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| Dorothy McCormick |
Dorothy McCormick moved into her home on Gary Avenue in 1936 at 7 years old. P. Casey Morgan and I interviewed her about the house, neighborhood, events and her life. As many of her stories were personal and she continued to live independently, it wasn’t possible to share them before now. I’m sharing them now. Dorothy passed away in 2021 and her home belongs to someone new. In this blog post I am paraphrasing and organizing her words for chronology, flow and ease for the reader. However, I have decided to share the recording of the original conversation with her, that took place in her home in October of 2019. (See link at end of the post.) Let’s make sure her 85 years on Gary Avenue isn’t forgotten.
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Dorothy’s parents were William and Phoebe (Moulder) McCormick. The McCormick’s would have been a family of
five, but their first born son died in infancy. Another son, Don was born and then Dorothy came
along in 1929. In 1936 the family was living in Des Moines,
Iowa. William McCormick was the director
for the Continental Baking Company.
(Think Wonder Bread and Hostess Cupcakes.) The job was prestigious, William oversaw a five-state
area. Dorothy recalls he earned $6,000
per year and they lived very well. In fact,
the family was scheduled to move to New York.
Fun Fact: William and Pheobe (pictured above) had the same birthday, March 30th. Later, Don and his wife shared the same
birthday (August 20th). Dorothy never married and would
joke, the reason being she couldn’t find anyone with her
birthday!
Thanksgiving day of 1936 in Des Moines, following the large meal,
William announced he was not feeling well.
Dorothy shared “Mother sent me and my brother to the movies. When we came home the house was locked. A lady across the street came and got
us. Father had died.” William had passed away from a heart attack
at only 39 years of age.
In the aftermath of William’s death, the family moved to Tulsa. Years before, Phoebe and William had met in Tulsa. They both worked at Continental Baking Company at Fifth & Frisco. Most of Phoebe’s family was in Tulsa, her brother co-owned a janitor supply called Moulder Oldem, with Ray Oldem, his Army buddy. (About 3148 E. 11th Street location of current day Jimmy John’s)
The new home was 1219 South Gary Avenue. Phoebe’s brother helped locate the home and they
started out renting. Dorothy was seven
years old and recalls “As soon as we got here, I took off on my bike. I had seen a Weber’s Root Beer stand up
between Delaware and Evanston on 11th Street and I went up for a
root beer! It was just a stand… Root
Beer was a nickel.” (2838 E 11th
Street location of current day Coney Islander)
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| 1219 South Gary as it looks today. |
The home at Gary Avenue had been built in 1924. Originally the home was buff brick with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a side porch (later glassed in) and a back porch (later closed in). Reportedly, the home was previously owned by H. Everett Hope who worked for the Tulsa Business School. The McCormick’s rented for a few years before Hope agreed to sell. Although William had left Phoebe with a small survivor’s benefit, she couldn’t secure a mortgage. Her brother fronted the money, $4,750.00.
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| Final handwritten receipt from Mr. Hope for 1219 S Gary Avenue |
Dorothy says “We could never afford a car. Mother went back to work at Continental Baking Company. She caught the bus on 11th Street to get downtown and then walking to 5th & Frisco. We walked to school, Lanier, Wilson, Will Rogers and the University of Tulsa (TU). We didn’t have a car until I was in my 20’s. I walked home for lunch every day from Wilson. Money was too tight for me to eat at school. Mother didn’t have time to make or pack lunches. She was at work by 7:30am and that was back when it was a 5 and ½ day work week as well.”
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| Detail of the original tile of the fireplace |
During the “war years,” there was a strong sense of community. Dorothy had a clear recollection of being called to the cafeteria in Wilson School on December 8th, 1941 to hear Franklin Roosevelt declare war. A woman who was taking child psychology at TU and made friends with every child in the neighborhood. Dorothy said, “At that time, there were many of them.” When the war came, she sectioned off a vacant lot and each child in the neighborhood had their own little victory garden. This was about 1-2 houses south of 1224 S Gary Avenue. There was also a metal scrap collection site on the playground at Wilson School. Dorothy remembered lugging iron, steel, any scraps they had to the school for the war effort.
One way that the McCormick family made ends meet was by taking
in boarders. Things were expensive and
although Phoebe was working, her salary wasn’t quite enough. She advertised for boarders and took in a
fellow name Arch Goodrich. He was “just
the nicest man you’d ever expect to know.”
Dorothy shared the following story.
He would
come out in the evenings and play the piano, we’d gather around and sing. Arch had a girlfriend that he took out on a
regular basis and one night he had gone over to take her out and evidently, he
bumped a car while trying to park, he looked around, didn’t see anything or
anyone, went on the date. When he came
back not only was the car still there but so was the owner with something heavy
in his hand. Arch kept a gun in his car. When the other fellow started to advance and
yell, Arch pulled out the gun. The man
continued to advance and Arch shot and killed him. That night the police surrounded their home
on Gary Avenue, Mr. Goodrich surrendered without incident. Mother said no more advertising for boarders!
Dorothy recalled the nearby business and stores. There were lots of small storefronts along
Harvard near 11th. There was
an open-air market called Goldman’s that sold “divine vegetables” on the southeast
corner of 11th and Harvard (Current Day Harvard liquor). Dorothy’s brother, Don, worked part time at Catron’s
drug store on the southwest corner (Current day location of Burger King). The family came to know Mr. Catron quite
well. Other nearby groceries were a
Safeway at 3314 E 11th (Current location of TU Bookstore), and a
grocery located at 3202 E 15th (Current day location of Merritt’s
Bakery.)
Dorothy and her friends saw movies at the Delman Theatre on the
northwest corner of 15th and Lewis (Current day location of Walgreen’s). In fact, Dorothy recalled the Delman being
built and also torn down. She attended
“moving pictures” at The Royal across from the Campbell Hotel and The Will
Rogers at 11th and Toledo.
After the movies kids would walk over to Hawk’s for ice cream (The
original Hawk Dairy was just east of the Hawk Dairy Building that still stands
at 2415 East 11th Street.)
At TU Dorothy studied foreign languages, but then went to work
for a law office. She worked for many
attorneys over the years including Carl Hall and John Sublet who were experts
in oil and gas. She learned so much
about oil and gas law that she could examine an abstract and portion the
interests that were sometimes as long as 3-4 legal size pages of single spaced interests
going out to the 7th decimal.
And at the end they had to total 1.0000.
Truly challenging and that was before the days of calculators too!
The University of Tulsa Skelly Stadium (Now Chapman Stadium and
Skelly Field) was a great source of irritation when people parked on both sides
of the street. Tens of thousands of
people lined 11th street for games.
F & M built the bank and that became a favorite parking place for
people who attended games.
Dorothy was active with the Tulsa Little Theater. In the 1960’s, with Ted Viehman directing, she
played Kate in “Kiss me Kate”, and also had roles in “Little Mary Sunshine,”
and “The Pajama Game”. Her mother also worked at the box
office. They often threw after the show
parties. Dorothy shared “I can
remember people asking my address and I learned the best way to put that into
their memory was take them on a samba tour up and down the aisles of the
theatre singing 1219 S. Gary! 1219 S.
Gary! We had a large wringer washing
machine, more or less in the middle of the kitchen. For parties, would put ice in it, to keep
drinks cold. I remember a couple of
divas from Tulsa Opera. I was also
active with the Tulsa Opera. The divas,
one of them, couldn’t understand when I took her to get a cold drink. It was the wildest thing she’d ever seen to
have a cold coke from the washing machine.”
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| Original bank of cabinets in kitchen |
What did Dorothy appreciate most about the house? The 12 x 12 bathroom! Over the years the home housed as many as 5
people at any given time and no particular difficulties were had. The bathroom
served all! A few pictures below.
Link to recording of interview with Dorothy McCormick, Arena Mueller and P. Casey Morgan.*
https://www.dropbox.com/s/998852pa5boxuoa/Dorothy%20McCormick.mp3?dl=0
*This interview is conversational and informal in nature and include colloquial language that may not be considered culturally sensitive at times. The interview also includes Dorothy walking through the home pointing out original features. Toward the end of the recording we are reviewing the property abstract together.
Link to Dorothy McCormick's Obituary Here:
Link to Don McCormick's Obituary Here:
See Dorothy's parents graves here:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16414454/william-v-mccormick
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16414741/phebe-m-mccormick
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