Dolores Marie (Free) Theis, age 88, passed away unexpectedly on July 27th, 2021 at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK. Visitation was at the Kendrick McCartney Johnson Funeral Home in Pawhuska, OK from noon until 6:00pm on Saturday, July 31st, 2021.
The funeral service will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 210 E. Ninth St., Bartlesville, OK, on Saturday, August 7th, at 11:00am with Father Nick Phares officiating. Burial/Interment will follow at Pawhuska City Cemetery. Kendrick McCartney Johnson Funeral Home is handling the funeral arrangements.
Dolores was born in McAlester, OK to Otto Free and Marie Crowther on June 13th, 1933. She attended St. Mary’s Academy in Leavenworth, Kansas, before graduating from Pawhuska High School in 1951. She received her education in banking, and enjoyed a career at Utica National Bank, in Tulsa, OK. While her children were in High School, she managed Wonderland Cake Decorating in Bartlesville, OK.
Although living in various states as a child, for the last 61 years, Dee has made her home in Bartlesville, OK. Being of Osage-Cherokee descent, Dee’s great-grandfather Laban Miles, was the very last Osage Medicine Man of the Tribe. She has been a member of the Bartlesville Indian Women’s Club for 50 years, and held offices of first vice-president, treasurer, delegate to the Allied Arts and Humanities Council, board member of the Women’s Club House and member of the scholarship committee. Over the years, she was advisor to the BIWC Style Shows, which presented traditional Indian women’s clothes around the country, and had the honor of modeling in France. Dee volunteered at Birthright, and for 18 years at the Bartlesville Community Center. Although raised Roman Catholic, she was a member of St. Luke’s Episcopal church for 53 years. In 2010, she was honored as Elder of the Year for Oklahoma Indian Summer, of which she served as Hospitality Chairman for 15 years.
Dolores is preceded in death by her father, mother, and two brothers, noted western artist John D. Free, and Hugh Free, and step-sister Pam Carter.
Dolores is survived by the love of her life, Raymond A. Theis II, of Bartlesville, daughter Toni Theis Struebing and her husband Bill of Tulsa, OK & Houston, TX, son Marty Theis of Glendale, CA, son Chris Theis and his wife Amber Harshman of Rowlett, TX, and 2 step-daughters Patricia Warner of Pawhuska, OK and Terri Luckert and husband Galen, of Edmond, OK. She is also survived by 10 grandchildren, several great grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, her step-brother, Gary Weyl and wife Renee, and extended family and friends.
Flowers are welcome, but memorial donations may be made to the Bartlesville Indian Women’s Club (BIWC), P.O. Box 101, Bartlesville, OK 74005-0101 or the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, omrf.org. Condolences may be left in Dolores Theis’s online guestbook at kendrickmccartneyjohnsonfh.com.
Dolores never met a stranger. If she knew you, you were family. Her sweet, loving, generous spirit will live on in those lives she touched.
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