Bebe Lea Spessard, Tulsa, passed away Saturday morning, December 30th, 2023 at Aberdeen Heights Assisted Living with her daughter, Stephanie and her son, Bob, present. She was 97. She had been in hospice for over a year and was ready to leave this planet a year ago, but the good Lord was not prepared for her until this past week. So, like her children always said would happen, she was late to her own funeral.
Bebe was born on October 28, 1926, to Jep Barry Duke and Bertha Elizabeth (Beebe) Duke in the still young, very bustling, city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bebe grew up very much a Daddy's girl and would follow her Daddy around helping him in his carpentry work and at one time helping him roof a house. During elementary school she contracted tuberculosis which was very prevalent during that period. Many people died from this disease during this period so her dad loaded their belongings up and moved the family to Denver, Colorado to help ease Bebe's symptoms. Because of TB, Bebe missed a full year of school. But being a voracious reader, she spent the year reading book after book and returned to school in Tulsa with her appropriate grade.
During high school she worked at Pete's Root Beer stand at Pine and Birmingham Place in Tulsa, delivering on roller skates, food and beverages to customers. In 1944 she graduated from Central High School, in downtown Tulsa. World War II was in full swing. Bebe, still a teenager, got a job at the Tulsa Bomber Plant built by Douglas Aircraft Company. Her job was inspecting aircraft as they came off the line to head to Europe or Japan. At its peak, the plant rolled out a new B-24 Liberator bomber every 19.5 hours. She later said the only reason she was made inspector was because she was the only one who knew how to use a slide rule.
After the war ended, she went to work as a switchboard operator at Bell Telephone Company. Around 1947, Bebe met Orville (Pete) Spessard at St Paul's Methodist Church. Pete was a WWII veteran who had just returned to Tulsa after serving in the European Theatre. The romance started and they got married on January 31, 1948 at St Paul's.
In 1955, Bebe got a part time job as a librarian at the Tulsa City County Library. Soon after she was offered a full-time job as a bookmobile librarian and ended up working over 35 years with the library, spreading her lifelong love of books to thousands of Tulsans of all ages. From morning story hours for the children, manning bookmobiles as they brought books to citizens who couldn't make it to a library, to working at numerous branch libraries around the city, she never passed up an opportunity to promote reading. She worked many years as the Head Branch Librarian at the North Sheridan Branch until she took over the newly built library at Maxwell Park which she helped plan. She always brought books home for her children to read and they also became avid readers. As her children had children she passed on the love of reading to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was a safe bet your birthday or Christmas gift from Bebe would involve at least one book. Later in life as people read less and less, she adamantly refused to watch the "idiot box", as she called TV. She said why waste your time watching that drivel when you could curl up with a good book.
After she retired from Tulsa City County Library she went to work at the OU Medical Center in Tulsa where she worked another ten years. Her goal, until life got in the way, was always to be a doctor. So working and talking with doctors was quite exciting for her.
Even in her older years Bebe still had a yearning desire to learn new things. When computers came on the scene, she was in her late 60s but she bought one and started learning how to use it. In her 90s she was still doing excel spreadsheets and the taxes for her neighborhood park and pool as well as emailing and texting her children and grandchildren on a regular basis.
Bebe never really stopped working and continued with a couple of small jobs until her body physically couldn't handle the challenge anymore. Wherever Bebe went she left an indelible impression. She was in constant demand. If you went to visit her at her home there were constant interruptions from people either knocking on the door or calling to talk to her on the phone. In her short time at Aberdeen Assisted Living her constant trail of family and friends who came to visit wore a path in the carpet to her room.
Bebe was always doing what she could to help the less fortunate. She made constant donations of time and money to numerous Tulsa charities and to her children's horror, complete strangers.
One of Bebe's passions was researching her family tree. This led to a few trips with her sister, Mary Carolyn Frank, to places such as Salt Lake City and New York. Eventually she went on a European cruise with Beebe cousins from the northern United States and Canada that she met over the internet. She took a cruise to Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Sweden to visit some of origins of the Beebe clan.
She loved to travel and spend time with her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. She was fortunate that most of her family stayed in Tulsa, so she always had kids or grandkids around the house. While she still was able to hear she loved going to plays and concerts. Her children didn't always like what she said but they definitely valued her opinion. The privilege of being able to go see Mom anytime and get her opinion on anything will be forever missed and a void that just can never be filled.
Bebe was preceded in death by her husband, Pete Spessard, father, Jep B Duke, mother Bertha E Duke, stepmother, Ola Duke, brother JB Duke, son in law, Russell Austin, and grandson, Graham Spessard. Bebe is survived by her children: Bob Spessard (Judy), Linda Austin, Chuck Spessard (Vicki), Stephen Spessard (Gina) and Stephanie Fry (Jim), grandchildren, Monika Spessard (Trevor), Nick Frisbee, Kala Yarnall, Doug Austin (Maria), Amanda Boulden (Rob), Matthew Spessard, Rachael Grayson (Ian), Christie Spessard, Dustin Fry (Sheree), Marie Fry and Jennifer Smith (Kyle), plus 13 great or great great grandchildren. All of whom loved and were loved by her so much.
A short obituary is never enough to honor a person. But it is not often a person comes along who possesses so much wisdom, character, and sometimes to a fault, honesty, who was loved so much and by so many. There is no doubt that not only her family, but Tulsa, will feel her absence for many years.
A special thanks to the staff at Aberdeen Assisted Living who patiently worked around the constant visitors Bebe had in her short stay.
Services for Bebe Spessard will be at the Moore Funeral Home Southlawn Chapel, 9350 E 51 St on January 12, 2024 at 1 pm.
The viewing will be on January 11th from 12 pm to 8 pm. Visitation from 5 pm to 7 pm.
In lieu of flowers please donate to one of these charities that Bebe loved:
Little Light House of Tulsa, 5120 E 36th St, Tulsa, OK 74135
Meals on Wheels of Metro Tulsa, 12620 E 31st St, Tulsa, Ok 74136-2300007
The Salvation Army, PO Box 3367, Tulsa, OK 74101-3367
John 3:16 Mission, PO Box 1420, Jenks, OK 74037-1420
Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma, 1304 N Kenosha, Tulsa, OK 74106
Planned Parenthood, 434 West 33rd St, New York, NY 10001 www.mercyships.org
ASPCA http://secure.aspca.org/donate/donate