Editor’s note: The Lawton Constitution routinely interviews and publishes stories about area residents turning 100. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we are unable to do that this year. The following story was written by Mary Ottinger’s daughter, Katy.
Mary Ailene Ottinger was born Dec. 11, 1920, the 10th of 11 children. Her father, A.F. Whitlock was a Baptist preacher and her mother, Tennie Belle Whitlock, was a homemaker. She was born in Fletcher, where her father was the pastor of First Baptist Church.
She lived many places growing up. When she was in high school her family moved to Hinton when First Baptist Church called her dad as pastor. In high school she met Ted Ottinger and upon graduation, they married on Dec. 26, 1939. In their early years they traveled a lot with Ted doing road jobs with Ottinger Brother’s Construction.
Ted was called to serve in the Navy and was based temporarily in San Diego, Calif. Nothing would stop her from being with Ted. Alone, she drove from Oklahoma to California while pulling their 19-foot travel trailer. After being discharged from the Navy, they bought a bull-dozer and Ted went into the business of building ponds. Each night Mary climbed on the dozer and did all the greasing it required.
Mary and Ted moved to Apache to be near her parents. In 1947, Katy was born. In 1949 they bought a 160-acre farm west of Fletcher, where many of her brothers and sisters had settled. They were members of First Baptist church in Fletcher where Ted served as a deacon and Mary often sang and played the piano. In 1950, Nelson was born.
Anyone who knew Mary and Ted knew one thing — they knew how to play. Nelson and Katy grew up in the back seat of their Chevrolet dragging main street in Fletcher, going to Lawton after an ice cream cone or a Herman’s Pig Sandwich. Saturday nights took them to Chickasha to the double feature drive-in movies. However, they never missed church the next morning.
Mary’s house was the party place — Halloween parties, Christmas parties, any kind of party. They could even make a party of going to the cellar. Mary has had a fun life and she has made everyone else’s life fun too.
Her grandchildren are Lauren, Jayna, and Karolyn, and her great-grandchildren are: Jacob, Caleb, Daylia, Drew and Gabe.
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