Column/Opinion
Will we see/feel 100 degrees this weekend? Maybe!
Paoli Schools start August 11 at 8 a.m.
To meet your children’s teachers, come to the school August 9 at 6 p.m.
PAOLI HISTORY #69
Another very active Paoli person was Marie R. Bailey. She was born in 1893 in Indian Territory on a ranch near Ada and moved to Paoli in 1904 with her family to ranches between the Florence Ranches and the Randolph Ranches and the Rodke’s six ranches, west of town.
She may have gone to the first school in our area, the Florence School, on Jack Florence’s Ranch, but was soon ready for a school for older kids. Her folks sent her to Hargrove Girl’s Boarding School in Ardmore, then to Hardin College, Missouri.
Marie married Austin Bailey of Ada in 1912, but he died in 1920, leaving her, at age 30, to raise three young children. She worked for the Chickasaw Nation and several other organizations over the years, including Civic Affairs. She was very active in the Democratic organization and held several salaried positions for them also. She was the post master for the Oklahoma House of Representatives for eight sessions.
She served as the Chairman of the Democratic Central Committee of Pontotoc County five times and several times as the Fourth District Chairman, and was president of each for a few years.
Marie was active in the American Legion Auxiliary and served as president of the local unit two times. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and was Past Matron of District 11. She assisted in getting the veterans organization started in Oklahoma. She served on the Chickasaw Council and helped get Federal HUD Housing started in Oklahoma along with Robert S. Kerr, Carl Albert and the Methodist Church. Marie helped
Marie helped organize the East Central District PTA and served as their first president. She was on the Committee to start SODA (Southern Oklahoma Development Association) in South Central Oklahoma.
She was honored with an invitation to Harry Truman’s Inauguration Ceremony in Washington, D.C. (She brought me a pretty scarf from D.C.!)
Marie was an Oklahoma representative to several national Democrat conventions. In Chicago, they expected her to look like an Oklahoma Indian, so she went out to a store and bought a blanket that looked Indian and wore it to the convention the rest of the time they met there!
She was proud of being able to send all three of her children through East Central University and gave them a good start on successful lives of their own.
Marie also took care of her sister, whose husband died at an early age, and her sister became invalid for the last few years of her life.
Marie Bailey lived in a beautiful house near the home of the Robert S. Kerr family in Ada.
After my father’s mother died young, my dad stayed with Aunt Marie to finish high school in Ada. His first two years of high school were in Pauls Valley where he boarded at a family friend’s home. In 1912, there was no high school at Florence Chapel or Paoli. There was one in Pauls Valley, Ardmore and Horace Mann in Ada.
Bye for now, Pauline
