Waldrop remembered as a fierce advocate for the needy, others
Bob was buried in his overalls.
Hundreds of mo urne rs gathered Saturday at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church in Oklahoma City for the funeral Mass of Robert Max Augustine Wal drop, who served as the church's director of music and liturgy, was a champion of the poor and started the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House.
Waldrop died Aug. 30 from cancer complications. He was 67.
A fourth-generation Oklahoman, Waldrop was born Nov. 9, 1952, and grew up in Tillman County. His
great-grandparents came to the Oklahoma Territory before statehood.
A tireless advocate for the needy, Waldrop served on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network, as well as the Migrants and Refugees advisory committee of Catholic Charities OKC.
He was a founder of the Oklahoma Food Cooperative and served as the organization' s first president and general manager. In 2004, the Oklahoma chapter of the Sierra Club honored Waldrop with its EarthCare award for founding the cooperative.
Waldrop edited“Better Times: An Almanac of Useful Information ,” which was distributed free of charge to low-income families.
“He touched us not just by his music, but with his love for the poor,” said Deacon Rich Fahy of Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church.
In 2015, Waldrop unsuccessfully ran for the Ward 6 council seat, but performed better than expected against a longstanding incumbent. He said his campaign was about focusing on residents who felt like they were “being left behind and ignored" during a time of economic redevelopment in the city's downtown core.
On his Facebook page, Waldrop logged a life of gardens planted, bread baked and revolutions fomented.
“Politicians criticized ,” he wrote .“Psalms cantored. Mulberries cobblered. Rainwater harvested. Thrones cast down. Antiphons composed. Black-eyed peas shelled. Natural succession enabled. Bishops harangued.”
In 2018, after former Mayor
Mick Cornett delivered his final State of the City address, Waldrop wrote an alternative assessment of Oklahoma City and posted the piece online.
It was a blistering commentary that started with Oklahoma City as a pl ace “located on lands looted from t he Creek ( Muskogee) and Seminole peoples who were forcibly relocated here by the United States government in the 1820s.”
W al drop skewered the court system and i ts costs, the county jail and “assorted pie-in-the-sky-white-people economic development gimcrackery” that scattered communities of color.
“It' s very clever how it happens ,” he wrote .“As Oklahoma City schools integrated, white people moved to Edmond. A freeway connecting downtown OK C with Edmond was necessary to accommodate the white flighters. It jammed its way right through the Deep Deuce. But i t's not accidental that so many African Americans lived in its path because that was the only part of town they were allowed to live in — by law — for decades.”
In the 1,500- word commentary, Waldrop advocated for easier permitting processes for small shop son sidewalks, and a robust bus system.
“Oklahoma City is a place where we spend a billion dollars spiffing up downtown, fattening the wallets of well connected developers and construction companies with huge welfare checks from the taxpayers,” Waldrop wrote. “Oklahoma City is a place with a glittery downtown and a wannabe sophisticated urban culture that functions as a Potemkin Village hiding the ugly realities of a city where 88% of the Oklahoma City Public Schools students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches.”
In his funeral Mass program, Waldrop quoted several Scriptures about the poor, and commandments to defend them. He titled his final piece “The Last Bobaganda.”
“Let us allow God to have the last word of advice I can give,” Waldrop wrote.
Fa hy, the deacon, said Waldrop rode the familiar roller coaster of emotions as he battled cancer. But his compassion for people never failed.
“Please take Bob's spirit and his love with you wherever you go,” Fahy said.