Updated Bio - David

The stream of sand flowing down through the hourglass of my life seems to be falling faster and faster as the years go by. It seems that the fifty years since we graduated from high school have flown by with blazing speed.

There is less sand in the top half of my hourglass glass than in the bottom half. I figure that at least 85% of the sands of my life are in the bottom half. Who knows? I could have less than 15% remaining in the top. I can measure the bottom half of the hourglass by the amount of sand I'm standing on. But I have no way of knowing or measuring how much sand remains. Of course, this is true for all of us, the proud HHS Class of 1959. Sadly, the sands in the hourglasses of ten of our classmates have ceased to fall. Time has run out for them. Eternity is theirs. Those of us with sand still falling have a few more precious years of time remaining.

I wish I could say that I spent all of the time of my life thus far wisely. I wish I could say that I've achieved all I wanted to accomplish in the 67 years I've lived. I wish I could boast that my life was filled with only successes and no failures. But I can't. Wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is supposed to be a bio. Okay, it's going to be one. Where do I begin? How about May of 1959?

As we all did, I walked through the line and received my diploma on that beautiful May evening approaching fifty years ago. At the time, I thought "commencement" was defined as "completing" something. After all, I was completing high school and that was all there was to it. But alas, I didn't understand that commencement is actually defined as beginning something. Commencement, more accurately defined, is "to take the first step or steps in carrying out an action." Taking first steps toward anything in the future was the last thing on my mind on that May evening so long ago. My mind was concentrating on taking the last steps across the stage in my less than stellar career as a student at dear old Hammon High.

Well, at the time I did begin to take steps toward the future but I had no idea where they would lead. The first step eventually led to Goodwell where I commenced on a long and somewhat crooked journey to get a college education. From 1959 through 1962, I attended Oklahoma Panhandle State University. I milked cows at the college dairy farm to help defray the cost of schooling. In 1964, after altering my career plans from farming to preaching, I enrolled in Oklahoma Baptist University.

In 1965, while a student at OBU, I married Effie Mae Hogg from Leedey. We lived in Prague. On weekdays I commuted from Prague to Shawnee to attend classes. On weekends I commuted to Seiling where I led the Seiling Indian Baptist Mission as a student pastor. In 1968, I transferred to Baptist College of Florida in Graceville. One of our classmates, Roy Howlingwater, graduated from BCF in 1968 shortly before he was killed during the robbery of the filling station in Elk City where he was working. Roy had completed BCF less than a year before his tragic death.

After studying two years at BCF, I transferred to William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and graduated from that institution in 1970. I completed my undergraduate degree nearly twelve years after receiving my high school diploma. Most of my classmates who attended college had already completed their college careers by then. In the fall of 1970, I enrolled in Southwestern Baptist Theological in Ft. Worth, TX. Our two daughters, DaLeesa and Dorena, were born in Ft Worth. I worked nights at the Central Freight Lines terminal Ft. Worth to help defray expenses of my education.

I received a Master of Divinity from Southwestern Seminary in 1974 and moved to Canton where I became the pastor of the Canton Indian Baptist Church. Our son, Philip, was born while we were in Canton.

I served Canton IBC for nearly four years and moved to Elmore City to become the pastor of the First Baptist Church. I served there for 8 years and moved to Dewey to become the pastor of the First Baptist Church. While I was pastoring Dewey FBC, I returned to academia and earned a Doctor of Ministry from Midwestern Theological Seminary in Kansas City. After serving DFBC for nearly 15 years, I resigned and took a mid-level denominational job as Director of Missions for the Grady Baptist Association of Churches in Chickasha.

In 2001, I officially retired from pastoral ministry. Effie was still teaching Home Economics (now called Family and Consumer Science) in Ninnekah. In 2003, she transferred to Enid to teach. She retired in 2005. I figured I needed to move along with her if I wanted to eat healthy and have my bed made on a daily basis. So I moved with her and am continuing the "happy ever after" life I had before.

It is a truism that preachers never really retire. After about a year of not preaching on a regular basis, I was about to go crazy out of my gourd. In January of 2002 an opportunity arose for me to become pastor of the Watonga Indian Baptist Church. Now instead of being crazy out of my gourd, I'm happy because I get to preach at least one sermon every Sunday.

Summary: Effie and I live on the northwest side of Enid. She is now retired from teaching and I recently took a secular job at the Enid newspaper where I work nights inserting ads into the newspapers. She's free shop and go to all the garage sales in the county and I work an enjoyable job which helps supplement our Social Security checks. On Sundays, we drive down to Watonga and I preach my weekly sermon. Sometime I preach it rather weakly, but always on a weekly basis nonetheless.

Our children are all pursuing their individual careers. None are married and I have no grandchildren. DaLeesa, is a professional piano accompanist and does gigs with students at Oklahoma City University and Southern Nazarene University. She also is a librarian for Ross Ellison Public Library in Oklahoma City. Dorena is a Pre-Kindergarten teacher in Mustang. Philip, ever the professional student somewhat like his father, is completing a masters degree in Philosophy at Oklahoma State University. He lives in Cushing and works at the Cushing Public Library.

My ministry career has been less than stellar. Of the five churches I pastored down through the years, two no longer exist. They faded into oblivion many years ago. However, I'm happy to say that the other three, including the little church in Watonga, are happily surviving. I enjoy wood carving, reading theology, reading nonfiction, reading a few novels (which includes all of Bud's), and moderating discussions on a Baptist internet discussion forum. I also serve as a trustee for Bacone College in Muskogee, which is a four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the American Baptist Church (ABCUSA). Bacone College, established in 1880, is the oldest college in Oklahoma and embraces a historic educational mission with American Indians.

That's about it for recounting my bio. The sands continue to flow through the hourglass of my life. Life goes on. I’ll be celebrating 50 years of life after graduation from high school in less than 125 days. I’m hoping a large number of my classmates will join me at this momentous event.