Steven Daugherty: Never Alone

FROM THIS CORNER
By
Glenna J. Wallace

STEVEN DAUGHERTY: NEVER ALONE

He’s never been alone. He has always had someone in his life, most of the time quite close in his life. It started with his sister Sherry, his woomie. No, that’ not a typo. Steven no middle name Daughtery shared his mother’s womb with his twin sister Sherry. He was alone for thirty whole minutes as Sherry was born first. Even then he was really not alone as he was connected with his mother, but thirty minutes later Steven joined his older sister, a fact he likes to point out, rather loving that word “older”. The woomies made their identities known to their parents John Daugherty Sr. and Victoria Naomi Secondine Daugherty at Claremore Indian Hospital in Claremore, Oklahoma on May 8, 1954. Later they joined their siblings Pat, John Jr, and Rusty at the family home in White Oak, just outside Vinita, OK.

White Oak was and continues to be a major role in Steve’s life. His father was Eastern Shawnee while his mother and grandmother were Loyal Shawnee with his grandfather Anderson Secondine being full blood Delaware. Eastern Shawnee, Loyal Shawnee and Delaware—that’s Steve’s bloodlines. His father wanted his children to be enrolled with his tribe, the Eastern Shawnee and so they were and are. Steve and his siblings grew up in the White Oak community, just up the hill from the Loyal Shawnee Ceremonial Grounds, the place of their worship for their entire lives as their mother was eventually the head lady. As a child Steve heard the Shawnee language spoken in the home as both his mother and grandmother spoke Shawnee. He and his siblings loved the spring, summer and fall months as they could basically live outdoors, much of that time in the creek at the foot of the hill. That creek in the old days was the site where the skinning of the corn occurred in preparation for the Bread dances.

Steven and his siblings went to school at White Oak, beginning in the first grade and graduating from high school there. At that time White Oak had all 12 grades. The elementary school remains today but high school students go to Vinita. Steve does recall that he had a rebellious streak and began to skip school, misbehaved, in general became a problem student and thought he wanted to quit school. That resulted in his spending his 9th grade at Sequoyah Indian School where he had to live there as well. For the first time, he felt alone. They had strict rules at Sequoyah, only a couple of students spoke the Shawnee language, and surprisingly enough, he missed his family and family rules. He found he didn’t like being alone. His attitude changed, he returned home a year later, gladly attended high school at White Oak and graduated from there.

After high school Steve went to work at J.C. Penney’s in Vinita starting as a stockman then working in the catalogue department, ultimately ending up in the shoe department. Living at the Sequoyah Indian School taught Steve that he didn’t like being alone, that he had no desire to leave home immediately after high school graduation. He remained at Penneys for eight years. During this time Steve’s father walked on at the age of 47 where he died at a TB sanatorium. Other life changes occurred, including other jobs, marriage at the age of 27 then the birth of Steve’s two sons, Steven Leon and Michael Wayne.

From the experience gained at Penneys, Steve moved on to Walmart, beginning at Vinita then Miami and ultimately Baxter Springs where Steve was Support Manager. While he was working at Walmart, Paul Thomas of Paul Thomas Funeral Home met Steve, liked him and was impressed with his demeanor and work ethic. Paul Thomas asked if Steve would like to work at a funeral home, that he thought it would be a good fit for Steve’s personality. That led to Steve being employed there making funeral arrangements, assisting at funerals, etc., a job that lasted 12 years. However, the hours weren’t the best, Steve was now divorced, and in 1999 he took a job as a security guard at the Seneca Cayuga Tobacco Plant. At that time, the wages were excellent and the hours much better than those associated with the funeral business. After the Seneca’s built a huge tobacco warehouse, Steve became the warehouse manager.

It was there that Steve meet Sharon Thomas and his wife since 2001. Sharon had been a purchasing agent at FAG in Joplin then became purchasing agent for Seneca Tobacco, owned by the Seneca Cayuga Tribe. The tobacco plant was the first job Steve had with an Indian Tribe but others followed. He was AOA Director for the Quapaw Tribe for five years. Once again Steve’s work ethic and his demeanor positively influenced another person—Barbara Kaiser, long time Gaming Commissioner for the Quapaw Tribe. Barbara noticed how well Steve worked with the seniors and asked him if he would be interested in calling Bingo. He started as a part time caller, took training at Sandia Reservation, then became head caller for the Quapaws. He recalls that everything was different in 2005. Players were quite serious with many of them traveling on buses from St. Louis and the minute they got off the bus, they were ready to play. He made many friends while being a Bingo caller and recalls Bingo being a large part of his life for several years. Laughingly he states he never goes to a Bingo Hall now, never plays Bingo anymore. Immediately he backed up, retracted his statement adding that he and wife Sharon played Bingo on the recent AOA bus trip to Branson but all his years working in Bingo didn’t help him one bit as he didn’t win a single time. After Quapaw, Steve was employed at several other gaming establishments, including the Eastern Shawnee Outpost where he permanently retired from in 2016.

Fast forward to now, 2019 and you’ll find Steve and Sharon living at the Woodlands in one of the duplexes just built. He explains that they wanted to live in the Woodlands for several reasons. First, both he and Sharon have health issues with one of them having had a triple by-pass surgery and the other a quadruple by-pass. No longer able to climb the stairs in their home and no longer able to do maintenance required, they knew they had to make changes in their lifestyle, had to downsize. During this time they had been coming to the Wellness Center three times a week for a couple of years, particularly since the Aquatic Center had been built because of Sharon’s need to exercise in a therapy pool. When they learned that additional duplexes were going to be built at the Woodlands, they immediately filed an application.

Now, two years later, Steve and Sharon say living at the Woodlands is all they hoped it would be and more. The AOA is near where they can eat and socialize every day, exercising at the Wellness Center is so convenient, they love their neighbors, they are now able to participate in tribal events such as the recent trip to Branson, they can now volunteer to help with events which they both did for Trunk or Treat and they look forward to even more volunteer opportunities. Next on their list is to find a church closer to their new home now. The fact that Steve’s son is pastor at a church just a few miles away just might make that decision an easy one, don’t you think? As they said, the Woodland is all they hoped it would be and more.

Throughout this interview, Steve consistently made references to White Oak, the ceremonial grounds there, activities there, friends there. We’ll continue that discussion next month.

Pocilikwe for woman.
Pocili for men.

The helpers down at White Oak Grounds.
You were asking about Missy’s position down there!