Gladys Hartz Tucker

Gladys Mae Hartz Tucker, a resident of Oklahoma City for 60 years, was born March 1, 1911, in La Porte City, Iowa. She loved being an Oklahoman and was also proud and close to her Iowa roots. As a girl growing up in

Iowa, she loved playing the piano and riding her horse, Nunda, for both pleasure and transportation. She graduated valedictorian of her high school class in La Porte City and went on to George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The early death of her mother took her back to Iowa to help care for her father, but she returned to Washington D.C. during World War II. While there, she had a memorable experience helping Eleanor Roosevelt respond to all the correspondence Mrs. Roosevelt received during the war that had overwhelmed her office.

While working with the Civil Service in Washington, she met Lieutenant JG Morrison Graham Tucker who asked her on a rainy Saturday to lunch and a movie. They were married in November of 1944. Not long after, they moved to Caracas, Venezuela, where they lived for five years while Mr. Tucker helped manage farming and ranching interests owned by the Rockefeller family. Daughter Suzanne was born in 1947 and son John was born in 1949.

The family moved to Oklahoma City in 1951. Both Tuckers embraced Oklahoma City enthusiastically and became very involved civically.

Gladys Tucker was chair of the Oklahoma City Horse Show, worked with Mercy Hospital, and sang in the choir at St. Paul’s Cathedral. She served on the boards of the Oklahoma City Art League, Ballet, and Philharmonic. Later, she served on the boards of Will Rogers Bank and First Security Bank. She also served on the advisory board of the Oklahoma City University School of Music. Music was one of her passions, and her great love of opera found expression in frequent pilgrimages to opera houses in New York, Santa Fe, Dallas, and Tulsa. She also loved and admired all animals and frequently hosted tours of the Oklahoma City Zoo, which she

regarded as one of the city’s greatest cultural treasures.

Gladys Tucker will be missed by the many whose lives she touched with her love and kindness. She is survived by her children, Suzanne Tucker and John Graham Tucker; her grandson, Morrison Graham Tucker II; her son-in-law, William Lambert Theile; her daughter-in-law, Carmen Elizabeth Tucker; and her grandson’s Godfather and adopted son “in spirit,” James Owen Mathews.

Services will be held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, 127 NW Seventh Street in Oklahoma City, on Monday, January 30, 2012, at 2:00 PM. Visitation will be from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday at Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper. Anyone wishing to make a contribution in Gladys Tuckers name may make it to the Gladys Tucker Memorial Fund Care of Bank of Oklahoma Trust Division 9520 N. May Ave. Ste. 200, Oklahoma City 73125 or to the Oklahoma City University School of Music.

Arrangements under the direction of Hahn-Cook/Street & Draper Funeral Directors, Oklahoma City, OK.