Home |  PublicationsEncyclopedia |  Fluke, Louise Funk

The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

Louise Funk Fluke
(2012.201.B0211.0477, Oklahoma Publishing Company Photography Collection, OHS).

FLUKE, LOUISE FUNK (1900–1986).

Known as "the Betsy Ross of Oklahoma," artist Louise Funk Fluke designed the Oklahoma state flag. She was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, on February 9, 1900. In 1901 Louise Funk moved with an older brother and her parents, R. W. and Trimmier Sloan Funk, to Shawnee, Oklahoma. As a young girl she received art lessons from Marjorie Dodge Tapp. Funk continued her art studies at Columbia University and the Chicago Art Institute. Returning to Oklahoma, she married George Fluke in December 1924, and they had one son.

In 1925 Fluke submitted an entry in the Oklahoma Daughters of the American Revolution's statewide contest for a new design for the state flag. Fluke consulted with Dr. Joseph B. Thoburn, secretary of the Oklahoma Historical Society, and studied Oklahoma history as well as Indian lore and artifacts. For her final design she selected an Osage war shield with six crosses representing the Indian symbol for stars and seven pendant eagle feathers. A calumet (peace pipe) and an olive branch, superimposed over the crosses on the shield, represented a united people living in peace. Her design won the contest and was adopted by the state legislature in 1925. Before her death on July 27, 1986, in Oklahoma City, she received many honors, including the Pioneer Woman Award in 1982.

Linda D. Wilson

Browse By Topic

Women

Explore

People
Art and Artists
Women

Learn More

Marquetta Griswold Brown, An Oklahoma Flag Designed by a Fluke (Ponca City, Okla.: M. G. Brown, 1996).

Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 30 July 1986.

"Oklahoma–Flags," Vertical File, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City.

Citation

The following (as per The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition) is the preferred citation for articles:
Linda D. Wilson, “Fluke, Louise Funk,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FL005.

Published January 15, 2010

Copyright and Terms of Use

No part of this site may be construed as in the public domain.

Copyright to all articles and other content in the online and print versions of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History is held by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS). This includes individual articles (copyright to OHS by author assignment) and corporately (as a complete body of work), including web design, graphics, searching functions, and listing/browsing methods. Copyright to all of these materials is protected under United States and International law.

Users agree not to download, copy, modify, sell, lease, rent, reprint, or otherwise distribute these materials, or to link to these materials on another web site, without authorization of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Individual users must determine if their use of the Materials falls under United States copyright law's "Fair Use" guidelines and does not infringe on the proprietary rights of the Oklahoma Historical Society as the legal copyright holder of The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and part or in whole.