Having determination and a desire to help others doesn’t always lead to the creation of a multimillion dollar corporation.
For Kay Decker, however, that is exactly what has happened.
Decker was born in Alva, in the building which was once Alva General Hospital, but is now the Alva Cherokee Strip Museum.
She attended grade school, junior high and high school in Alva and went on to obtain her undergraduate degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University in social science. She later received her masters of science and sociology from Oklahoma State University and her doctorate in occupational and adult education from Oklahoma State University, with a minor in anthropology.
Now, she is a professor of sociology and department chair at Northwestern, where she’s taught for more than 20 years.
Decker is enthusiastic about teaching even lower level and introduction classes, including social theory, social diversity, intro to sociology and what Decker called “the dreaded research methods class.”
“It is the capstone course for social sciences, which I have taught to around 3,000 students and nobody has died from it yet,” she said with a laugh. “I like working with students of all ages.”
Decker said she enjoys, “Helping [students] achieve their potential by guiding them to understand all the opportunities that exist in the world.”
“I have been at this long enough that I have kids out there who graduated more than 20 years ago, who are now in senior positions in their fields, and it’s really a blessing to see that happen,” she said.
Decker also mentioned her philosophy for teaching. “I believe that all students can learn, given enough opportunity, time and resources. As educators, it is our responsibility and obligation to facilitate that.”
Jordan Evans, a former student assistant for the social science department, has had three classes as her student. Evans is a graduate from Northwestern with a major in history with a minor in business.
“Dr. Decker is kind, generous and genuine,” Evans said about learning under Decker. “She pushes her students and faculty to work their hardest.”
“Personally, she has helped me improve my writing and research skills,” Evans said. “She finds the time to help each student individually. Dr. Decker is one of the best teachers a student could have. She has given me internship opportunities and provided me with experiences that have prepared me for life after school.”
Kathy Earnest said she has known Decker “probably for 30 years,” she said with a laugh and continued, “Is that long enough?”
Earnest is an assistant professor of English at Northwestern, who also holds a doctorate of education from Oklahoma State University.
Earnest said she and Decker “became buddies” when their children were young. Both families lived in the country, east of Freedom, Oklahoma.
Earnest said Decker shares characteristics between her personal and professional lives. “She is a very organized person outside of the classroom,” she said. “Every project she takes on, she thinks it through carefully. She seems to be able to see how a particular project fits into the big picture, and I think that is probably how she conducts her personal life too.”
While Decker’s parents and sister, Jo, currently live in Alva, she and her husband Doyle Wardrop currently live west of Alva, near Camp Houston, Oklahoma.
Along with her work at Northwestern, Decker also created Freedom West Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization, in 2002.
Decker said that she realized the need for such an organization in the late 1990s. “I realized then that there were a number of social problems and issues that were not being addressed in our part of the world,” she said.
Decker continued to explain that the main problem was that funding mechanisms to affect change weren’t available to the area at the time. Because of that, Decker sought to change the situation.
She began by attending national conferences and talking to people from across the country, which helped her to learn that regions and communities could utilize federal, state and private philanthropy dollars by creating a nonprofit development institute, which could then write grants and administer programs.
“There wasn’t any kind of entity that was doing that kind of work in Northwest Oklahoma, trying to bring those federal dollars to this area,” Earnest said. “That was really an important first step for Dr. Decker to establish Freedom West as a nonprofit to do that.”
Now, Decker’s nonprofit organization Freedom West CDC is a multi-million dollar program.
“We started with $500 and a two-drawer file cabinet in my dining room,” Decker said. “Now we are a multi-million dollar, multi-program nonprofit that serves five counties in Northwest Oklahoma.”
The counties the nonprofit organization serves, include Alfalfa, Dewey, Harper, Woodward and Woods.
Earnest explained that some specific services Freedom West provides include installing handicap accessible ramps and bathroom facilities in houses, so that people on limited income can improve their homes.
One of Freedom West’s accomplishments was the creation of Graceful Arts Gallery and Studios, where Decker works with her sister Jo Decker. Before she came to work at Graceful Arts, Jo Decker worked as a nurse at Share Medical Center and other small hospitals for 25 years.
“Besides the fact that we’re sisters,” Jo Decker said with a laugh, “some of the more difficult aspects of the job are having the proper paperwork and supplies.”
Jo Decker said something that has helped Graceful Arts is her sister’s strong will and determination.
“She is a fact finder and she loves to debate,” Jo Decker said. “When she is passionate about something, she is 150 percent behind it and will help you in any way, shape or form. She is the person you want in your corner when you need somebody to fight.”
She continued to explain that while Graceful Arts was a large change for Alva as a community, it has not changed her relationship with her sister. “We are both still opinionated in our own ways,” she said. “Which causes head butting, but we do seem to manage to keep things going and it is running well.”
Kay Decker also attributed Graceful Art’s success to her sister because she is “such a creative person as the family artist. Being able to use her art education and art background is a great example of why a place like Graceful Arts is a huge benefit to a community.”
Sonja Williams, who began working with Freedom West CDC in 2001, is an Alva native and former Northwestern student who is currently attending Northwestern again to finish her degree.
Williams said she was inspired by the things Kay Decker was doing with her affordable housing project, as well as what she was doing with the arts.
Williams said with the affordable housing project, Freedom West CDC has built homes in Freedom, Cherokee and Mooreland that people can live in.
Williams also mentioned that Decker was “meticulous in helping people that were renting our homes and educating them on getting their credit cleaned up as well as how to become a home buyer. She does things that she doesn’t have to do [because she wants to help].”
When she’s not busy with her nonprofit work or teaching, Decker said she would like to spend more time with her children and grandchildren and indulge in some of her hobbies
She is passionate about some of her hobbies. “I’m a growing freak,” she said. “I love to grow things. I also love reading. I read everything from cereal boxes to encyclopedias. I like autobiographies and biographies the best.”
She also mentioned that in the future, she’d like to work on writing a book of her own as well as find more time for travel. “I love seeing new things,” Decker said with a smile.
So far, she has been to Mexico, the Gulf Coast and, “a lot of places east of the Mississippi,” she said. “I just got back from spending two weeks in Charleston, South Carolina, and I loved it.”
“She likes to be in touch with her family and children,” Earnest said. “She’s the kind of person who likes to have a plan. But she’s spontaneous too. I think she’s very thoughtful about how she approaches solving problems and expects people to act at a high level of participation.”
Williams had a smile in her voice when she said about Decker, “She’s a bull dog and she’ll know that’s exactly what I would say. You can tell that she is a professor at the college, because she has an academic mind set, but like I said she’s still a visionary.”
“She is going to leave our community better than when she found it, Williams said. “It doesn’t matter what community she touches. She’s just that way. It is an honor [to work with her, because] she has done phenomenal things. We are lucky to have her.”