Story by AAH, Shelley Muzny; Pictures by Heather Hawk and AAH, Shelley Muzny
Heather Hawk was born and raised in Lacey, Ok, by Gary Hawk and Peggy Thomas. She was the oldest of three children (Michael and Cody). Heather later in life was blessed with a stepmother Candy Hawk along with step sister and step brother (Tyrnie and Austin). Much of Heather’s childhood was spent at her Grandpa Donovan and Grandma Dorothy’s house. They had a dairy farm, Heather milked cows and weaned calves. When not out in the barn milking or at school, Heather was learning from Grandma Dorothy how to make cakes. Let’s stop here and go back to learn how Dorothy started making cakes. Her cakes were not a family recipe. Dorothy had gone to an art painting class at the Lacey Community Building and from there she started decorating cakes with Pauline Kelly. Now fast forward to Heather in Middle School, 7th grade Grandma Dorothy trusted her to make her own cakes. Heather practiced decorating with icing on her hand and vanilla wafers. When Heather first started decorating cakes she would just do the borders. Over 2,000 plus cakes later, Heather is one of the most talented cake decorators around.Heather has made cakes ranging from weddings,Birthdays or any type of celebration. Heather said a lot has changed since her grandma was making cakes, now there’s the internet. She loves the customers that were with her grandma and continues to buy “Dorothy Cakes” from her. Heather continues to use Dorothy’s mixer and has a picture of them together in her kitchen. Heather stated “the picture is sitting in the kitchen so she can watch over me, when I get frustrated with a cake I ask her- okay grandma how can I do this?” Heather’s favorite thing about making cakes is keeping her grandma’s legacy alive and carrying on the family tradition. Following in my grandma’s footsteps, makes me think of her a lot. Dorothy told Heather regarding making the cakes “Once you start, you can’t stop”.
Heather graduated Hennessey High School in 1998. After graduation she attended NWOSU and obtained a bachelors in Business. Heather’s senior year in high school she had her first seizure, she was 17 years old. From that point on for the next 20 plus years Heather was going to battle the diagnosis of Epilepsy. With every doctor she was seen by, it was medication after medication. Finally with Heather’s persistence and courage she insisted on another doctor. They sent her to OU Medical. Her first surgery (2021) was laser surgery and was not successful. Heather did not let this discourage her. A second surgery was performed to implant electrodes. In August 2022, at 42 years old she had the electrodes removed and they operated on her brain to remove the spot causing the seizures. Heather has been seizure free for two years now! Advice Heather would give is to dream big and never give up. This comes from her seizure diagnosis. If she had given up, thought well this is how my life is going to be … her life would look a lot different. But that’s not who Heather is, she is strong, courageous, persistent and kind to name a few things. Heather continues to live in Lacey with Harold Barnes, and she has three grown children.
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