Oklahoma Genealogical Society
Episcopal Whirlwind Missions
(And a Note About Indians for our Eastern Readers and
Some Oklahomans, Too)
From Oklahoma
Genealogical Society, Vol. 12, Nos. 1 & 2; For March and June 1967
Transcribed to
Electronic form by Jo White
This information was obtained
from Reverend Jones after reading the account of the first “Episcopal Vacation
Church School” in Watonga in 49 years.
The Watonga Republican, July 15, 1965. Among those helping with the school was Bill Heuss, whose father
is Rector of Old Trinity Church, New York City; Mary C. Southcott of London,
daughter of the Provost at the Southern Cathedral in London and several from
Tulsa. Among those attending the
Whirlwind services at Watonga is Frank Pendleton, whose father was a Deacon at
old Whirlwind. Frank Pendleton’s
father, named David Oakahater, was sent from the Mission to Florida to study to
become a Deacon. He took the name of
Pendleton there—no doubt for a respected friend. Perhaps some Florida Pendleton can add information of interest to
Frank Pendleton of Watonga. A
historical marker southwest of Fay commemorates old Whirlwind Mission. Reverend Vern Jones, Vicar, has as his
mailing address—Woodward, Oklahoma.
The Reverend Vern Jones, Vicar, born at Enid, is the
grandson of a homesteader who came to Fay in 1894. The old Whirlwind Mission was established there in 1897. His father, Cary Jones, knew most of the
Mission residents and later carried mail.
Reverend Jones lives at Woodward, Okla., but serves four Episcopal
Missions—St. John’s in Woodward; St. Charles at Buffalo; Family of the Good
Shepherd at the mental hospital at Fort Supply; and Whirlwind Mission at
Watonga.
The old Whirlwind was closed down in 1917. The Episcopal Indians at Watonga today,
mostly Cheyenne, are the children from the old Mission. In fact there are six generations of
Episcopalians in the Goodbear family beginning with Chief Whirlwind, his
daughter Twin Woman, her son Turkey Legs, his daughter Winona Goodbear (Mrs. Richard), her son Leonard Goodbear and
his son Leonard Goodbear.
Winona Goodbear is gathering a record of those who
were residents at old Whirlwind and has given a number of old
photographs—mostly taken at old Whirlwind—to Whirlwind Mission at Watonga. They include one of the Episcopal Deaconess,
Harriett Bodell.
The Episcopal Church in Woodward began services at Woodward in the fall of 1893 after the
Strip land opening. That late fall the
former chapel from old Camp Supply was moved into town to Main Street where it
became St. John’s Church. As far as yet
determined, the building was built in 1868—the Centennial of the church
building and Diamond Anniversary of the Woodward Church will be observed in
1968. Tourists stop to see the
“Historic General Custer’s Chapel.” The
appellation will do—except for those who want to go back to the truth of
things—the dedication of three generations of these Jones families; people like
the six generations of the Goodbear family; and benefactors of the first
Whirlwind Mission at Fay. Perhaps there are readers or their descendants who
remember the call for help to form a Mission way out West in Oklahoma Territory
in what is now Blaine County.
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