Morrison and Gladys Tucker arrived in Oklahoma City in 1951 - Midwesterners who had gone east to college and drove back west when the time came to choose a place to settle down. Their life together included various locales and interests.
Following his graduation from Dartmouth in 1933, Mr. Tucker's first job was as a bellhop in a New York City hotel. Later, he was on the original team of bank examiners for the FDIC, writing the first bank examination manual. He served in the U.S. Navy and worked to reopen banks in the Philippines following World War II.
Originally from Iowa, Gladys moved to Washington, D.C., to attend George Washington University. During World War II, she worked as a personal assistant to Eleanor Roosevelt, helping respond to the correspondence that overwhelmed her office. While in Washington, D.C., she met Morrison and they were married in 1944.
Soon after marrying, the couple moved to Venezuela, where Mr. Tucker managed the financial interests for his former classmate Nelson Rockefeller. Upon returning to the United States, Mr. Tucker found a position with Liberty National Bank in Oklahoma City, eventually becoming an executive vice president and chairman of the board. In 1968, Morrison founded American Bank Systems, personally designing hundreds of forms and software systems for the banking industry.
Gladys and Morrison embraced civic life in Oklahoma City and were active supporters of many charitable organizations including Oklahoma City Beautiful. He served as a Trustee of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation from 1979-89. After Mr. Tucker’s death in 1994, Gladys established an endowment fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to support an annual leadership award for Oklahoma City Beautiful. Gladys died in 2012 at the age of 100.