Freda Flatt is featured artist at Owa-Chito Art Show

Dorothy Milligan

Byng correspondent

580-332-6217

“I can’t believe all the things the Forest Heritage Center staff at Beavers Bend  has done to make me feel special.  I have taken paintings there to compete before, and I know the quality of the work shown, so I was really honored when they contacted me several months ago and said they wanted to feature my work for the annual Owa-Chito Art Show,” Freda de Odis Flatt says in explaining why she has been so busy for the past month.

“I’ve prepared a total of 29 paintings for this show.  In some cases, that has meant matting and framing the painting.  I won’t be competing this time, but my work can be purchased.  She laughs, “I hope I sell enough that I can buy some additional supplies, but anyway, they have gone all out to make me feel like a celebrity, and that’s an unusual feeling for me.”

The art show will open with a reception at 7 p.m Thursday, June 11  at the Forest Heritage Center and will run continually to June 21.

I well remember when Freda, my good friend and colleague, retired early from teaching art at Byng School so she could devote full time to painting.  A recipient of a Master in Art Education from ECU, she has continued to enroll in workshops with outstanding artists.  She has received numerous “First place” and “Best of Show” awards in juried shows in Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas.  She has completed murals for purchase by cafeterias, libraries, national parks and private collections.  Locally, her work is on display at the Agri-plex, at Chickasaw buildings in Ada and Tishomingo and at the Choctaw County Library in Hugo. She and I worked together on a children’s book entitled "The Hunter Who Was Not So Great," and we are currently at work on another tentatively titled "How the Terrapin’s Shell Was Mended."

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New Bethel Church lost its oldest member last week when Melvin ‘Whit’ Whitwell died of a heart attack while he was driving to a pharmacy to pick up a prescription for his wife, Margaret, who had been hospitalized following knee surgery.  Whit was a youthful 87, and he had become a church member only 13 years ago shortly after he married the former Margaret Etter.  Both had been widowed and felt fortunate to have found each other.  Whit was a fun-loving fellow who loved a good practical joke--even when it was played on him, and his funeral, while reflecting the sorrow his friends and his fellow church members felt at their loss, was joyful and filled with laughter.  Margaret is managing with the help of family, friends, and home health care to continue staying at home.  She expresses gratitude to the church and the community for the love and concern shown her.

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Byng High School’s All-Class Banquet is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Saturday,  June 20, at the school cafeteria.   Special honorees are members of the class of 1959.     Other activities for the day include a tour of the school at 10 a.m. and a reception  and visiting time at the student center in the afternoon. For further information, call Betty Allred at 332-0525.

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Matthew and LaDawn Balthrop welcomed their first child, a son whom they named Jon Charles, into their lives on May 22.  He weighed eight pounds, nine ounces and was 20 inches long.  His maternal grandparents are Vanessa Bevil and Terry Richardson, and his maternal great grandparents are  Leah Richards and Charles and Jane Sanders.  His paternal grandparents are Wiley and Cyndi Balthrop.  His paternal great grandmother is Cherie Balthrop.  

LaDawn is an elementary teacher at Homer School.  Matthew works with his father at Wiley’s Automotive.

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The community has a new resident I’d like to welcome.  I have not seen him yet, but I have heard him each morning about 5:30.  Along with our usual concert from the whippoorwills and the chuckles from the cardinals there has now been added the brash braying of a donkey.  He breaks into the tranquil birdsongs about three times in the last 30 minutes of our walk at the track.  We have been trying to determine to whom he belongs.  My walking buddies, Vestel and Bette Cole, suggest he may be a late acquisition of Wayne and Patsy Cobb, but I haven’t had a chance to find out if that is correct.  At any rate, I’m glad he’s here.  Several years ago, a neighbor had a donkey who welcomed the sunrise enthusiastically every day.  I missed him when he was gone and welcome his replacement.  He injects a note of reality into the misty magic of an early still morning.