OurStory Celebrating 40 Years of Helping the Community Welcome We have always known that the story of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation is best told through our donors and their own stories. It’s their passion, generosity and thoughtfulness that make what we do possible. Since our founding in 1969, we have been fortunate to work with thousands of donors who want to help their community through charitable giving. In this publication we are sharing a selection of donor stories from our first 40 years as a way to illustrate the impact of a single gift on the lives of many. May these stories serve as examples of how future donors can realize their charitable dreams through the Oklahoma City Community Foundation and become part of Our Story. Nancy B. Anthony Executive Director Contents 1969 1 The Nineties 14 John & Eleanor Kirkpatrick John & Susan Frank Jerry Cooper The Seventies 2 Classen ’55 Scholars Award Muriel H. Wright Sally Jo Langston George & Ruth Bozalis Jim & LaVerna Cobb Doug & Peggy Cummings The Shirk Family The New Century 22 Maimee Lee Browne Judge Eugene Mathews Charles & Mary Lou Miles The Eighties 8 John & Joy Reed Belt Curt Schwartz Dean Wild Mary & Spencer Sessions James & Virginia Meade Roberta Eldridge Miller Barth & Linda Bracken Tom & Gladys Seale 1969Our Story John & Eleanor Kirkpatrick: Our Founders Our Story begins in the 1960s when John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick asked attorney Don Ellison to investigate the benefits of a community foundation for Oklahoma City. A concept that has been around since the early 1900s, community foundations were growing as popular alternatives for charitable giving as new tax laws began putting restrictions on private foundations and individual gifts to charities. The Kirkpatricks, longtime philanthropists, understood the importance of a community entity through which individual donors could support nonprofit organizations and projects. They wanted to provide an entity with its own systems of checks and balances over which no one faction could gain control. They also envisioned an organization that would have the flexibility to adapt to changing needs in the community and that would preserve a John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick with attorney Don Ellison. donor’s original intent. For several years, Mr. Ellison and Mr. Kirkpatrick examined the workings of the ability to enlist volunteer manpower and financial country’s most successful and respected community support from a wide variety of the public. foundations and began slowly building the framework There is no question that without the Kirkpatrick of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. family’s vision, leadership and generosity, the Banker Jack Abernathy, a longtime friend of Mr. Oklahoma City Community Foundation would not Kirkpatrick’s and one of the founding Trustees said be the organization it is today. But just as John and of his initial experience on the board: “I didn’t see Eleanor Kirkpatrick had hoped, it is through the how this thing would ever get off the ground. John is gifts of many donors that we are able to make a a very hard person to say no to but he never seemed significant impact on the community and will for to have any doubts whether it would work.” Mr. many years to come. Our Story is but a reflection of Abernathy would go on to say that the early success of the unique and generous donors, organizations and the organization was due to the degree to which donor businesses with whom we have been honored to wishes were honored and also to the Kirkpatricks’ work with since 1969. Our Story: Celebrating 40 Years of Helping the Community | 1 2 | Oklahoma City Community Foundation TheOur Seventies Story Muriel H. Wright: Preserving History Proud of her Choctaw heritage, Muriel H. Wright devoted her life’s work to preserving our state’s American Indian history. Born prior to statehood in Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, Ms. Wright’s mother was a Presbyterian missionary teacher and her father was a notable Choctaw politician and physician. She was educated at Wheaton Seminary in Massachusetts, returned to Oklahoma and completed a teacher education course in 1912 at East Central Normal School, later East Central University in Ada. Ms. Wright taught English and history, and served as principal at various Oklahoma public schools during a time when it was a rarity among women. Preserving her biracial identity played a primary role throughout Ms. Wright’s career. She proudly boasted that her lineage included passengers aboard the Mayflower as well as a principal chief of the Choctaw Nation who is credited with suggesting the name Oklahoma for the state. She was very active in the Choctaw Nation, holding many offices and participating in tribal policymaking. Her passion for Oklahoma history led her to publish various articles and books on the subject, including three textbooks that were used in Oklahoma public schools. In 1923, Ms. Wright began writing for The Chronicles of Oklahoma, the quarterly journal of the Oklahoma Historical Society, and in 1943 took over editorial duties for the publication although she was not officially named editor until 1955. Throughout her writings she emphasized topics such as the influence of Indian history on the state, biographies of notable women and historic preservation. “It is a shame that all the old-timers are not interviewed before they pass on,” said Ms. Wright. “For when they go, much of the history of the Indian Territory and early days in Oklahoma will be lost.” It was her objective to preserve and promote public awareness of the unique history of our state. In 1951, her book “A Guide to the Indian Tribes of Oklahoma” was published and remains a standard reference material today on the subject of American Indian history. Ms. Wright also conducted most of the initial research for the Oklahoma Historical Society’s historic marker program that identifies historical sites across the state. She established a notable career in historical literature at a time when it was almost exclusively dominated by men. Honors she received included the University of Oklahoma’s Distinguished Service Award, an honorary doctorate degree from Oklahoma City University and induction into the Oklahoma Historians Hall of Fame. Upon her retirement in 1972, the Oklahoma Historical Society established the Muriel H. Wright Heritage Fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to support an annual publications award. Following her death in 1975, memorial contributions further funded the endowment ensuring that this great Oklahoman’s legacy will long be remembered. Our Story: Celebrating 40 Years of Helping the Community | 3 The Seventies George & Ruth Bozalis: Supporting Their Community George Bozalis was a quiet, dignified and dedicated doctor. His wife, Ruth Russell Bozalis was an outgoing and gracious woman who loved people and never wanted to miss a function. “My daughter-in-law said it best when she described mother as ‘the ultimate party girl with not enough parties to go to’,” shared Dr. John Bozalis, the couple’s eldest of their three children. “Dad was very bright but very private, a real behind-the-scenes person.” Married for 58 years, the couple believed in giving back to their community. Born in 1910, George Bozalis earned undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Oklahoma. Following post-graduate study in St. Louis, he served as PHOTO COURTESY CENTER SCIENCES PHOTO OU HEALTH the chief resident of the St. Louis Municipal Contagious Dr. George and Ruth Bozalis established an endowment Disease until he joined the Army Medical Corps in 1940. in 1976 to benefit allergy research. During World War II, Col. Bozalis served in the Third Army under Gen. George S. Patton and was awarded five battle stars and a Bronze Star Medal. He returned to Oklahoma City to practice medicine and in 1954 founded the Oklahoma Allergy Clinic. Ruth Russell’s parents made the Oklahoma Land Run in 1889. Born in 1911 in McAlester, Ruth moved with her family to Oklahoma City in 1917 where she attended Classen High School. A graduate of the Oklahoma College for Women, she married George Bozalis in 1937. While George was a reserved individual, Ruth illustrated her interest in the community through involvement in Dr. George and Ruth Bozalis numerous civic and arts organizations, never seeming to tire. “At age 95, she could cover more ground than people my age,” John Bozalis said of his mother. “She had just an amazing level of energy.” Longtime friends of John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick, Dr. and Mrs. Bozalis established an endowment at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in 1976 to benefit allergy research at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. George Bozalis died in 1995 but his work continues at the Oklahoma Allergy Clinic now under the direction of his son, John. Ruth Bozalis died in 2009, the day after her 98th birthday. 4 | Oklahoma City Community Foundation Our Story PHOTO COURTESYPHOTO AMERICA SCOUTS BOY - LAST COUNCIL FRONTIER The Boy Scouts of America - Last Frontier Council is one of several organizations Doug and Peggy Cummings support through their advised fund. Doug & Peggy Cummings: Giving Back to Help Others Oklahoma native Doug Cummings company today along with his two grew up in the oil patch. His father was sons, Brent and Sean. an oil field foreman and during Doug’s In 1974, Mr. and Mrs. Cummings early childhood, his family frequently established an advised fund at the moved from one job site to another Oklahoma City Community Foundation throughout Oklahoma and Kansas. He through which they support a number met his wife, Peggy, after moving to of charitable organizations, including Crescent. They both graduated from the Boy Scouts of America - Last Frontier Crescent High School and attended Council. “Growing up in a small town, the University of Oklahoma, where I never really had the opportunity to Doug received his bachelor’s degree in participate in Boy Scouts,” says Doug.