➡️ This article is one of the FREE preview articles included with our free membership option, we hope you enjoy this free content!
➡️ Do you love reading stories from Ponca City Monthly? Don’t miss a single article, sign up for our email newsletter and get them delivered directly to your inbox. You can subscribe here.
““If you want to understand today you have to search yesterday.”
~ Pearl S. Buck, American Novelist
Education has always been important in Joe Cassity’s life, and it’s no surprise that it led him back to teaching right here in Ponca City even though he could be retired, starting as a substitute for seven years but moving to full-time teaching in 2019. Cassity taught on military bases and spent 29 years primarily teaching history classes in Taiwan at Fu Jen Catholic University and Ming Chuan University.
Cassity grew up in Ponca City and credits the schools and community here with much of his success and interests. He remembers teachers at East Junior High like Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. McCartney piquing his interest in teaching. Prior to that his educators had been female, so he hadn’t realized it was a profession he could pursue even though the interest was within him.
Other activities also added momentum to this path. A summer 1956 vacation to the southern Illinois home of President Lincoln added to his intrigue with history, and when he went to OSU’s history department, the group “felt like home.” In Stillwater and making friends from many other places, he learned how lucky he was to have had the Ponca City Library since so many students had never been to a research library. Joe was able to tell them about ours and how he was able to access information like that while growing up here. He hopes students realize what they have right here at home.
Cassity earned his B.A. and M.A. in History at OSU where he was also in ROTC and later, on the GI Bill, earned his J.D. at OU and is a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association. He has many stories from his travels, education (both taking and teaching classes), his time in the Army Reserves and simply life in general to add to a classroom setting with students. There’s much to be said about the life he’s lived.
Mr. Cassity teaches in an inconspicuous room at PoHi, Room 104, on the lower level of the main building at the high school. On the outside of his door is a sign that indicates he is a Veteran, thanking him for his service. Inside, there are books piled everywhere. Everywhere. He teaches various history classes and economics. He loves what he teaches, and he is always ready to help his students if they come to him—before class, between classes, after school. His desk is topped with books, papers and files. He has his laptop, but it appears he considers time face-to-face with students much more valuable than virtual activity. The personal touch has worked for him in more successful ways so far.
He emphasizes liking to get the class participating daily to help them absorb information and come up with ideas on their own. The time period they were studying when I visited was the Roaring 20s, and the class was tasked with reading and writing a short paper with a focus on “Why were people so happy in the 1920s?” Many in the class immediately raised their hands to volunteer to present their ideas on the topic, and they were interesting and diverse, with ideas such as moving into cities with more people, access to neighbors and art and shopping, good music, entertainment and fashion, and even simply being able to pay bills and not be looked down on by others around them due to the high cost of living today. The answers were many and diverse, and the class was unafraid to speak up.
With time left in class, Mr. Cassity talked about the differences between the end of WWI and WWII and what the country learned from the first. He explained the many jobs lost at the end of WWI and the devastation caused by that, so at the end of WWII there were many benefits, such as the GI Bill, unemployment for soldiers until they could find jobs, benefits for hiring soldiers and more. It led to a smoother transition for communities welcoming the military back into their communities and helped the transition to peacetime not feel like such a disaster.
It is obvious Mr. Cassity enjoys getting to know his students. When he calls role, he only calls the names of those he doesn’t see, and he asks about a variety of activities they each have going on in school and such. When there was time at the end of class, the class members talked about if their families were from Ponca City or elsewhere. The subject brought up more interesting stories between all of them. It was an interesting way to learn quite a lot in a very short amount of time.
Joe Cassity has much to share. I have no idea how long he will continue teaching. Maybe he continues to be inspired by Abraham Lincoln who said: “I do the very best I know how, the very best I can, and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.” Even after his teaching ends, I expect he will continue to write. He has written about 20 articles on Oklahoma history already. The history textbook on the students’ desks in the classroom was titled “America Through the Lens,” and all I could think of was what a gift to see if through this man’s eyes.
After class was over and everyone left, I asked what his favorite personal story was to talk about when he taught a particular point in history. In my short time knowing him, I’ve heard several interesting stories, so I just had to know his favorite. He said, “The day I met John F. Kennedy in Oklahoma City before the 1960 election. It was outside the Municipal Auditorium, and Ponca City folks had taken a bus there.” Of all the places he has traveled, his favorite brought him right back home. You have to love that. Home is right where Mr. Joe Cassity belongs.
➡️ Opt in or out of different newsletters on your “My Account” page.
➡️ Learn more about Ponca City Monthly+
Ponca City Monthly is a locally owned media company that delivers hyperlocal news through in print and online.
Like what we are doing? Feel free to forward this along and tell a friend.
Sponsorship information/customer service: email editor@poncacitymonthly.com