Kathy Longhat

Reverend Katherine Ann Waters Longhat, affectionately known as Kathy, was born on August 12, 1956 in Oklahoma City, OK to Lindy B. Waters, Sr. and Vena Joyce Tsoodle Waters. She was married to Mickey Longhat on February 4th, 1995, who preceded her in death on July 31st, 2010.


Her early years, until the age of 8, were spent living in Norman, OK. When her father surrendered to the ministry in 1964, her family moved to Bristow, OK where she attended Bristow Public Schools for one year. In the summer of 1965, her father's ministry moved them to Dewey, OK where she became a Dewey Bulldogger for the following four years until the move to Ponca City, OK in 1969. While in Ponca City, Kathy attended West Jr. High for two years where she honed her skill in tennis and excelled. During this time, she was active in the youth group of the Ponca Indian United Methodist Church. In 1971, her family moved to Dallas, TX where she attended Sunset High School. While at Sunset, Kathy was involved in different service clubs and was a member of the girls tennis team. She was inducted into the National Honor Society and graduated high school with honors in 1974. As a member of the Dallas Indian United Methodist Church, she became the youngest lay person in the Oklahoma Indian Mission Conference to be certified as a lay leader at the age of sixteen. Thus began her journey towards the ministry.


Kathy attended Mountain View Jr. College in Dallas, TX, Oklahoma City University from 1976 to 1979, and then completed her Bachelors degree in 2001 from the University of Oklahoma majoring in the Native American Studies program. While she was attending Oklahoma City University, Kathy represented the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference United Methodist Women for four years as a representative at the national level of the General Board of Global Ministries, New York City, NY.


In August of 1974, Kathy was a part of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference Youth Choir that toured the Alabama-West Florida. A life experience that she carried close to her heart.


In 2001, she moved to Claremont, CA with her family to attend the Claremont School of Theology. While studying towards her degree, she pastored the Claremont Indian United Methodist Church. In the spring of 2005, she graduated with her Masters of Divinity in Theology.


In the spring of 2006, she returned home to Oklahoma where she was given the assignment from the United Methodist Church to be the Wesley Foundation Campus Minister for Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK. During this time in her ministry, it brought about a change as she felt led to join the American Baptist Church. From 2008 to 2011, she served as the pastor for the Rainy Mountain Kiowa Indian Baptist Church in Mountain View, OK, the church she attended as a child with her grandparents who were members there. Shortly after the passing of her husband Mickey in July of 2010, she left the Rainy Mountain church to focus on her health and her family.


In the spring of 2011, she returned to the pulpit and became the interim pastor for the Watonga Indian Baptist Church in Watonga, OK. From 2012 through the fall semester of 2014, she served as the Director of Christian Education at Bacone College in Muskogee, OK, all the while continuing to serve and minister to the Watonga congregation. At the time of her passing, she was employed by Norman Public Schools as the assistant to the Indian Education Director.


Kathy was a member of the Oklahoma Indian Baptist Association, serving as the president up to the day that the Lord called her home. She served two terms on the Board of International Ministries of the American Baptist Church and was a member of the Western Region Office of the American Baptist Central Region. She also was the Mission Liaison for Native American Intercultural Ministries/Home Mission Society.


Kathy's talents were many. She enjoyed playing the piano, cheering on her boys, grandchildren, and family in their sports endeavors, singing with her sisters, making frybread, and rooting for OU football and OSU basketball. When it came to participating in sports, she competed in Native Women's softball, bowling, and basketball until, in her words, "my knees could take no more." Most of all, she loved sharing her beautiful resounding voice. She was infamous for her powerful lulus.


Her four boys and nine grandchildren brought joy to her life. When she spoke of their activities and adventures, it brought a smile and a smirk, that only a mother can understand. The road was not always easy, yet she always conveyed to them that believing in the Lord Jesus Christ is their ticket to seeing her again.


Kathy was bold in her faith, sharing the Gospel wherever she went, unafraid to be a witness to God's amazing grace. Her testimony was that "she was called by God, not by man."


She is survived by her four sons, Bill "BJ" Thomas of Norman, OK, Lynsey Thomas and wife Sammy Jo of Durant, OK, Nathan Thomas of McAlester, OK, and Jeremy Longhat of the home, grandchildren Lilly, Mikha, Mya, Romeo, Emery, Nehemiah, Moses, London, and Eniko, two brothers, Rick Waters and wife Deana of Louisville, CO, and Lindy B. Waters, Jr. and wife Lisa of Norman, OK, two sisters, Melinda Waters Miles of Norman, OK, and Melissa Waters Norman of Fort Worth, TX, as well as numerous aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and extended family. She is preceded in death by her husband, Mickey Longhat, parents, Rev. Lindy B. Waters, Sr. and Vena Joyce Tsoodle Waters, maternal grandparents, Rev. Duke Tsoodle, Sr. and Dora Autaubo Tsoodle, and paternal grandparents, Rosella Girty Bosin and Rev. John A. Bosin, Sr., and Richard Waters.

Services under the direction of Ray & Martha's Funeral Home, Carnegie, Oklahoma