Kathleen Frances Dooley

Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kathleen moved to Oklahoma City when she was five, where she lived the rest of her life. She lived with her mom Florence, and her dad Darrel for almost 50 years. Then after breaking her hip, she lived in Tuscany Village Nursing Center.

Kathleen was an avid pen pal, starting with her neighbors in San Antonio, then she wrote to many cousins and friends who moved away from Oklahoma. She would send photos and drawings with positive reminders and humorous pictures. She loved buying gifts and celebration cards for friends as well as many stuffed animals and jokes to cheer up people.

A self-taught artist, she was known for her portraits. Some were hilarious drawings with bubbles of dialogue. Some drawings made fun of herself or they contained funny slogans. Some were colorful, positive and uplifting works of art.

A self-taught musician, who collected musical instruments: the harmonica, clarinet, guitar, banjo, keyboard, drums, and bongo drums. She played them all, sometimes with a serious intent, but mostly to get you to laugh. She always wanted to start a band at the nursing home and teach people the instruments. She loved all genres of music and made mixed cassette tapes. She still was making the tapes and mailing them to friends and family. No telling how many CDs she owned.

She attended Grace United Methodist Church and was part of the women’s group with her mom. She was very close to her mom. She planned meals with her, and traveled to Arkansas, Florida, and Branson with her mom. They both loved food buffets and ate with many friends at Home Town Buffet and Golden Corral. Eating lunch out became a ritual for both of them. Kathleen knew the bus system in OKC and loved going downtown, to Penn Square Mall, and to Quail Springs Mall on her own and made friends with the workers at the mall. She was not shy about talking and joking with people that she met. She graduated from Putnam City High School and took cooking classes from Frances Tuttle and loved going to support her alma mater, Putnam City High School football team and the girls’ basketball team. She had a family she would sit with to watch the games.

Kathleen was in charge of “what movies to watch” at home and at the nursing home. She and her mom would go to the movies each week, and Kathleen would describe the highlights of the films with hilarious insight. She liked family films and outrageous comedies and became the Entertainment Director at Tuscany. She had over 200 DVDs that she shared on movie night when she lived with her mom and dad, then she shared those films with her friends at Tuscany Nursing Center. She loved being involved, asking everyone what they wanted to watch, and giving them several options.

Once a month, she visited her older sister, Florence Christine Dean, in Norman, with her mom and dad. She did hilarious impersonations of her mom and dad, and created some stories about her childhood, and would interject commentary while impersonating her mom and dad. Some stories were true, about how she got in trouble, or how her parents tried to explain the world to her. Her brother Frank says, he was impressed by her memory of her childhood, which was clear, vivid, dramatic, and sometimes she made things up to make you laugh or shock you, but that made for an interesting story of her family’s past. She also remembered some stories about her older brother Lyle, who she got to visit in Manhattan. Her favorite cat was Ringo who waited outside for her when she came home from school. She was also a lover of parakeets, which she took care of for over ten years.

Kathleen is survived by her mother Florence, her older sister Florence Christine Dean, and her brother Frank.