Friday, February 9, 2024
VAlentine’s day edition From couple to colleagues
The Churro Bar prepares to open Bella Casey News and Lifestyle Assistant Editor
they’ve dated for so long,” Alan Bratton said. Middlebrook was there for each of Bratton’s business ideas, and Bratton watched as Middlebrook grew into a member of the OSU Pom Squad. So, when Bratton sold his The business bug bit Gunlawn care company, his next nar Bratton when he was young. move was obvious: start another A T-shirt business. A business. This time, with Middlewebsite. A podcast. A lawn care brook. company. Bratton and Middlebrook “Gunnar has always been shared thousands of memories, an entrepreneur,” said Alan Brat- but when it came to starting ton, Bratton’s father. a business, their vacations to Besides his business craze, Mexico stood out. Each night in Bratton has another long-standing Mexico, they would get churros priority. His girlfriend, Maggie together. Middlebrook. Middlebrook has loved “(Bratton and Middlechurros since she was young and brook’s relationship) was the remembered sharing them with relationship that everybody kind her elementary school class. of looked up to as a kid,” said She loved churros so much, she Gabe Fontanez, who grew up named her dog after them. with Bratton and Middlebrook. Bratton considered churros “They were always so strong from a business standpoint. They together, always such a good, were easy to make, they were model couple.” inexpensive and there were no Bratton and Middlebrook other churro sellers in Stillwater. met in elementary school and It was settled. They would began dating when they were 12. open a churro vending cart. “Maggie’s like my daughter, See Churro on 5A
Courtesy of Laura Arata Washington School, Stillwater’s all-Black school, is the last all-Black school remaining in Payne County.
Black history month
‘Turn it up!’
Washington school restoration underway Kennedy Thomason News & Lifestyle Editor
Payton Little Maggie Middlebrook (left) and Gunnar Bratton are starting a business together, The Churro Bar, which will open next week.
Karen Washington was in first grade when Stillwater integrated its public schools. Washington attended the all-Black Booker T. Washington School for her first two years of public education. Named after a famous Black educator and ora-
tor, Washington School still stands today, at 12th and Knoblock streets. The school was located in the Black-only part of town, which ran from 9th Avenue on the north, 14th Avenue on the south, Duck Street on the east and Adams Street on the west, according to the Stillwater History Museum. 1956 was the last year Washington School had students before integration was instituted in 1957. “Segregation sounded bad, and we were separated
from everything, but it really was a good time for us,” Washington said. As a child, Washington said she didn’t know anything different. Her friends and family all lived close together, and she said there was a strong, reliable sense of community. When Washington learned she would be attending an integrated school, she was excited. She said she considered it to be the better school. See School on 7A
Walk of life
Couple continues tradition at Colvin Bella Casey News and Lifestyle Assistant Editor
The moment Margaret Potter laid eyes on her son’s drum instructor, she knew she would marry him. She did. Twice. “We always joke that we can’t ever get divorced, (it would be) way too complicated,” Margaret said. It took two weddings in two counties in 1982 to appease all family members. Although Margaret’s intuition told her she would marry her son’s drum instructor, she did not know why. It
What’s Inside
was not love at first sight. Margaret booked the cheapest instructor she could find at the Eastman School of Music to give her 9-year-old son drum lessons in 1980. And he was late. Finally, the instructor arrived, avoiding Margaret’s gaze and without mumbling an apology. He looked at her son and asked: “What do you want to learn?” “And the rest is history,” Margaret said. The post-lesson group dinners among “the three amigos” turned into dinner between only Margaret and Howard Potter, the instructor, and quiet Friday evenings became date nights. “We had zero money,” Margaret said. “Our idea of
Remember Toby Country star leaves legacy behind
a date was to just walk. We would walk literally miles, miles and miles.” Margaret always walked. She grew up in an Italian neighborhood where everyone walked. Her family did not have a car, and Margaret and her friends spent their days walking through nearby neighborhoods and listening to music. When she worked in New York, she rushed to the station each morning in a pair of tennis shoes and changed into heels once she reached her office. She never grew out of her love for walking. Margaret and Howard continue the tradition at the Colvin Recreation Center. See Couple on 5A
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SGA Election Candidates announced
Margaret Potter Margaret Potter works out on the same treadmill, which she named Tina, every morning.
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Super Bowl Taylor Swift fans prepare for the game
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