revenues
were so great a school could be formed. The school is called Frontier and
we smiled when remembering the love Jeff had for this area. “How
appropriate,” we all agreed.
The school, stories tell,
is a place where money makes the difference in how many great things are
offered. There is an art department, indoor pool for swimming and, too
much more to even mention. Most of the population in that area is Native
American but the non-Indian people do enjoy the benefits.
A student can go to their
web site for daily assignments. One of the pages has a place where the
Ponca language is taught and words can be heard on that page. From this
web page it is evident, the Frontier School at Red Rock, Oklahoma has a
full curriculum which is quite an achievement for a small town in the
middle of no where on prairie lands. |
