Ruth Wilson Hurley

Class of
1960
Ruth Wilson Hurley

Ruth Wilson Hurley

As a girl she traveled extensively in Europe, the Philippines, China and Japan, attending school in many cities, whose name and languages were foreign to her own, wherever the demands of her father’s career took them.”
Coalgate Record-Register, 1959

Biography

Ruth Wilson Hurley came to Oklahoma after her marriage to Patrick J. Hurley in 1919. She lived in Oklahoma until the couple returned to Washington, D.C. when Patrick was named Secretary of War in the cabinet of U.S. President Herbert Hoover. Mrs. Hurley was the president of the Tulsa Junior League in 1928 when that organization built the Convalescent Home for Crippled Children and she later joined her husband in building the Mary Hurley Hospital and the Ruth Wilson Hurley Manor at Coalgate, Oklahoma. She was also a member of the board which organized the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. and served as president of the Guild of the Rio Grande Symphony in New Mexico.

Fun fact

On April 22, 1959, Mrs. Hurley was the sponsor for the launching of the first guided missile destroyer, the USS Henry B. Wilson, named in honor of her father, Admiral Wilson.

Oklahoma connections

Hurley came to Oklahoma when she married her husband, Patrick Hurley, in 1919.

Hometown

Tulsa

Profession

Civic Leader

Presenter

Born

1895

Died

1984

Relevant Exhibits

Green Country: From Lenapah to Prague

Green Country: From Lenapah to Prague

This exhibit features the lives of 18 Oklahoma Hall of Fame inductees from the 18-county region in northeast Oklahoma.
Beyond the Portraits: Artists and Their Subjects

Beyond the Portraits: Artists and Their Subjects

This exhibition is an exploration of the diverse range of portrait artists featured within the Gaylord-Pickens Museum’s collection of portraits and busts. The eight artworks selected were created between 1924-2004 and showcase a wide range of artistic styles.