Obit of Males, Lorena Gladys Savage - Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Submitted by: Wanda Purcell 26 Jan 2006 Return to Roger Mills County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/rogermills/rogermills.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.html ========================================================================== ::Cheyenne Cemetery--Cheyenne OK Surnames: Males, Savage, Hiatt, Conally Originally posted at: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/5YB.2ACE/6672 Lorena Gladys Savage Males was born to E.B. and Mary Savage on Mary's and the nation's birthday July 4, 1909, in Forgan, Oklahoma. She passed away in her home in Cheyenne, Oklahoma on January 3, 2006, at the age of 96. Lorena was the eldest of seven children, eight counting a cousin who grew up in the Savage home in Hammon, Oklahoma. Besides this numerous host, the Savage home also included, Lorena's paternal grandfather, Jesse J. "Poco" Mabry, one of the great speakers and readers and entertainers of Lorena's childhood world. The home was a hub of orderly activity, complete with a blackboard in the living room for planning household chores as well as duties on the various Savage farms and at the family mercantile on main street Hammon. Amond the things expected of all the children was regular piano practice. A block away was the home of Lorens'a paternal grandmother Eva Hiatt Savage Conley, where the actual practice took place. "Munner" Conley was also a devoted gardener. Lorenaa found her expression through the paino, through the spoken and written word and through her gardening. After an abortive start at Kidd- Key College, in Sherman, Texas she got a degree in elementary teaching and music from Southwestern State College in Weatherford, Oklahoma, where her mother had been the first co-ed, went on to teach school and give private lessons in piano for decades. Her students are legion and Lorena always considered them to be among the greatest blessings in her life. Learning and teaching were important in the Savage household and these two activities were central for Lorena, in equal measurer. Like her mother and all the other females in the household Lorena felt called to be a teacher. She also continued to take weekly piano lessons at Southwestern until the last few years of her life. She used her talents in music and literature to create "programs" where she would recite pieces of writing she had chose with her own discerting eye and accompany herself on the piano. She had a developed sense of dialog with her audience and didn't really distinguish between teaching and entertaining. Lorena started her teaching career in Strong City, where she met Lowell Males who worked at the First State Bank. He was the star to which Lorena hitched her wagon. Lorena and Lowell eloped and were married in Cheyenne on June 22, 1928. They were latet united in a proper ceremony on 12th of July of that year, a week after Lorena's 19th birthday. Lowell, or "Red" as he came to be called, became managing officer of the Strong City bank in 1931, and when the bank moved to Cheyenne in 1935 he was in charge. For Lorena, it seemed appropriate to follow her father's advice to "follow your husband" For decades, as a teacher, she advised young girls to find a promising young man on his way up. Toward the end of her life she amended this view. She encouraged young women to get themselves a life and a career of their own. This is one small example of Lorena's ongoing reflection and taking it of new knowledge. Thanks to the long lives and positions as local banker and teacher, Red and lorena Males became institutions in western Oklahoma. They were both inducted into the Western Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Red in 1978 and Lorena in 1985. On the 5th of July, 1984, the couple were given a "Red and Lorena Males Appreciation Day" by the townspeople of Cheyenne including free street dance and the "Lorena G. Males, Festival of the Bands. Lorena's long, successful and happy life with Red ended in 1990 with his death her new life as a saingle woman began. She continued her earlier activities, expanding her artistic endeavors to include writing, and produced scores of short columns for the newspapers of western Oklahoma, reflecting on the life and history of this particular corner of the world. She also took up dancing and became a regular at the local dances, where she eventually met her dear friend of later life Jack Knight of Elk City. Jack and Lorena became a metaphor for the possibilites of living life to the full. Another devoteadd friend of Lorena's later years was her housekeeper and later care-giver Hazel Maggard. Through Hazel and other dear helpers, Lorena was able to maintain her beloved house and garden and to stay at home until the time of her death. Lorena was preceded in death by her parents, by sister Iris and cousin Mary Nell, her brothers Eugene and Lew, and her grandson Henrik. Lorena is survived by her sisters Glena Belle and Margie and her brother Ted, by two sons, Dr. James L. Males and wife Helle of Edmond, Oklahoma and William L. Males and wife Kerstin of Glava, Sweden. She is also survived by four grandchildren; Mikael Lowewll of Oklahoma and Mickael Meuler, Thomas and Sarah of Sweden, by three great grandchildren; Nadia and Hunter of Oklahoma, and Alice of Sweden, and a host of other relatives and friends. If you wish to remember Lorena, in lieu of flowers, the family suggest donations to her memory to Southwestern State Oklahoma University Alumni Foundation (SWOSU Foundation 100 Campus Drive, Weatherfford, Oklahoma 73096). Services were held Sunday, January 8, 2006 at 2:30 p.m. at the Cheyenne School Auditorium officiated by Rev. Fernando Padilla, Jr. Burial was held at Cheyenne Cemetery, Cheyenne, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma under the direction of Rose Chapel Funeral Services, Cheyenne. Cheyenne Star, Cheyenne, OK 12-Jan-2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Roger Mills Archives http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/rogermills/rogermills.html