# .--r-==. '1Oklahoma when my mother Eva Mat­ to, be it animate or inanimate. lagova. a young Russian immigrant, was touring When her car started quickly on cold winter Minne­ America in a Broadway show. sota mornings, she thanked it. She scolded the squir­ She came to where she met my father, rels when they ate the corn in her beautiful and abun­ Reuben F. Larkin, an Oklahoman of Welsh and Indian dant garden, but she fed them, too, in winter. descent. They settled in Miami (Okla.) to raise their Her tired feet and her "good old bed" both were family. rubbed and patted thankfully at the end of a long work­ Mother found life boring without dance, and soon ing day at home. she had a class going on right in the living room of our The good Lord received His words of praise and criti­ home. She was - and is - a vibrant, positive woman cism spoken aloud wherever she might be, because she who gave enthusiastically of her Jove and time and worked bard and she expected Hit? to appreciate that unflinchingly demanded full measure in return. and do the same for her. It was an unquestioned fact that her Russian Indian Her melodious and lyric laughter was infectious. Her daughter would grow up to be a dancer. There were enjoyment triggered ripples of laughter and apprecia­ many times when I rebelled at the discipline of the tion in many an audience, especially when young people classical training which seemed tedious and in direct she loved were performing. conflict with Indian love of freedom. But Mother never No limiting expectations were placed on those she wavered. loved. Her recurring phrase " remember your train­ Ironically, with the development of the techniques ing" ended almost an the letters she wrote to me at which my Russian mother forced on me came the college. To this day I'm not sure of her exact meaning. inner freedom and richness of life that my Indian . But Mother was an appreciator, a hard-working woman ins.tincts craved. For that, Mother, you have my eter­ who enjoyed and expressed her love openly to God and · nal love. all His creatures. Her role model said that I should participate, contrib­ Before and her husband Roman ute, and enjoy. I believe that is what she meant for Jasinski settled in Tulsa to teach ballet and serve as me to do. artistic directors of the national honor company, Tulsa Civic Ballet, she to'Ured South America, Europe, Canada Social worker Florence Beeman is a marriage and and the United States as soloist and ballerina with the family counselor 01td family life educa~or for Family original Ballet Russe. Later she danced leading roles and Children's Service. Along with a reputation for wit with the Batlet Russe de Monte Carlo and with Alexan­ and wisdom in talks on family problem solving, Mrs. dra Danilova 's "Great Moments in Ballet. " It has been Beeman has a husband of 33 years (Bill), three grown said that she jumped and turned higher and stronger children and three grandsons. FLORENCE BEEMAN than any contemporary female dancer. MOSCELYNE LARKIN : Tulsa 1· aders remember

Ohe tlul.su Oribune Nonna Eagleton: WHAT SORT OF The women whose writ­ 1 TEMYO mother rears a daughter ings appear here represent Mother is grown up' THURSDAYI MAY 11, 1978 who becomes a leader? many fields of endeavor: 1 c Answers come from Arts and sciences, sports OR AS LONG as I have known her, m y mother has women who have achieved and politics, business and F been grown up. I mention this because I have known religion. very few people who are conaletently mature. She is positions of influence. humane, restrained, dignlfled. is not self-indulgent - with temper or tears. She £1 never exchanged In response to requests It wasn't easy to confine thoughts of mother to a few clothes, nor did she attempt to ~pal. She was my from The Tulsa Tribune, a mother. I was her daughter. 1'1le 1 onship was clear. number of notable Tulsa hundred words, and sev­ I could depend upon it. Inside: daughters have contri­ eral complained. But most My mother expected my brother a me to be civilized also added a note of appre­ and courteous. She was displeased it was reported buted essays about their to her that I failed to speak to someo on the street. To mothers - childhood me­ ciation for the opportunity this day, I am inclined to s strangers on the More mothers mories and comments re­ to tell about someone very street of any city. special just before My mother is a fully integra person. She does not vealing the character of seek fulfillment in the acti others - even her remembered their mothers. Mother's Day. children. She is pleased but ecstatic by our sue­ cesses, disappointed but not h by our failures. She has District Judge Margaret Lamm that rare ability to " live a t live." She has never Dlxle Woodall, ORl: coach criticized my home or cloth style or tastes. Al- though they diller from he e ows they do aot Dr. Jane Self, Obcoloay reflect upon her. My mother • ~~l of becom- researcher ing a politician. Dr. Linda Nassif, gybecologJst Joniece F1·ank, company Norma Eagleton, recently electfld. toa second term as president Tulsa's fi,w.nce a1 d revenue ccnnmi~Sioner, is active in numerous civic organization&. "Qninarily I do not Phyllis Edmonds, retired involve my family in the public arena, she said. "But executive since my mother is an extraordinary voman, I consider this an excellent opportunittl to pGJI trbute to her." NORMA EAGLETON Anne Bowker, " pro-family" activist Page3C

Dr. Jane Bloodgood: She was one of 1six only children' MY MOTHER and I were Gracie changed and grew into little lady was supported by a extremely congenial al­ the new world that was devel­ mound of linen-covered pil­ though she was Victorian and oping around her with such lows in a modern setting and I Edwardian in .our approach miraculous speed. To us chil­ had just had the last rites of a to life. Note the English dren, more importantly, Christian. How, for us, had terms, yet we lived in a sub­ growing meant "trying." To she obeyed her mother's ad­ urb of Cincinnati, Ohio, in the try and try and try, striving monition? " Gracie you must family home, "Garemcroft" after excellence, striving to continue to grow to the day of at the turn of the century be like our mother who for 26 your death." We were not vic­ when I was born. And when I long years of her widowhood torious. How could anybody was a little girl, my mother strove to be both mother and strive for perfection today? talked to me a great deal father to a brood of six, four No, in today's language what about her mother, tl')e grand­ boys and two girls; "six only Gracie's mother had said mother I never !mew, for she children," as she called us, through her, to us, was not to had died long before I was all as different as night from seek perfection, but fulfill­ even born. day. ment, to simply keep on keep­ "Gracie," (m y l}'lother On the day of her actual ing on. when she was a little girl), deatjl, my mother summoned " Gracie," my .grandmother all her children around her Culminating a lifetime b/ used to say, " you must con­ bed. She spoke to each of us, education and determination, tinue to grow until the day of individually, and gave us her Dr. Jane Bloodgood was or­ your death." And Gracie blessing. It might have been dained Jan. 29 at the age of 78, heard her, for that was what such a scene as occurred in the first and only female she continued to do. "Grow­ the days of Jacob and Re­ Episcopal priest in the state ing" involved change. And becca except that this dainty of Oklahoma.

DR. HARRIET BARCLAY Fannie Hill: special vocabulary••• an abundance of intuition' REMEMBER Mama and always will, for in this age and time. I whatever I am today I owe to Mama and Dr. Harriet Barclay: her good choice of a Father for me. My Mama was great. 1 parents were GREAT. When I became a big girl she painted a Her will often prevailed' Mama has been gone 28 years and it seems lovely picture of a spider- of bow young girls sometimes just yesterday; her guidance and can be fooled and left to alone All she said y MOTHER, May Stewart I did not always agree with my teachings still linger in my mind and heart. was "Keep your dress down," and that was M George, came from a pioneer mother, and her will often prevalled. Mama bad no college degree but an over enough. Mama answered all my questions and family in Wisconsin. She was a pri­ This was the case when she missed abundance of intuition, mother-wit and lrnowl­ shared with me all my joys and sorrows and mary teacher (first grade her favor­ my University of Chicago gradua­ edge of how to live abundantly and get the best never condoned if I was off too far to the left or ite) before marrying and living in tion because every detail was to be out of life as it is given to you. Often I have right. She was of the old school and did not Minneapolis. I grew up as an only perfe.ct for my approaching said to m yself Mama lived before her time for tolerate ugliness or disobedience. It was child, less spoiled than I might have marriage. her teachings fit today as well as then. Mama who taught me to pray long before I been without her rigid but loving My mother lived to the age of 84 She left no stone unturned and told no lies knew the Lord. She told me simply, "You love control which balanced my father's and enjoyed her grandchildren and about anyt]1ing. In no uncertain terms. I al­ your Papa don't you? And he loves you?" This doting leniency. I recall her Sunday many years in Tulsa. Her greatest ways knew that she was right whether I I knew for I loved him dearly and that be prohibition of ice-skating and joys in later life were summers in wanted to agree or not. loved me dearly. Then she said, "You have movies, not frowned upon otherwise, Colorado mountains. Part of her leg­ a Papa in heaven who loves way more, and but too "public" for such days. acy to me was a keen love of nature. IT WAS MAMA ~vho told me about the facts you always can ask Him for anything and The stamina and cheerfulness of Dr. Harriet Barclay is professor of life in such a beautiful and understand­ He will answer and give you what is best for my mother in adversity impress me emeritus of botany a1 d a former able way, for she had no special vocabulary you." ~n retrospect. A financial reverse, chairman of the botany department to put it in above my head. I have really delighted in paying this trib­ due to an unscrupulous business at the . Although. Since I was an only girl she always told me, ute to a Mother who was a living example of partner of my fat~er, was ~~sed for she officially retired at the age of 71 "You must be good, be sweet." And to her that true motherhood. Although she is gone, she. a time by her culmary abthty, and in 1972 after teaching 4S years, she meant be courteous, be kind to all, and love still lives in the lives of her children, and al­ there was a waiting list of would-be continues at TU as consultant on the everybody. Help wherever you can, be honest, ways will. boarders. faculty of natural sciences. Once de­ for e'honesty is the best policy." Take care of My mother's control of fear was scribed as "the indefatigable Dr. yourself, be clean, for " cleanliness is next to Fannie (Mrs. Ben) Hill has spent numerous remarkable. In spite of a near-trag­ Barclay," she still conducts field Godliness." Avoid the appearance of evil, for hours working for passage of the Equ.ol RighQ gedy on Lake Michigan during the trips in Oklahoma. CoLorado and :•a good name b rather to be chosen than Amendment and for the Democratic portfl. Chicago World's Fair, she overcame South America. Her academic Jreat riches." Be satisfied and content with Reared in Plains. Go., her asaociotiml antla her aversion to water sufficiently to honors are many and. in 1976, she what you have; you cannot keep up with the President Carter's familu received notM»Ml permit me freedom at our summer was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall Joneses without covetin~. Do your best at all attention. Mrs. Hill ;. an active member o/ home by a Wisconsin lake. of Fame. fmes. try to make a hundred: 99lf.l will not do nw.ny Tulsa civic and church grou,P4J. ~ t . '