Indomitable spirit
The Children’s Center celebrates its faith-filled founder, Mary Mallory.
F or a brief time on a recent Friday, Mattie Mallory graced The Children’s Center Rehabilitative Hospital with her presence, sharing inspirational words and passing out cookies.
On closer examination, it was Carol Gray instead of Mallory who donned a 19th century bonnet, blouse and long skirt like that worn by The Children’s Center’s indomitable founder.
Gray, the center’s senior vice president of mission and culture, channeled Mallory during a Founder’s Day celebration on March 10 at the nonprofit, 6800 NW 39th Expressway.
Gray said the center decided to observe the entire month of March as Founder’s Month in tribute to Mallory. The month’s designation as Women’s History Month also seemed to make it a fitting time to honor the woman whose compassion and faith led to the center’s first incarnation.
“What I’m excited about is the new generation is catching hold of this,” Gray said recently.
Mallory founded the Oklahoma Orphanage in 1898 in Oklahoma City, feeling led by God to care for the orphans there. She moved the orphanage to Bethany in 1909 and eventually turned it over to the Children’s Welfare League.
Gray said Mallory started that first orphanage with what she called a “band of three” people and now the center is a private, nonprofit hospital with more than 600 employees.
The hospital now provides a wide range of medical services, rehabilitative care and social services to children in Oklahoma and throughout the region who have complex medical needs. It also serves
“We learn from the past. We live in the present. We have hope for the future.” — Carol Gray, The Children’s Center
thousands of outpatients through its pediatric clinic.
An inspirational focus
For the monthlong emphasis on Mallory, center leaders decided to display a large scrapbook about Mallory that Gray recently put together. Gray said the scrapbook features pictures of Mallory, newspaper stories about her and articles written that Mallory wrote herself for a publication she edited called The Guide.
To keep Mallory's key principles — faith, sacrifice and generosity — at the forefront, Gray emblazoned them on book markers and other materials she created for distribution to staff members throughout the month. Posters featuring those guiding principles were posted in different areas of the sprawling center.
Gray, who formerly served as the center's chief operating officer, has worked at the hospital for 39 years.
She said she decided that this was the year she wanted to emphasize to staff members that Mallory had great trust and faith in the Lord and felt called by Him to care for the less fortunate.
Gray said in that way, many staff members may come to see that working at an organization founded on such faith and humility amounts to more than a job.
"For me, that is the inspiration — the call of God," she said.
"We see that even today. We see people who work here who have a sense that it’s not just a job, that really, it is a purpose and that every single life has a purpose."
Gray said she hopes to inspire everyone at the center with stories about Mallory that will continue to inspire them for the rest of the month.
"I think she would be quite amazed if she could see this. Here we are into our second century," Gray said.
"She’d probably think 'why are you even bringing my name up?' because she was a very humble person. She just had a heart for children and faith in God."