Mary Ellen Chiles

Mary Ellen McKibben Chiles passed away Oct. 25, 2011, in Oklahoma City. She was born Nov. 14, 1933, in Stafford, KS, to Glen and Helen McKibben. She attended public schools in Stafford, KS, and was the Kansas High School Debate Champion in 1950-1951. She later attended the University of Kansas and Kansas State University where she received an undergraduate degree and a Masters Degree in Humanities. She was selected a Phi Beta Kappa and a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority at University of Kansas. She married her best friend and high school sweetheart, Marvin Chiles, on Aug. 14, 1954 in Stafford. She and her family came to Oklahoma City in 1962. She taught for 34 years at Kansas State Univ., Pittsburg State College in Pittsburg, KS, Cowley County Junior College in Arkansas City, KS, and Putnam City West High School in Oklahoma City. In 1977, she was honored by The National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Faculty as one of 50 outstanding Humanities High School Teachers in the US. For 39 years she was a member of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City and one of the founders of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma, serving on its board of directors until her death. She was a United Methodist Wesley Foundation board member at Langston Univ. where the Wesley Foundation library is named in her honor. She loved to read and spend time outdoors. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother, Bob McKibben. She is survived by her husband, Marvin Chiles; three daughters, Cyrena Chiles Eitler and husband Tom, Cynthia Chiles Eckart and husband David, and Jennifer Ann Chiles; four grandchildren, Andrew and Alex Eitler and Matthew and Erin Eckart.