The temperature for Saturday’s Heritage Day festivities was in the Whole Hawg Days range. The weather gauge said 90 but it felt more like 100.
Nevertheless, folks turned out to celebrate Eufaula’s 151st anniversary, starting with a Community Breakfast Meet & Greet by the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church and Eufaula Booker T. Washington Alumni Association.
Guests were treated to a delicious breakfast and fellowship. The Booker T. Alumni Association handed out two scholarships. Cameron Atchison was awarded $500 and Sydney Jones was awarded $750.
Atchison will be attending OU and Jones will be attending Connors State College in the fall.
A day filled with events followed the breakfast, including arts & crafts, a mock jail, music at Tavern No. 9 and more.
One of the highlights of the day was the Heritage Day Parade, which began at 1 p.m. at Forest and Main streets and went north to Memorial.
The Eufaula Indian Journal’s Ms. Heritage and Mr. Heritage, Alma Harper and Gary Moores, were the parade marshals.
Following the parade, they were honored in a coronation ceremony.
Selina Jayne-Dornan, founder of Heritage Day, hosted the ceremony.
Gary Moores
“Gary is the embodiment of Eufaula’s character,” Selina said. “Since its founding, this community has been driven by people of vision, optimism, ambition with a willingness to work hard, and Gary is driven by the vision.”
She noted that he is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and has a vision for a partnership of the city, schools and the Creek Nation joining together for the betterment of the whole community.
“Gary follows in the footsteps of an active family lineage,” Salina said. “Gary’s mother, Betty Ann Dobbs, was born in Eufaula in 1923. She was the daughter of Walter and Margaret (Belt) Coody.
“She was reared here and attended school at Eufaula, graduating from Eufaula in 1940.”
After leaving Eufaula for a time, she returned in 1963 and taught her for 33 years; served on the City Council for 20 years and on the Eufaula Hospital Board for 10 years.
“Since 1995, a foundation in her honor has allowed the family to give back to the community through scholarships,” Selina said.
A 1961 graduate of Eufaula High School, Gary has a passion for the Ironheads and their future success. He is instrumental in working with the schools and many community programs.
“He has never shunned hard work or an opportunity to make the community better. From humble beginnings as a young business owner to his oil and gas business, he and his wife Kathy strive to make Eufaula a better place to live for future residents.
“He pushes forward with an eye for the future as a business owner, community leader, historian, mentor and friend,” Selina said.
Alma Harper
“Perhaps there was no better title for her (than Ms. Heritage Day) as her life and her ancestry is brimming with history,” Selina said. “Ms. Harper has deep roots in African American and Native American history and can trace that branch of her family tree back to the Trial of Tears.”
She noted that Alma is a teacher, historian, genealogist, poet and community activist who has written numerous articles on Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Native American History Month.
She has been deeply involved in a wide variety of subjects and issues throughout her life – besides teacher she works with the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, the NAACP and countless other organizations that keep her active and young.
In 1981, she and her husband Rev. Samuel Harper, who is retired pastor of the Sulphur Springs Baptist Church, moved to Eufaula.
She taught school in Checotah and was a tutor at the Creek Nation Dormitory in Eufaula for 20 years.
Alma is a member of the Oklahoma Historical Society; secretary of the McIntosh County NAACP; a member of the National NAACP; as well as a member of the Gardenia Art Club, the Oklahoma Federation of Colored Women’s Club and the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.
She is a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation and of the Eufaula Indian Community and is the founder of many community organizations.
“She continues to teach seminars about our rich history and shares these lessons with her local newspapers yearly to ensure that this knowledge and heritage is not lost,” Selina said.
