By LANEY COOK, Student Reporter
It was Mother’s Day.
Nothing out of the ordinary was expected to happen. But that particular year, as Annette Schwerdtfeger was sitting in her recliner, watching TV, she heard a knock on the door. To her surprise, it was one of her former foster children, whom she fostered for six years.
There he stood on her front doorstep with a bouquet of flowers in his hands to surprise her for Mother’s Day – to show her how much she meant to him.
His adoptive family drove him up from Oklahoma City to surprise her and then took her out to eat lunch to catch up with everyone.
“It was a nice surprise for him to show up with his family to celebrate Mother’s Day with me too,” Schwerdtfeger said.
Schwerdtfeger is known not only in the Northwestern community, but also in the Alva community. Being born and raised only 27 miles away in Waynoka, she grew up knowing those who grew up in Alva.
HER START IN BABYSITTING
When Schwerdtfeger was in high school, she would babysit for people in Waynoka and Alva, and after she graduated, she worked as a nanny for a couple in Oklahoma City.
She said this is what got her thinking about fostering children. In 1983, a year before she started working for the university’s business office, she started fostering teenagers.
She said it was hard to have teenagers because she worried about what kind of trouble they could get into – and if they would get into the wrong crowd at school.
“The younger kids might take more work, but the worry and stress level are less than it is with teenagers,” Schwerdtfeger said.
As she started taking classes for a degree in social work with a minor in psychology, Schwerdtfeger started working full-time at the business office on June 18, 1984, where she still works now after a short retirement break.
Schwerdtfeger made many friends while working and living in Alva. During her time at Northwestern, she made many long-lasting friendships. She met Paige Fischer, the current bursar of NWOSU and her current boss, in 2009 as she started as a student worker in the business office.
She and Fischer went to a KC and the Sunshine Band concert in Enid at the Event Center in 2019.
“When we showed up, everyone else was wearing costumes from the 1970s,” Fischer said. “We were both upset that we didn’t show up in our own costumes.”
Fischer said she hopes that, when COVID-19 slows down and everything starts to open back up, she’d like to go to more concerts with Schwerdtfeger.
Schwerdtfeger said she is a George Strait fan, and all of her friends know that. For her birthday one year at the business office, Fischer organized a little surprise party with a cake with a George Strait picture on it.
Fawn Kingcade, Schwerdtfeger’s former boss, hosted her surprise retirement party. Kingcade got into contact with a former NWOSU football coach that Schwerdtfeger had a slight “crush” on.
“I got him to call the office during the party so they could talk,” Kingcade said, “She acted so giddy on the phone. It was priceless.”
RETIREMENT
On Dec. 19, 2019, Schwerdtfeger said her goodbyes and retired – for the time being. She started working part-time at the business office again last spring to get back in the groove of seeing all the students again.
“Retiring for Annette was very difficult,” said Kayla Eaton, a former coworker. “She really missed seeing all the people every day.”
Eaton and Schwerdtfeger met in 2015 when Eaton started working as a student worker in the business office.
Eaton said they immediately clicked because Schwerdtfeger’s fun and outgoing personality drew her in instantly.
Eaton and Schwerdtfeger often drove a van together when delivering the university’s mail to the post office and depositing money in the bank. These are some of Eaton’s favorite memories with Schwerdtfeger.
“We always had so much fun together,” Eaton said. “She is a very special person who can make just about anyone’s day better.”
One year, Eaton stayed in town over Thanksgiving break, so Schwerdtfeger invited her to spend the day at her house. Eaton then did not have to spend Thanksgiving by herself.
Throughout the years of working as a cashier at the business office, Schwerdtfeger continued to foster more children.
“I wish I would’ve kept records of how many kids I’ve taken in, but at first I didn’t think I would do it for very long,” Schwerdtfeger said. “But I fell in love with it, and now I don’t know how many kids in total I’ve fostered.”
Keeping in touch with foster children all depends on how the adoptive families or the biological families feel about the relationship.
Once the children leave, there’s a chance she may not see or hear from them again.
She said the hardest part of being a foster mother was when children left to go back to their parents or to their adoptive parents.
“It’s so rewarding to be able to let them see what all life has to offer,” Schwerdtfeger said.
She stays in touch with at least 10 of her previous foster children. She said she likes seeing what they’ve gone out and done after they left.
One of her children who still keeps in touch with her goes by his nickname of “Baby Bear.” When he calls, she answers to “Mama Bear.” When he was little, he had never heard “Goldilocks and the Three Little Bears.” So, she read it to him nightly.
When she read to him, they would pretend to play the roles of Baby Bear and Mama Bear. The nicknames stuck.
ABOUT THE KIDS
Foster parents can choose if they want only boys or girls staying with them, but Schwerdtfeger took them all in.
“Girls are fun to have because you can always get them cute new clothes and all the cute little stuff that comes with having little girls,”
Schwerdtfeger said. “But having boys is just as fun, and they don’t come with all the drama.”
Girls do typically bring along more drawn-out drama, whereas boys just have their fights and make up within a few hours, she said.
But the end result is all the same: “teaching them right from wrong.”
Along with being a foster mother, Schwerdtfeger has two children of her own: one adopted son and one biological daughter.
She has three granddaughters and one great-granddaughter.
“She was very excited about the arrival of her great-granddaughter, with whom she shares a middle name,” said Tracie Burns, her oldest granddaughter. “Her [the baby’s] arrival also made the family five generations of girls.”
Schwerdtfeger says she enjoys everything she does from fostering kids to working at the university, where she helps the students.
“I love being around people, and do what I can to help anyone,” Schwerdtfeger said. “I wouldn’t change anything about it.”
