Pauline Rodke was born on the family Chickasaw Allotment December 2, 1928, and raised in Paoli, Oklahoma, and had been residing in Ada, Oklahoma, with her daughter, Pamela Filipelli, since 2012.
Pauline went to college at OSU, then Oklahoma A&M, followed by the Kansas City Art Institute and School of Design. She studied for more than a year in France for her BFA degree and could speak French into her later years. She was employed as a Fashion Designer and Pattern Maker in Kansas City, Missouri; San Diego, California; and Dallas, Texas for 30 years. She visited 18 countries in Europe and the Caribbean during her lifetime.
Pauline started her family in San Diego, California where she lived from 1956 through 1973. She provided private designing for 10 years while her three girls were growing up. She was active in the PTA, as a Sunday School Teacher, Girl Scout leader and took many groups on camping trips. Some favorite freelance jobs were designing costumes for the Old Globe Theater in San Diego and for Shakespeare in the Park in Dallas. She retired to her Paoli, Oklahoma, family farm and ranch to care for her elder parents in 1997.
For years Pauline wrote newsletters for the Girl Scouts, Fashion newsletters for clothing factories in Dallas, and a weekly column for the Garvin County News Star from 1998 through 2022. She was active in Historical Societies in Paoli, Purcell, Paul’s Valley, the Chickasaw Nation and Oklahoma. Pauline married Orlow F. “Buzz” Garrett on April 28, 1956, in Kansas City, Missouri.
Indian and Oklahoma history became her passions. She helped start the Chickasaw Renewal of traditions and culture, which was based on old Green Corn Festivals, with other Chickasaw elder volunteers at Kullihoma which is now an annual event we know as the Annual Chickasaw Reunion. She loved to share her beading knowledge with the Chickasaw youth at events.
Pauline is predeceased by her parents, Benjamin Paul Rodke and Hazel Murray Rodke Craddock; stepfather, Sam Craddock; brother, Seymour Rodke and former husband, Buzz Garrett.
She is survived by their three daughters, Gabrielle Garrett, Erin Lyles and Pamela Filipelli; three grandchildren, Salvatore Filipelli, Andrea Wakeland and Christopher Wakeland; one great-grandson, Mateo Silva Wakeland; and many cousins.
Pauline’s funeral will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 29, 2022, at Stufflebean-Coffey Funeral Home in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. There will be a graveside service directly following at Paoli Cemetery. Afterwards, a family meal will be hosted by the local Paoli folks at the Paoli Senior Center.
