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Ora Blanche Burright (1893 – 1975)

By Paul Ricketts

Ora Blanche Burright was born on 28 January 1893, on the family claim close to the town of Mulhall, Logan County, Oklahoma. Her father Orrin Ulysses Burright staked the claim as part of the Land Run of 1889. Her mother, Ora Nathene Smith was a native of Mason City, Illinois.

Ora Blanche Burright was born on 28 January 1893, on the family claim close to the town of Mulhall, Logan County, Oklahoma. Her father Orrin Ulysses Burright staked the claim as part of the Land Run of 1889. Her mother, Ora Nathene Smith was a native of Mason City, Illinois.

Ora Blanche Burright was born on 28 January 1893, on the family claim near Mulhall, Logan County, Oklahoma

Blanche attended Rose Hill School, then Logan County High School and graduated from Capitol City Business College in Guthrie in 1911. She worked as a secretary for Judge C. S. Ingersoll at Pond Creek, Oklahoma until she went back to school, graduating from Phillips University High School, Enid in 1922 with a B.S. Degree.

Blanche then worked at various places in Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia. She attended the Women’s Medical School in Philadelphia, also Kansas University Medical School but did not finish due to lack of funds. Blanche went on to receive an M.S. Degree in Physiology from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa and an M.S. Degree in Nutrition from Columbia University, New York. Choosing to remain in academia, Blanche taught at Colorado, California and Berkeley Universities. As a highly educated woman, she published several pamphlets and books on food and diet.

Ora Blanche Burright and The Sun Rides High

Blanche compiled a history of the Burright family based on her father’s memoirs called The Sun Rides High, which was published in 1973. The book is an interesting account of life in America during the 19th and early 20th centuries, for the families that headed west to Oklahoma. The book remains in copyright. A copy of the original copyright filling is held in our family records. Whilst, not a best seller the book remains popular with genealogists and historians seeking references to the pioneering days in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. It has been cited often in published works and by family researchers. She was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. At the time of her death in 1975, Blanche was writing a book about the Great Depression. She was 82.

Sources:

Sources:
1. Ora Blanche Burright Obituary, 1975
2. Phillips University High School, Alumni – In Memoriam