Gloria Dawn (Dunham) Hauger

On December 7, 1941, Gloria Dunham and her family moved from Afton, Oklahoma to Tulsa. Besides World War 2 starting, Gloria was in the middle of the 5th grade at Riverview Elementary School missing her friends and small-town Afton. Her teachers, sensing her shyness and unhappiness, gave her very special attention that year which she remembered all her life, especially Miss Whitely.

Gloria Dunham Hauger, age 91, a homemaker and longtime community volunteer in Tulsa, died Sunday, February 19, 2023. Mrs. Hauger is preceded in death by her husband of 65 years, Leslie S. Hauger, Jr., a retired United States Administrative Law Judge for the office of Hearings and Appeals for the Social Security Administration. She is survived by her two daughters: Kerry Hauger Beebe, her husband Scott, and their son, Joseph; and Jamie Hauger Huneycutt and her husband, Jay Huneycutt.

Mrs. Hauger was born on September 29, 1931, attended Horace Mann Junior High and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1949. She attended the University of Tulsa where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority, Yearbook Beauty Queen, Engineering Queen Attendant and Honorary ROTC Cadet Colonel. She and Les were married on November 22, 1952 in Tulsa after he returned from flying 50 missions in Korea while he was in the Air Force. They were stationed in Houston for two years, returning to Tulsa in 1954.

Mrs. Hauger was active in many Tulsa organizations. She was President of Pacers Auxiliary of Philbrook Museum of Art, the Theatre Tulsa Guild and Chi Omega Alumnae Association. She was also active in the Junior and Senior Boards of the Children's Day Nursery, Tulsa Boys Home, Children's Home, Tulsa Philharmonic, and Cerebral Palsy Association participating in the Red Glove Review. She was a judge for numerous talent and beauty contests around the state leading up to the Miss Oklahoma Pageant. She was the first woman Program and PR director for the Thornton Family YMCA, serving for over ten years. While living in New Orleans in 1993, she was selected to participate in the pageantry of a Mardi Gras Ball. She had spent her honeymoon in New Orleans and later lived there for three years from 1990 to 1993.


As a child, Gloria loved traveling on trains across the country with her family every summer. As an adult, she traveled in all of the states, Canada, Mexico and the Cayman Islands. A special trip was a month-long tour to nine countries in Europe with her husband and daughters.

Gloria is also survived by her sister-in-law Ellie Dunham, and her children: Jeff and Kim; nephew Doug Conner, his wife Donna and his son Brett; sister-in-law Joan Hauger and her children: Kim Hauger, M.D., his wife Nancy, their children and grandchildren; Robert Hauger, M.D., his wife Alice and their children; Kathy Ostrem, her husband Scott, and their children.

Gloria was preceded in death by her parents Lena and Chester Dunham; her sister Phyllis and husband Tom Conner; her brother C.J. Dunham; her sister Marilyn Dunham; her nieces Camille Conner and Nicole Dunham; nephew Tommy Conner; and her brother-in-law George Hauger.

A Private Family memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Parkinson's Foundation.