January 1st often follows a well-worn template: parties, fireworks, and a midnight countdown. And don’t forget the annual flurry of well-meant resolutions to do better in the New Year. But did you know that the first of January is also Global Family Day, which is meant to celebrate unity and peace among the global families of which we are all a part? And if there were an international standing for community-building, Enid would surely be at the very top. Our community is comprised of many different groups, and we have some remarkable networks of families by birth and families found and forged. Some, such as those at Vance Air Force Base, are large. Others, such as those at Brody Electric, are small. And there are countless in between, such as the folks at Enid CrossFit and downtown’s Family Martial Arts.
A Seat at the Table
The hardest part of interviewing longtime Enid residents Brody and Jhona Ronistal was finding them. Tucked away in a building on Enid’s east side, their business, Brody Ronistal Electric, is the very definition of a family-owned operation. Once you step inside, their offices are warm and inviting, and it’s common to hear the laughter of children. Brody and Jhona, better known as “Icky” and “Nona,” explained that the road to their present-day business was long and winding—but ultimately worth it.
A former employee of KC Electric, Brody started the company in 2012. Ever since, they have performed a variety of residential and commercial electrical services for the Enid community. One of their unique specialties is electrical services for food processing. “I’ve done food processing since I started my career 27 years ago,” recalled Brody. They pride themselves on quality workmanship, and they were even recruited to help an Oklahoma business when it expanded and opened operations in North Carolina.
While Brody Electric is a respected presence in the Enid business community, what makes their story special is their family. Married for almost 22 years, Brody and Jhona have solid roots in Oklahoma. They have lived here as long as they can remember, as far back as their great-grandparents, if not farther. Their blended family of 7 children were raised here in Enid, most still live in the area, and many of them have worked or currently work for the business. While the original kids are grown, there are 9 grandchildren (and a handful of bonus grandchildren!) who call Brody and Jhona by “Icky” and “Nona.”
“They say you can’t choose your family,” said Jhona, but her own family proves otherwise, showing that family can come in lots of different ways. “You can keep the ones you were born with, but it doesn’t have to stop there…it’s not traditional at all,” she continued. When their children were growing up, it was important to both Brody and Jhona that their home always be a safe space for any kids who might need it. “No matter where we were at,” Jhona explained, “we were the safe place for a lot of kids.”
The bottom line is that at Icky and Nona’s house, there’s always a seat for everybody, both literally and figuratively. One of the most special expressions of their commitment to family (beside the nursery they built into the business offices) is their home dining table. Made by Brody himself, the table is modular and is actually comprised of 6 smaller tables. Jhona explained, “The idea is when we pass away, each one of our kids gets a set.” Be it now or in the future, nobody gets left out: everyone has a place.
Everyone’s Related
At Vance Air Force Base, people come and go like clockwork regularly. Student pilots graduate every few weeks, and as with all bases, active-duty personnel are only here for a limited amount of time. Nevertheless, people at Vance do what they do at every other military base: become each other’s families away from home. From playgroups to squadron potlucks to welcoming new babies, Vance folks have found many ways to create a supportive environment where families can thrive. Being at Vance has some built-in advantages when it comes to community support. Its ties with the City of Enid are famously strong, as Brooke Throckmorton explained that “the mayor and his wife attend pretty much every graduation on base and every graduation dinner…they’re such a community support.”
Brooke is the wife of Col. Charles Throckmorton IV, commander of the 71st Flying Training Wing at Vance. They have an adult daughter and a son still in high school, and the family has been stationed all over the country. She has seen firsthand the incredible support that military families can give each other. Once when they were stationed at Dover AFB in Delaware, Brooke remembered that “We had a young spouse that was diagnosed with cancer. There were spouses taking her to appointments and just going and sitting with her.” Unfortunately, she passed away, but the memory of seeing “the whole squadron come together and support them through months of being sick definitely sticks with me a lot,” said Brooke.
Near or far, those people bonds stick with you. According to Rachel Estep, president of the Vance Spouses Club, it is difficult when you move to a new location and the first thing you’re asked at school enrollment is “Who is your emergency contact?” But eventually “it all falls into place, and you build those connections and those bonds with other families that are going through the same hardships as you. And over time, that family just grows and grows, and those connections grow.”
Vance has a direct connection with the next group highlighted in this story, Enid CrossFit. It is co-owned by three women, Brittany Thompson, Jenni Dickson, and Geri Veilleux, who was most recently a pilot at Vance, where she was officially known as Major Geri ‘Gerald’ Veilleux. Geri is one of countless Air Force members who have joined Enid CrossFit throughout the years. The gym is incredibly supportive of its Vance people, attending pilots’ final Vance flights and also showing up at the “drop nights” of student pilots (where students find out their next assignment). According to Brittany, “It’s our favorite thing to do—we go to all the drop nights. Our chant when someone drops is ‘Four more years!’” That means they cheer extra hard when a student gets assigned to stay on Vance; it means they can keep coming to CrossFit for another four years!
It’s not all fun and games, though. Like all families, the Enid CrossFit gang supports their own when times are tough. Brittany recounted that last year, someone was diagnosed with cancer. “We had a member donate a quarter of a beef, and everybody bought tickets, and we donated all that money to her.” Happily, that person is now a cancer survivor. There was another member who was less fortunate, and who passed away after having a heart attack outside the gym. “We attended the funeral and did things for the family. And every year we do a tribute workout for him on his birthday,” said Brittany.
Chosen Family
Each woman has a day job, and keeping Enid CrossFit running is a labor of love. In a plain metal building on the feeder road of Van Buren, this group has created something special. Whether you’re taking a morning class with Lamar, who is incredibly friendly and chill, or doing the Bootcamp evening sessions with Brittany, you will feel the energy when you walk in the door. Somehow, they’ve created a unique vibe that combines “We’re here to work!” with “We want to be your friend!” You have perhaps seen online memes that half-jokingly declare that “CrossFit is not a cult.” And they are right: it’s not a cult. It’s a family — or at least, the one in Enid is.
Finally, to show that everyone and everything truly is related, one of Enid CrossFit’s instructors is a gentleman by the name of Justin Deal. Justin is an affable individual who enjoys teaching, good humor, and is always ready to crack a geeky reference (usually Lord of the Rings). Justin also happens to be a black belt in karate, and he is an instructor at downtown Enid’s Family Martial Arts. The studio opened in 2018 and has thrived ever since.
The fact that ‘family’ is in the name is no accident. Owner Alex Evers, a fifth-degree black belt, said that the main reason they used ‘family’ was to truly convey “our values and our culture…our goal is for students to learn life skills while they’re having a good time…It’s not about who’s going to be the next biggest MMA fighter. The skills are important, but so is focus, confidence, discipline, and social skills.”
Like Enid CrossFit, Family Martial Arts is “more than a transaction,” according to Alex. This applies both to staff and clients. As a small business owner, Alex strives to take care of the staff, saying, “I want them to be able to pay for a family. I want them to have a retirement account.” Since only 51.2% of small businesses in the United States offer health insurance, it is truly remarkable that staff at Family Martial Arts are indeed offered both healthcare and retirement options.
At the end of the day, life at Family Martial Arts is about the people who walk through the door. “We’re based on families,” said Alex. That includes welcoming parents and siblings who may wish to try martial arts after seeing Junior enjoying it, but it’s also more. Alex said, “We’ll go to kids’ plays sometimes. We get invites to birthdays. Kids bring us Christmas presents.” And when a kid earns something such as Enid Star Student of the Month, Alex said that “we put that on our Facebook page and say ‘Hey, congratulations!’ It’s all very family oriented.”
When we asked Alex if he could think of one thing that pop culture gets right about martial arts, he did not hesitate to answer. Drawing on his viewing experiences as the father of young children, he said, “One thing…I feel like movies like Kung Fu Panda, Ninja Turtles, and Karate Kid get right is that it’s not about who’s the toughest person. When I watch Kung Fu Panda, they’re talking about character development the whole time.”
The crews at both Family Martial Arts and Enid CrossFit take a great deal of pride in being more than just a place to learn karate or do some burpees. As CrossFit’s Brittany said, “It’s not just a gym, right? You get accountability, you get friendships, and we celebrate marriages and birthdays!” And if all this sounds great to you, but you’re just not into martial arts or box jumps, Enid’s got you covered. Family Martial Arts and Enid CrossFit are just two places of many in town that have created supportive, family-like environments. From other gyms with close-knit members, to church groups, to the dedicated knitting groups at Cozy Corner Knits, there are plenty of options for anyone seeking to get plugged into the community.
By some measures, Enid’s population may appear to be somewhat monolithic; there is a lot of farmland, most people like to eat meat, and everyone and their brother drives a Ford F-150. But the truth is that we are like any other town in the United States. People from every conceivable walk of life live, work, and play here. They are our friends and neighbors: in short, they are us. And at the end of the day, one of the wonderful, incredible, terrific things about Enid is that we are made up of families of all kinds.
