Cattle auction at Lake Wister around 1953
The Good Doctor of Little Dixie  (aka. The Plan Is Workin')   Project Montgomery  48 minutes can be seen on VIMEO
I knew John and Doris Montgomery when I was a girl.  Doc was our veterinarian. But, I did not know one true thing about what they went through or what their lives were like in that part of Oklahoma—until I went back to find out.
See 48 minute version on VIMEO, MARLEA EVANS "The Plan is Workin'"
Dr. John, Doris, and family, circa 1990's
Doris Montgomery on horse, circa 1952
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John Wilson Montgomery
Honorary Doctorate
Oklahoma State
​University
Note regarding the end of the promo film above: I have removed the documentary from IDA sponsorship and from fundraising. 
News on the documentary to come soon.

My Experience Making This Film

My documentary, the only one: If you've ever thought, I 'd like to tell such and such true story in film, caveat emptor. Trying to make this film was one of the most painful experiences of my life. I wanted to tell it, not because I knew the story of Dr. John Montgomery, our veterinarian, and his family, but because I did not know anything about their lives in Poteau until the year 2000, when I traveled back to ask questions.
Discovering my ignorance was painful.  And, I did not know how to make a documentary. I am late to realize things, late to figure out how to do things or get people to help me tell things, and late to finish things. But Dr. Montgomery taught me to "Never give up." I'm still trying. Help came from Carol Littleton and John Bailey, Ada O. Shaw, who filmed it, Chris Marlon Montgomery and the entire Montgomery family. Thanks especially to Ron Morgan (who put together a 45 minute version that can be found now under my name on vimeo.com, and I worked a short time with young Max Quill, a film student and talented editor. And to  donors, my good friends,  who have already helped me, thank you.....
​Thank you.
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"Across the tracks..."

When John and Doris arrived in Poteau, OK, in 1951, they could not get a room in a motel or the hotel downtown. They could not even sit down after a long trip in any restaurant. Doris was mad, because she had warned him, they could only get a room in a "safe" town, and Poteau was not one of them. They did what many traveling folks had to do in the fifties, they went "across the tracks" to the small black community, where they were taken in by a friendly lady, Mrs. Mabry. She said, "you'd better move on, nobody is going to go to a professional man that looks like you."  Nothing would ever be the same after that night. He succeeded as a veterinarian and in seeing to it that our school integrated in the year 1957. 
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