Government » Enid Walk of Fame » 2011-2020
With 42 years working for Enid Public Schools, 36 of which were spent at the Carver Educational Center under his belt, his own Sunday gospel radio show, and hundreds of hours involved with multiple Enid organizations, you can say that Clayton Nolen has lead a pretty productive life.
Born in Portland, Oregon, Nolen and his family moved to Enid when he was around 9 months old. He attended Carver Elementary, Booker T. Washington, Longfellow Junior High, and Enid High Schools. Originally pursuing a music degree from Langston University, he later transferred to Central State University, now known as the University of Central Oklahoma, where he received bachelor degrees in speech pathology and special education, as well as a master's degree in school administration and special education.
Upon graduation college, Nolen's first job was a traveling speech pathologist with Enid Public Schools. He traveled to seven elementary schools and his office as a therapist was located at Carver Educational Center. He held this position for approximately seven years. He would moonlight as an adult education teacher, teaching math and science. He went on to become the director of adult education. After becoming director, Clayton moved the program to the Carver Educational Center, expanding it to include daytime and evening classes. During this time, Nolen was also the homebound director and would assign teachers to visit students who were confined to their homes for various reasons. The Homebound program was phased out and Clayton became the chief GED examiner. He acquired the Juvenile Detention School, and later became supervisor of the schools at Sequoyah Boy's Group Home and Integris Behavioral Health.
Throughout Nolen's 42 years with Enid Pubic Schools, he was also extremely active in the Enid community. He has served on the Enid Higher Education Trustee Board, Minority Recruitment Council for the Oklahoma State Department of Education, State Juvenile Task Force, Oklahoma Teacher Certification Test Bias Review Committee, African American Male State Task Force, Enid Education Association, Oklahoma Education Association National Education Association, Black Higher Education Association, and Enid AM AMBUCS. He served as president of the Oklahoma Adult Basic Education Association, was Ward 3 Enid City Commissioner for four years, recruiter of minority teachers for Enid Public Schools for 14 years, chairman of the Enid Community Block Grant committee for three years, was chairman of the Enid Police Commission for two of the five-year term, and served on the Enid Higher Education Trustee Board. He is currently serves on the Truth and Sentencing Advisory Council for four counties.
Clayton Nolen was the recipient of the Citizen of the year award for Booker T. Washington, the Super Bowl Brother Outstanding Citizen award, the Key to the City of Enid, MLK Diversity Award for 2012, Celebrate Literacy Award, and the Sistah-2Sistah African American Leaders of Enid Award. Nolen has been honored by having bridge dedicated in has name. He was honored for his Gospel program by the Community Church hosted by Progressive Baptist Church, and created the African American Mentoring program for Enid Public Schools.
One of Nolen's greatest accomplishments, he believes, is being the founder of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission for the city of Enid. He was asked to be a speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration a few years ago and it remains a very special moment in his life. Clayton also was a recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his efforts on the commission. Another proud moment was being asked to be the speaker by his classmates for the Booker T. Washington and Carver School Reunion.
Now that Nolen is retired, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Varna, who is also retired from education. Varna was a special education teacher at Longfellow Middle School. The two have been married for 47 years now and have two sons, Quincy and Bryce. Quincy lives close be in Enid while Bryce lives in Oklahoma City with his wife Mariel and their two children, Leah and Bryce II. Clayton enjoys spending as much time as he can with his mother, Wilma. “I am really enjoying retirement,” says Nolen. “I was blessed to be able to come home after college and work close to my family and friends in Enid. I really loved going to work and miss the teachers, staff and students, but I felt like it was time.”
Although Nolen may have retired in Jun of 2014, he is still keeping pretty busy. He currently runs his own radio program as host of “The Gospel Hour” every Sunday morning from 8am until 10am on both KGWA stations 100.9 FM and 960 AM. The program has been a fulfilling hobby for him for the past 22 years. “I appreciate the opportunity to share my tremendous love for music,” says Nolen.” Nolen is also currently on the board of Trustees for Grayson Missionary Baptist Church and enjoys traveling whenever he can.
Looking back over the years of his life, Clayton Nolen is blessed to have been able to help so many students. “H just enjoyed helping people,” says Nolen on his time at Carver. “That was the name of the game. I realized that education was not a high-paying job by any means, but I really enjoyed the people I worked with and helping as many people as I could. The joy I get when people walk up to me and tell me thank you for helping me is what it is all about. I don't feel like a hero, I was just doing what God led me to do.”
