Mona Kidwell Hatfield

Bill and Mona Hatfield with one of their sons and 
grandsons. 

I was so thrilled to receive these pictures and Mona's
writing about her family life since high school.
Thank you so much for sending this to me.

We would love to hear from more of you.

Get brave and just sent your info. my way.

Our own Mona is a "Hula" Dancer - Who knew?

Mona is not just a Hula Dancer - She is a TV Star too!
Enjoy the read below.
 

September 25, 2012

Bill Hatfield (also from the Central High class of ’66) and I have been married for 44 years. (And they said it would never last!)  You have to watch out for those blind dates!!!  Thanks (?) Carla and David.  We have 2 sons:  William and Steven and two grandsons:  Will and Ben.

William is married to Robin, lives in Katy, Texas, and works in marketing and public relations.  Will is 7 and Ben is almost 5.  Steven works for the government in Washington, DC and is currently on assignment in Afghanistan.

After a Masters degree from Northeastern State University and another one from OU, I became a school librarian and spent 9 years at Muskogee High School.  Then I was recruited by Cascia Hall Preparatory School as director of their library.  I won the Polly Clarke Award as the outstanding school library media specialist in Oklahoma in 1991 and have also received the Special Projects Award from the Oklahoma Library Association.  I retired from being a school librarian in May of 2008 after 9 years at Muskogee High School and 25 years at Cascia Hall Preparatory School in Tulsa.  Bill and I are now entering the traveling phase of retirement doing “driving tour of America.”  We love to take the travel trailer or the tent and just take off.  If you tell me where you are I may show up on your doorstep.

When we are not traveling, we are in residence at Lake Eufaula taking advantage of all the water sports like swimming, sailing, pontoon boating, and canoeing.  We raise bees, too.  The honey is great.  If you are ever at Lake Eufaula, you are invited to show up on our doorstep.

I stay busy with activities around Eufaula.  I am in a line dancing group and a hula dancing group.  We perform at community events and fundraisers here and in McAlester as well as at the local nursing homes.  It is important to keep moving.  I stay involved with church teaching the class for adults and serving as president of the altar society.  And I keep my hand in library activities serving as president of Friends of Eufaula Memorial Library and also on the board of Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma.

I recently had a grand adventure being a contestant on Jeopardy!  People ask me how this came about, so here is the scoop.  I took the online test on a whim and evidently scored pretty well because they contacted me later to come for an audition.  They hold auditions in a number of cities across the nation involving tens of thousands of hopeful contestants.  So I went to Kansas City where I took another test, played a practice game and did my “interview” like the ones you see on the Jeopardy! program.  I was told that my name would be placed in the applicant pool with about 35,000 other people and from that pool approximately 300 contestants would be selected.  Imagine my surprise when the phone rang and I was asked to come to Los Angeles to tape the show.  It is all a game of variables.  What categories will they have?  What questions will they ask in those categories?  The most frustrating part of playing the game is trying to ring in faster than opponents from the “video game generation” whose thumbs are way more limber than mine.  The hardest part is trying to predict what your opponents will wager on final jeopardy.  That part is impossible.  But it was all great fun and a personal challenge.  I encourage everyone to take the online Jeopardy! test.  You have absolutely nothing to lose and it could lead to a grand adventure for you too.  Watch Jeopardy! on November 22, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. on KTUL (Channel 8) in Tulsa. Get yourself a ball point pen that clicks and use it as your signaling device.  Play along and see how you do and how I did.  However, that is Thanksgiving Day so the program may be pre-empted for a football game.  We’ll have to wait and see.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Class of ’66 Ladies luncheons and love seeing all the ladies who have been able to attend.  But there are still a lot of you whom I have not been able to see yet.  I hope that all of you can make it in the future.  Thank you so much to LaNell and Beverly for organizing these events and for maintaining the blog and the email announcements.