by Vickie Jenkins, Staff Writer

Legend Assisted Living is located at 11320 N. Council Rd. Oklahoma City, OK. Here, you will find a place designed for those who need assistance with life’s daily tasks. Assisted living at Legend offers a personalized approach, caring for your loved one with the utmost professionalism and tender loving care.
With beautiful decor all around, I was greeted by Rebecca Spencer, RN and Health Care Coordinator. Rebecca grew up in Craig Colorado and Alethea, Colorado. She attended Mesa State College. She has been a nurse for 12 years, working at Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK and has worked in a long-term care facility. “I am happy to be here at Legend. I love working with the staff and getting to know the residents. We try to stay as positive as we can, making the residents happy,” she said. “I think it brightens up everyone’s day,” she added.
What qualities make a good nurse? I ask Rebecca. “I think a nurse would definitely need to have some sort of compassion for others. A nurse needs plenty of patience. Some days, we need a little more patience than other days but whatever the case, they need to know that every day is a new learning opportunity and they need to take advantage of it,” she replied.
Rebecca’s advice for someone going into the medical field would be to be to make sure that person has a passion for helping others. “Also, I would tell them to keep their focus on their goal, staying strong in their believes.”
“My favorite part of my job is working with the residents and the staff. I love to teach so I get to do that with all of them. I love to build the relationships with each one of them, forming a bit of a bond between us, “she commented.
When asking Rebecca if anyone influenced her to become a nurse, she replied, “When I was young, I knew I wanted to be a nurse and I never steered from it. When I lived in Colorado, in a small town, the kids in the church would go visit the elders in the nursing home. We would go every third Sunday. I befriended a lady there and I really enjoyed seeing her each time. She always had a smile for me and called me Becky. After I became a nurse, I went back to the same nursing home to work. It was then, I heard a voice say, there’s my Becky! Yes, she remembered me! It was nice seeing her again. “
Even though I have worked in hospitals, I like the long-term care better. At the beginning, I always thought I wanted to work in the ER, you know, around all of those tall, dark and handsome doctors on the soap operas? After doing my rotation in the ER, I knew that wasn’t for me. I realized the long-term care was my fit. It’s a slower pace and I have had plenty of experience in geriatrics. Maybe, it’s because of the lady that I became friends with back then,” she said with a smile.
When Rebecca is not working at Legend, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Nick and their four daughters; Abigail, Morgan, Katelyn and Breelyn, 10, 8, 5 and 3. Rebecca is also a Girl Scout leader for one of her two daughters in Girl Scouts. She loves the outdoors, and enjoys camping and fishing. She also has a dog, Oscar and a cat, Minnie.
When talking with Rebecca, she had wonderful things to say about two people that helped get her through nursing school. She gives praise to her husband, Nick (who is also a nurse) and saw her through to the end. The other person is her mom, who has worked in a health care setting for over 20 years. Cheerleader, study buddy, best friend, and rock are just a few words to describe her mom.
Asking Rebecca to describe herself, she replied, “I am a strong willed person and try to find something good in everybody. I am a great listener, trying to really listen to the residents, which is very important for them. I try to see the potential in others, giving encouraging words and trying to make their day a little brighter,” she said.
“I live by the words: Be proud of yourself, and don’t change for anyone, Rebecca said. “I tell my girls that every day.”
Summing up her life in one word, Rebecca said, “Fulfilling.”

by Vickie Jenkins, Staff Writer

The Mission of Humanity Hospice is to provide comfort care that enhances the lives of individuals with a life-limiting illness and their families through dignity and compassion.
Meet Keisha Jackson, Owner and Administrator of Humanity Hospice. Outgoing and friendly, Keisha tells me that she has some exciting news to share. What is the exciting news? “Humanity Hospice is now going to have an app called Humanity Connect! This is the first and only app developed for Hospice; created to keep patients in contact with their families,” Keisha replies. “The Humanity Connect was made just for that reason.”
Keisha explained how Humanity Connect will help a patient and their family. “The patient would create a profile, along with a place to journal, posting their health care updates and inviting friends to join the page. This way, instead of a family member making 45 phone calls to update the status of a patient, one post would take care of many. This would relieve some of the burden of the patient’s family. Humanity Connect would allow a one-on-one update, spreading the word to all of those included. Their page will include a photo album, a place to post comments, an encouraging board for the friends and family to leave encouraging words and to wish the patient well. There will be a way to video chat with a nurse, face-to-face, being helpful, comforting and create piece of mind for patient and families. This app might be compared to Facebook and Timehop except this will be private. The only people to be added to the contact list would be added by the patient or a family member,” she said.
“When a patient comes to Hospice, the patient has a terminal illness and has less than 6 months to live. Humanity Hospice is there for the patient 24 hours, 7 days a week. We have three layers of nursing; the primary nurse, the back-up nurse and the administrative nurse. The nurses are available at all times which means faster and personal response,” Keisha commented. “Also, Medicare pays 100% of the hospital benefit,” she added.
Humanity Hospice has several different locations throughout Oklahoma. Humanity Connect will be available in each location; Ponca City, Edmond, Stillwater, Enid, Oklahoma City, Shawnee and Moore. Local team nurses are assigned to local patients for that location.
Let’s face it…we are living in a world of social media junkies! From the baby boomers to the millennials, we have instant gratification from those devices we call cell phones. We use them constantly! We all want the simple answer NOW. Yes, our technology has changed. How many remember those strange things that came in the mail? You know, they were called letters. People actually sat down at a desk, grabbed their pen or pencil and began writing. Now, we just tell Siri or Alexa to do our job for us. How times have changed!
Caring for the patient and making their life a little better is what inspired Keisha Jackson to think of a vision to help Humanity Hospice. After much planning and the six members of the Hospice team, a new vision was set into motion. Finding the perfect local developer, Paradigm Creative in Stillwater, OK came into the picture. After working on this plan for months, making sure everything was working properly and putting the final touches on everything, Humanity Connect has been was established!
“I am excited for this new app, Humanity Connect. This app will be available with Apple and Android platforms and a desktop version. It will be helpful to all involved; the patient, caregiver and the family members. Another plus is the fact that even after your loved one has passed; the patient’s profile and their photo album will stay. Your loved ones postings will be reserved, passing on precious memories,” Keisha replied.
Humanity Connect is bringing the patients comfort in their last days, allowing the patient to have that one-on-one conversation with family members, combining the last day of their lives and improving their quality of life.
“A lot of planning and hard work went into Humanity Connect. Our tag line at Humanity Hospice is Because YOU Matter,” she added. It’s a way to keep the memories alive. Passing on the memories, grandchildren can look back and know a little about their loved ones life. Whatever I can do to make a patient’s journey easier, I’m going to do it,” Keisha commented.
If you have a loved one that is in need of Humanity Hospice, please call our office at 405.418.2530. We are located at 1109 N. Bryant, Edmond, OK, suite 100.
A special thank-you to Keisha Jackson for having a vision and following through! Humanity Connect has arrived!

The American College of Rheumatology has selected Oklahoma Research Foundation physician-researcher Joan Merrill, M.D., as a recipient of its 2018 Master designation.
Recognition as an ACR Master is one of the highest honors members can receive and only those who have made outstanding contributions to the field of rheumatology are selected. The ACR selected 21 individuals for the designation this year.
The contributions come through scholarly achievements and service to patients, students and the profession.
Merrill was presented with the award at the college’s annual meeting on October 20 in Chicago.
“I went to my first ACR meeting during my rheumatology fellowship in 1987 and I haven’t missed a meeting since,” she said. “Now more than 30 years later, it’s an honor to receive this award after a long, long career in this field.”
A graduate of Cornell University Medical College, Merrill joined OMRF from the faculty of Columbia University in 2001 to establish a clinical trial laboratory to work on ways to successfully test drugs for lupus.
Since then, she’s built a research cohort of more than 500 lupus patient volunteers, led numerous clinical trials for investigational lupus treatments, and pioneered novel trial designs for testing innovative therapies for lupus and other autoimmune illnesses.
Lupus, a chronic, disabling disease, has proven challenging to understand, said Merrill, resulting in more than $1 billion lost in failed trials. Only one treatment has been approved for the disease in the past 60 years.
Recently Merrill has been at the forefront of improving the recruitment of minority patients to clinical trials for lupus. She has also has been spearheading a call for transformative changes in trials for new lupus drugs.
“The goal is to have more approvals of effective drugs and to prevent ineffective ones from succeeding,” said Merrill. “That would be huge, because our patients need safer and better treatments.”
The American College of Rheumatology is a nonprofit organization founded in 1958 to improve the care of patients with rheumatic disease.

“White Christmas”

Linda Wasson

“Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”

Melvin McGuffin

“Joy to the World”

Larry Becker

“White Christmas”

Jim Wasson

By Greg Schwem, Tribune Content Agency

A friend of a friend posed the question innocently enough while we stuffed our faces with tailgate food prior to the last regular season college football game:
“Do you hang your Christmas lights yourself, or do you use a service?” he asked.
“Self,” I replied, knowing full well his answer was the other option.
Each year, post-Thanksgiving, I haul out a slew of outdoor lights I meticulously packed away the previous January, meaning I tossed them haphazardly into plastic bins, figuring there wasn’t a chance they’d spend the next 11 months intertwining themselves into a hopeless collection of knots even an Eagle Scout couldn’t untangle.
Ladders are no longer part of the decorating process, especially when putting lights on trees, for my fear of being permanently disabled due to a fall far outweighs the desire to place a star on top of my 20-foot-high backyard spruce. Instead, feet firmly on the ground, I use an extendable pole, staring into a blinding sun as I hook lights on the highest branches I can reach, slowly making my way down to the tree’s trunk.
Note to newbies who are installing lights on trees without ladders: Always start with new, just-out-of-the-package lights, for at least one string will burn out the moment the job is completed, even though you tested and retested every bulb before beginning the process. You don’t want to discover the topmost string is the culprit.
My neighbors to the immediate north and east have opted for the professional Christmas light installation services, or, as I refer to them, “those (expletive) guys.” Sometimes we are decorating simultaneously; while I wrestle with the pole, I’m hearing the click-clack of extendable ladders being raised three stories in the air. Yes, my neighbors have large houses. A nimble team of men with death wishes moves up and down the rungs like Cirque du Soleil acrobats. Each man is talented enough to hold onto a portion of the ladder with one hand, freeing the other to illuminate roof lines with colorful bulbs, all precisely equidistant apart. Often, they complete the entire exterior before I’ve finished one mini-evergreen.
Extension cords are nowhere to be seen on my neighbor’s properties; meanwhile, a slew of heavy duty orange cables snakes across my lawn at all angles. If a teenage rock band pulled up and the lead guitar player said, “Dude, mind if we plug in?” I could accommodate them.
When the decorating is finished, I proudly plug in my lights, mutter a few profanities related to the strands that are malfunctioning, run to the hardware store to replace them, reconnect everything, and vow this will be the last year my house looks like a paint-by-number creation hanging in the Louvre between Rembrandts.
At the tailgate, I listened enviously as the guest with the light service regaled me with stories about contacting “the on-call rep” regarding malfunctioning lights, and being told a “technician” would be out shortly to fix the issue. I imagined what it would be like to spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend watching football on the couch, knowing that, when darkness fell, I could gaze out my window and see trees and bushes so festive, Santa would look down from his sleigh on Christmas Eve and say, “Blitzen, let’s start with THAT house.”
I thought about wandering over to my neighbor’s house and asking the “head light installer” for a business card. And then I reconsidered.
For me, the holiday season doesn’t officially begin until the extendable pole has made an appearance. Yes, the freezing temperatures affect me faster, further curtailing my desire to adorn all my foliage with lights. This year, I skipped a backyard birch tree and tossed a bunch of candy cane-shaped decorations, which lined my driveway for years, into the garbage. I often joke to my wife that, in 10 years, our Christmas decor will consist of replacing the two clear porchlights with alternate bulbs, one red and one green.
Maybe I will make that switch in September. My neighbors will be so jealous.
(Greg Schwem is a corporate stand-up comedian and author of two books: “Text Me If You’re Breathing: Observations, Frustrations and Life Lessons From a Low-Tech Dad” and the recently released “The Road To Success Goes Through the Salad Bar: A Pile of BS From a Corporate Comedian,” available at Amazon.com. Visit Greg on the web at www.gregschwem.com.)

(c) 2018 GREG SCHWEM. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.

by Corporal Kim Lopez, TRIAD Coordinator, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office

Are you armed with a plan? Do you have to tools to carry out that plan? Senior adults are target for many reasons. One line of thinking is “the older we get, the fatter the wallet”. Do you know a senior who carries way too much cash? Most seniors are not schooled on how career criminals target their victims. The Oklahoma County TRIAD covers each community with a one hour monthly meeting called SALT, namely Seniors And Law enforcement Together. We discuss crime prevention issues and face crime concerns head on. Many seniors think they will just scream, truth is, in a real 9-1-1 emergency, YOU CAN’T SCREAM.
Gone are the days of “Walk with confidence, and be aware of your surroundings” Todays seniors need a plan and the tools to carry out that plan. Seniors need to know the areas career criminals tell me they target potential victims. Seniors need to understand why, AND WHICH parking lots are more dangerous than others.
Gone are the days of, cross body purses, carrying cash, and talking on your phone while walking through parking lots.
Speaking specifically of personal attack, violent crime occurs every 22.8 seconds. ALL parking lots are dangerous, the parking lot you feel the most comfortable in is even more dangerous. When the home invasion is interrupted, when the drug deal goes bad, when the fight is on and police have been dispatched, CAREER CRIMINALS HEAD TO A PARKING LOT to get away from the police.
Which parking lots are dangerous? ALL PARKING LOTS ARE DANGERIOUS! Some more than others.
1.) The parking lot you feel comfortable in.
2.) 24 hour parking lots
3.) Hospital parking lots
Career Criminals want your car to get out of the area. If they commit a crime in a small town, they seek the big city, if they commit a crime in a big city, they seek a small town to get lost. They understand that crossing many jurisdictions in a wide variety of different vehicles makes it impossible for police to catch them. Driving only 20 minutes in any direction crosses many different jurisdictions. They change vehicles often and go from large bright color truck to small light color compact car to midsize SUV of some other color. Just walking to a white small car could make you a target. In TRIAD we tach senior adults to be prepared with a plan and tool them to carry out that plan. Simply carrying an extra set of old bait keys could save your life. For the most part, there are two demands: GIVE ME YOUR KEYS, GIVE ME YOUR GOODS! TRIAD seniors know to attach an extra set of keys to their good keys to show and throw, baiting the attacker away from them. Same goes for being ready when asked for GOODS, WALLET, or your WATCH OR PACKAGES. TRIAD Seniors know to be ready with two one dollar bills in a metal office binder or money clip, show it and throw it, is our motto!
When shopping, always get a shopping cart and never ever get your method of payment out at the register stall, get in the habit of going by the feminine products or underwear to get out your method of payment. Check yourself for any items you might get targeted for, turn jeweled rings around to look like a band, cover up watches with your sleeve, and never ever push your shopping cart into a register stall! You PULL YOUR SHOPPING CART TO ADD A 4 FOOT DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND THE PERSON BEHIND YOU. Many criminals mute their cell phone in order to get close enough to you to take rapid fire pictures of your method of payment. Cash sets you up for attack, writing checks lends account information as well a home address and name. Credit cards or debit cards ran as credit offer the best recourse. When entering a 4 digit pin number be careful not to WARM THE KEYS WITH YOUR FINGER. Use your car key or ink pen to depress the numbers. Using your warm finger leaves a heat signature to be detected by a heat sensitive camera up to two minutes after you walk away. If you must touch and warm the keys, simply use your first three fingers to warm all the keys before you walk away.
Way too many seniors are still carrying their check books, just the sound of ripping that check out of the checkbook acts as a beacon to call career criminals. TRAD seniors tear out 3 checks and keep them with their folding money! They also take their ID, credit card as well as cash and checks out of their purse and carry them on their person in a lanyard wallet. TRIAD men carry their wallet in their undershirt pocket.
Attach a whistle to your good keychain and carry your good car keys around your wrist with your bait keys in the other hand. Always have your cell phone ready to dial 9-1-1.
Practice range of motion in your neck and always watch for anyone approaching you!
Get a GEL pen if you insist on writing checks, this keeps criminals from WASHING your check and re-writing it for the amount you have in your account.
Change your direct deposit to deposit into your savings account and transfer to checking as you need it.
I stand ready to be of assistance,
Corporal Kim Lopez, TRIAD Coordinator, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office – 713-1920.
Come be a part of TRIAD by visiting a SALT Council meeting near you. Call 713-1950 and leave your name and address to get on our mailing list to receive a monthly reminder of the Seniors And Law enforcement Together meeting near your home.

By Lisa Sydnor

When the opportunity to write a column for Senior News and Living sharing stories, answering questions and helping to identify services for Oklahoma City seniors at-large was presented, it was for me a childhood “Ann Landers/Dear Abby” dream come true. What an incredible mission, helping seniors by telling their stories. The belief that it takes a village; we must walk by faith and that there is a solution for every situation is a driving force and the foundation for this column.
My professional career spans more than fifty years working with and guiding nonprofits. I found my passion for service working with amazing organizations and having the opportunity to help so many people throughout our great state and our great country. Early on serving as the secretary/bookkeeper/file clerk/custodian for the Oklahoma Museums Association, I found my passion for nonprofit service. Then the YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City gave me the opportunity to develop and lead fundraising campaigns, Oklahoma City University financial development department presented the opportunity to work closely with the board and to develop new ideas and strategies in fundraising, National American Red Cross lead to developing, writing and teaching curricula for Disaster Colleges and the opportunity to grow the individual chapters. Returning to Oklahoma in 2009, I tried to retire, really, I did but the exciting challenge of leading a team of 100 staff in six counties, administering 13 programs, including a homeless shelter; weatherization program; a transportation program; rental units; six food pantries and other social services made it impossible to turn down the position as CEO of the Central Oklahoma Community Action Agency. Then, I tried to retire again, honestly, I did. But a part-time job with The Salvation Army (TSA) senior program became the full-time job as Senior Programs Manager at TSA where I served with joy and love until my recent retirement in October of this year. Now, I am officially RETIRED, AGAIN! Sorta. My career experiences as well as my role as a mother and grandmother placed me in the unique position to make quick command decisions that impacts peoples lives. It was an extreme honor to serve then and to continue serving you. I look forward to us getting to know one another each month through the pages of Senior News and Living. As my new 2019 bright pink journal so appropriately states on the front cover “Let the Adventure Begin” and so it does.
Are you a part of the ‘RE’ movement? If your answer is not “Yes” – I hope that after reading this article, it will be a resounding “Yes”!
My middle child, my youngest daughter, drives the entire family nearly crazy. She lives the “RE” movement – REclaim, REpurpose, REuse, REcycle, REbuild, REfurbish. And although, she can be exhausting, her words on these subjects often fit many other seemingly unrelated situations.
For example, I am officially REtired. Again. Sorta. Learning to REpurpose my professional and personal focus and master the art of RElaxing. See how that works?
REbuilding or REclaiming an estranged relationship is another example. Have you ever been, or are you now, estranged from a loved one? Have you let hours, days, weeks, months, or even years fly by without reaching out – without mending relationships? Have you wanted to REbuild a relationship or REunite with a loved one? Are you so certain you would be REbuffed, you don’t take the first step, after all who wants to risk REjection? I am not saying the hurts aren’t real. Many times, they are devastating. However, our pride should not keep us from offering and/or seeking REconciliation.
Jan (not her real name) is a prime example. Jan and Jack had lived in Oklahoma for five years. She married Jack and left the Philippines against the wishes of her children. Jack died on a Saturday and Jan was alone, thousands of miles from her family. There had been no contact with any family member since leaving five years ago. On Monday, in despair, Jan went to the senior center in her apartment building. A staff member stopped to talk with Jan, sat down asking if there is something she could do to help her. Jan tells her that her husband died, and she is alone. Jan is encouraged to reach out to her children, tell them of the situation. When unkind and hateful words have been exchanged, forgiveness seems out of reach. Someone must take the first step, make the first call.
After lunch, Jan returned to the apartment – her intention was to take her life. In desperation, Jan called her eldest daughter. The daughter couldn’t stop crying. Within an hour, with no words of REcrimination, there is a paid airline ticket from Oklahoma City to Manila, leaving in 36 hours.
Reaching the seniors experiencing such depths of despair and encouraging them to seek counseling and take the first steps to REclaiming their lives should be a priority. Don’t let the hurt, the anger from the past, keep you from forgiving, REbuilding and REconnecting with friends and family. Take that leap of faith. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Be that person – that “RE” person: REunite, REconnect, REbuild and REclaim the estranged relationships in your life.
Do you feel there is no place to turn, that you are alone? Oklahoma City has great resources. Call 211 for information on agencies and programs. IF YOU FEEL SUICIDAL CALL 911 or the Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-SUICIDE.
Senior News and Living has set up a dedicated phone line for you to ASK LISA questions, please call 405-631-5100 ext. 5 and leave; your name, phone number and a message regarding your question or topic, if your question is chosen to be in an upcoming issue I will follow up with you.
Afterthoughts with Lisa
Have you ever done something so foolish, something you have chastised others for doing, something you must have been brain dead to have done? Well, the other day I did a dumb thing on that level. I was in a grocery store; looking at a display, when this soft voice says, “Baby, you know Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner.” I instantly knew what she was referring to…my wallet, cell and keys were laying in the shopping cart, unattended. I put myself in a position for potential harm. Be aware of your surroundings. Never leave your purse, wallet or bag unattended. Thank you, Mary, for caring enough to approach a stranger (fellow senior) to warn of danger!

SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital – Oklahoma City was awarded an ‘A’ from The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2018 Hospital Safety Grade. The designation recognizes SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, including SSM Health Bone & Joint Hospital at St. Anthony, for their efforts in protecting patients from harm and meeting the highest safety standards in the United States.
The Leapfrog Group is a national organization committed to improving health care quality and safety for consumers and purchasers. The Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in preventing medical errors, infections and other harms among patients in their care.
“At SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital and SSM Health Bone & Joint Hospital at St. Anthony, we take great pride in providing exceptional patient care. Safety is our number one priority for each patient that walks through our doors. Our employees go above and beyond every day, committed to the best safety practices, ensuring our patients receive the best care possible,” said Tammy Powell, President, SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital.
“Leapfrog’s Hospital Safety Grades recognize hospitals like SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital that focus on advancing patient safety. This ranking provides an important resource for patients, and a benchmark for hospitals, to determine how care at one hospital compares to others in a region,” said Leah Binder, president and CEO of The Leapfrog Group. “Hospitals that earn an A Hospital Safety Grade deserve to be recognized for their efforts in preventing medical harm and errors.”
Developed under the guidance of a National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hospitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public.
SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital was one of 855 across the United States awarded an A in the Fall 2018 update of grades. To see full grade details of SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital, and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit www.hospitalsafetygrade.org and follow The Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook.

Founded in 2000 by large employers and other purchasers, The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization driving a movement for giant leaps forward in the quality and safety of American health care. The flagship Leapfrog Hospital Survey collects and transparently reports hospital performance, empowering purchasers to find the highest-value care and giving consumers the lifesaving information they need to make informed decisions. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, Leapfrog’s other main initiative, assigns letter grades to hospitals based on their record of patient safety, helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

by Bobby Anderson, Staff Writer

Jesse Wells is in a growth industry.
The only problem for this urban Christmas tree farmer is that 365 days yields about 18 inches of growth.
But that’s OK. The Wells Family Christmas Tree Farm is in its second year and is already experiencing record growth.
And the lasting memories local families are experiencing by coming together and selecting their Christmas tree has already exceeded any business plan Wells had for the venture.
“You get to do a lot of good stuff,” Jesse Wells smiled, surveying his farm just before opening the gates.
The Norman farm traces its roots back to Thanksgiving 2014 when the Wells family pulled the old artificial tree out of the attic one last time just to give it away.
Neither were raised with real trees but they decided it was the perfect time to take their son to a local tree farm just down the road and start a new family tradition.
Turns out both were thinking the same thing as Jesse sawed away.
“She was having this thought we should (open a farm),” he said. “We didn’t have any idea. This is three years in the making, our second year to be open but we had no clue.”
The Wells family simply provides the trees, what happens from there can be amazing.
A father trying to work his way back into his children’s lives brings the family out. Grandparents show their grandkids what a real tree looks and smells like for the first time.
And young families make memories that will last a lifetime.
“Nobody ever says ‘You’ve got a Christmas tree farm? That’s horrible,’” Jesse says. “Even if they don’t like Christmas trees or Christmas they think it’s a pretty cool deal. It’s just good vibrations, good spirit growing Christmas trees.”
“This is not even really about the trees. They’re a part of the story but it’s more about what people get to experience together as a family when they’re here.”
Jesse Wells never expected to have a Christmas destination just outside his front door but he has one now. The Wayne native now has a full-blown winter wonderland with trees, concessions and games.
“We planned on moving out here and being alone with 12 acres,” Wells laughed.
This time of year, neither Jesse nor Katy sit still for very long. Katy handles the finances and the bulk of the paperwork while Jesse is constantly moving outside.
BUILD IT AND THEY
WILL COME
It’s year two in the experiment but the Wells Family Christmas Tree Farm is already a success.
On this day, Jesse is diagnosing an issue with a customer tree all the while hanging out in the background keeping a watchful eye on a young man from Mississippi who is about to propose to his girlfriend.
“I grew up on land but I grew up hating mowing and raking and pulling weeds,” Jesse said. “I think it was more of the Christmas spirit and I think we both had the idea it would be a cool thing for other families.”
“We’ve always been believers and we’ve always felt this place is God’s place and the house and everything. So this was just kind of an extension of that. So now it’s just having people out here and letting them experience what we get to experience every day.”
Wells went to the University of Oklahoma and now works in the Devon Energy IT department. Katy is a local fitness instructor in addition to running around a 13-year-old son who is active in sports.
Groups have already begun booking private events.
The final week in November local non-profit Hearts for Hearing, a provider of cochlear implants for children, brought 164 adults and 135 children for an evening of tree shopping and celebration.
Fellow farmers told Wells to just order 100 trees last year because, well, you just never know.
They ordered 400.
“We had a good community of friends and really God just stepped in,” he said.
A spot on a local news channel aired that morning.
“There was an immediate flood of people that morning,” he smiled. “We got rid of all our trees in three weeks.”
Stepping out in faith, the Wells’ ordered 1,000 trees for their second year. Some 222 sold the first weekend.
With current planting and growth rates, fresh-cut trees from the Wells farm are still about two years away. At the end of year three, the farm should produce between 400 to 500 each year.
For now they sell trees from Michigan, Oregon and North Carolina. Blue Spruce, Fraser fir, Virginia Pine and a host of other varieties are available.
There are other tree farms in Oklahoma to make memories at. You can contact the Oklahoma Christmas Tree Association to find one close to you.