By Lee Bratcher / OC Monitor
BEAVER DAM, Ky. — I have a confession to make….I really hated performing in the Beaver Dam Elementary music programs produced by Phyllis Odle. Getting out there in front of hundreds of people, including your peers, to sing and dance was not on the bucket list of a young Lee Bratcher.
Every year I’d dread the next big idea Ms. Odle would dream up. I can remember the butterflies in my stomach as I waited, dressed as a miniature chef, for my cue to run out into the Beaver Dam Elementary gym to sing in the 1984 production of Annie and all the other programs. Not good times.
But, as one gets older, you begin to realize the moments in which you stepped out of your comfort zone and did something you’ve never done before makes for a full and eventful life. Plus, I and many other people can look back and say, “I did something no other person got a chance to do or will ever do again.”
As I write this, I am thankful for Ms. Odle and her genius, yes, her genius, in being able to bring something from idea into reality. And for having the patience and love to wrangle hundreds of children who probably felt a lot like I did when performing in the programs.
Ms. Odle passed away Friday night. I learned of her passing from one of her good friends on Facebook. It was a shock, but she had been in ill health for many years.
Several years ago, as my brother Dustin and our friend Sam Alford were recording a podcast, it sparked in my mind an idea about trying to track down videos of those music programs. I clearly remember people filming the performances and even watching the videos later in music class. I thought it would be cool to write a story about the Beaver Dam Elementary programs from my perspective and upload any videos we discovered to YouTube for everyone to enjoy.
I had no idea where to start, but out of the blue, someone who had no idea about the music programs, but knew I lived in Beaver Dam, told me about a woman she met in South Carolina who used to teach in Beaver Dam. It was Ms. Odle and as it turns out, she was on Facebook. Divine intervention?
I contacted Ms. Odle on Facebook Messenger, basically to ask if she had any of the music programs on video. The question quickly turned into a long discussion of the “good old days” at Beaver Dam Elementary and those beloved music programs. It was immediately clear she still had a great love for Beaver Dam, those programs and especially her students.
“There are not many days that I don’t think about (those music programs). I was always so proud of all you students every year,” she said.
Ms.Odle was quite sure she had videos of all the programs, but in the end, she was only able to find the “Wizard of Oz” production, which she mailed to me to digitize. While she trusted me enough to mail it to me, she made sure to several times ask me to be sure to send it back to her. Not only did I send the video back to her, we also sent her a DVD with the program.
As we continued to chat, I thought I couldn’t be the only one who looks back on those programs with such love and awe. At this time, an idea began to form in my mind.
I asked Ms. Odle if she wouldn’t mind answering some questions about those days so I could write a story. She was delighted to do so and “a story” turned into two stories with almost 4,000 words. And believe me, I could have written more.
The two stories I wrote took a lot time and a lot of editing because I wanted to make it right, not for me, but for her. I’m the proudest of those stories as I am of anything I’ve ever done. Whether anybody read them or not, the most important reader was Ms. Odle because this was her life. Thankfully, she loved both the stories just as much as I did.
“It is written so well and got me excited all over again. You may have given me too much credit, but I loved every word, I can not thank you enough. All I can say is thank you, over and over,” she said.
No, Ms. Odle, from me and hundreds of others, thank you over and over.
To Ms. Odle’s husband, Dubbie, her daughter, Sandy Lee, and all her friends and loved ones, we at the Ohio County Monitor extend our deepest sympathies.
To view Ms. Odle’s obituary, click here.
To read about Ms. Odle’s life and her time at Beaver Dam Elementary, click here.
To read about the Beaver Dam Elementary production of the “Wizard of Oz,” click here.
To view the Beaver Dam Elementary produciton of the “Wizard of Oz,” see video below.
