In Memoriam

Mary Elizabeth Bane passed away peacefully Jan. 24, 2022. She was born in Oklahoma City on April 29, 1946. She attended Bishop McGuiness Catholic High School and the University of Oklahoma. Mary was a journalism major and editor of the student newspaper, The OU Daily, and president of her sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta. She received a degree of Juris Doctor from the OU School of Law in 1971. As a renowned criminal defense attorney, Mary was well respected for her outstanding appellate abilities and was a founding member of the of the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. Mary defended many high profile cases in Oklahoma and is noted in several published works for her skillful defense.

She later joined the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System where she worked tirelessly for those financially unable to obtain counsel. Upon retirement, she built a home on Lake Eufala where she lived until 2018. Mary lived in Norman at the time of her death. She was an avid fan of OU Women's Basketball and served as president of the 3 Point Club. Mary affected so many with her positive attitude, laughter and love of life.

Ramona Hamilton Urice was born in Oklahoma City on May 30, 1928, and died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. She graduated from McAlester High School and attended the University of Oklahoma, graduating with a degree in journalism. It was at OU that she met and married James A. Urice from Midland, Texas. During her travels with James, a petroleum geologist, she was instrumental in the progression of several missions into Episcopal parishes.

Mozelle Richardson was born on Jan. 26, 1914 in Hereford, Texas, and passed on Oct. 21, 2021. Mozelle attended high school in Plainview, Texas, where she met her future husband, William Toombs Richardson, "Dub." The couple eventually moved to Oklahoma City where Dub became a well-known and widely respected automobile dealer, owning and operating Dub Richardson Ford in Oklahoma City. 

An inveterate traveler, writer and accomplished artist, Mozelle visited more than 40 countries, wrote and published 12 books, was an avid student of many subjects and collected items of interest in her travels. She entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004 at age 90 when she became the oldest college graduate. Then President of OU, David Boren, invited her to sit on stage with him but she declined, preferring to sit and walk with her journalism class at the University of Oklahoma.

After a decade living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Mozelle moved back to Oklahoma City where she spent the past four and a half years at the Mansion at The Waterford where she could regularly be seen walking with her cat, Cheops, perched on the seat of her walker. She died three months short of 108, after a long and fascinating life filled with family, friends and her numerous and eclectic interests. It has been said that an active mind helps make an active life. Mozelle Richardson was the epitome of both. As Abraham Lincoln said, "In the end it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years." Mozelle managed the two superbly.

Sarah (Sally) Livermore Carmack Spencer was born on March 4, 1949, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She passed unexpectedly in her home on Friday, Aug. 13, 2021. Sally grew up in Claremore, Oklahoma and later, moved with her family to Sapulpa, Oklahoma where she graduated from high school. Her parents were very involved in the newspaper business and as she grew up, she too, was bitten by the journalistic bug.

Sally attended the University of Oklahoma where like her father and brother before her, she majored in journalism and became editor of the OU Daily, the student newspaper. After graduation, Sally worked for The Norman Transcript and Southwestern Bell Telephone respectively before attending law school at Oklahoma City University. She met her former husband Mike Carmack there and they became parents to their daughter, Mary. Always a lover of adventure, Sally's last semester of law school was at Oxford University in Oxford, England - when she was six months pregnant.

Sally has said her life began again when she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1999 and lived there until she passed. She was among the brightest, sassiest, wittiest, well-informed, generous of individuals. Sally always said her favorite time of the year was football season where every fall, she rooted for her adored Oklahoma Sooners and could quote game stats with the best of them.