Obituaries and Death Notices for Tulsa County

OLIVER - Vinita June, 79, wife of Clarence G. Oliver, Jr., long-time Broken Arrow Superintendent of Schools and Dean Emeritus at Oral Roberts University, died late Monday, October 19, 2009, at her home in Broken Arrow after an extended illness. The daughter of Arthur Lee and Alva (Sally) Shirley, Vinita was born in Pauls Valley, OK, on March 10, 1930, and moved with her family to Ada, OK, in 1942, when she was 12 years old. She attended Ada Public Schools, graduated from Ada High School in 1948, and continued her education at East Central College (now East Central University) in Ada, studying elementary education and home economics. She studied classical piano from childhood to college years and was encouraged by instructors to complete study at Julliard School of Music in New York and then pursue a career as a concert pianist. She chose marriage and family instead. Vinita was preceded in death by her parents, Arthur Lee and Alva (Sally) Shirley; two brothers, Jerry Lee Shirley, Mustang, and Charles Ray Shirley, Deming, NM. She is survived by: her husband, Clarence of the home in Broken Arrow; two sons, Paul A. Oliver and his wife, Kathy, of rural Catoosa; Mark G. Oliver and his wife, Shelly, of Tulsa; a daughter, Shirley June Parsons and her husband, Philip, of rural Broken Arrow; and two sisters-in-law, Alice M. Shirley, Deming, NM, and Jane A. Arnold and her husband, Jack, of Austin, TX. Also surviving are seven grandchildren, James Patrik Oliver and his wife, Amanda, Broken Arrow; Shane G. Oliver and Amy, Broken Arrow; Cody M. Oliver, Broken Arrow, a student at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater; Shannon Leigh Martinez and her husband, Stephen Martinez, Catoosa; Ryan Lee Parsons, rural Broken Arrow; John Oliver Parsons, rural Broken Arrow, and Elizabeth June Parsons, rural Broken Arrow and a student at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. Three great-grandchildren, Grady Mitchell Oliver and Ashtyn Rose Oliver, Broken Arrow, and Haven Leigh Martinez, Catoosa and several nieces, nephews and cousins, also are among her survivors. Vinita enjoyed several hobbies, especially music, reading, handcrafting cross-stitch samplers, traveling the beautiful drives throughout Oklahoma, viewing and collecting antiques. She enjoyed meeting people and her ever-present smile always seemed to prompt total strangers to strike up conversations with her and become new acquaintances. Vinita was a gracious lady, wonderful wife, mother, grandmother and great- grandmother-and a friend to many. The family suggests that friends donate in her memory to one of Vinita's favorite charities, either Broken Arrow Neighbors, Inc., 322 West Broadway, Broken Arrow, OK 74012-3817, or the Margaret Hudson Program, Broken Arrow. 751 West Knoxville Street, Broken Arrow, OK 74012-3703. You may sign the online guestbook or leave a memory for the family by going to hayhurstfh.com and clicking online tributes. Hayhurst, 258-9623 Vinita June Oliver

Rolla Clark Alder
Rolla served during the Spanish American war, in Co. K, 2nd MO Inf, and was the first fire chief of the Tulsa, Oklahoma Fire Department.
Although the Tulsa Fire Department was established late in the 1899, they were not organized until June 6, 1900, when R.C. Alder was appointed Fire Chief.
Obituary....
Rolla Clark Alder, Tulsa's first Fire Chief, made his last "Run" on November 22, 1967, at age 90. Engine 4, draped in black and its sirens muted, bore his flag draped casket from the First Baptist Church at Fourth Street and Cincinnati Avenue to Rose Hill Burial Park.
Four Firefighters marched in front of the Engine, and a like number followed. The Engine was escorted by five Firefighters on either side with two in the cab and two riding the tailboard. Forty-eight Firefighters marched as a unit behind that Engine, and Chief Hawkins led the cortege at a slow marching pace.

Public Relations Officer G.B. Carver quoted Chief Alder in the eulogy --
"FIRE DEPARTMENT ACHIEVEMENTS ARE NEVER HERALDED ---- IN THE LINE OF DUTY EXPLAINS EVERYTHING".
His counsel and sage advice will be sorely missed, but he will always hold a special place in the hearts of every Tulsa Firefighter.
Submitted by: Kyle M. Condon

James Ross Cameron
James Ross Camerson, 76, Tulsa, died Monday, May 29. Services were Friday at Tulsa Baptist Temple. Burial rites were in Moore’s Eastlawn Chapel, Memorial Park, Tulsa.
He was born in 1876 in Cassoday, the son of the late Rev. and Mrs. E. Cameron, early Cassoday settlers. He married Beulah Yarberry, who died in 1955. He was retired from Sun-Ray Oil company, and at the time of his death, was a part-time bookkeeper. He was active in the Tulsa Baptist Temple and taught a Sunday School class.
Survivors include: two sons, G. Neal, Inola, Okla., and James O., Tulsa, two daughters, Mrs. Dorothy Tuner, Tulsa and Mrs. Joanne Brubaker, Zion, Ill., and 12 grandchildren. (El Dorado Times, June 5, 1972 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)

Pearl Gardner
Tulsa - Died. Mrs. Pearl Gardner, 38, "biggest woman in the world"; at Tulsa. She weighed 700 pounds, measured 38½ inches from shoulder to shoulder. A special coffin, two feet longer than it was wide, was constructed. [Time Magazine, Monday, May 5, 1924]

JERNIGAN -- Norma Jean, 71, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Saturday, February 14, 2004 at Tulsa, OK. Norma was born on December 26, 1932 at Oklahoma City, OK the daughter of Herbert L. and Myrtle (Woods) Jones, Sr. Norma was a 1951 graduate of Capital Hill High School. She went on to attend Southwestern Assemblies of God University and the University of Oklahoma. The former Miss Norma Jones was married to Duie Jernigan on January 26, 1957 at Oklahoma City, OK. They moved to Tulsa from Springfield, VA in 1979. Norma was a Real Estate Broker and Office Manager for Gordona Duca Realtors. She was a member of Woodlake Assembly of God. Norma enjoyed traveling, family activities, reading and cooking. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Duie Jernigan; daughter, Diana and husband, Dr. Randy Feller, Tulsa, OK; son, Dr. Dan and wife, Dr. Stephanie Jernigan, Atlanta, GA; grandchildren, Laura, Nathan, Christopher and Timothy; sister, Mabel McInnes, Oklahoma City; brother, Herbert L. Jones, Jr., Moore, OK. Service 10 a.m., Wednesday, Woodlake Assembly of God, Tulsa, OK. Family visitation, Tuesday, 6- 8 p.m, Hayhurst Funeral Home, 258-9623.
Obituary printed in The Tulsa World on February 17, 2004 Submitted by Linda Craig

John A. Oliphant
Howard Courant, January 22, 1931
DEATH OF A PIONEER OF OLD BOSTON DAYS
John A. Oliphant, Early Citizen of This County, Later Prominent in Oklahoma, Died Last Saturday
Dispatches tell of the death of John A. Oliphant, prominent citizen and ex-Police Judge of Tulsa, Oklahoma, died the 19th inst., at the age of 83 years. He passed away at a hospital in Los Angeles, after quite a long illness. His home for more than 25 years had been at Tulsa, Oklahoma, but since the death of his wife two or three years ago, he had lived with a daughter most of the time. He is survived by three married daughters. His wife died some time ago and a baby daughter died in the early years of their married life.
Mr. Oliphant was born in Missouri in 1848, served in the Union Army in the Civil War while yet a young boy, came to Kansas in 1870 and was with the Osage Mission party that founded the town of Boston in Old Howard county times in 1871. He studied law and engaged in practice, and at the division of Howard county he located here at Howard City, where in 1880, he married Miss Martha Greer who was a primary teacher in the Howard schools. He took a short law course at Ann Arbor, and continued to practice in Howard till about 1885 when he removed to Pratt, Kansas, later going to Texas. At the first opening of Oklahoma "he made the run" and settled at Guthrie. Later when the strip opened he settled at Perry and was elected to the Territorial legislature and afterward was appointed receiver of the U. S. Land Office at Mangum. In 1904 he moved to Tulsa and made it his permanent home.
Mr. Oliphant prospered and engaged in many activities. He was an independent oil producer, real estate operator, newspaper owner and dabbled in several other lines and accumulated some valuable city properties.
Mr. Oliphant is remembered by many of the pioneers of Howard and Elk county, though it has been at least 45 years since he removed from this city. The burial was announced to be at Tulsa.
[Submitted by L. Morgan]

NEW -- Five Perish in Accidents
By United Press International
A McClain County man was killed in a car-truck collision today and four died in two accidents on Oklahoma highways Monday. The state's 1964 traffic toll rose to 668, compared with 644 a year ago.
The dead:
Daniel Mecley, 24, Ryars.
Ocie C. Holliman, 34, Tulsa
Neva Hulliman, 32, his wife
Debra Hulliman, 2 their daughter
Carl A. Jackson, 54, Muskogee
Mecley was a passenger in a car driven by Joe P. Davis, 28, of Albaquerque, N.M., when it collided with a loaded semi-trailer truck driven by William Story, 40, of Pauls Valley. Davis was critically injured. Story escaped injury. The accident occurred on U.S. 77 just south of Purcell.
The three members of the Holliman family died in a two-car head on collision on S. H. 51 east of Broken Arrow. Their auto collided with a car driven by Verra Boatright, 71, of Tulsa. Mrs. Boatright and Holliman's 4-year-old son, Gregory were critically injured. Holliman was manager of operations for the du Pont Co. in Tulsa.
Jackson was killed when a car in which he was riding stalled on the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks in Fort Gibson and was struck by a train. The driver, Jess Lavour Body, 58, of Muskogee, suffered minor injuries. The train's engineer was Claud Samuel Wofford, 62, of Van Buren, Ark. He was not injured. [Lawton Constitution (Lawton, Oklahoma) October 10, 1964, Submitted by Nancy Piper]

Judge Cook led the band

Back at Guthrie High School, H. Dale Cook gave up football to become drum major, a switch made after he appeared in a class play that scared "the daylights out" of him. "I realized," he later said, "that you can't be a leader sitting in the back of the class. I became a drum major because it forced me to be in front of the band." Cook died last week at 84. Almost to the end, whatever the endeavor — World War II fighter pilot instructor, prosecutor, counsel to a governor, head of a sprawling federal bureaucracy or as a federal judge — Cook always led the band. He never tired of the being a judge, serving on the U.S. District Court here and in Muskogee 33 1/2 years. "Shortly after I came on the bench," a colleague once recalled, "I had lunch with Judge Cook. I had become a bit cynical about the system. That lunch changed my outlook. Here was a federal judge who'd seen everything. But his reason for being on the bench, to make the system work fairly, had not changed. He was as idealistic as some men are in their 20s." Cook handled more than 10,000 cases over his career. They ranged from high-profile prosecutions of public figures such as the late state Sen. Finis Smith, to complex civil litigation; from grisly murder cases such as the Victor Louis Red Eagle trial with its hints of satanic rituals, to a battle over bull semen. He sat en banc with Judges Thomas R. Brett and James O. Ellison on a Department of Justice challenge to the constitutionality of the Tulsa County Jail, and sentenced enough federal felons to fill up a small prison. Drug defendants often withered under his "scourge of humanity" speech, but he also knew when someone deserved a second chance and he believed all defendants should be able to stand before the bar of justice and be treated fairly. The task of sentencing was his least favorite chore. "I always knew what the sentence should be when I was a prosecutor. As a judge, I've never known. If you have a closed mind there's nothing to it. If you weigh and balance it's hard. Once the decision is made and it's an informed decision, I don't worry anymore. Besides, there are a lot more problems tomorrow." In 1971, Cook went to Washington where he administered a $100 million budget for the Social Security Administration's Bureau of Hearings and Appeals, a system he made more responsive to 300,000 to 500,000 claimants. Shortly after he arrived, a bureaucrat asked how he was adjusting. "I said where I come from people use words to communicate. Up here, all you hear are numbers and letters." While he was assured he'd get used to Washington, he never did. "I fought many a battle. I learned a lot about the bureaucracy and I came to realize a lot cannot be changed because of its size." Cook was recommended for a federal judgeship in 1974 by U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon for whom he'd served as legal counsel when Bellmon was governor. He was appointed in January 1975. In 1979 Judge Allen Barrow died and Cook became chief judge of the Northern District of Oklahoma U.S. District Court here. He oversaw operations and juggled hundreds of cases in Tulsa and also Muskogee. "I would read until 2 a.m. and get up at 4 a.m. to read some more," he recalled. Later that year, help arrived with the appointment of three new judges. Even after taking senior status in 1991 he maintained a reduced but steady caseload for the next 17 years. Cook, an intensely private man, missed a good political debate but knew as a judge he could have no politics. He had an unwavering belief that judges were the "mortar that holds together the bricks of democracy." A judge, he often said, is not able to satisfy all parties, and should not "try" to satisfy any. He passed away at a time when the public wants — and too often fails to receive — from its public officials what Cook, the consummate public servant, offered: masterful judgment under pressure, keen intellect, honesty, fairness and, above all, the courage to lead the band.