The Stand Down is an event that provides supplies and services to homeless Veterans,
such as food, clothing, health and dental screens and VA Social Security benefits.
Sooner Stand Down is scheduled for Friday, September 18th starting at 8 a.m. with the last veteran being admitted at 2 p.m. This event takes place at the 14th Street Clinic located at 1301 NE 14th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73117.
HUD-VASH, Supportive Services for Veteran Families, Grant and Per Diem and Health Care for Homeless Veterans programs will assist veterans with housing needs. Eligibility services will be available at the front entrance for both registered and unregistered veterans.
Mental health services will include representatives from the Veterans Center, with shuttle transportation available to the main VA campus when needed. STAR staff will also be available to assist with triage and services.
A mobile Oklahoma Human Services bus will be stationed outside the clinic to assist veterans with SNAP applications. Upward Transitions also will provide same-day services at its location, with shuttle transportation available as needed.
The Sandy Basset VFW will provide move-in kits for veterans transitioning into housing. The Oklahoma National Guard also has offered clothing. Breakfast and lunch will be provided with assistance from the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs and Bimbo Bakeries USA. Organizers also are exploring shower services through Refresh Shower Ministry.
Community members and organizations can support the Stand Down by donating needed items, including food, clothing, shoes and bus passes. Organizers say donating needed supplies is the easiest way to help.
Organizations that cannot participate in person may provide materials for inclusion in veterans’ resource packs at 1301 NE 13th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73104 to Christine Cleary.
By Clara Cox
My name is Clara Cox and my husband, Frank and I recently picked up a copy of the Oklahoma Veteran News. Frank previously served in the United States Air Force.
Each year we hang our American flag on the wall of our garage with the help of magnets. When I bought a new flag this year I didn’t want to get rid of the old one. The colors on the front of the flag had faded over time, but the reverse side of the flag was still in good condition. So, perplexed on what to do, I prayed on the matter.
And, the Lord gave me a good idea, how I could honor our flag on this 250th year of our country’s celebration. I hope the readers of the Oklahoma Veterans News might try this idea to decorate and honor our country’s flag too.
First, I washed our flag and few other flags someone gave me and dried them on the cloths line. This seemed appropriate, because the flag had a life of blowing in the wind already.
After measuring our outdoor rockers on our front porch I folded the flag over in half, right sides together (or the sides that are not faded together) and seamed up the top and the side opposite the folded side, leaving the bottom open to slip over the top of the rocker. Then I turned it inside out. This made a simple pillow case.
My chairs measured about 29 inches. Your chair may be larger or smaller. Leave enough slack to comfortable slip it over the chair back. I did not cut the excess off the flag, but tucked it to the inside. I could not bring myself to cut the flag if no damage existed.
I completed decorating our porch with a red, white and blue wreath on our front door. Hope this might be a way you could use your old flag!
God bless America and God bless our service men and women.
For the veterans of Oklahoma, the cost of admission to an Eagle OPS event is simple: show up. That’s the guiding philosophy behind Rally Points, the signature gatherings hosted by Eagle OPS, a nonprofit built on the idea that no veteran or their family should have to
face life’s hardest moments alone.
Eagle OPS recent grand opening of it’s headquarters in Owasso, Oklahoma.
Eagle OPS was founded by Johnathon and Jessica Shepherd, who met in the sixth grade. Shep, as most people know him as, served five years in the Marine Corps, leaving service in December 2002 with plans to focus on raising his soon-to-be-born son. He had a job lined up the day after his discharge. On the surface, he looked like a success story in
the way of being a good provider about to make a smooth transition. However, in reality it was a different story. Shep struggled privately, hiding his difficulties from nearly everyone, except Jessica. During those years, he spent time in and out of jail. Jessica’s ultimatum became his turning point. Shep began asking for help, and over the following decade the couple discovered how many resources existed to support veterans through transition, resources that simply weren’t reaching the people who needed them. As Shep connected with other veterans, he found the same story again and again. He wasn’t alone, and neither were they.
That realization became the seed of Eagle OPS: a mission to connect struggling veterans with the right resources, built on relationships rather than paperwork.
The couple ran their own communications company for years, primarily serving VA and federal contracts. Eagle OPS itself began as informal outreach in 2016, organized around events Shep already loved like hunting, fishing, and fire pit nights. In 2019, it became an official nonprofit.
At the heart of Eagle OPS is the simple belief that relationships are key. Shep tells his story authentically, and that honesty builds the rapport and trust that make it possible for veterans to ask for help. The connections made at these events are the real reward. Through them, Eagle OPS helps veterans work through transitions, whether they ended their service yesterday or forty years ago.
Because most veterans still hold full time jobs, Eagle OPS schedules its events for evenings and Saturdays, generally from 6-9 p.m. Fire pit nights remain the most popular gathering, although the Oklahoma heat has pushed the organization toward alternatives like “Game On” nights, which are games played in the street or a backyard.
From 2019 to 2023, Shep and Jessica built out Eagle OPS’ programming while both continued working day jobs. In 2023, the organization partnered with Oklahoma Veterans United and won a grant for the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program through the VA. This was formal recognition of the work Eagle OPS had already been doing informally for years. Loneliness and isolation are among the leading contributors to veteran suicide, and combating both has been the throughline of Eagle OPS’ work from the beginning.
Rather than chase growth for its own sake, Eagle OPS focuses on creating more events, and keeping Rally Points intentionally small because smaller groups make for stronger connections. Muldrow, Oklahoma currently hosts the most weekly events and the largest turnout of anywhere in the state. Eagle OPS is also expanding its footprint beyond its base in Owasso into other nearby communities.
Rally Points events are active in 21 counties across Oklahoma. If an event is on the calendar, it happens. “Postpone,” not “cancel,” is the operative word when Oklahoma weather interferes. Canceling, in Eagle OPS’ vocabulary, means giving up and they don’t do that.
The organization actively looks for “difference makers” among the veterans it serves. These are “people willing to step up as Mission Coordinators and extend the same relationship-first approach to their own communities.”
Shep and Jessica believe that everyone grows through adversity, however no one should have to go through things alone. Eagle OPS’ role is to guide and mentor, drawing on lived experience rather than theories.
There are four core programs:
• Reach One More: the organization’s number one program
• Outreach: sharing resources and benefits available to veterans in the community
• Difference Makers: the volunteer network that keeps Rally Points and other events running
• Grants and Scholarships: an area of growing focus. It’s a small part of what Eagle OPS does, but the most frequently requested
Eagle OPS was born from one veteran’s honest reckoning with his own struggle and the decision to make sure no one else had to face theirs alone. A decade later, it has grown into a statewide network built on the same founding principle: “Connecting relationships and resources to bring our heroes home, one operation at a time.” For more information and full details of upcoming events, visit their website: www.eagleops.org. • story by Jill Stephenson, contributing writer
By Jill Stephenson
My son was killed in 2009 while actively serving as an Army Ranger. Because of this
I connected with rangers of all eras from all over the country. One of those rangers was
a gentleman from the greater Tulsa area. He let me know about Chris Horton, who was killed in 2011. He told me that he and Chris were friends and had participated in shooting competitions together. He told me because I had connected with many other families of the fallen and he thought I might reach out to his widow, Jane. Although I have only lived in the area for one year, I have known of Chris since shortly after he died. When I started writing these stories, I knew Chris’ story was one I wanted to share.
Chris Horton and Jane wedding day.
Chris was a graduate of the Missouri Military Academy. He was captain of the rifle team and 2nd Platoon Leader during his senior year. He enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard in 2008 after being recruited by the Army Marksmanship Unit. During his time with the ONG he trained to be an infantryman, was SWAT certified, sniper qualified and graduated at the top of his class. Chris proved his expertise by earning numerous awards in 2008-9. He was professionally sponsored as a shooter by the US Shooting Academy in Owasso. He volunteered as a police officer, worked on many political campaigns and was patriotic and passionate about freedom.
Horton deployed for the first time in the summer of 2011. In a letter he wrote while in Afghanistan he said, “The path to becoming a sniper is by no means easy, and if you complete your training, it is a very hard and lonely job. It isn’t what you see in the movies or video games. It is a very difficult but rewarding career. There is no other job in the military like it.”
Sadly, Chris was killed only three months into that deployment. In a 2015 interview with his widow Jane, she said she never thought he would be killed because he was the best
of the best. Chris didn’t think he would be either. I asked her how you get to a place
of acceptance knowing someone who was so strong and so prepared doesn’t come home? She answered, ”I don’t think you do. Life is short therefore we should live in the moment and be grateful for every day we have. Many people, like Chris, didn’t get that opportunity.”
In 2022, a two-day Chris D. Horton Memorial Sniper Competition was started in Jackson, Nebraska by Garrett Grover, who was in the same sniper section as Chris when he was killed. Grover said the event honors Horton, sharpens competitors’ skills and strengthens bonds in the sniper community. Developing that camaraderie is especially important in a career that Horton had described as very isolating.
Grover stated, “The way you think about it going back to ancient times, what warriors are, what warriors do, and the warrior mindset; that was Chris.”
Becoming a widow at such a young
age changed the trajectory of Jane’s life. While her heart was set on growing old and having children with Chris, not long after died, she left Oklahoma and moved to Washington, D.C. She is an active supporter and advocate for veterans and Gold Star Families. She discovered there were issues related to the processes families had to deal with and no one
was working on them. She wanted to help other families, which included the thirteen (at the time) other ONG families that
had experienced a loss. Since 2011, Jane has worked with eight Secretaries of War, including the current one, as his Senior Advisor. She also serves as a member
of the Gold Star Counsel, which was implemented by the current SOW, Pete Hegseth.
Incidentally, SPC Christopher Horton and my son CPL Benjamin Kopp are laid to rest steps apart in the infamous Section 60 at Arlington. I had the privilege of attending a dinner with Jane over Memorial weekend in 2017 at the DC home of the Afghanistan Ambassador to the US. That is a story for another time, however
it remains one of the most honoring and memorable events I have experienced since my son died.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 1320 designates four sections of highway 169 to be named after fallen soldiers from the area. In his honor,
U.S. 169 from 106th Street N. to 116th Street N. is named “Specialist Christopher D. Horton Memorial Highway.” May he rest in peace knowing he is not forgotten.
Lisa Hendricks shown here celebrating her completed mural.
Lisa Hendricks was born and raised in Tulsa. Her father restored art professionally, exposing her to the trade from a young age. Her path to becoming one of Tulsa’s public artists began somewhere else entirely: the U.S. Navy.
Her parents were not wealthy, so Hendricks saw the military as her only realistic route to receiving a formal education. Two years after high school, in 1981, she visited a recruiter’s office and weighed every branch. Small in stature, she didn’t think she would be a good fit in the Marines or Army. Her father’s Air Force service earned her admiration, but her love of the ocean and skill as a swimmer pulled her toward the Navy.
Serving in the Navy exceeded her expectations, especially once she resumed schooling while enlisted. It wasn’t easy as women were rare in the Navy during that time. During a posting in Cuba she was one of few female sailors and was closely watched and stereotyped by the men around her. After nearly three years, she transferred to the Nuclear division in Norfolk, Virginia. She was assigned to NAVSEA 8, the command overseeing East Coast nuclear submarines. One of her duties while there was to help retrieve the radioactive debris from the Challenger explosion.
As a Nuclear Controls Specialist, Hendricks monitored radiation levels in submarine reactor cooling systems and tested the safety of onboard nuclear weapons. Her small frame let her do work most men couldn’t like squeezing into tight spaces to run cords or reach behind equipment. This made her feel essential, even when she sometimes felt used because of it. She still did her duty without complaint, never chasing recognition.
Hendricks left active service in 1989 and immediately went to work at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. At her father’s urging and because of his worries about the threat of war, she returned to Tulsa after four years.
Back home, Hendricks began helping her father and rediscovered her love of pencil drawing. Growing up surrounded by his work, she was self-taught. Drawing became an emotional outlet during this period of rebuilding her identity. She took a job as an operator at Ford Glass where she encountered a hiring culture built around family connections and was initially treated as an outsider. She became a journeyman machinist and spent close to 17 years sharpening her eye for precision, a quality that fed directly into her art work.
When Ford Glass closed, Hendricks moved into aerospace manufacturing with Spirit AeroSystems, became a quality engineer, then transferred to Triumph Aerospace. This included a five-year assignment inspecting airplanes in Israel. She retired in 2021, using an educational benefit to earn degrees from Northeastern State University in Homeland Security and Criminal Justice. She had already earned degrees in physics and mathematics.
Known for painting tiny, intricate objects like tea bags and eggs, Hendricks built a following through craft shows and a local artists’ website, which led the Skiatook Art Center to invite her in. After she painted a winter mural on the building’s front, the owner asked her to tackle the opposite wall with a tribute to military service. Looking at a painting that hung in his office gave her the insight as to how she might give honor to the warriors of past and present. She initially refused, insisting she only worked on small items. As she was exiting his office, she locked eyes with a portrait of his father on a wall of honor dedicated to his military service. He beckoned her to say yes and she did.
What began as a planned 12-by-16-foot piece grew to 20 by 20 feet. Hendricks spent a month preparing and 20 days painting, often 12 to 16 hours a day. She started from a grid cut from her late father’s roll of drafting paper that was laid out on her ping pong table.
The mural, Tribute to America’s Warriors, portrays the cost of service. No one in it is smiling. It depicts and honors Native Americans, Buffalo Soldiers and Freedom Riders, honoring those who lived on the land first. A chief and a bald eagle watch over the scene. A pair of military boots sit at the bottom of the mural symbolizing all that’s left behind when a service member doesn’t come home and honors all who have fought to keep our land and our country free.
Unveiled on July 25th at the Skiatook Art Center, the mural drew far more attention than Hendricks expected. She received a Citation of Recognition from the Oklahoma State Senate, an honor she calls humbling and surreal and one she says was not just for her but
for everyone represented on the wall. • story by Jill Stephenson, contributing writer
