Lyle H Boren and Christina Boren

Above picture in Daily Oklahoma Article to the right.

Publication:The Oklahoman; Date:Nov 8, 2002; Section:Oklahoma; Page Number:5 Boren’s mother dies at 88 Christine M. Boren, the widow of former U.S. Rep. Lyle H. Boren and the mother of University of Oklahoma President David Boren, died Thursday. She was 88. Services are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. Graveside services will follow at Maple Grove Cemetery in Seminole.  The family said Christine Boren was especially pleased with the election Tuesday Christine M. Boren of her grandson, Dan Boren of Seminole, to the state House of Representatives. Christine Boren was a graduate of Oklahoma State University. She taught in Hominy public schools before her marriage to Lyle Boren in 1936. She accompanied her husband to Washington in 1937 as he began 10 years in Congress. She was a new congressional wife with Lady Bird Johnson and Margaret Chase Smith, who later became a U.S. senator. After they returned to Seminole, Christine Boren became active in civic organizations including PTA, Seminole Garden Club and Chapter CL of PEO. She lived in Oklahoma City the past 30 years where she was a member of the Oklahoma City Art League and 20th Century Club. Survivors include her daughter, Susan Boren Dorman and husband, Mark, of Washington, D.C.; her son, David Boren and his wife, Molly Shi Boren of Norman; granddaughter Carrie Christine Boren and grandson Dan Boren. Gifts can be made to the Christine Boren Fund at the OU Foundation or the Lyle H. Boren Guidance Center at St. Gregory’s College in Shawnee Date of Birth: July 13, 1914  Date of Death: November 7, 2002 OKLAHOMA CITY – Educator Christine M. Boren, leader of one of Oklahoma's most prominent families, died in Oklahoma City today at the age of 88 after a struggle with cancer. She was the wife of the late U.S. Congressman Lyle H. Boren; the mother of University of Oklahoma President David Boren, the former Oklahoma Governor and U.S. Senator; and the grandmother of State Representative-elect Dan Boren of Seminole. Services for Mrs. Boren will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, November 11, at St. Luke's United Methodist Church at 15th & Robinson in Oklahoma City. Graveside services will follow at Maple Grove Cemetery in Seminole. Mrs. Boren was a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in elementary education. At OSU, she was the Pi Beta Phi Homecoming Queen. She taught second grade at the Hominy Public Schools before her marriage to Congressman Lyle H. Boren in December of 1936. The Borens were married in the Methodist parsonage in Stillwater by the well-known blind minister Wilmoore Kendall who had been their minister while they were students. Mrs. Boren accompanied her husband to Washington as a young bride in 1937 as he began 10 years of service in Congress. She was a new Congressional wife with Lady Bird Johnson; Margaret Chase Smith, who later became a U.S. Senator; and several other national leaders. She was very active in the Congressional Club, a service organization comprised of Congressional spouses. After her husband completed his service in Congress and returned to Seminole, Christine Boren became active in many civic organizations in Seminole including the PTA, the Seminole Garden Club, Chapter CL of PEO and the First United Methodist Church. She was also active in the Cow Belles, an auxiliary organization of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association, of which her husband was one of the three founders. She made her home in Oklahoma City for the past 30 years where she was a member of St. Luke's United Methodist Church, the Oklahoma City Art League, the 20th Century Club and the Pi Beta Phi Alumni Club of Oklahoma City. She was also active in the Girl Scouts of America and was named "Mother of the Year" by the Oklahoma Girl Scouts. Mrs. Boren was actively involved as a volunteer in the political races of her husband, son and grandson. She was proud of her role as a partner with them in public service. She was especially proud of the election of her grandson last Tuesday. Christine Boren was born in Plattsburg, Missouri, on July 3, 1914. She was the daughter of the late Clifford McKown and Alice Villines McKown. Her father was the postmaster at Maud, Oklahoma, where she grew up. Her grandfather Tom Villines was one of Maud's founders. She met her future husband Lyle H. Boren in Ada while she was a high school student at Horace Mann High School which was affiliated with East Central Oklahoma University. Lyle Boren was a student instructor for East Central at the time. Christine Boren is survived by her daughter Susan Boren Dorman and her husband Mark of Washington, D.C., where Susan Boren is a senior researcher at the Library of Congress; her son David Boren and his wife Molly Shi Boren of Norman; her granddaughter Carrie Christine Boren, a theology student at Oxford University in England; and her grandson State Representative-elect Dan Boren of Seminole. David Boren said of his mother, "I wish that every child in America could have a mother like mine. She was a constant source of strength, encouragement and love to her family. She was always there when we needed her. She brought out the best in everyone who knew her and reached out in kindness to help those around her."  In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the Christine Boren Fund at the University of Oklahoma Foundation or to the Lyle H. Boren Guidance Center at St. Gregory's College in Shawnee. {published in the Seminole Producer November 7 2002}

Lyle H. Boren, (father of David Lyle Boren and grandfather of Daniel Boren), a Representative from Oklahoma; born near Waxahachie, Ellis County, Tex., May 11, 1909; moved to Lawton, Okla., in 1917; attended the public schools; was graduated from the East Central College at Ada, Okla., in 1930 and from Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College at Stillwater; teacher in the schools at Wolf, Okla., 1930-1935; served as a deputy procurement officer of the United States Treasury Department; engaged in agricultural pursuits and also was interested in the mercantile business; author; lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-fifth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1937-January 3, 1947); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1946; resumed former mercantile business and agricultural pursuits; president of a petroleum corporation; representative of the Association of Western Railroads, 1954-1970; assistant to the Insurance Commissioner, State of Oklahoma; was a resident of Oklahoma City, Okla., until his death there on July 2, 1992. -- [Contributed by A. Newell] "The greatest problem in America today is to erase the question in the minds of men, 'What is the government going to do for me?' and replace it with the question, 'What can I do for my country.'" This was said in 1938 by Lyle Hagler Boren, a representative from Oklahoma's Fourth District to the U. S. Congress. Twenty-three years later, President John F. Kennedy burned similar words into the minds of Americans.  Lyle Boren was born May 11, 1910, in Ellis County, Texas. Due to heart problems early in his life, he had to remain relatively inactive until he started school at age seven. He learned quickly, though, and soon caught up with the other children. In 1917 the Boren family moved to Lawton, Oklahoma. Everyone in the large Boren family (nine children in all) had to work to help support the family; Lyle picked cotton and sold newspapers. In 1927, after a brief return to Texas, the family moved to a farm near Choctaw, Oklahoma, in time for Boren to graduate from high school. Lyle Boren attended college at East Central State College in Ada, Oklahoma. Supporting himself by working as an assistant librarian, tax assessor, and book reviewer, he graduated in 1930 with a B.A. in history and government. He started professional life as a teacher but quickly, by age twenty, became a principal in Seminole County. In 1938 Oklahoma A. and M. College conferred on him a master of arts degree. Times were hard in Oklahoma during the early 1930s; depression and drought made life a constant struggle for a vast number of its residents. Boren, wanting to become more involved in helping his state, decided to run for Congress in 1934. Having been involved in the Democratic Party as a student, he was familiar with politics and the challenge of government. The problem he had was his age. He was twenty-four, and the U.S. Constitution states that members of the House of Representatives must be at least twenty-five. Since he did not have a birth certificate to prove otherwise, he entered his birth year as 1909. He did not win that year, but he did when he ran again in 1936, this time being truly old enough to hold office. Appearances made it impossible to change his birth year of record, and in many biographical sources it remains 1909. His first years in Congress were extremely busy. Two high points of his first term were the beginning of his long friendship with Speaker Sam Rayburn and his placement on the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee. During World War II, he chaired this committee's Subcommittee on Newsprint and Brand Names. Among Boren's legislative efforts were cancer research, old-age pensions, the Civil Aeronautics Board, newsprint and paper shortages, consumer product labeling, railroad freight rates, labor strikes, and municipal bonds. Among the issues confronting him during his first year in office was the proposed reorganization of the U.S. Supreme Court, a plan he favored. He generally supported Franklin D. Roosevelt but not all of the president's programs. He attracted national attention for his extreme criticism of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Calling it a "dirty, lying, filthy manuscript," the congressman believed that the book was an insult to farmers and was created by a "twisted, distorted mind." He also lobbied to keep Congressman Vito Marcantonio from getting committee assignments on the grounds that the member of the American Labor Party was too radical. Before Pearl Harbor, Boren opposed American intervention in World War II, believing that war did more harm than good and that the United States did not belong in foreign quarrels. After the attack, he wanted to leave Congress to join the military. Sam Rayburn convinced him to keep his congressional seat. During the war, the congressman voiced opposition to rationing strictures and price controls issued by the Office of Price Administration.  Lyle Boren served in the House of Representatives for five terms. During his campaign for the 1946 primary, several issues proved to be his undoing. That year veterans had great advantages running against incumbents, and Boren received criticism for not joining the armed forces during the war. Another trouble spot was the congressman's relationship with labor. He had strongly opposed wartime strikes and tried to outlaw them. He also had supported the suspension of a limit on the numbers of hours a person could work per day. Finally, he had tried to make it illegal for non-citizens to serve as union officials. In the 1946 campaign, organized labor organized against Boren. He lost his race in the primary to Glen D. Johnson, a youthful war veteran from Okemah.  Boren tried and failed to regain his seat in 1948. He returned to his old district with his wife Christine and children Susan and David, the latter a future Oklahoma governor, U.S. senator, and University of Oklahoma president. Lyle Boren became a cattle rancher and a founding member of the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association. In 1957 he became a lobbyist for the railroads. He retired in 1969 and continued his ranching in Oklahoma. He died in Oklahoma City on July 2, 1992. Ex-Rep. Lyle Boren, Senator's Father, 82 Published: Friday, July 3, 1992 New York Times Former Representative Lyle H. Boren, a five-term Oklahoma congressman whose son, David L. Boren, is a United States Senator, died today at the Baptist Medical Center. He was 82 years old.  The elder Mr. Boren, a Democrat, served in Congress from 1937 to 1947. Senator Boren, a former congressman and Oklahoma governor, is in his third term in the Senate.  When Lyle Boren went to the House of Representatives at age 26, he was the youngest person to serve in that body since Henry Clay.  After leaving Congress Mr. Boren had jobs in the oil industry and as a railroad lobbyist in Washington. He was also an assistant state insurance commissioner in Oklahoma in the 1970's.  He also published poetry and nonfiction.  In addition to Senator Boren, of Seminole, Okla., Mr. Boren is survived by his wife, Christine Boren; a daughter, Susan Boren Dorman of Washington, and two grandchildren.

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Publication: The Oklahoma, July 3, 1992 Front Page Ex-Congressman Lyle Boren, 82, Dies After Illness Lyle H. Boren, Oklahoma congressman during the Great Depression and World War II, and father of U.S. Sen. David L. Boren, died early Thursday at Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City after a lengthy illness.  Boren, 82, who served as 4th District congressman from 1937-1947, had remained active in Oklahoma politics, including his son's campaigns, even after he began using a sheelchair after a stroke in 1984.  Services will be at 1:20 p.m. Monday at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City under the direction of Smith and Kernke funeral home.  Burial will be at Seminole.  Gov. David Walters ordered flags in the state flown at half-staff Monday in honor of the former congressman, praising Boren as a person "who always gave of his time and talent to make hiss community, his state and nation a better place.  He leaves a legacy of love for family, service to Oklahoma and compassion for people of all walks of life. Boren, who came to Oklahoma in a covered wagon at age 7 as the son of tenant farmers, was elected to Congress at age 26, at the time the youngest since Henry Clay.  During his tenure, he developed stron friendships of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, Sam Rayburn and Joe Kennedy.  He regularly played poker with Truman and shopped for cigars with Churchill. Congressman Boren was instrumental in the passage of several landmark pieces of legislation.  He authored the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, which established the first scheduled commercial airline routes.  He co-authored legislation creating the National Institutes of Health and sponsored pioneering "truth in labeling" legislation.  Boren was one of the earliest advocates of entering the war against Nazi Germany.  He also founded the Oklahoma Cattlemen's Association and was an active Boy Scout leader.  He was co-chairman of the committee that organized the first National Boy Scourt Jamboree in 1938. "No one could have had a better role model that I had in my father," his son, Sen. Boren, said.  "By watching him, I learned that public service was an honorable calling.  He believed deeeply in the importance and dignity of all people without regard to their station in life."  Sen. Boren said that as a child he often campaigned with his father, who admonished him to listen to everyonethey met.  "I want you to listen real close," he recalls being instructed.  "There's a lot you can learn from everyone you meet."  Boren was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. Boren was born May 11, 1910, in Waxahachie, Texas.  His family came to Oklahoma in 1917. fording the Red River and spending the first night near Waurika. He graduated at age 19 from Eart Central Oklahoma State University.  He also pursued graduation studies at North-Western University.  Boren was a high school history teacher before being elected to Congress.  In 1936 he married Christine McKown, also an educator.  They have lived in Oklahoma City since 1969. After he was defeated for re-election to Congress in 1946, Boren was a cattle rancher in southeast Oklahoma and later was Washington represntative for the Western Association of Railroads.  He also served as an assistant Oklahoma insurance commissioner until his retirement. In addition to his wife and Sen. Boren, Congressman Boren is survied by a daughter, Susan Boren Dorman of Washington, D.C.' three brothers, J.D. Boren of Fort Worth, Texas, Henry Boren of Ada and Dallas Boren of Holderville; one sister, Mae Boren Axton of Hendersonville, Tenn., and two grandchildren, Carrie Boren and Dan Boren.  The family suggests memorial contributions to the Lyle Boren Child Development Center at St. Gregory's College in Shawnee.

Publication: The Oklahoman Mar. 9, 2006, Section Weather Page 18 In Celebration of Oklahoma Heritage Lyle H. Boren (1910-1992) Picture from printed article Lyle H. Boren was born in Texas, but moved to Oklahoma and graduated from Choctaw High School in 1927.  He attended East Central State College in Ada and, after graduation, briefly taught school.  In 1934, Boren entered the race for the Fourth Congressional District.  Although he was defeated, Boren launched a political career that would carry him to victoryin the general election in November of 1936.  Boren represented Oklahoma's Fourth District in Congress for a decade and spent time with such influencial Americans as Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Lyndon B. Johnson.  He played a major role in the development of commercial aviation as one of the authors of the Civil Aeronautics Act, which started the first commercial routes.  Throughout his political career Boren held true to his democratic beliefs and worked to help the common man.  After leaving Congree in 1947, Boren returned to Oklahoma and became a cattle rancher.  He was one of the original founders of the Oklahoma Cattleman's Association.