8/2/2019 Matilda Death Jump

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carryin herpack,and thepeopleshe met onthe road.

Matildaspent onenight inHutchinson, andby early af-ternoon thenext day, she waswalking along U.S.50 towardDodge City, where sheplanned to catch a train south

for the winter.The story of Matilda andthe impressionshe lefton thepeople whomet herlastedlonger than herstay inHutchinson. And it will re-mainwith them far longerthan thespan of Matildaslife, whichended in Decem-ber 2010atage29 ina Texascountyjail cell.

She comes upfromtime totime, Smith said of Matilda.Even people in here (Fraese)wonderhow shes doing andwhere she went.

To that,Brawner added:Shewas so polite, very, verypolite. Andso well-man-

nered.***

Matildawas really PatullaWilliams, originally of Mis-soula, Mont.

A story written by Missou-lianreporter Chelsi Moyre-vealed Matildas true namewhen it chronicled Williamsdeath,which occurred Dec.11, 2010, in theUvaldeCountyJail. Williams was arrestedon outstanding warrantswhen U.S. BorderPatrolagents found herillegallyrid-ing a freighttrain.

According to theMissou-lian, Williams wasfoundwith

a televisioncord wrappedaroundher neck. Familymembers quotedin the Mis-soulianstorybelieve thatWilliams wastrying to find away out of jail usinga falsesuicide attemptas a way toearn admittance to a hospital.The jail staff, however, failedto regularly check up onWilliams, according to theTexas Commissionon JailStandards, which cited jail of-ficials forthat failure.

***Williamswas born toa

woman diagnosed with schiz-ophrenia,who alsoused ahost of aliases, The Missou-

lianreported. Herreal namewasMarinaMartin, andsheforfeited custody of herfourchildren, including 3-year-oldPatulla, in 1982.

From there,the childrenwereplacedin a foster homein Turah,Mont.The father, alocal minister named JamesHoppe, sexually abusedyoungPatulla until thechil-drenwereremoved from thehome in 1994, theMissoulianstorynoted.

Williams was13 at thetime.

Whatthat girl had togothrough wassomethingno

person should ever have to gothrough, said Kathy Farnes,whowith herhusband, Bob,later provided a home toWilliams andher sisters.

We justfigured that with asafehome,the kids would dofine, BobFarnes said.

Hoppe later pleaded guiltyto felony sexualassault andwas sentenced to probation,according to the Missoulian.

Williams filed a lawsuit inwhich sheclaimed to have re-peatedly told socialworkersabout theabuse. Theagencyreached a settlement withWilliams for an undisclosedamount, according to theMis-

soulian.Later, Williams was diag-

nosed with post-traumaticstressdisorder and disassoci-atedisorder while at a Yellow-stone County, Mont.,treatment facility, the Missou-lianreported. She ranawayfromthe facilitywith a sexof-fender, who rapedher.

At 18, Williams releasedherself froma Colorado treat-mentcenterand married amannamed Mike Moore. Hewas20 years older thanWilliams,and family mem-berstold theMissoulian hewasa monster whophysi-

cally and emotionally abusedher.Mooretaught Williams

howto catch freighttrains,the Missoulian reported.

Eventuallyshe leftMooreandmarrieda SanAntoniopolice officer. Theyhad ababytogether, the Missoulianreported, andmoved to afarm inNebraska. Itwas oneof thetimes Williams settleddown andliveda somewhatnormal life, herfamilysaid.

She sometimes modeledsemi-professionally, but othertimesshe left for the safetyandsecurity that shefound ina liferidingtrains.

KathyFarnes says nowthat Williamsstory hasemerged andthe scope of herabuse hasbecomemoreknown,peoplehavecome for-ward to confessthat they ei-ther knew or suspected that

theabusehad occurred.If one of those people had

steppedup, lifefor all of thesekids couldve been better,Farnes said. Peopleneed totake that stand.If we seesomeone kicking a dog,werereal quick to call thehumanesociety. Butif its a kid,wedont want to get involved.

***MaryRuth and Wade

Greenwood, along with theirdaughter, MarigailThomas,

metMatildaat a cornerstore in Hugoton after TheNews story lastNovemberabout Williams stop inHutchinson.

Afterward,they posted acomment on hutchnews.comabouttheir meeting.

Our family, Wade, Mari-gailand MaryRuth,tookMatilda, Ashes andthe gearto Guymon (Okla.)and High-way 54 on Wednesday the10th(November).We are con-cerned for her and hope wedid enough for herandthatshe is onher way south be-forethe bad weather.

MaryRuth said Williams

hadtakenrefugein a churchentrywaywhen thepastorfound herwhile he waschecking thedoors. He tookherto theFlamingo Motel,andthe Greenwoods latersaw herin front of a conven-ience store.

We talkedwith her, andshe said she was trying togetto Texas, MaryRuth said lastweek. We toldher wed meether at1 p.m. and takeher toGuymon.

Williams was veryconver-sant,MaryRuth said, worenice jewelryand seemed edu-cated.They talkedon theride

to Guymon,with Williamsand MaryRuthsdaughterriding in the backof the cab,andAshes riding up front.

MaryRuth said she wasdrawn to thewomanalmostimmediately.

I felta connectionwithher, the 84-year-oldsaid. Iguessits justsortof a soulthing.

The Greenwoods wereheartbroken last week,MaryRuth said, when toldaboutWilliams death.

She seemed like suchalost little soul, MaryRuthsaid. Wecertainly wonderedabout her.

The Greenwoods werentthefirst drawn to Williams.

Last April,documentaryfilmmaker Martin TuckerpassedWilliams whilewalk-ingdown thestreetin Win-ston-Salem, N.C.

The initialmeeting wasbrief a quick glance and asmile. Thelight changedandboth Tucker and Williamscontinued walking in oppo-site directions.

There was somethingabout the youngwoman,though, that Tucker couldntshake from hismind.

Shewas going oneway,

and I was going the other,hesaidlastweek. She had anenormous smile, andsome-thing told me thatshe had astory.

He turned aroundandfound herthree blockslater,sittingundera tree, pouringoutsome water forAshes.She told him her namewasPatty.

Heasked if hecould meether the nextdaywithhis filmequipment andspend a littletime with her. Shemet himright ontime, and the twospent four hourstogether,talking about hertravels andher life asa hobo.

Shewas friendly, openandcharming, Tucker said. Itseemed like shewas happywith her life.

Their timetogether result-ed in a 22-minute documen-taryaboutWilliams life:Patty This isMy Normal.Themovie screened late lastyearat a local film festival toa sold-out crowd.

Tucker said hesworkingonturningthefilmintoa full-length documentary, whichwill includeadditional storiesof Williams life, as well asscenes from Missoulaandpossibly Texas.

I wanted tofollowup withher, Tuckersaid. I wantedtoshow herriding a train andpitching hertent. Whenweparted ways, I felt like I hadmetthis genuine hobo whowas living sofar out of whatwe know as comfortable.Iwasenamoredwith her, justwho she was asa person.

Tuckersaid he wants thefilmto serve as a celebrationof a woman who was dealtabadhand during herchild-hood,who struggledagainstincomprehensible pain andrecreatedherself as avagabond.

Sheseemedto have made

a consciousdecision to livethatway, Tucker said. Andyou find that you keepcom-paringyourself to her.

***The people who met

Williams duringher travels

saw boththe truth and the fic-tion that washer life.

Thetale of being a Gypsy,whose momtaught herto sur-vive on thestreets, wasfic-

tion. Thestories aboutpreferringthe woodsto thecity, of hunting forher food,appreciating the small thingsin lifeand of catching trainsacrossthe country were alltrue.

Perhaps most importantly,hersmile,gratitude andspir-itwere all real.

She loved the simplethings, she learned to appre-ciatethat, Williams oldersister, Mylantha Williams,said. She wasnt necessarilyhomeless; shechose this path.It was her therapy.

Williams fostermother,KathyFarnes, said she didnt

think Williams had a meanbone in herbody.

Thereare some peopleyou meetand say theyhaveanold soul, she said.Iwould describeher as havinga childssoul there was aninnocence that she alwayshad.

Thereasons forthe storiesWilliams created, however,might never be fully under-stood.Both MylanthaWilliams and Kathy Farnessay that it couldve beenaway for herto escape thepainful memoriesof herchildhood oras a way to

control whathad previouslybeen an uncontrollable life.She hada lotof problems,

but noneof itwas her doing.KathyFarnes said. Shewasa really neatgal,and itwouldve beenneat to seewhat she couldve done if shehada better chance.

Mylantha Williams andKathyFarnes said thememo-riesof Williamspast some-times emerged,and everyoneunderstoodthat sheneededtime with only herself.

It wasdifficult forWilliamsfamilyto know thatshe wastraveling alone,with-outa connectionto anyonefromher past.From time totime, shed call from a payphone and for a whileshehad a cell phone,until she

lostit.A lotof this train stuffwould stress me out, Mylan-thasaid. Shewas in danger. She had talkedabout buy-ing a house, orat leastkeep-ingher stuff here. Butshedidntfeel comfortablestay-ing inone placefor verylong.

BobFarnes said he could-ntunderstand some ofWilliamsdecisions in herlife, butthat he also couldntunderstand the pain Williamshad endured.

Abusedoes strange thingsto people, he said. Shehadtocomeup withsomewayto

cope with thethingsthat hadbeendone to her.

She lived quitea life for a29-year-old.

***When choosing clothes for

Williams funeral service, herfamilypurchased theirclothes at a Goodwill store.

Thats what shewoulddo, Mylantha said. Itwas atribute to her.

Williams husband pickedup herbelongingsfrom theUvalde CountyJail, andAsh-es now lives in Louisvillewith Williams younger sister,Toscha. With five children in

thehome,Ashes now enjoysbeing thecenterof thefami-lysattention, Mylantha said.

***There wasmore to Patulla

Williams than the memoriesof her childhood.

Shewas a beautifulwoman, whocouldspend a

month onthe roadand thenclean upwellenoughfor amodeling photo shoot.Shewas anartist, witha knackfordrawing.She wrote poetryand couldpick upnew skillswith ease.

She had a circle of peoplewholoved her, andpeoplesheloved in return.

Shesmiled atnearly every-one she met and had a way ofmakingthose she talkedwithfeelimportantand valued.

Despitehaving everyrea-sonto be distrustful andan-gry, she trustedmost peopleandreadily offeredher kind-ness.

She wasnt panhandling.Shed just be there trying tofigure out how topayforsomething andpeoplewouldcomeup toher and offerto

pay, Mylantha said. Allthese people helped her, andmaybeby doing thisshe wasable tosee the goodin theworld.

That is onelesson KathyFarnes hopes comes from thestoryof Patulla Williams life.

I wantpeople toknow thatwhenyousee someone onthestreets, notliving thelife youthinkis normal, you need tothinkof them asa person,not something onthe road.

Theresa story behind eachperson.Were so critical today,

and itseasyto becritical you canshut yourself off. Imglad peopletook the timetotalkwith her, andhelp her. Itdoesnthurt to take thatminuteand smile andreachoutto someone.

FROM PAGE ONEThe Hutchinson News Sunday, February 20, 2011 A3

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