Centenarian Betty Wakefield represented Three Valley Museum in last week’s Durant Area Chamber of Commerce Christmas parade by posing as the “Queen of Three Valleys.”
She celebrated her 100th birthday on July 22 and 95 of her 100 years have been in Durant.
Last summer, Centenarians of Oklahoma inducted Wakefield into the Centenarians of Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
She was a production illustrator at Douglas Aircraft in Oklahoma City, always involved in school and community activities, member of Junior League, volunteered at Valley Museum, a Boy Scout Leader, Homeroom Mother and hostess for foreign students in her home. She is a member of the First Christian Church where she sang in the choir for 70 years. Her words of wisdom for younger people are: “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!”
Born Betty Jean French of CB and Dosia Louise French in Goodwell, Oklahoma, she was the middle daughter of five, sometimes referring to themselves as the Five French Hens.
Her sisters’ names were Marian, Marjory, Betty, Billie Jo, and Sue. Married John Wakefield (of Wakefield Music) in 1944. She has 3 sons and a daughter: John, William, David, and Ann (Roestler). She has 9 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. Her husband John died in 1994.
Wakefield’s artistic expression is illustrated primarily through quilting. She has completed an estimated 75 quilts and is even working on one for the July celebration, retaining eyesight enough for threading needles. She planned some years ago to make a quilt for every grandchild when they had their own children or upon occupying their first house. She has done yearly “journals”, which are collections of family stories and other information to pass down the rich heritage. She writes poems and has used colored pencils to color her Bible according to theme.
Weekly activities also include getting her hair done, volunteering at the Three Valley Museum, going to church and Sunday school – she stopped singing in the choir only three years ago due to COVID. She drives to the post office several times each week to collect her mail, walks down her long driveway sometimes twice a day. In bad weather she walks around in the grocery store. She works crossword puzzles daily. A voracious reader, she has read most of the biographies in the public library.
