Retiring Docents Honored

If you or your parents ever sat in the wooden desks of Pleasant Valley School, you might remember them as Miss Julia, Miss Mabel, or Miss Mattie—the names they took on to bring history to life.

This week, Joyce Drew, Cloyann Fent, Jana Oberlender, and Carol Trapp—four longtime docents of Stillwater’s historic one-room schoolhouse and living museum—were honored at a gathering of fellow teachers at the home of Mrs. Holly Frazier. All combined, the retirees have spent 79 years working to recreate an 1899 classroom experience, preserving the lessons, manners, and traditions of an earlier Stillwater.

Each of these women spent years in public education before coming to Pleasant Valley, but teaching here was different.

“Teaching at Pleasant Valley is a blessing,” said Cloyann Fent. “When they come in and you ring that bell, they get quiet.”

Jan Anderson, one of the newest docents, agreed. “For me, it was easier because they’re so mesmerized by this whole historical event. It’s a museum experience. They’re pretty focused, and the ones who aren’t, it’s pretty easy to refocus them.”

Welcome to 1899

A lot happens on a school day within the pea-green walls of Pleasant Valley. Students receive lessons in reading, penmanship, spelling, math, and history. There are no electronics, only slates, pencils, and quill pens. The school bell that starts the day dates back to 1899. It sits atop an upright wooden piano that was so important to the family who brought it to Oklahoma that they paid for an extra wagon to haul it across the prairie.

Students come prepared dressed in period clothing with lunches in metal buckets. They even take on the name of a former student who once sat in the very same schoolhouse. 

“When they put on that other name, they leave their identity outside the doors,” said Cloyann Fent. “So if I am scolding you, I’m not scolding Brandon. I’m scolding Clyde. That’s the biggest thing that helps their mindset.”

Pleasant Valley School closed in 1941 and over the decades fell into disrepair. It was lovingly restored and reopened as a living history site in 1989—largely thanks to Jana’s husband, Gary.

“He’s the driving force and has been for all of these years,” said Carolyn Confer, past president of the school. “If it weren’t for Gary Oberlender, Pleasant Valley would have been moved to Oklahoma City.”

A Personal Touch

Each retiring docent brought a personal touch to their teaching.

Jana Oberlender would bring her pen collection to class, dating back to her own school days.

“I had my pen staff from seventh grade, where we learned what we called fancy writing,” she said. In high school, she and her classmates all bought fountain pens with a Gregg point for shorthand.

She also brought an old college fountain pen, demonstrating how it drew ink from a bottle. “Many students and even parents had never seen a fountain pen before,” she said.

For Joyce Drew, Pleasant Valley is part of a family legacy. Her mother, grandmother, and great-aunts and uncles all attended Pleasant Valley. Her daughter was in the first class when the school reopened. Even her grandchildren have come through while she was teaching and sat at the same desks as their ancestors, marking five generations of their family who have learned and taught there.

Carol Trapp made sure students stepped fully into the past before entering the schoolhouse. “When the kids line up outside the door, I say, ‘Welcome to Pleasant Valley! As you know, it is no longer 2025. It is 1899, and you’re going to see and do things that children did in the old days.’” She also taught them that “manners are expected” and required students to stand and say “Yes, Ma’am” before speaking.

Cloyann Fent brought turnips to class, much to her students’ delight (and dismay).

“When the territory opened in April, it was too late to plant a garden,” she explained. “That first winter, settlers didn’t have potatoes or canned vegetables—they lived on turnips. Mashed turnips, fried turnips, boiled turnips… but always turnips.”

Her great-grandmother, having survived that long season of turnip meals, swore she’d “never wanted to ever eat a turnup again.” But Cloyann Fent made sure her students got a literal taste of history.

She would bring raw turnips, slice them up, and offer samples. “Some kids would take one bite and run straight to the trash. Others wanted more. ‘These are really good!’ they’d say.”

She also shared family stories, like how her grandfather and great-grandfather were in the 1889 Land Run. They were horse breakers from California, so they knew they always had to watch out for prairie dog holes to avoid horse injuries. 

“I always told them that, and those little cowboys were on the edge of their seats!” laughs Cloyann.

For one young boy, known in class by his assigned historical name Floyd, the experience was profound. He once looked up from the reading bench and told Fent: “Miss Mabel, I could learn in this school.”

Carrying the Legacy Forward

So much has changed in and around Pleasant Valley School since 1899, but the dedication to education has held out, thanks to these women. Speaking of the pioneer parents who paid for the building and running of the school back when, Cloyann said, “Education was important to those parents, and that’s what we have to carry over.”

Following the discussion, light refreshments of raspberry ginger ale and cookies were served. 

Attendees included Jana Oberlender, Holly Frazier, Joyce Drew, Carol Trapp, Cloyann Fent, Carolyn Confer, Denise Ferrell, Jan Anderson, and Marcia Karns.