Henthorne family grew up learning about Will Rogers

Memorial plans
Mrs. Will Rogers goes over plans for the Will Rogers Memorial Museum with Architect John Forsyth and N.G. Henthorne, Will Rogers Memorial Commission chairman, a position he held from 1938 until his death in 1962.

 

Henthorne family
Granddaughters and great-granddaughter of N.G. Henthorne Sr., member of Will Rogers Memorial Commission, came to Claremore from Tulsa to celebrate “70 Years on the Hill.”

Will Rogers and the Claremore Will Rogers Memorial have figured prominently in the lives of four generations of Tulsa Henthornes. One of them believes Will’s story and a visit to the museum should be a part of the Oklahoma history curriculum.

Tulsa World Editor N.G. Henthorne was appointed by Gov. E W. Marland to the first Will Rogers Memorial Commission and served through the construction and opening — and until his death in 1962. He was chairman more than 20 years.

The museum and keeping Will Rogers memory alive was very important to Henthorne, said his daughter-in-law, Mrs. N. G. Henthorne Jr. Henthorne’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren treasure their many visits.

“We came as a family many times,” said Vicki Kirkland, N.G. Jr.’s daughter, “at least once a year. We have taken all our children and grandchildren.

“It was a big deal to touch the toe of the statue … and to visit Paula Love at the Lodge on the museum grounds. We would go down there. She was real nice to us kids, one of the things I really enjoyed as a child. She was so gracious.”

Will Rogers and the Memorial “should be a part of the curriculum for fifth grade Oklahoma history,” said Barbara Henthorne Burke, daughter of N.G. Henthorne’s son, John. “I took my son when he was doing a report and it is so fantastic … Joe Carter treated us like royalty.”

Today, Barbara is principal of Tulsa Sandburg school. Carl Sandburg, a close friend of Rogers had this to say when Will died. “Will Rogers was one of those rare individuals, a public figure you could call with ease, without embarrassment, a beloved man.”

Joanne Kirlin, another of John’s daughters, shares the same memories of devotion to Will. “I don’t know that I was really aware of what he (her grandfather) did when he was alive. Since his death, I’m more interested in Will Rogers because of him.” She has shared his history with her daughter and grandchildren on museum visits.

Henthorne was also one of the donors for the Rogers family tomb.
Henthorne, who was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame and Oklahoma Hall of Fame, has a park in Tulsa’s Brookside neighborhood named for him. Hawthorne Park is at 4th and Quaker.

Much of his life was devoted to showing his love for the Oklahoma humorist. He was in Washington, D.C., in 1939 when Will’s sister, Sallie McSpadden, pulled the cord that lifted an American flag off the statue of Will in the nation’s Capitol Statuary Hall.

Henthorne reminded the estimated 2,000 at the unveiling that the other Oklahoman represented in the Hall also was not an elected official (Sequoyah, Cherokee, and author of the Cherokee alphabet).

“Today we come again to present a statue of another great citizen whose character and reputation and record long since reached beyond the confines of our state and who was known throughout the world, wherever the printed word was read or pictures were shown.

“In presenting this statue of Will Rogers, it is with pride of fellow citizenship with such an illustrious son, but in humbleness and in realization of great loss.”