Will Rogers Memorial Commission and friends of Will Rogers Museums will recognize a former director, now a resident of the Grand Lake area, during Will Rogers Days. Dedication of a plaque citing Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, Will Rogers Museums director seven years, and volunteer 10 years before that, will be a part of the 128th birthday three-day celebration that gets underway Friday, Nov. 2.
Will Rogers was born Nov. 4, 1879, in Oologah, Indian Territory. His birthplace is a living museum; the log-walled room where he was born is visited by thousands.
The plaque dedication will be 1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 3, in the Will Rogers Memorial Museum theatre, followed by a reception honoring Lefebvre-Carter.
Since leaving the museums in November 2006, she has been a resident of the Grand Lake area.
Wife of Joe Carter, Museums director, 1989-99, she was named director after his retirement and continued in that position managing the Memorial in Claremore and the 400-acre 1879 living history Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch near Oologah, as well as outreach efforts. She was also vice president of Will Rogers Heritage, Inc.
Lefebvre-Carter’s involvement with the museum included working with the “Will Rogers Follies: A Life in Revue” on Broadway and road tour, several television promotions of the Claremore museum and birthplace ranch, annual fly-ins, annual Will Rogers Days including the 125th birthday and family reunion, and the Will Rogers Wild West Expo, moving the event in 2005 from Las Vegas to Claremore.
As the director’s wife, she was involved in many Will Rogers related activities at the same time, working as director of community affairs for Rogers State University, Oklahoma Senate staff consultant, gubernatorial administrative assistant as staff aide to Gov. David Walters in charge of his Tulsa office and publisher of the Catoosa-Times Herald, a weekly newspaper.
Before coming to Claremore she was marketing-public relations director, Oklahoma Heritage Association; vice-president marketing, Oklahoma City Fidelity Bank; executive director, Oklahoma Diamond Jubilee; and was involved in the family advertising firm and advertising agencies.
Lefebvre-Carter is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she was editor of the 1972 Sooner yearbook.
From the time the Will Rogers Memorial Museum opened in Claremore in 1938, three years following his untimely death in an Alaskan plane crash, Claremore has hosted a Will Rogers Days celebration. With the exception of the war years, when out of respect for servicemen and women overseas, Cherokee Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club, has conducted a wreath-laying ceremony at the family tomb on the Museum grounds.
Sometimes the festivities have been as simple as the Pocahontas tribute. Other years have seen internationally known guests from Will’s past. People come from far and near for the festivities, always highlighted by a parade.
In Will’s daily telegrams, he made few references to his birthday. But in 1930 after being in New York on Election Day and a party in Beverly Hills, he wrote, “Democrats gave me a birthday yesterday, Nov. 4. I was 51 years old and they elected fifty-one Democrats. When I am 91, we will be running this country.”
His last birthday was spent plying polo and roping calves and the next day he wrote, “I am pretty sore today. Am looking for the ones that reminded me that 55 years ago in Oologah, Indian Territory on Nov. 4, 1879 a baby was born.”
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This year’s Will Rogers Days is a three-day event. It will start with a birthday party at the Dog Iron Ranch at Oologah. All events are open to the public and free except where tickets are indicated:
Friday, Nov. 2
9 a.m. — 128th birthday celebration featuring Doug Watson as Will Rogers, champion trick roper Kowboy Kal (Kalvin Cook of Apache) and Oologah second graders in a musical program directed by Kim Grazier.
More than 400 students from area elementary schools are coming for the program and giant birthday cake.
2 p.m. — Cherokee Indian Women’s Pocahontas Club tribute and reception, Will Rogers
Memorial Museum
Saturday, Nov. 3
9 a.m. — Will Rogers Memorial Commission and Heritage Inc. meeting, Will Rogers Museum Lodge
1 p.m. — Dedication of plaque recognizing Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, followed by reception
4 p.m. — Will Rogers Days Parade, down Will Rogers Blvd., Claremore.
Honored guests will be Clem McSpadden, Will Rogers' great-nephew, and Rogers County state lawmakers Rep. Tad Jones and Sen. Sean Burrage.
Sunday, Nov. 3
2 p.m. — Premiere performance of Lynette Bennett’s one-women show, “Will Rogers, Conscience of America: His Wife Betty’s Story,” Robson Performing Arts Center, 101 E. Stuart Roosa, Claremore (Tickets: $15, $10, 918-699-7390 or myticketsoffice.com)
5 p.m. — Champagne reception, Will Rogers of Tulsa Rotary Club Gala and Will Rogers Spirit Award honoring Garth Brooks, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 E. 2nd, Tulsa (Tickets for reception and 6 p.m. dinner and program 918-749-6393 or willrogers rotary.org)
The Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore and Birthplace Ranch are open 365 days a year, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information about the museums or Will Rogers Days, call 918-341-0719 or visit the website: www.willrogers.com.