News & Updates

On a day with an expected high of almost 90, we sat outside under the shade of a lace bark elm tree surrounded by chickens and dogs.  

“My air conditioner is on the fritz and I’m getting it repaired next week,” said Jodie Greer.  

We asked if the house had air conditioning when she moved in.  

“When my parents bought this house, you didn’t know what an air conditioner was,” Greer replied.  

Jodie is in her 80s and is by all accounts “a fixture in the community,” if you ask those who live on her block. Greer moved into her current home with her parents, brother, and sister when she was a toddler in the early 1940s. At the time, her neighborhood was considered the suburbs, and the neighborhood was what Greer described as upper-middle class. For reference, I-44 and Northwest Expressway did not exist where they do today, and the population of Oklahoma City was less than 250,000. Now Jodie’s home is smack dab in the urban core. We asked Geer what it was like to watch the city change around her for the better part of a century. 

“It’s changed, but it’s never really been bad,” she replied. 

“There was a vacant field on the other side of that house, and it was all open land and field,” Jodie recalled. “Mr. Mansfield, I believe, had a horse and plow. I loved horses, so I would go and watch. Sometimes he would let me hop on.”  

In addition to the fields and horses, Greer’s time as a child was nothing short of busy, as she and a “pack of other kids” roamed together during the warmer months, riding their bikes all around the area, and going down to the creek; in the winter months, there were snow drifts to jump in. There were no cell phones needed for an adventure, and it was encouraged to be outside exploring when school wasn’t in session.  

And since there wasn’t air conditioning for those warmer months, sometimes Greer’s father would come outside in the summer months to sleep under the elm trees in the yard.  

“The most important thing about this street at that time, were the elm trees. There was a canopy of elm trees that went down both sides, all the way down about five or six blocks,” she recalled. “It was like walking down a tunnel.” 

When school was in session, Jodie attended schools in the area. She began at Putnam Heights Elementary School, before moving on to Harding Junior High, which became Harding Junior-Senior High; her class was the first to graduate after the change. From there, Jodie moved into an apartment with a friend.   

Back in those days, public transit was a more commonplace, and Greer remembers when a bus route would come up 39^th and turn on Georgia from “town” to ride downtown. She would take this route to work at Kerr Department Store. She describes it as the friendliest ride, reminiscing about how everyone knew each other and what stop they would get on or off at. Greer says she misses that level of closeness with others in the city. She shared with us her favorite memory of that bus route. 

“The time it snowed, and the bus couldn’t make it up here! My dad had to come and pick me up a couple blocks away,” Jodie said laughing. “He didn’t know what happened to me. But I like the experience, until I decided I wanted my own car- and that was probably mistake number one.” 

Jodie has been in every home on her block at least once throughout the years and shares a fence line with one or two households who have lived in the area for 20 or 30 years. She can tell you exactly how many owners each home has had since her family moved in. More importantly, Jodie is incredibly humble and always more than happy to help anyone who needs it. She notes the giving spirit in Putnam Heights Central has spread as more neighbors get involved. For decades, neighbors have noted how she’s served as the “eyes of the neighborhood.” When asked what it’s been like to live in such a kind place, Greer said she’s been it’s been this way her entire life. Her parents did the same thing for a young neighbor who was a long-term resident; when Mr. And Mrs. Greer got older, she watched out for them.  

“There was also this young couple across the street, who adored my dad. They watched out for him. So, on this street, it’s been kind of the thing to do, kind of the culture,” Jodie noted.  

“During that ice storm several years back, when everyone lost power, the couple that lives over there,” she says pointing, “they didn’t have any water, heat, nothing- it was during the winter. So, I had a generator, and they got to come over and take showers, clean up, charge their phones. We’ve become very close. I adore that couple.” 

After Jodie’s parents passed away, she moved back in 1989. It was during that time she helped play a part in the efforts to organize what was Woodland Park Neighborhood Association; she still has a sign that reflects the name and time when Woodland Park was an organized neighborhood.  

“John and Marus started Woodland Park back in the 90s,” said Jodie. “I served as the secretary-treasurer. We had yard of the month. But people kind of dwindled away, because they wanted somebody to guard at night to make everyone feel safe with a watch patrol. And that was fine! But when it came to volunteers, nobody wanted to do it and we weren’t paying for it. So, we kind of gave up at that time.” 

We remarked how Greer’s home and yard feels open to everyone, allowing them to see into her life with her popular chickens, and asked how she feels it affects the community.  

“My chickens have really opened up things,” Greer replied. “People will stop by and say ‘oh! You’ve got chickens!’ And I tell them about what we’re doing primarily. Just meeting more people with my yard.” 

The neighborhood has embraced the chickens as their new neighbors. If you attend a neighborhood potluck, you’ll spot kids chasing the chickens around Jodie’s yard under the watchful eyes of their partents. While chickens are a focal point now, they started as another community building moment- another neighbor built the coop, and in return, Greer now pays him in eggs.  

“The coop is built from awnings another neighbor had taken down. We went over and grabbed them,” Jodie said. “I asked the neighbor who I give eggs to if the awnings could be cut, and he said yes. So, he went to work! And then I asked him if my greenhouse could be turned into a chicken coop… And he looked around and then got to work. That’s how I got the chickens and coop.” 

With the hustle and bustle of today’s world, Jodie’s Street has a true sense of community that seems unfamiliar to many these days, reminiscent of a forgone era most enjoyed decades ago.  

“It’s known around here now that if I’m sitting out here, you can come over and sit down,” said Greer. “When one neighbor comes over, a small group of six or seven will gather before it’s all said and done.” 

These gatherings have become a mainstay since the pandemic, providing a fresh breath of life into the neighborhood. It began with a simple potluck, and another the next month, and another the month after that. Now Greer’s home has become the heart of their neighborhood, a place where everyone is welcome. 

Geer’s neighbors describe her as a “Defacto leader” of Putnum Heights Central. We asked Jodie how she felt about that title. 

“I guess? They say that,” she replied. “I’m kind of shy about that. I don’t want people to say ‘Oh, it’s Jodie.’ I want it to be everybody. Everybody is part of this. We have a lot of young people, and I know they want to stay. They want to raise their children here.” 

Seeing Putnam Heights Central rise from the larger area which was once Woodland Park is a full circle moment, as she sees the community blossom into something bigger than itself.  

“While it’s been years since we have had a formal organization, I really like the feeling that we’re going to grow and have more people come around and come out,” said Greer. “I enjoy people. I’m a people person. I’ve never really met too many strangers.” 

It won’t be long until Putnam Heights Central meets at Jodie’s home again for the monthly potluck. The only difference this time is that on July 1, the community will formally vote on ratifying their Association bylaws to become a formal organization. Advocating for the needs of the neighborhood has created a tight knit community in Putnam Heights Central that anyone would be lucky to live in. Jodie expressed the best change that has come about recently; 

“Oh, they’re all my friends now. They were my neighbors before.”