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Nate Waters, who is well known in the local nonprofit community, achieves a dream of his own — moving into his own house.
For the last eight years, Waters has been living in a nursing home. Thanks to a generous friend, he now calls this south Tulsa gated community home.
Nate Waters is a familiar face around Tulsa. Heavily involved with local nonprofits, Waters is a firm believer in giving rather than receiving. Meeting him, you will quickly see his positive outlook on life and compassionate heart, and you might not realize the heartbreaking hardships he has overcome.
After a fight with his mother’s boyfriend when Waters was 19, Waters found himself with a broken neck and a C4 incomplete spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed (he is a quadriplegic). But Waters is not one to let an obstacle stop him. After all, his motto is to never settle for less.
After the accident, Waters moved into a nursing home. He says he never intended to remain in the system but planned to improve his condition, gain more independence and become financially independent. Even with a job as an accounting assistant at Williams, he would have needed 10 years to be financially ready to move out of the home. But thanks to a friend, one of his dreams is becoming a reality.
Waters met Harold Hamm, CEO and owner of Continental Resources, an energy company based in Enid, three years ago through a mutual friend whose name has graced a few headlines, T. Boone Pickens.
“(Hamm) knew about the struggles that I was dealing with as far as trying to get off of welfare and trying to get out of the nursing home and be self-sufficient,” Waters says. “I contacted politicians, CEOs and I talked to anyone who would listen as far as changing the policies where an individual who is disabled and living in a nursing home can accumulate wealth to move out of the nursing home. So that it’s not like a dead end. I wasn’t getting anything changed.”
When he met Hamm, a change did occur in Waters’ life. In 2009 Hamm offered to buy Waters a house and to help with nursing expenses.
“Harold basically stated to me, ‘Nate, I believe in you and I want to help you,’” Waters says. “Right off the bat, I thought he was joking, and I shouldn’t have thought that. I wasn’t used to someone saying, ‘Hey, Nate, I’m going to buy you a house and help you get established.’”
For about three weeks, Waters says he was emotionally paralyzed at the suggestion. Then Hamm’s assistant called to ask whether he had found a house.
“Right there I knew he was serious,” he says. “It was a miracle.”
Waters compares this moment to a bird being freed from a cage.
“He took the bars off the cage for me,” he says. “It gives me more of an incentive to give back on a grander scale. I’m very happy that Harold trusted and believed in me enough to allow me to pursue my dreams.”
He moves into his new home this summer. Hamm’s generous gift will lead to other opportunities for Waters, including saving money to buy a van, which will help him share his motivating message with others.
Waters quickly credits his friends for helping make his journey less complicated. But considering his résumé (see below), he has much to do with his own success as well.
“Being alive is not good enough,” Waters says. “You got to do more. I want to go out there with the wind behind my back and fly.”
Waters’ résumé
Job: Accounting assistant at Williams; he also teaches an online entrepreneurship class at Oklahoma State University.
Volunteer activities: The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges, The Bridges Foundation, Parent Child Center of Tulsa, H.O.P.E. Testing (to name only a few)
Honors:
Leadership Tulsa, Class 43
2007 Tulsa’s 20 New Leaders, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
2009 Live United Spirit Award, Tulsa Area United Way
