Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

GATESWAY
FOUNDATION
Above: The rented farmhouse where Helen
Gates began providing services for her son
Ronnie and his friends.
Below: A large crowd joined Gatesway
founder Helen Gates and her close
friend Doris Barnes (with shovel) at the
groundbreaking of the organization’s Broken
Arrow headquarters. Among the dignitaries
participating in the ceremony were Broken
Arrow Mayor Dr. James R. Newcomb (left)
and Tulsa Mayor Robert LaFortune (right).
Opening Up the World—these four
words truly capture the inspirational story
and unforgettable legacy of the Gatesway
Foundation, an organization that has
remained steadfast through its central focus
and driving passion of “opening up the
world” to individuals and their families for
more than fifty years.
A nonprofit agency providing vocational
training, daily care, support and supervision
for people who are also intellectually disabled.
Gatesway opened its doors as the deeply
personal endeavor of its founder, Helen Gates,
in 1963. The vision for the Foundation began
with the life of Ronnie Gates, Helen’s son,
who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in
1933. Ronnie was later diagnosed with Down
syndrome by doctors in New York when he
was only a few years old.
Devastated by the news as well as the lack
of support and facilities that existed across
America in the mid-twentieth century for families
who found themselves in such a difficult
situation, the couple institutionalized Ronnie
at Enid State School in northwest Oklahoma.
For the next several years, the family,
including Ronnie’s younger brother Jack, made
the 800 mile trip from Kentucky to Oklahoma.
With each visit, Helen soon became concerned
that the environment of the school was far
less than ideal and worried that Ronnie
would ever be able to function in the real
world after her death. It was during these
difficult years that Helen began an intense
study of the topic of vocational rehabilitation
and intellectual disabilities,
gradually educating
herself with courses and
certifications in the field.
By the early 1960s,
Helen’s dream of “having
a place for adults with
mental disabilities” was
becoming a reality. She
had successfully formed
a flourishing network of
families struggling with
the same issues as her
own, located property
and had even secured
financial backing for the
construction of a building—and the Gatesway
Foundation finally debuted in 1963.
A rented farmhouse along East Seventy-First
Street and South Lewis Avenue in Tulsa was the
site of the first group home, among only a handful
of such facilities at that time in Oklahoma.
It was home to six men, including Ronnie.
Over the course of the next decade,
government funds as well as help from Tulsa
philanthropist Leta Chapman allowed Helen
the opportunity to purchase a more spacious
property in Broken Arrow. A large home was
built at the location, while an education
building and vocational training center were
eventually added to the campus.
Today, Gatesway continues to encourage
families and improve the lives of individuals
with disabilities. It is well-known for its
Vocational Training Center for those employed
in the training center learn valuable skills
while doing a variety of tasks, thus creating
a workforce that is a genuinely dependable
asset to any company. Such work includes
assembling, collating, sorting, bagging, boxing,
tagging, packaging, shrink wrapping, bundling,
labeling, and mail/brochure inserts.
Through federal and state funding initiatives,
Gatesway also provides unique vocational
services to employers in the community,
providing crews of three to five workers and an
on-site Employment Specialist. These services
may include housekeeping, janitorial, lawn
services, delivery and paper-shredding services.
The agency strives to match the needs of the
employer to the strengths of individuals, creating
a mutually beneficial work environment.
The on-campus Training Center at Gatesway
provides a variety of jobs on a contract basis
that allow every person to learn new vocational
skills while earning a paycheck.
Gatesway’s vocational rehabilitation program
is provided to individuals whose immediate
goal is to work independently in the
community. It is funded by the Department of
Rehabilitation Services supporting individuals
to be gainfully employed while building
skills and confidence in their own abilities,
enabling them to become more independent.
Care is taken to secure employment that benefits
both the employer and the person
served. A trained Employment Consultant
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