Worlds converge in Oklahoma City/County for Pathmaker Awards

Details being what they are when planning anything, a couple have changed — one big, one not so big — during the lead-up to the 30th annual Pathmakers Awards ceremony to honor people who have made historic contributions to Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County.

The event is at 6 p.m. Friday at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel. Individual tickets are $125 and still available by writing to okchistoricalsociety@gmail.com before Tuesday.

Not so big: The venue has been moved upstairs, to the Venetian Room on the top (14th) floor.

Big: Mary Jo Nelson has been added as a posthumous recipient of a Pathmaker Award by directors of the Oklahoma City/County Historical Society.

The usual disclosure: I am on that board.

Nelson's addition hits me in three of my worlds: journalism, history and the built environment, especially vintage architecture.

Nelson, who died in 2007 at 80, was a reporter and editor for The Oklahoman and the Oklahoma City Times for nearly half a century. She started as a copy messenger in 1945 and retired in 1992.

During her career, she covered many beats and topics, and became an expert on Oklahoma City politics, government and architecture. She broke ground for women in Oklahoma City journalism, won numerous awards and was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

"She became an expert on downtown Oklahoma City during its first efforts at urban renewal," her obituary said, summarizing research, reporting and writing on Oklahoma City's downtown and its architecture that continues to inform journalists and historians decades later. My colleague Steve Lackmeyer will tell you she was his inspiration — and it shows in his work and dedication to it.

Nelson joins this year's other Pathmaker Award winners: Bill Citty, Gayla Peavy and the Rev. John Reed. The Distinguished Service Award will go to KFOR-TV.

Last summer, Nelson's cousin Earl Cowan, of Bethany, donated her collection of architectural artifacts to the City/County Historical Society. While we do not yet have a museum, we do have ample safe storage space, in a building downtown, which is just what Cowan was looking for when he sent me an email asking if I knew of a place.

She "rescued several pieces we would like to see preserved and cared for. ... We would appreciate any suggestions as to the best placement for something that was meaningful to her, and the Oklahoma City community," he wrote, not knowing of my involvement with the history group.

Indeed. We were thrilled to accept her artifacts for safe keeping and eventual public display. The pieces, most of them authenticated by notes from the late George Shirk, former mayor and historian, include:

• A finial from the Criterion Theater.

• A lion head from old City Hall at Sheridan and Broadway (1902-1937).

• A plaque saying: “Toward a Finer Oklahoma City 1971.”

• A section of the streetcar track from Main and Robinson mounted on wood.

• A section of a tie from streetcar tracks from N Broadway.

• Door knobs from the Charles F. Colcord Mansion with initials “CFC.”

• A bound Golden Anniversary Edition of The Daily Oklahoman, April 23, 1939.

Friday night, a truly wonderful artifact of history, the 10-by-12-foot I.M. Pei exhibit — the late architect's never-realized vision in 1964 of what downtown Oklahoma City might have been in 1989 — again will have a prominent place in our festivities. It will be on exhibit just outside the banquet hall. Lackmeyer will talk about the exhibit and answer questions.

There is still time to buy tickets (and many, many thanks to you who already have). Tickets are $125 each (dinner for one, plus a one-year membership in the society); and $1,200 for a dinner table of 10 (plus 10 one-year memberships, and name listed in the program.

Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner served at 7 p.m. Morris McCraven will provide the first hour of music. George Tomek will be the emcee. Board member Jennifer Griggy has produced videos about each award recipient, and one reviewing winners the past 30 years.

Come. If you've read this far, Oklahoma City and Oklahoma County history is part of your history. Join us in celebrating it!