Ninety Years of Education, Family
By Carman Williams, Weatherford Democrat, Texas
Aug. 4–Is it possible to sum up 90 years in three words?
Oleta Ward can: Education, family, faith. The long-time Weatherford resident, who celebrates her 90th birthday today, said she has always valued those three things.
Ward was born and raised on 680 acres of cotton farm in Coleman County, Texas. The youngest of four children, she remembers walking three miles one-way and paddling across the Colorado river to get to school. In bad weather, or when it was time to pick cotton, she stayed at home.
Many children would love the excuse to miss school so often, but Ward had an early desire to learn.
“Since I was a little girl I wanted to be a teacher,” Ward said. “I loved school and I admired my teachers. I never had a teacher I didn’t like.”
Determined to continue her education, Ward worked her way through college and earned her undergraduate degree from Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) in San Marcos. She later received a master’s degree and also earned her doctorate in philosophy when she was 68.
Although her goal was to be a high school teacher, Ward began her career teaching first grade in Millsap.
“I wanted some experience before I hit those high schoolers,” she remembered.
She spent most of her years as a high school business teacher, and after retiring she served as a school counselor, working in a different Parker County school each day.
Today, Ward can claim many local leaders as her former students.
“I loved every day of it,” Ward said of her days as a teacher. “I can’t believe people get into a profession and not enjoy it. I’d wake up in the morning and think, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to go to school!’”
She added she had her own key to the school because she was the first one there every morning, and when she retired she was given the Outstanding Teacher Award from Fort Wolters.
Throughout her career, Ward would encourage her students to continue learning, despite their obstacles.
“I asked one little girl, ‘What are you going to do after school?’” she recalled. “She said, ‘I want to go to college, but I don’t have any money.’ I said, ‘Honey, you’re looking at someone who didn’t have a dime.’ And she went to college!”
“Her whole life has been surrounded by education,” said Ward’s granddaughter, Dana Crow, who has followed her grandmother’s footsteps as a teacher.
Ward has also been surrounded by her family who still live nearby.
Ward or “Gandy” as she is known to her family, has passed her firm belief in education down to her descendants. Her son from her first marriage, Lloyd Carlisle, four grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren were all encouraged to go to college.
Ward, who has lived in Weatherford since 1950, even paid the tuition for any of her great-grandchildren who chose to attend Weatherford College.
With her first great-great-grandchild on the way, it is likely that the tradition of education will continue in her family.
Ward also stays involved in her church, Willow Park Baptist, and “anything they called a club,” as she said. That includes the Texas Teachers’ Association, the Weatherford Organ Society and the Professional Women’s Club.
Ward contributes her long life to her healthy, time-tested lifestyle.
“I try to eat right and I always get my exercise,” she said.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Weatherford Democrat, Texas
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