It is Sweet in Sweetwater
Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit with the students of Sweetwater Schools. Sweetwater is a town about five miles from the Texas Panhandle (within “spittin’ distance” of our Red River Rivals as a Sooner would say). Although I toured the entire school, I had the pleasure of presenting in their new multi-purpose auditorium. This lovely facility was built because in May of 2007 the school was severely damaged by a tornado. Luckily, it struck after students had gone home for the day so no one was injured.
Sweetwater is named after Sweetwater Creek which “was so named because of its sweet tasting water. There is a tributary of Sweetwater Creek named Freeze Out Creek because two men froze to death there during one of Oklahoma’s blizzards.” * This reminds of the time just before the French and Indian War when Washington and Chris Gist sloshed through knee-deep snow and fell from a raft into an ice-choked river while trying to get a reply from the French to Governor Dinwiddie. They both survived unlike the men on Freeze Out Creek!
Sweetwater students and faculty were extremely friendly and welcoming. The younger students dressed in Colonial attire for the occasion and there were some adorable student-created portraits of George and Martha Washington in the hallways. A few days ago I received a warm note from Sweetwater’s Principal Brenda Quinn and a thank you card from the younger students. The George Washington Ambassador thinks Sweetwater is, well, SWEET!
*This information was taken from Carl G Clifft’s Early Sweetwater History at http://www.theburningbush.org/SWHistory.html.
