Volume 11 , Issue 22

1937 - Eleanor Roosevelt Visits Oklahoma

According to a news article dated March 11, 1937, on the front page of The Oklahoman, an Alva City group greeted Mrs. Roosevelt as she talks at Alva, Oklahoma.

Hostesses selected for the City's Festivities and assisting Mrs. Hugh M. Johnson as general chairman on arrangements were Mrs. W. P. Purnell, Mrs. J. L. Landrum, Mrs. C. E. White, Mrs. James E. Berry, Mrs. Ed Falkenberg, Mrs. Emily Gallamore and Mrs. John Vale.

Those in charge of the decorations were Mrs. Della Killough, Mrs. Homer Hurst, Mrs. Tipp Watts, Mrs. L. E. Ruble, Mrs. J. R. Dale, Mrs. Robin Knight, Mrs. Grace Campbell and Mrs. C. A. Pheian.

Hostesses for the luncheon and in a special reception room at the Biltmore were Mrs. James R. Armstrong, Mrs. Byrdie Chappell, MRs. Katherine Van Leuven, Mrs. Mabel Bassett, Mrs. Reford Bond, Mrs. H. C. Jones, Mrs. Claud Briggs, Mrs. D. E. Rodgers, Mrs. Nate Jackson, Mrs. William Martineau, Mrs. Grace Harris and Mrs. Laura Faye Rogers.

Mrs. Briggs and Mrs. Ben Fitzgerald were in charge of the sale of tickets to the luncheon in the Shrine lobby at both afternoon and night events. The tickets were $1 and sold only to those attending one of the speeches.

Plans took shape rapidly on that March day in 1937 as Mrs. Roosevelt arrived in Oklahoma City by train around 1 p.m. Thursday, en route to Perry, Oklahoma.

The Democratic National Committeeman, Scott Ferris, had talked with Mrs. Roosevelt in Fort Worth Wednesday afternoon and she agreed to come to the platform of her Santa Fe train during its five minute stop in Oklahoma City. She took a bow and said a few words. A committee of local Democratic leaders were on hand to extend official welcome and a bouquet of flowers.

Alva Was Agog ... Mrs. Roosevelt was taken by motor from Perry Thursday afternoon to Alva where an excited population was draped on the streets with bunting and prepared for one of the biggest days in its history. Mrs. Roosevelt made three speeches in Alva on Friday, at 10 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Mrs. Roosevelt's return trip to Oklahoma City Saturday was by motor car. Her Alva hosts brought her as far as El Reno, where she took part in a 10-minute dedication ceremony for the new National Youth Administration Center, the first completed in the state.

Mrs. Roosevelt arrived back in Oklahoma City at 11:15 a.m. with a motorcade of of approximately 10 cars which drove over to meet her as she lead the procession in a deluxe open-top job, in which Mrs. Roosevelt rode with Mrs. Reid and Mrs. J. Frank Martin, wife of the mayor.

When Mrs. Roosevelt returned to Oklahoma City, she was taken for a drive to points of interest before she was taken to the Biltmore hotel. The points of interests included the CCC-built Lincoln Park amphitheater, William Jennings Bryan school for crippled children where the bands were assembled outside and around the Civic Center.

Mrs. Roosevelt visited the Shrine auditorium in Guthrie at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., Saturday and a luncheon at noon Sunday in the Biltmore.

Mrs. Roosevelt left on the Frisco at 4:50 p.m. for Tulsa, where she was to speak Monday. She would fill another engagement at Muskogee Monday, and would speak at Shawnee Wednesday, March 17, 1937, and at Durant, March 18, 1937.

The article also reported, "Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt doesn't know it, but she is going to contribute indirectly to the rehabilitation of Emma Willis. Part of the proceeds of Mrs. Roosevelt's two speeches here Saturday under auspices of the Jeffersonian club will go to complete the business course being given the 19-year-old farm girl who was adopted by the club after she was acquitted of a charge of slaying her father last winter."

Who was this Emma Willis, a farm girl beauty from Eakly, Caddo Co., Oklahoma, who shot her father in the Winter of 1936?
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