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Robert Sadler

How Nathan Hale Counselor James Darland saved my life… and more!

by Robert J. Sadler, Class of 1965

In 1963 I was an incoming Junior, having moved to Tulsa from Dallas that September. As I recall, I was sent to the Counselor’s office. Once there I was ushered into Mr. Darland’s office, he looked well kempt in his sport coat, white shirt and ‘fashionable’ bowtie. Mr. Darland said he had looked at my schedule and that I only had six classes and would need to take another to fill out the day. He suggested I could take PE or a study hall. Of course I said, “Can’t I just go home early?” He allowed as how that was not possible and said, “Of course you could take Typing!”

I looked at Mr. Darling and his bowtie and said, “Typing, are you serious? That’s for girls!” He said, “It’s either that, PE or study hall.” I can’t remember whether he said it or I finally ‘snapped’ to the fact that typing class was full of girls, but I acceded to signing up for “Typing” taught by Mrs. Agnes Schellstede, if memory serves.

Well I went to that class, and met the only other guy in the class, Keith Mackie. The typing class desks had two stations next to each other; Keith was on one side, I was on the other. We became buddies, later roommates at OSU and I would have been his best man at his wedding, if I had not been in the Army and unable to get leave. We have remained life-long friends. As for the girls in the class, as much as I might have thought that was the reason I was there, Mrs. Schellstede kept the class clacking those keys, so I can’t remember a single instance of flirting with my female classmates. As sad as that might have been, I learned to type! I don’t remember what my grades were, but I have used and honed that skill everyday since!

I had been a police officer in Dallas for about eight months when I received my draft notice in January 1968. Rather than wait to be drafted, I opted to enlist where I was told I would be immediately recruited as a Military Police Officer, given my civilian training. That much was true. After basic training, instead of being shipped off to advanced-basic training I was sent to Fort Hood Texas to join an MP Battalion in April of 1968.

During the second week of MP-OJT, I was pulled out of a training class and told to report to the first sergeant. I did. He had my records out in front of him. He said, “Hey college kid, I see you can type. Is that true?” I answered in the stiff military affirmative, “Yes, First Sergeant!” “Good,” he said, you’re going to be my new company clerk!” I said, “I’m a cop, not a clerk!” I tried to dissuade him, but he would have none of it. He sweetened the pot, telling me there would be “no KP duty, no guard duty, only work from 7:30 to 4:30 Monday through Friday and would be off for the weekend at noon on Saturday, plus I had a permanent pass,” which meant I could leave the post when ever I wanted to… and would get promoted as soon as I had enough ‘time in grade’, which meant more pay… and I would have my own room in the barracks. I became the Company Clerk of “B” Company 518th Military Police Battalion.

Though not doing what I wanted, I had it pretty easy for Army life. All went somewhat swimmingly until I came up on the levy for Vietnam in August of 1969. By November 5th 1969 I was in-country in a little place called Phu Bai, about thirty minutes south Hue, the provincial capitol city that had been the scene of the Tet Offensive the year before. At that point I had two MOS’s (Military Occupational Specialties) 95B for Military Police and 71H for personnel or admin. On my way to Vietnam, though I had orders to the Replacement Center, I had now idea whether I would end up a grunt on the front line walking through rice paddies or in some rear echelon job.

I found my self in Phu Bai replacing a company clerk in a communications brigade. Other than a few of nights of guard duty out on the base perimeter, a few rocket attacks and some helicopter flights where rounds were exchanged… I was relatively safe for my 365 day tour. I can directly attribute my safety first to Mr. Darland for ‘sending’ me to typing class and second to Mrs. Schellstede for teaching my how to type.

Since those days typewriters, bond paper, typewriter erasers, manifold paper, stencils, stencil correction fluid, liquid paper (I was nver 'mistake free') and computers have been my constant companions. At OSU and in every job I have had since 1964 (Police Officer, Crime Analyst, Salesman, Real Estate Broker, Manager, Private Investigator and business owner) I have used my typing skills in one way or another. My art work over the years might not surprise my Senior year Art Teacher, Mr. Richard Howard, but as my passion for writing grew (an idea that would have never occurred to any of my English teachers, including Mr. Coy Conner) I have written (typed) over 3400 poems and six novels. Neither would Mr. O. A. Smith have known of my love for of the Spanish language, after my having tortured it so in his Spanish classes. One of the Spanish poems of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer that he had us memorize has stayed with me all these years, unfortunately my English translation of Volveran Las Oscuras Goloindrinas was published after Mr. Smith’s death so he was unaware of the affect his class had on my life.

So… Mr. James Darland, you saved my life and so much more! Thank you, and thank you to Nathan Hale High School for the acquaintanceship with the tools that have every day since enhanced and enriched my life!

Visit my website: www.robertjsadler.com

Also visit our "Rangers in the Military" page
for many other stories of Hale students who have served our country.

Veteran Tulsa defense lawyer
to be OBA president

by: BARBARA HOBEROCK Tulsa World
Sunday, November 29, 2009
11/29/2009 6:14:05 AM

OKLAHOMA CITY — A Tulsa criminal defense attorney, Allen M. Smallwood, will be sworn in as the president of the Oklahoma Bar Association on Jan. 15, 2009.

His career spans 35 years, with the last 15 primarily dedicated to criminal defense.

"When you represent someone who committed an awful act, your job is to make sure the government proves that with admissible evidence, within the concept of due process," Smallwood said. "You also have to remember you are a citizen of the community and treat the witnesses, even if you disagree, with respect and courtesy."

His clients have faced charges ranging from public intoxication to first-degree murder.

The Nathan Hale High School graduate received a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University in 1972 and a law degree from the University of Tulsa in 1974.

"I had developed a desire to get into a profession which was competitive, which I thought I could lend some assistance to people who needed it and hopefully make a good living at the same time," said Smallwood, 62.

The resources of state or federal prosecutors are more abundant than those of a defendant, which can create an intimidating process, he said.

"That is one of the reasons the law fashions all the protections for citizens and requires the government to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt and play fair," he said. "It brings into the play the quality of the defense lawyer."

A legislative effort last year to make OBA dues voluntary failed. Lawyers who want to practice in Oklahoma must pay OBA dues.

"The bottom line is that we pay for ourselves," Smallwood said. "We don't take a dime from the Legislature. All our funding is generated within the membership of the OBA. It is my belief that has worked in the past.

"There needs to be ample justification, compelling, to change the system. I don't see that it exists at this point in time."

Lawmakers constantly push to increase penalties for crimes and add new ones, which contributes to an increasing prison population.

Smallwood said prison should be reserved for people whom society fears, not those whose crimes have no victim.

Incarcerating those who possess drugs or forge a prescription is a disservice, he said.

"It doesn't solve the underlying problem we are dealing with," he said. "It takes a courageous person to recognize there are better ways to solve the problem of certain criminal actions other than incarceration."

Another Tulsa defense attorney, Clark Brewster, called Smallwood a rare individual who is dedicated to his clients, maintains good relationships with opposing counsel and is very professional.

"He is a lawyer I would like to model my ethics and conduct by," Brewster said. "He is just outstanding."

Allen Smallwood's honor was for the betterment of the nation's solo practitioners.

A longtime Tulsa attorney has received national recognition for his legal career from the American Bar Association.

Allen Smallwood received the Donald C. Rikli Lifetime Achievement Award from the ABA's General Practice Solo and Small Firm Division at the group's annual meeting in Honolulu.

Smallwood, 59, is a lifelong resident of Tulsa. After graduating from Hale High School in 1965, he served in the Marine Corps from 1966 until 1968, spending 14 months as an infantryman in Vietnam. He received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 1972 and his law degree from the University of Tulsa in 1974.

Smallwood has practiced law since 1975, concentrating primarily on criminal defense work in both state and federal courts. He has previously received awards for ethics and professionalism from the Oklahoma and Tulsa County bar associations.

Smallwood is currently a fellow with the American College of Trial Lawyers. He previously was a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association Board of Governors.

The Donald C. Rikli Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes a lawyer who has worked diligently toward the betterment of the nation's solo practitioners, according to the ABA's Web site.

Smallwood said last week that receiving the award was a "huge honor." He said he has been told that the Rikli Lifetime Achievement Award is not presented every year.

Smallwood said he originally was not planning to attend the meeting in Hawaii but then learned that his presence was required. He said he bought an airline ticket on short notice and made a whirlwind trip to Honolulu to receive the award on August 3rd.

1965

MARY KAY PLACE

We're very proud to be able to brag about one of our most well-known Rangers - Mary Kay Place - but where do we begin?

I spent the entire evening looking at photos and reading about all her accomplishments - beginning with her days at Hale. She was very active in organizations at Hale, including the Senior Board,
A-Squad Cheerleaders, and Drama Club.

2004

We won't be able to fit it all in, but we're including a great mix of photos through the years, including several from Hale yearbooks, and a well written biography from one of her latest films.

Plus, an added bonus we found digging through Hale's archived files - an article that Mary Kay wrote for the TPS newspaper, Tulsa School Life, dated September 17, 1964, early in her senior year.

15 Photos

BIOGRAPHY

Born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mary Kay Place was first critically acclaimed for her role as country singer Loretta Haggers on the hit comedy series, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, for which she won the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress in a comedy. After working for the head writers of Maude at Norman Lear's Tandem Productions, Place began co-writing for numerous TV series, including M*A*S*H, (for which she earned an Emmy nomination in 1973 with Linda Bloodworth), and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, among others.

Since then she has appeared in 37 feature films including Bound for Glory, New York New York, Private Benjamin, Starting Over, The Big Chill, Citizen Ruth, Manny and Lo (for which she received a Best Supporting Female nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards), The Rainmaker, Girl, Interrupted, Being John Malkovich, Sweet Home Alabama, Nine Lives, and soon to be released from IFC, Lonesome Jim.

Place's numerous television movie and series appearances include My So Called Life, Law and Order, Special Victim's Unit, The West Wing, and Grey's Anatomy. She has also worked as a director in television, helming episodes of Baby Boom, Dream On, Arliss, Friends and other programs.

"Ranger Ramblings" written by Mary Kay Place
for "Tulsa School Life" newspaper
September 17, 1964

click to enlarge

LINKS to other interesting web sites about Mary Kay Place:

Mary Kay Place Citation Tulsa University Phi Beta Kappa Society	NEW: YouTube: Mary Kay singing "Baby Boy" Live

The Mary Kay Place Place This guy is a HUGE fan of Mary Kay - lots of photos & info	Mary Kay Place Movie Posters A collection of movie posters of the films that Mary Kay has been in

	Editor's Note: 3/5/06 Knowing that Carol Adams-Stutzenbecker was a resident of New Orleans, I contacted her to see how she was doing after Katrina. We received the following reply: It was good to hear from an alumni of Hale. The greater New Orleans area continues to improve daily. However, the neighborhoods of the hard-hit areas are still for the most part uninhabitable. Entire communities are nonfunctional. It is incredible to see the devastation.
Efforts to restore these communities is very slow. My neighborhood, (Driftwood Park, Kenner), was hit hard by Katrina, but homeowners are working hard to get their houses repaired. Many families are living in FEMA trailers on their property. We had wind and flood damage to our house in Kenner. We have successfully been able to get a new roof and our vinyl siding has been repaired. Getting the inside of our house fixed has been real slow. We are still waiting to get our sheetrock repaired and new kitchen cabinets, then new floors. We are able to live in our house. We left behind a car, and it got flooded (it was totaled). We have bought a new car to replace it after sharing a car for 5 months. I am fortunate to still have my school teaching job. Life here is hard, but every day you see improvement. It will take the area many years to recover. Our hospitals and school systems have suffered greatly. In spite of all of this, let me say that there have been good things to come out of a bad thing. This in itself has been a real life lesson. We must focus on the good things and trust that our lives will again take shape. Good to hear from you. Carol (Adams) Stutzenbecker, Class of 1965
Carol Adams-Stutzenbecker has been living in New Orleans for 27 years. She has been teaching school for 16 years. She is currently teaching computer keyboarding, and is the adviser for the school newspaper at John Curtis Christian School in River Ridge, Louisiana.


AWARDS Three Emmys · Five Emmy Nominations · One Humanitas Prize · Two Humanitas Nominations · One Writers Guild Award · Four Nominations · Spur Award - the Western Writers of America · Epiphany Prize Nomination · The Movie Guide Award MOTION PICTURES "Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored" United Image Entertainment - Starring Phylicia Rashad, Richard Roundtree, Al Freeman Jr. - Winner, Best Feature Film - WORLDFEST-HOUSTON. Nominated, Best Picture - IMAGE AWARDS. Won, Best Picture - MOVIE GUIDE AWARDS. INTERACTIVE CD-ROM CHESS WARS: A Medieval Fantasy and Interactive Motion Picture written and directed by Paul W. Cooper. Art Data Interactive. Won, Best New Video Game, 1996. STAFF EXPERIENCE & ACADEMIC Story Editor - BREWSTER PLACE, Starring Oprah Winfrey. Hearst Entertainment Instructor - "Writing for Film and Television" Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA. TELEVISION MURDER, SHE WROTE - CBS 2 episodes HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN - NBC 7 episodes LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE - NBC 5 episodes BREWSTER PLACE - ABC (story editor) multiple THE WALTONS - CBS HART TO HART - ABC 2 episodes FANTASY ISLAND - ABC LIFE AND TIMES OF GRIZZLY ADAMS - NBC 3 episodes TALES OF THE GOLD MONKEY - CBS FATHER MURPHY - NBC 5 episodes ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIALS - 8 specials CBS SCHOOLBREAK SPECIALS - 13 specials CABLE "Night of the Wolf" Movie for the Animal Planet starring Anne Archer "The Maldonado Miracle" Movie for Showtime, Salma Hayek, producer/director "Good Old Boy" MULTIMEDIA Two hour movie. Disney Channel "The Adventures of Shirley Holmes" SUNBOW PRODS. Two hour movie. Disney Channel "Match-Point" CORNERSTONE PRODS. Two hour movie. Disney Channel "The Secret of Lost Creek" CORNERSTONE PRODS. Two hour movie. Disney Channel "Most Valuable Player" and "Heather" LMNO Prods. Two hour movie. Family Channel IN DEVELOPMENT THE JOE LOUIS STORY - Feature MP, Dino Anthony May, producer THE LAST TRAIN NORTH - Feature MP, Tim Reid, producer THE CHRISTMAS ANGEL - Movie for Television, The Readers Digest

Tulsa World, January 25, 2006
Donation nets new scoreboards for Hale

Jim Moon did not graduate from Nathan Hale High School, nor does he attend sporting events there. But he has given the school's athletic program an assist. Moon donated nearly $7,000 for two scoreboards in the Hale gymnasium.

Three of Moon's children and one granddaughter attended Hale, 6960 East 21st St. His daughter, Karen Moon-Tinker a member of the Nathan Hale Alumni Foundation and a 1974 Hale graduate, told Moon about the need for the scoreboards after a Hale alumni foundation meeting. "We were just talking about things that I was involved with at the school. I told him we were trying to raise money for new scoreboards," Moon-Tinker said. Moon told his daughter he would be happy to help the school. "I thought it was great," Moon-Tinker said. "He's always been a generous guy, but this was a surprise -- a pleasant surprise."

Moon said it is an honor to help the community. "You don't really get that many chances to affect so many people," said Moon, who retired in 1998 as owner of Time Mark Corporation, an industrial electronics manufacturer. "It's worth it if they (students) can keep their interest in the sports program. It's just nice to be able to do something like that."

John Houchin, a 1965 Hale graduate, is president of Houchin Electric Co., an electrical contractor. His company installed the new Electro-Mech Model 2655 basketball-volleyball-wrestling scoreboards on Jan. 19 and 20, free of charge. "It's just good business. It promotes community spirit," Houchin said.

Houchin has good memories about his alma mater. One of those came in 1964, when he was on Hale's state championship swim team. "That year, we won almost everything. We excelled in athletics," he said. Those memories are part of the reason he wanted to help. "I guess it's a little pride in my school," Houchin said. "It was a great school when I went there."

The scoreboards were scheduled to be used for the first time on Jan. 24 for basketball games against Memorial High School.

Hale Principal Chris Johnson said the donations show the importance of community involvement. "The administration, students, coaches and staff greatly appreciate a donation of this size," Johnson said. "(The donation) means a further improvement of our athletic program and further improvement for our facilities."

Hale recently added a new roof, a new air conditioning system, new interior paint, and new exterior windows and doors throughout the school, Johnson said. Improvements also were made to both gymnasiums and all the locker rooms, where new floor tiles were installed. This summer, the lockers and the gym floors will be replaced, Johnson said. "This scoreboard kind of keeps pace with the other improvements in the school," he said.

Tammy Altaffer, girls' basketball and track coach at Hale, said the new scoreboards were overdue. "They (were) very old and outdated, so it hurt the appearance of our gym, which looks great since the new painting," she said.

Boys' basketball coach Lester Johnson agreed. "The upkeep on our gym makes it one of the most modern in the city right now. The way the gym is kept and the way our scoreboard is, it's time for a new one. I'm more than glad to see them come," he said.

By Cory YounBy Cory Young Tulsa World 1/25/2006

Donald Hudson's professional accomplishments began while he served in the United State Air Force and was stationed in Udorn Thailand. While there and working with the Royal Tai Air Force, he developed and taught an English course and was recognized for his efforts by being awarded a Bronze Star Medal.

In the technical arena, Donald was the co-designer of the telecommunications backbone system now installed at the FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. He was the data security architect for the 1989 modernization effort for the IRS, developing an architecture that was approved the the U.S. Department of Treasury, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the General Accounting Office. Donald led the initial effort to develop an e-learning program for the IRS and recently led the effort to develop a knowledge management portal for executives throughout the Department of Treasury.

Donald is the author of two books, and is currently writing the third. His first book "Maximize Your Potential" addressed all of the things we think, do and say to sabotage our true potential and alternative ways of thinking. The second book, published in 1999 is titled "Stress Management 101", a tool to help identify stresses
in your life and management techniques for balance.

As a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist, Donald developed the concept and practice of Integrated Relational Hypnotherapy (IRH) which is a holistic treatment approach, recognizing the integration of mind, body and spirit and the necessity to address all three aspects simultaneously. He also has designed a model for the integration of technology and accelerated learning techniques into a single e-learning event and has had initial meetings with the University of Texas regarding a potential development project.

Donald's most recent accomplishment was being recognized in the 2001-2002 edition of the National Register of Who's Who In Executive and Professionals for his accomplish-ments as an Entrepreneur and Business Executive.

Donald has been a professional speaker for over 30 years, beginning his distinguished career as an ordained minister. His speaking experience includes being called upon to brief Congressional Sub-Committee members for the US Congress on several occasions, hosting his own radio program and being interviewed on television. Donald has been a speaker at numerous national conventions in the US for organizations and events such as IFTDO, ASTD, The Government & Learning Technology Symposium, The Information Management Forum and Telcom West, speaking primarily on the subjects of e-learning, knowledge management and the integration of technology.

You can contact Donald through his web site: www.hudson-enterprises.org