A Family’s Commitment to Education Creates Opportunities for Others Through Scholarship Endowment
If you ask Charles C. and Mary Lou Miles what brought them so far from their humble beginnings, they will tell you it’s education. Education has played a significant role in the couples’ lives, and in fact, it was education that brought the two together. It’s no surprise that their family chose to establish a scholarship fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to honor the couple’s 60-year marriage, creating the opportunity for other students to pursue an education after high school.
Charles grew up in the small town of Fairfax, Okla., and attended the town’s only all-black elementary school. His parents sent him away to Tulsa in order to finish high school, where he graduated from Booker T. Washington High School. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Charles returned to college and earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts from Hampton University in Hampton, Va.
Growing up in the small town of Buford, Ga., Mary was familiar with the challenges of receiving an education as a black student during a time when segregation still existed. Her parents sent her to Stillman Boarding School in Tuscaloosa, Ala., where she graduated at the age of 15. She then went on to graduate from Clark College, now Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Ga., with a bachelor’s degree in English.
After meeting as teachers in Gainsville, Ga., Charles and Mary were married in 1948, and shortly thereafter moved to Oklahoma City. The couple both began graduate work at the University of Oklahoma, and in 1955 obtained master’s degrees, Charles in industrial education and Mary in education. Their careers spanned nearly 40 years at various middle and high schools across Oklahoma City including Capitol Hill, Star Spencer, Douglass, Northwest Classen, U.S. Grant, F.D. Moon and John F. Kennedy.
Now retired, the couple continue to instill the value of education in their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Their oldest daughter Gayle Miles-Scott is a CPA and a retired accounting professor from the University of Central Oklahoma, and daughter Vicki Miles-LaGrange is the Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.
“Education was a way up and a way out for my parents,” Vicki says. “Because of the challenges of the time, they were forced to continue moving further away from home to receive a quality education.”
Those challenges presented true opportunity in the lives of Charles and Mary Lou Miles. Through the establishment of the Charles C. and Mary Lou Miles Scholarship Fund, that same opportunity will be shared with others and the Miles’ family legacy of education will live on.
The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has been helping donors like the Miles family establish endowments for scholarships and charitable organizations they care about for 40 years. We work with donors to meet their specific needs and they trust us to administer the funds according to their wishes. Additionally our investment policies and procedures ensure prudent and perpetual management of the funds. Explore our Scholarship Directory for a complete list of educational scholarships and awards administered by the Oklahoma City Community Foundation. If you are interested in establishing a scholarship endowment fund, please contact Anna-Faye Rose at 405/606-2902 or Tracy Treps at 405/606-2920.
