I read the April 9 Madera Method Wagon Train article and I noticed that a person was missing from the narrative. That was Bill Coate.
Coate forgot to mention that he was the one who found many of the people to participate in it. Madera County Cattlewomen (MCCW) was one of the groups.
We would donate the beef for the meals for the students. The MCCW was so happy to expose students to our western heritage, our way of campfire meals, the importance of unpaved land to grow food for animals. We were so pleased to see the kids learn to appreciate what it was like to be cowgirl or cowboy.
Coate forgot to mention that he taught at Sierra Vista and the wagon trains would come parading into Sierra Vista’s playground. He gave opportunities for our Madera Unified students to participate with it, and won national recognition for his method. I saw my students on Channel 26… Many of the students changed; they became a little more self-reliant and confident.
Coate also forgot to mention all the library books from the Irving Family; basically he forgot to write a lot about himself.
Why do I know? Well, I taught five years with him at Sierra Vista on the 6th grade team at Sierra Vista, plus I am in the MCCW.
Thank you, Bill, but I realize it is hard to write an article where you include yourself in it. I just wanted to remind the community of a little more than you wrote.
Nancy Mattrocce,
MCCW president