Walters Service Club Annual Powwow Kicks Off Comanche Homecoming Weekend

The Walters Service Club Powwow took place on Thursday, July 16, at the Walters Community Center in Walters, Oklahoma.

Walters Service Club Secretary Cecily Brigoli said the Walters Service Club was established in 1952.

“It was comprised of local community members and family members who wanted to get together to honor someone who was enlisted and returning from a war,” she said. “And it has transformed into honoring code talkers, honoring our veterans and those of our servicemen and women that are enlisted and we always try to make sure that we're servicing the Walters community since that's where we originated out of.”

The powwow kicks off Comanche Homecoming and is another way to contribute to the community, according to Brigoli.

“I can remember being here during homecoming since I was just a young girl. I always was with my grandma. And my grandma, she was the late Nell Yvonne Wahahrockah Oberly, but a lot of people knew her as Yvonnes, like not just Yvonne, but Yvonnes,” she said. “And she always wanted to make sure that, being a representative of the organization, we try to give back to the community in some way by holding events, by holding these powwows. And that's mainly what we like to do. We're a small organization, but we're, we're all like family and we might all be family, you know.”

Brigoli said the powwow brings families and friends together.

“I think it's a wonderful thing because I get to see people I haven't seen in a while. And specifically to kick off the Comanche homecoming, I know for myself and I know for a lot of others that we're able to see relatives that come from out of state, we haven't maybe seen since last homecoming or something like that," she said. "And I think it's just a good thing that we're able to start a little early and then lead right into Comanche homecoming.”