By Tami Althoff
The Oklahoman
Mary Johnnie Meadors-Lester NORMAN - Mary Johnnie Meadors- Lester was surrounded by friends and family members Monday when she celebrated her 90th birthday at the Norman Veterans Center.
"I'm enjoying it," Meadors-Lester said of Monday's festivities, which included cake, punch and live entertainment. "It's the nicest birthday party I've had."
The party was hosted by Meadors-Lester's son and daughter-in-law, Marvin and Glenna Terrell of Moore. Marvin Terrell said throwing a party for his mother was the least he could do for someone who's had such a full life.
"She's known people all over the world. She's been there and done that," he said. "You know, when you get to be that age, it's one day at a time anyway."
Meadors-Lester was born Oct. 8, 1916, in Chickasha, to John Thomas Meadors and Cornelia Belle Eaton Meadors. She was raised in El Reno, where she graduated high school in 1933. An avid dancer, she performed at the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. She was sponsored by the Rock Island Railroad, which paid all her travel expenses.
After graduation, Meadors-Lester enrolled at the Morningside School of Nursing in Tulsa. When the school discovered she was only 17, she was sent home. She then went to the Oklahoma College for Women at Chickasha, where she enrolled in that school's nursing program. She graduated in 1938.
During her clinical studies at University Hospital in Oklahoma City, Meadors-Lester met her first husband, Marvin Terrell. Their son, Marvin Jr., was born in 1940. The couple divorced in 1942, and Meadors-Terrell began working at Douglas Aircraft Company at Tinker Air Force Base.
"She built 'gooneybirds' or DC-3s," Marvin Terrell said. "She was truly an original 'Rosie, the Riveter.'"
In 1945, Meadors-Lester enlisted in the Women's Army Corps. Although Meadors-Lester claims she enlisted to become an X-ray technician, her son said it was because she wanted her parents to have a star in their window.
"Back then, if you had someone from your family in the service you put a star in your window. If you had two people, you put two stars," he said. "Her mother and father didn't have any stars, because her brother chose not to go. She was bound and determined that her mother and father were going to have a star in their window."
Meadors-Lester served as a battlefield radiographer until she was honorably discharged in 1946, after World War II ended.
In 1947, she attended the University of Oklahoma on the GI Bill. She and her son lived at the Woodrow Wilson Complex for returning veterans and their families.
"These consisted of 20-foot by 20-foot military surplus Quonset huts and came with an icebox and kitchen range," Marvin Lester said. "Some of the future top lawyers, judges, architects, engineers, educators and others living on the GI Bill lived in these meager facilities."
Meadors-Lester graduated in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in sociology. She was a social worker for several years, then taught while working toward a master's degree. She married two more times -- to Birchel Eden in 1951 and Tillman Larkin Lester in 1958.
She earned a special education certificate from Fresno State University and taught special education for 25 years.
"This is what she had always been searching, what she wanted to do -- to be able to work with special-needs children," Marvin Terrell said.
Marvin Terrell calls his mother "Mary Sunshine," because he says she was "born smiling."
"She's the happiest person you'll ever meet," he said.
Meadors-Lester has lived at the Norman Veterans Center since 2000. She is a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans and the American Legion Women's Auxiliary.
