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| Wanda Jo Evaige |
Wanda
Evaige Loved Frederick
Some
people are content to live quiet lives. Others live bold lives, continually
looking for new challenges, new experiences, and new ways to shape the world
around them. That’s how Wanda Evaige lived her life.
There
was nothing quiet about Wanda. She was a force to be reckoned with!
When
Wanda died last week at age 80, her passing marked the end of an era in
Frederick. That’s because, throughout her life, she was active in many parts of
the community. She was never idle, she was always involved, and she was always
outspoken. There was nothing shy about Wanda.
Wanda had
a huge number of friends. I’m pleased that, for almost 40 years, I was one of them.
I first
knew Wanda when I came home to Frederick after college in the mid-1970s to work
in the local school system. Wanda was teaching in the open classroom at Prather
Brown Center in those days (open classrooms were a passing educational fad in
the ‘70s), but she soon moved to Central Elementary where she taught music
until her retirement. I think that’s where she was happiest.
Over the
years she taught thousands of young Frederick students from her music classroom
– the old Central Grade School Auditorium.
She
loved that old school. When the old Central Grade building was torn down just a
couple of years ago, I think Wanda took the building’s demise harder than
anyone.
She had
a passion for Frederick, for education, for history, and for her friends. She
loved young people and gave piano lessons in her home for decades after her
retirement from teaching. She loved to talk about her family, her growing up
years in Frederick, the old Boyd High School, and her church – St. Paul AME
Church.
She was
civic minded, serving for decades on the Frederick City Council, and she was
proud of the fact that she was one of the first female African-American mayors
in our state.
Wanda
was a Democrat – first, foremost and always! She and I shared that. Countless
times Wanda called me on the phone to talk about politics. She lobbied at the
state and federal levels for decades, she served numerous times as a Tillman
County Democratic officer, and she attended the national Democratic Convention
several times.
She was
a great seamstress, and she took pride in her work. After retirement from
education, she opened a small fabric shop in downtown Frederick and she tried
to launch a company making men’s neckties. The business never quite took off,
but she continued her sewing and embroidering projects throughout her life,
often selling the items as fundraising projects for her church.
When the
Tillman County Historical Society was looking for an old church building to
move to the Pioneer Townsite Museum property, Wanda helped secure her church –
the St. Paul A.M.E. Church, built in 1924. After the church was moved to the
Townsite, she took pleasure in giving tours there, telling visitors about the
unique history of the building and her church’s congregation.
She was
an active member of the Frederick Chamber’s Board of Directors for decades, and
no project brought her greater satisfaction than planning the Chamber’s annual
Christmas Parade. She and Linda Haston were a team for years as parade
planners. Wanda’s Christmas enthusiasm was contagious! Last Christmas, when
Wanda was in physical decline, she could no longer help with planning the
parade, but she did serve as parade marshal. She had a great time that day!
I will
always think of Wanda’s big smile… and her laugh.
All of
us who knew and cared for Wanda will certainly miss her, but her legacy of love
for Frederick will live on.
Services
for Wanda Jo Evaige will be held on Friday, May 24, 1:00 p.m., at the Frederick
First Baptist Church, 11th and Grand, under direction of Jackson
Funeral Home.
Wanda’s
obituary is as follows:
Wanda Jo Evaige was born on
July 9, 1933, in Frederick, Oklahoma, to the late Sam and Lenora (Oliver)
Evaige.
Wanda was the seventh child
born to this union.
She was the third generation
of the Evaige Family to attend Boyd School. She graduated from Boyd High school
in 1951. She played basketball, was a cheerleader, and member of the choir and
band.
She attended Samuel Huston
College in Austin, Texas, which later became Huston-Tillotson College. In 1955,
she graduated with a bachelor degree in music.
She taught first grade at
O.E. Kennedy Elementary School, in the same classroom where she attended first
grade. She later transferred to third grade at Prather Brown where she taught
in Oklahoma’s second open-space classroom.
She applied and received the
music position at Central Grade where she taught grades four, five and six. On
the 75th birthday of the State of Oklahoma, her music students sang for the
governor at the state capitol.
In 1981, she was named
Teacher of the Year for Frederick and Tillman County and was the first black
teacher to receive this award.
She served as president of
Frederick and Tillman County Classroom Teachers and served on the Legislative
Commission for the Oklahoma Education Association where she lobbied at the
state and national capitols.
Ms. Evaige touched thousands
of lives through the children she taught in the Frederick Public School system.
Wanda was elected to the
Frederick City Council in 1982, as the representative for Frederick’s Ward III.
She was named mayor in 1987, and continued to serve and be involved in city and
state government until the time of her death.
In 1985, she and the city
were successful in receiving a grant to restore the O.E. Kennedy Elementary
School to preserve the rich history and heritage of black education in
Frederick. Her leadership and personal credibility brought stability to a
community in need.
Ms. Evaige continued her
service as the first Chairperson of the Tillman County E911; her personal
diligence and persistence led the transition for a county with no 911 services
to county-wide E911 services of high standards in short order. In 1988, she was
appointed to represent Tillman County to the Association of South Central
Oklahoma Governments (ASCOG) and in 2000-2002 was elected president of the
governing board. The same year she attended the National Democratic Convention
in Atlanta, Georgia and represented the Democratic mayors of Oklahoma at the
convention and was featured in a related photo and article in USA Today.
She was active in the African
Methodist Episcopal Church. Her local membership was at St. Paul AME in
Frederick and served as a conference trustee of the church. She represented the
church on the State Council of Churches, USA and the National Council of
Churches, USA.
Wanda received two
appointments from Oklahoma governors: the first from Governor Henry Bellmon to
the Oklahoma Constitution and Revision Commission; the second by Governor David
Walters to the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Oklahoma State Supreme
Court. She was later appointed in 1997, to the National Judicial Commission by
Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.
She had served as president
of the Huston-Tillotson University International Alumni Association and was the
first out-of-state alumnus to serve in that position.
One of Ms. Evaige’s greatest
accomplishments was when she was inducted in the Oklahoma Hall of Fame for
Elected Officials. She had been the recipient of numerous awards throughout the
years; Wanda once stated “I feel that I have fulfilled my mother’s dream. She
lived to see me teach my first year, and I feel I am what she would had been,
if she had been given the chance. When I received Oklahoma’s Human Rights
Award, I knew that she would have been really proud of me. My membership in
Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority has had a major impact on my life. I supported young
girls in college in various ways, from transportation to and from college, to clothing
and developing motivational skills. I am a 50-year member. In 1968, I took on
the leadership in getting the first Southwest Oklahoma chapter established in
Lawton, Oklahoma. I was on the first national committee of the Alpha Kappa
Alpha Connection, a political action committee. I have learned so much by being
involved in Service.”
She spent many hours
advocating for municipal and humanitarian issues; she was well known at the
Oklahoma Capitol and in Washington, D.C. for her passionate advocacy of rural
issues such as housing and jobs creation. Her level of commitment and positive
influence has done much good for the citizens of Frederick, southwest and all
of Oklahoma.
