OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE: Wood does her part for community

May 4—As spring weather brings people to Spaulding Park, Hazel "Hadee" Wood seeks to make sure visitors see a clean park.

Wood often brings several trash bags and other items along on her park visits. And she puts them to use, picking up cigarette butts with trash grabber or skimming the pond with a swimming pool net.

She said she goes out there for an hour or two each day after work and about four hours on weekends.

"In the grand scheme of things, it's not that long," she said. "I care about our community and how it looks. When there's trash around, it kind of gives you a stigma."

Wood traces such concern to her childhood, growing up in the Quad Cities area of Illinois.

"My grandparents were noted in newspapers for their voluntarism, and we were taught to be respectful," she said.

The Boulevard Christian Church member said she also is motivated by her faith. She said she tries to start each day with morning prayers and a daily devotional and Bible reading. She keeps a list of people who need prayer.

"Ten years ago, I got to go to Zambia, Africa, and work with World Vision and Habitat for Humanity for a week," she said. "It made we aware that everyday we have a mission field — you don't have to go anywhere to be a servant within our own community."

Wood finds ways to help Muskogee beyond Spaulding Park.

She and her husband dress up like Santa and Mrs. Claus for various Christmas functions. Any money they receive is donated to Fur Babies adoption and rescue. Wood lives next door to Fur Babies founder Delsie Lewis and was inspired to help.

"They don't deal in a lot of cats, so I started helping her with kittens," Wood said.

She also has an adopted rescue dog that she walks at the park each week.

Wood said she wants others to care for their parks and communities. She recently addressed Muskogee City Council, hoping to encourage schools and businesses to pick up litter.

"If we can get them to pick a day out of the year, then it will have that trickle-down Tom Sawyer paint the fence effect," she said.

Her calling is to beautify

Hadee Wood says she has found all sorts of things while picking up trash at Spaulding.

"I pulled out an inflatable bed, a shopping cart, lots of clothes and shoes," Wood said. "That's just this pond."

She also has found syringes and other dangerous items in the grass.

"I came here one time it was awful," she said. "I picked up I don't know how many 50-gallon bags of trash, a man passed by and said 'somebody ought to be doing something about this,' and I said 'I am.'"

Wood said she has received an equal amount of praise and criticism.

"I've had people cuss me," she said. "I've had people throw trash at me. One day, I was picking up stuff out of the pond and this man walks by with his son, and he throws a bottle and he said 'here's one more for you.' And his son, I could tell he was embarrassed. I looked at the son and I said 'remember, you could either be that way or not.'"

Other responses have been more encouraging, she said.

"I've had hundreds of people come help me out," she said. "I've had people reach out to me through Facebook messenger and ask 'what can we do,' and I say 'you can just do it in your own neighborhood."

Wood is real "Catwoman"

Cats have found temporary foster homes at Wood's house.

"At one time, I had 17 kittens," she said. "You're constantly cleaning. But, I didn't have them for that long, maybe two weeks, but I cleaned every day."

She said she keeps a routine of cleaning the litter boxes and feeding every morning.

Wood recalled fostering one mean feral cat.

"I needed welding gloves to even touch her," she said. "We had to trick her into getting her into a carrier. She needed surgery to heal an incision, and she needed to be spayed. We found a vet tech who could keep her, who knows how to deal with feral cats. I tried everything. I never had a cat not love me."

Wood said she gets along better with her current foster.

"He thinks he owns me," Wood said. "He's a solid black long hair, his name is Bubby and he's probably 14 years old. This woman's living arrangements changed. She was frantic. She didn't want to give up her cat. I said listen, one more is not going to make a difference at my house."

Not living at North Pole

Wood began playing Mrs. Claus at work a little more than 10 years ago.

"They would rent the costumes for me and I would do them at the Christmas dinners," she said. "What was really cool is when the kids would come and I would remember who they were. I would remember their stories as best I could.

After her employer stopped having Christmas dinners, Wood bought her own costume and kept on acting.

"I'd have people ask me to do Mrs. Claus," she said. "I bought my husband a Santa suit about a year ago and got him involved with it."

She said the secret of being Mrs. Claus is "having a Christlike heart."

"I've always loved children," Wood said. "I volunteer as a bell ringer for Salvation Army as Mrs. Claus, and I had some little girls come up to me and say 'I want to see your legs.' I had stripes on my socks. And they said 'yes, she's the real one."

As for Mrs. Claus' first name, Wood said, "I would say it's Emma Claus. That's what my grandmother said it was."

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE AN OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE?

"My husband got transferred here."

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT MUSKOGEE?

"You can get anywhere in town in about 15 minutes. I love raising my children here. My children have more opportunities here than if I had lived up in Rock Island. It is small enough that they're recognizable. They didn't blend into the crowd. They were special. We're just the right size and they did well."

WHAT WOULD MAKE MUSKOGEE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE?

"Less trash. People taking pride in Muskogee and by taking care of their property. Less trash and less littering. If they would do that, more people would come here. It's embarrassing, going out to the shopping center, the wind blows and there's trash all around."

WHAT PERSON IN MUSKOGEE DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?

"My husband. He's generous. He's kind. He would give the time of day to somebody. My kids absolutely adore him. He's the best man I'll ever know."

WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN MUSKOGEE?

"I was robbed twice by the same robber. I was working at Cimarron Federal Savings and loan in the early 90's. I was told they were the most dangerous bank robbers the state had ever seen. The second time they robbed us, I walked them out the door and got their tag number they were captured within the hour. There was a shoot-out and they rammed his car. They had robbed over 20 financial institutions at this point. I was a single mom."

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

"I just stay busy and spend time with my family."

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP MUSKOGEE IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?

"Beautiful community with loving hearts and generous people, and everyone should want to live here."