Mike and Julia Mason inducted into Mustang Hall of Fame

By Jacob Sturm
[email protected]

When the names Mike and Julia Mason are heard around Mustang, a long list of community
engagements and involvements, and lives positively impacted from their work shortly follows.

Now, that same community had the pleasure of recognizing the ongoing contributions with the
Mason’s inductions into Mustang’s Hall of Fame through an announcement made during
Mustang’s Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet, which took place April 24 at the Venue
near The Bridge Church.

“I had an inkling something was up because Mike (McGarry) had asked me about two months
ago about some of the things Julia and I had done,” Mike Mason said. “It made me reflect and
realize that, in the time we had moved here, we’d been involved in a lot of things.”

Mike and Julia moved to Mustang when Mike was still employed at Putnam City Original while
attending the Methodist Church. He got a call from MPS about possibly applying at Mustang
High School, and started in the Fall of 1995.

Mike has worked alongside the likes of Mike McGarry and Vickie Bailey as coaches for Mustang
girl’s soccer for 19 years in the past, including coaching Mustang Cross Country to five state
championships alongside McGarry, along with working as the long-time starter for the
Stampede Run during Mustang’s annual Western Days festivities.

As Mike coached, Julia would run the concession stands and make sure the prices were
affordable for the visiting team. Mike also admitted to always getting good referees for their
games thanks in large part to Julia’s efforts.

“We would make some homemade treats,” Julia Mason said. “We kept it under wraps until (we
realized) ‘oh, you’re the referee. You can have some of these.’”

That includes famous brownies, which were made every time the girls cross country or soccer
teams won a game.

“I’ve been very fortunate to get to be associated with some outstanding athletes, outstanding
teachers,” Mike Mason said.

The Mason’s have also been involved with the Kiwanis Club in some capacity every year, and
have worked with a group called the Gleaners who deliver large amounts of potatoes to the
Kiwanis to pass out from a Methodist Church out of town.

Julia also makes all kinds of jams and jellies mainly out of their own grown food from their
garden, along with serving on a baking team for the Yukon Czech Festival where a slew of
Kolaché is made.

The community involvement also spans into the school district, where both of the Mason’s sons
attended as they were growing up. That connections lasted, as Mike remained involved with
the schools and continues to substitute at MPS.

Mike and Julia currently attend Crossroads Mustang, and worked with a group downtown
called Skyline Urban Ministry. They also sponsored a dinner for a service at church after being
invited and hooked into the Skyline concept, which required 14 casserole’s and multiple big jugs
of Gatorade or Kool-Aid, and enough people to help serve on a Saturday afternoon and
evening.

“It was a big part of our life for a long time,” Mike Mason said. “And my sons grew up with that
mentality, and seeing that being done.”

That priority also was shown even when sports conflicts came up, with the Mason’s making a
point to always have at least one of themselves and one of their sons attend.

Mike ran for State Senate at one point, and while he did not win he has continued to provide
feedback from the community and education sides of the discussion. Ask the Mason’s and
they’d tell you they have been blessed.

“This is a good community to grow up in, and I hope people that move here will want to get
involved with the civic community, and there’s a number of different churches around here,”
Mike Mason said. “You can find somewhere to fit in.”

“I have always considered it very important to live, work, and be part of the community,” Julia
Mason said. “Wherever you live, then you need to be a part of that community in as many ways
as possible.”

With Mustang’s Hall of Fame officially inducting the Mason’s, the passion for the community as
a whole did not get overlooked.