By Ruth Ann Replogle
Maye Adele Kirtley’s grandmother homesteaded 160 acres northeast of Meno as a single woman in her 20s, determined to make it on her own while teaching children in a dugout two miles away.
Her grandmother’s resolve long ago inspired Kirtley to get involved in the community and help other women succeed.
Janet Cordell, Kirtley’s friend and fellow civic leader, describes Kirtley as an advocate for equality and empowerment.
“She’s not afraid to take a stand,” Cordell said.
In the 1960s, the Enid native campaigned on behalf of young women to build and create a safe haven from domestic violence at the YWCA. At the same time she participated in opening the door of communication between black and white women at the YWCA. In addition, she coordinated a weekly program to assist developmentally disabled young women at Enid State School (now Northern Oklahoma Resource Center of Enid) who were transitioning into independent living.
Starting in the mid-1970s, Kirtley aimed to teach young women about politics and the government through Girls State. She also aided in development of a group to meet needs in the community, now known today as CDSA or Community Development Support Association.
By the mid-1980s, Kirtley joined with her church (First United Methodist Church) to bring all denominations together for community events such as celebrations surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Throughout the decades she has promoted music through Tri-State and Enid Symphony Orchestra.
Today she still supports social causes, arts and humanities and patriotic occasions — although she’s slowed down a bit.
“I did the things I did because I wanted to,” Kirtley said, adding she didn’t do them to be in the limelight.
“I’m not crazy about publicity,” she said. She added she didn’t run for political office, although people urged her to, because “I was too opinionated.”
“Maye Adele represents a very level-headed voice of reason, yet emphatic. She’s been such a mentor to me,” Cordell said.
Kirtley was born and raised in Enid. She attended Oklahoma A&M; (now Oklahoma State University) and the University of Texas.
“I married during the war,” she said. They lived in Enid for a short time, long enough for her to give birth to her firstborn, then they moved to Stillwater. With her husband’s job, they lived in southeast Oklahoma for a while.
“I loved the weather and the people, but we had three more children to raise,” Kirtley said, so they returned to Enid in 1962 to be around his and her relatives. Her husband, James, died in 1996 after 53 years of marriage.
Kirtley recently moved from her home of 43 years in Enid to her grandmother’s two-room house with modern additions in the country. The open plains offer a much-needed solace for Kirtley and her dog, Joshua. (One of her sons and his family also live on the “Kirtley compound.”)
She said she is not going to stop being involved, even though she doesn’t live in Enid anymore. She just won’t take on as much as she once did, Kirtley said, mostly because of her “bad arthritis.” And she’d like to travel more since she has a son who lives in Sweden.
So did she have any parting words to embolden other women in pressing forward as her grandmother and she did?
Kirtley pointed to the wall hanging in her house: “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men. Fortunately, that’s not difficult.”
