Mabelle Kennedy

(1891 - 1981)

Profession: Civic Leader

Hometown: Pawhuska

Inducted: 1965

A true pioneer, Mabelle Kennedy was born in Missouri to Hiram and Nancy Bryant McClintock. At the age of ten, she and her family traveled by covered wagon to Oklahoma. Growing up near the Osage Reservation, she became familiar with the Native Nation and their customs. Her early education included attending school in a one-room schoolhouse and also at the Oaklawn Girls Boarding School in Missouri. She married Edmund Thomas Kennedy in 1908. They had five children during their 28-year marriage.

A widow by 1936, she shifted her focus to the politics of her time as well as taking on the responsibilities of running the family ranch lands in Pawhuska County. In 1936 she served on the board of directors of the National Bank of Commerce in Pawhuska and then studied banking and graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1938.

Her involvement with politics began with her service as City and County Chairman of the Democratic Party and as an Oklahoma National Democratic Committeewoman. Appointed in 1951, she served in the role of Assistant Treasurer of the United States under Harry S. Truman. At the age of 80, in 1971, she served as Mayor of Pawhuska.

Between Pawhuska and Ponca City a stretch of highway named for her stands as a tribute to Kennedy for her service to Pawhuska, Oklahoma, and our Nation.