Inaugural Impressions
Madeline Orrick Walton (1879?–1947)
Madeline Cecilia Orrick was born by September 2, 1879, in Canton, Mississippi, to Nicholas and Mary Orrick. The 1880 US Census lists Madeline as one of nine Orrick children ranging in age from sixteen to less than one year old. Her father, who was a storeowner, died in the fall of 1897 when she was not yet twenty years old.
Little is known of Madeline until she married John (Jack) Calloway Walton just three weeks after he divorced his first wife. They married in 1905 in Fort Worth, Texas, and went on to have two daughters. They resided full-time in Oklahoma City by 1915, and Jack was elected commissioner of public works in 1917. He was elected mayor of Oklahoma City in 1919 and governor of Oklahoma in 1922.
Madeline moved more into the spotlight after Jack took the oath of office as governor on January 8, 1923. Rather than have a traditional inaugural ball and formal dinner, the couple invited the entire state to what the New York Times called the “world’s greatest barbeque.” The event lasted multiple days and hosted more than 160,000 people. Jack and Madeline welcomed visitors in a receiving line, and reporters estimated that Madeline shook 20,000 hands over the course of the event. Guests enjoyed a variety of cooked meats ranging from bison to opossum. Some 20,000 gallons of soup and 30,000 gallons of coffee were also served. The inauguration enabled Madeline to win people’s hearts, and her faith and humanitarianism reportedly had a positive influence on Jack.
Jack’s tenure as governor lasted only ten months. He was impeached and convicted in the fall of 1923 for corruption and for placing the entire state under martial law to investigate the Ku Klux Klan. Jack tried and failed to revive his political career after his removal from office. Nevertheless, he and Madeline enjoyed a harmonious married life, with Madeline known for her warm brown eyes and friendly smile. She died on January 31, 1947. Jack died two years later. A simple headstone in Oklahoma City’s Rose Hill Burial Park marks their final resting place.
Madeleine Orrick Walton, 1923
(3230, Oklahoma Historical Society Photograph Collection, OHS)
