Longtime Oklahoma City resident Patty Kelly Stevens faithfully displays the U.S. flag outside her Nichols Hills home for most holidays. But Flag Day, June 14, is extra special to the 99-year-old American patriot, who at an early age lived through shattering experiences that bonded her with her country’s flag.
Watching recent televised reports of students protesting on U.S. college campuses and taking down the American flag has shocked and upset her. “Yeah, that flag means a lot to me,” she says. “For me, it’s mostly about freedom.” As for those protesting students taking down U.S. flags and replacing them with other flags: “They need to ship ‘em out.”
Her impatience with the protesters’ lack of respect for the U.S. flag is better understood in context with her experiences in 1941 as a 17-year-old American high school senior in the Philippine Islands. Abruptly arrested by Japanese soldiers when World War II began, she was classified as an “enemy alien” and sent to the infamous Santo Tomás Internment Camp in Manila. After three years at Santo Tomás with thousands of other American civilian prisoners and suffering badly from malnutrition, she and her mother volunteered to transfer to another internment camp, Los Baños, thirty miles south of Manila.
Patty and her mother had hoped for better conditions at the new camp, but by January 1945 they and the Los Baños camp’s 2,150 other prisoners were on the verge of starvation and a possible mass execution. To their surprise and delight, the captives awakened one morning to find their Japanese guards gone. Thinking the Japanese soldiers had fled from approaching American troops, the prisoners began a celebration.
“We broke into the guards’ food warehouses-we called them bodegas-and started eating like kings and queens,” Patty recalled. “Then someone asked if anyone had an American flag to put up. I was shocked when my mother pulled out the large American flag that had been presented to my father by Philippine Governor-General Leonard Wood around 1921. It had been a family heirloom since way before the war. I didn’t even know my mother had smuggled it into our camp and was hiding it.”
As someone played a recording of the “Star Spangled Banner” over the camp’s loudspeakers, the captives sang along while saluting the raised 48-star flag, many weeping openly. They renamed their former prison “Camp Freedom.”
The gorging and celebrating went on for several days-until the Japanese guards unexpectedly returned one night. “They were furious when they found out someone had put up an American flag,” Patty said.
Fortunately for Patty and her mother, their flag had been taken down as a precaution and hidden before the Japanese returned. “The guards searched our barracks three or four times trying to find it,” Patty recalled. “I remember sitting outside the barracks when they searched and getting so upset. My mother kept telling me, ‘Don’t get all worked up, Patty, don’t get all worked up. They won’t find it.’ They would have killed us if they found that American flag.”
She never learned where her mother had hidden the flag. With conditions worsening in the camp, in the early morning hours of February 23, 1945, Patty and the prisoners were stunned to see a company of U.S. paratroopers from the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment drifting down just outside their camp. The troopers had been ordered by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to rescue the suffering civilians in a special operation. MacArthur and other officials worried the captives would be executed by their Japanese guards in the closing months of the war.
“God, those parachutes falling were a wonderful sight,” Patty says nearly 80 years later. “I’ll never forget it. Whenever I’m a little down or depressed, I just think about that sight.”
The famous airborne rescue of these 2,150 civilians behind enemy lines at Los Baños was described in 1993 by Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell as “the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies.” The complex operation was the subject of a 2004 documentary, Rescue at Dawn-The Los Baños Raid, which aired as recently as last summer on the television network History (formerly The History Channel).
Barely 20 years old when freed by U.S. troops, Patty was soon to meet her future husband, Paul J. Kelly, a 22-year-old first lieutenant from Oklahoma City who had dropped out of the University of Oklahoma to join the war effort. Paul was serving with the First Cavalry Division, which had liberated Santo Tomás Internment Camp in early February 1945 and was stationed in Manila in the closing months of the war. After a whirlwind courtship following the war, the two were wed in Oklahoma City on February 24, 1946, one year and a day after Patty’s liberation from Los Baños.
Long after the war, Paul Kelly founded Guaranty Bank and Trust in Oklahoma City. The couple had two children who grew up in the city, Paul Jr. and Carole. At her husband’s funeral in 1971, Patty had his coffin covered with the U.S. flag that had flown at “Camp Freedom” in January 1945.
With the storied flag nearing 100 years old in 2018, Patty and Paul Jr. found a permanent home for the flag at the U.S. Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, N. Carolina. Patty and her family delivered the flag to the museum where it was honored in a ceremony around a special display in the museum’s front lobby.
Reciting the flag’s proud history, museum director Jim Bartlinski said at the ceremony, “We have an obligation to care for that flag until the end of time.”
Still active and regularly driving herself to an exercise class in north Oklahoma City, Patty finally decided to put in book format the story of her family’s famous flag, her early fraught years as a Japanese prisoner, and her dramatic rescue by U.S. airborne troops. She worked with a local historian and author to complete Waiting for America: A Civilian Prisoner of Japan in the Philippines, published in late February.
As one of the last living witnesses to these historic events, she has recounted parts of her story at several local book signings and is excited about several more planned around the state. And she gets a special thrill displaying her American flag outside her home.
“Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July-these are all holidays I take special pride in flying my Stars and Stripes,” Patty says. “Those few of us still around who lived through those hard war years have a special connection with that flag. I wish more Americans did. But most have never lost their freedom for more than three years and been denied the right to fly that flag.”

As Paula Poundstone continues her 2024 U.S. tour, audiences can be assured of an evening of hilarity as the comedian launches into a string of humorous stories typical of most observational stand-up comics. But at some point into her routine, the sharp-witted Poundstone will seamlessly morph into her trademark banter with audience members – a part of the show fans have come to expect and adore. It’s a style that evolved out of necessity.
“I’ve been doing stand-up for over 40 years, but have a terrible memory,” said Poundstone by phone from Florida recently, while preparing for an evening event. “I started out doing the five-minute open mic thing and spent years trying to memorize an act. Then I just began talking with the audience. My first thought was that it might be a liability, but one night I realized it was kind of the heart and soul of the whole show. Now it’s my favorite part of the evening.”
How she selects audience members to engage varies from venue to venue as the blinding house lights will often obscure distant individual faces. Sometimes she’ll spot a guest arriving late, or perhaps someone getting up to leave temporarily, while others grab her attention by yelling out answers to her rhetorical questions – and Poundstone pounces.
“I’ll often start with the time-honored question of asking what they do for a living,” she explained. “In this way, little biographies of audience members come up and I use that to set my sails! Their profession might remind me of a piece of material I have stored away in my mind and I’ll run with it.”
A memorable interaction occurred in 2006 during a show recorded for the Bravo cable network. About a half-hour into her performance, Poundstone began questioning an engaged couple who revealed the woman worked for an insurance company and the man was in banking. A seemingly innocuous inquiry about who proposed to whom brought a response from the gentleman, “What kind of a question is that?” prompting immediate gasps from the audience – an opening for the comedian to fire off her frequently heard laugh-inducing response to the crowd’s reaction: “I’ll handle it!”
And she did, brilliantly, with lightning-fast improvisational skills during a sidesplitting 6-minute interaction with the pair.
“People still come up to me and ask about that one and to this day I wonder whatever happened to the couple and if they did get married,” said Poundstone. “And every now and then, someone will ask me if it’s all planned – that the people somehow know they will be picked. That always makes me laugh and my response is how would that even be possible? It would require a lot of effort and I wouldn’t even know how to begin. This is why my shows are never exactly the same wherever I go.”
Like many entertainers with a busy tour schedule, Poundstone has little time for sightseeing (see www.paulapoundstone.com for cities and tour dates).
“I don’t get a chance to look around much since the touring only allows me to fly in for a show and then I’m off again,” she says. “But I still think it’s the best job in the world.”
Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama and writes features, columns, and interviews for newspapers and magazines around the country. See https://www.getnickt.org.

Angela Maness

Currently training to become a certified Post Veteran Service Officer at American Legion Post in Norman.

Story by Van Mitchell, Staff Writer

(Retired) U.S. Marine Corps SgtMaj Angela Maness joined the Marine Corps in 1987, graduating as the platoon honor recruit from Parris Island, S.C.
Her journey includes duty stations across the globe, from Camp Lejeune to Okinawa, Japan, and multiple combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Recognized for her outstanding service, Maness holds multiple personal awards including the Meritorious Service Medal (2 stars), Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal (3 stars) and more.
Maness is currently training to become a certified Post Veteran Service Officer through the American Legion Post in Norman.
“I’ve been a member of the American Legion for five or six years, but when I came up here in 2020 because of COVID, I saw the Norman (American Legion) Post and decided to check it out,” she said.
Maness walked through the front door of the Norman American Legion and saw they had just two service officers, and only was credentialled.
Accredited American Legion service officers are specially trained to provide expert assistance, free of charge, to veterans and their families. While the majority of a service officer’s work involves application for VA disability benefits, these compassionate professionals also provide information, referrals and resources on education, employment and business, death benefits and other important topics.
The American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veteran’s organization. Focusing on service to veterans, servicemembers and communities, the Legion evolved from a group of war-weary veterans of World War I into one of the most influential nonprofit groups in the United States. Membership swiftly grew to over 1 million, and local posts sprang up across the country. Today, membership stands at nearly 2 million in more than 13,000 posts worldwide. The posts are organized into 55 departments: one each for the 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines.
Maness is engaged to her fiancé Sal Cenicacelaya, a US Marine Veteran who served from 1983-1989 as a 0311 Infantryman.
The duo was asked by Master Chief Petty Officer Larry Van Schuyver, the State Commander of the Department of Oklahoma Military Order of the Purple Heart, to become Ambassadors to the MOPH.
“He invited Sal and I to become Ambassadors to the MOPH and we gladly accepted about six months ago,” Maness said. “He later informed us that we were also nominated for volunteer “Veteran of the Year” and female “Veteran of the Year.” Master Chief has informed us that we will receive the plaque and official recognition sometime early August 2024 when they have their organizational meeting.”
Maness is also working to become a certified motorcycle rider instructor.
“I’m taking this course to become certified as a coach here in the state of Oklahoma,” she said. “It’s a rider’s coach course teaching the coaches themselves how to prepare the class for the basic rider course, and we’re in the advanced portion of it. It takes a lot of my time, but it’s worth it to me.”
Maness and her fiancé help give back as members of the Flag Poles Honors our Veterans (FPHOV) which erects flagpoles for veterans around the state of Oklahoma.
“It’s just so much fun,” she said. “If you’ve never had the privilege to witness what these outstanding Patriots do every Sunday, you’re missing out.”
FPHOV installs 5-10 flag poles around the state of Oklahoma and arrive at each home with a parade of motorcycles.
“The majority of the “Red, White and Blue Team” are civilians who just happen to own motorcycles and have a deep appreciation for Veterans who have sacrificed for this country. The best part – it’s all free for the veteran,” Maness said.
“Maness continued “Every Sunday they go out and they pick a town or region in Oklahoma, and they all ride to the veteran’s home. They show up on 10, 12 Harley’s making loud noise through the neighborhood, so it wakes everybody up and they park in front of the home. They go and place the flagpole. It’s an amazing process to watch. It’s about the ceremony that they perform, about the prayer service that they actually do right there in the Veterans front yard.”
Maness said the flag pole ceremony becomes a community affair.
“All the neighbors usually come out to watch and ask questions,” she said. “They are usually very excited to be part of the process and some actually participate in helping us dig the hole and perform the dedication. We always explain why we are here, why we are honoring this veteran, his service, his family, and his dedication to this country. Then, we recite the 13-folds of the flag and we hand it to him while the cement dries and we ask him to fly the flag the very next day. At this point, there is usually not a dry eye – so we get back on our bikes and make our way to the next home. It is an honor to give back in this fashion and I hope to continue as much as my schedule will allow.”
Maness comes from a military family. She and several of her siblings followed suit and joined the military. Her father was a Marine for 27 years, and her mother was in the United States Navy.
Maness said her parents both met while serving at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1960.
“There are five kids in my family. One has already passed. Of the four left, three of us have served in the Armed Forces (two Marines and one Army) while the other is a military supporter who works with Marines as a government employee,” she said. “This is just something that my family takes pride in doing – serving our country in some fashion.”

The U.S. Navy has approved the commissioning date for the future USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29).
The Navy will commission Richard M. McCool Jr., an amphibious transport dock, September 7, 2024 at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida.
The naming of LPD 29 honors U.S. Navy Capt. Richard M. McCool Jr., who was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1945 for the heroism he displayed after his ship was attacked by kamikaze aircraft in the Battle of Okinawa. Despite suffering from shrapnel wounds and painful burns, he led efforts to battle a blazing fire on his ship and rescue injured sailors. LPD 29 will be the first of its name.
Richard M. McCool Jr. is co-sponsored by Shana McCool and Kate Oja, granddaughters of the ship’s namesake. As the co-sponsors, McCool and Oja lead the time-honored Navy tradition of giving the order during the ceremony to “man our ship and bring her to life!” At the moment, the commissioning pennant is hoisted and Richard M. McCool Jr. becomes a proud ship of the fleet.
Richard M. McCool Jr. will be the Navy’s 13th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.
Amphibious transport docks are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment, and supplies by embarked Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles (AAV) augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft (MV 22). These ships support amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions and serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious operations.

About Captain Richard Miles McCool, USN, (1922-2008)

Richard Miles McCool Jr. was born on 4 January 1922 in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. Appointed from Oklahoma to the U.S. Naval Academy, he graduated an ensign in June 1944, and was assigned to Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. In December, following training at the U.S. Naval Amphibious Training Station, Solomons, Maryland, he assumed command of USS LSC 122 and was promoted to lieutenant in January 1945. On 10 June, while operating off the Ryukyu Chain, Japan, he led his vessel to rescue survivors of USS William D. Porter after a Japanese kamikaze bomb exploded underneath the destroyer. The next evening, 11 June, two Japanese suicide squadron attacked McCool’s ship. Organizing a counterattack, McCool’s crew downed one of the kamikaze planes and damaged the second before it crashed into LSC 122’s conning tower, engulfing it in flames. Wounded and suffering severe burns, McCool led his men until aid arrived from other ships and he was evacuated due to his injuries. For his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty” on this occasion, McCool was awarded the Medal of Honor.
In January 1946, McCool was reverted back to lieutenant junior grade. In July, he assumed command of USS LSC 44, then transferred to the destroyer USS McKean (DD-784). In July 1947, he became the aide to commandant, Eighth Naval District, at New Orleans, Louisiana. After instructor duty at the University of Oklahoma with the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps in June 1949, he received orders to USS Frank Knox (DD-742), later transferring to USS Leyte (CV-32). In January 1951, McCool was promoted to lieutenant. Completing Armed Forces Information School at Fort Slocum, New York, in June, he received orders to Commander Naval Base, Long Beach, California, and served as the public information officer. A year later, he returned for duty at the Eighth Naval District. In July 1954, he attended Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, where he earned a master’s degree. In June 1955, McCool was promoted to lieutenant commander and assigned to the Bureau of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. The following year, he reported overseas as a staff member of Commander, South Eastern Asia Treaty Organization, Bangkok, Thailand. In December 1958, he was assigned staff duty with commandant of the Ninth Naval District at Great Lakes, Illinois, where he was promoted to commander in July 1960. In April 1961, he served on the staff of Commander, First Fleet and transferred three years later for duty with Commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Japan. When he returned to the U.S., he continued staff duty with Commander, Seventh Fleet. In July 1965, McCool was promoted to captain. In April 1966, he became deputy commander of the Defense Information School at Fort Benjamin, Harrison, Indiana. Following his service in various public affairs posts, he retired from active duty in 1974 and became active in local politics in the Bremerton, Washington, area. Richard M. McCool died on 5 March 2008 and is buried at Naval Academy Cemetery, Annapolis, Maryland.

VillagesOKC has announced a collaboration with Navigating Medicare to offer that agency’s services to provide answers to individual Medicare questions in the VillagesOKC office during business hours – 10 am-3 pm on Mondays through Thursdays. The consultations are free.
“For six years, Navigating Medicare has been the trusted Medicare educator for VillagesOKC members,” said Executive Director Marilyn Olson. “Now we are able to make it even easier by providing space for them in our Bethany office.”
Olson said local hospitals such as Mercy Health and Integris also trust the agents at Navigating Medicare to provide the truth about Medicare Supplements, Advantage plans, and the impact of financial, healthcare, and specific physician selections.
“Because of the experience and integrity of Ginny Curtis-Gillespie, founder and owner of Navigating Medicare, many VillagesOKC members have found solutions that matched their unique health, dental, travel, financial, and location needs – even when they first purchased from another Medicare agent,” Olson said.
Curtis-Gillespie said, “So much of insurance these days is made to seem complex, difficult, and tricky. At Navigating Medicare, we strive to make insurance decisions simple. Our agency is built on our family values which are a commitment to honesty, integrity, togetherness, and support.”
Olson explained that since questions come at age 57- 65, it is important to have honest advice that is easily accessible. Medicare plans change every year, and 2025 has more changes than typically. Doctors and dentists also change plans – even mid-year.
“Staying informed is essential for everyone as they age,” Olson said. “Empowering adults to make good decisions about their lives is a key component of our mission to help everyone age with vitality and purpose.”
In addition the onsite availability of Navigating Medicare agents, VillagesOKC and Navigating Medicare are holding free information meetings to address the many changes coming next year.
“Navigating Medicare: Truth and Changes for 2025” will be presented at VillagesOKC, 3908 N. Peniel Ave, Suite 400, on the following dates June 8: 10-11 am, June 15: 10-11 am, June 18: 6-7 pm, June 29: 10-11 am, July 13: 10-11 am, July 16: 6-7 pm and July 27: 10-11 am.

The sessions are free with RSVP at info@villagesokc.org or (405) 990-6637.

More than 100 Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation donors now have a better understanding of the scientific discoveries their gifts make possible.
This week’s annual gathering of OMRF’s Loyal Donors Society included tours of the foundation’s Multiple Sclerosis Center of Excellence and demonstrations of current research projects ranging from Alzheimer’s to cell regeneration to blood clotting.
OMRF’s loyal donors are those who’ve contributed for at least five straight years. Using that criteria, the foundation currently has 989 loyal donors, including 111 who met the five-year threshold for the first time this past year.
Combined, they have given nearly $80 million. The longest active streak belongs to the Oklahoma Association of Mothers Clubs, whose contributions date to 1956 – a decade after OMRF’s founding.
“Thanks to your generosity, our scientists make a worldwide impact on human health,” Vice President of Research Courtney Griffin, Ph.D., told the group. “We take great pride in being Oklahoma’s medical research foundation,”
Tuesday’s event was the first visit to OMRF for Peggy and Richard Geib, who’ve been giving to OMRF since 2019. “I can tell that everyone here is passionate about what they do,” said Peggy Geib, “and that they feel like they’re making a difference.”
The Geibs make an annual year-end contribution to the foundation, and they also make memorial gifts to OMRF following the death of a friend or relative. “Flowers are fine, but to us, the memorials are more meaningful,” Richard Geib said.
Sylvia Zimmerman, a donor since 2005, described the event as “an eye opener. I love that OMRF focuses not only the cause of illness, but also on the treatment of it.”
Robert Tilghman enjoyed learning about cardiovascular health and OMRF’s cardiovascular biology research at the event. “I love the dedication of the scientists here and the constant effort to explore every avenue to solve a problem,” said Tilghman, who’s donated to OMRF for 12 straight years.
The consistent generosity of donors like those who attended Tuesday’s event has fueled OMRF’s research since its founding in 1946, said Vice President of Philanthropy & Community Relations Penny Voss.
“These donors are essential to our mission, which aims to help people lead longer, healthier lives,” Voss said. “If we can show our appreciation while giving them a better understanding of the research they make possible, this event is a success.”

Early American poet Anne Bradstreet once wrote, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” This quote applies to almost every aspect of life, including insurance markets. Unfortunately, we’re experiencing a winter, or the effects of a hard insurance market. However, just like with winter, fairer weather will eventually return. Let’s look at what a hard market means, what’s happened historically, and what the next few years will look like.
What is a hard market?
A hard insurance market is a period marked by rising rates and coverage becoming more difficult to obtain, in contrast to a soft market, where conditions are favorable to stable or falling prices and plenty of coverage options. Multiple factors influence market conditions, including the economy, the number of natural disasters across the country, and regulatory pressures, to name a few. Often, it takes years before we see the effects of these types of events, which is what is happening right now. The economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still being felt, including inflation and high interest rates, and we’ve seen an increasing number of natural disasters over the past few years, all culminating in the current market conditions.
Have there been hard markets before?
Hard markets are a part of the property and casualty insurance cycle – meaning this is not the first time we’ve been here. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), during the last three hard markets, inflation-adjusted net premiums written grew 7.7% annually (1975 to 1978), 10.0% (1984 to 1987) and 6.3% (2001 to 2004). When markets toughen, insurance companies raise rates to remain financially solvent, or able to pay claims. However, competition creates pressure for insurers to offer lower rates. This, along with reduced economic challenges and periods of fewer claims, helps to bring those rates down and soften the market.
What can we expect over the next few years?
Hard markets do stabilize, and prices remain flat or come down. Because of severe weather events and other impacts on the insurance industry, the road to a softer market won’t be an easy one traveled overnight. We may see the current market for the next few years, at least. It will take time for the insurance industry to react to any positive changes occurring right now. What’s important is that consumers have plenty of options when it comes to insurance and that the market remains robust.
The insurance industry is marked by periods of hard and soft markets. One thing that will remain constant, though, is the Oklahoma Insurance Department’s dedication to the people of our state. Consumers can find helpful resources about insurance and what they can do to weather the hard market on our website at https://www.oid.ok.gov/. If you have questions about your insurance coverage or need to file a complaint, you can reach us at 800-522-0071.