Kate's Notes: Normally such recent obituaries are not posted among the collection of older notices in the library archives but because Ruth Gilliland Hardman, as well as her father, John Wesley Gilliland, are both profiled in the library's collection of biographical sketches for Oklahoma, I felt this obituary helps to complete the life portrait of Ruth as a wife, mother, civic leader and philanthropist.

Ruth Gilliland Hardman
as published in the Tulsa World

HARDMAN — Ruth Gilliland, philanthropist and civic leader, died Sunday, January 11, 2004. She was 89.
   Mrs. Hardman was born in Holdenville, OK July 23, 1914 to John W. and Vera (Chapman) Gilliland. She graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1931. The following year she attended Sweet Briar College, Lynchberg[sic], VA. In 1933, she attended the University of Wisconsin and from 1948 to 1950 attended the University of Tulsa. 
   On January 6, 1934, Mrs. Hardman was married to Mr. William L. Kistler, Jr. From 1937 to 1964, Mrs. Hardman was Vice President of W.L. Kistler, Inc. Upon Mr. Kistler’s death, she was elected President in 1964. 
   Mrs. Hardman was married to Dr. Thomas J. Hardman on May 6, 1965. Dr. Hardman retired as a general surgeon in 1974 and passed away July 24, 1980. The boards and committees on which Mrs. Hardman had previously served are many. Some of them include one of the original Board members of Tulsa Town Hall; Tulsa Ballet; Tulsa Philharmonic; Tulsa Opera; Tulsa Psychiatric Foundation; Children’s Day Nursery; Children’s Medical Center; St. Simeon’s; Episcopal Church Bishop and Council Diocese of Oklahoma; Episcopal Church Canterbury Club of the University of Oklahoma; Gilcrease Museum; Junior League of Tulsa; Philbrook Museum of Art; International Council for the Museum of Modern Art in New York City; Regent for Kenmore in Fredericksburg, VA; Arts & Humanities Council for which she was the recipient of the first Harwelden Award for Individual Achievement. At Holland Hall, Mrs. Hardman served as an Emeritus Board member and established the Kistler-Gilliland Center for the Advancement of Learning which works with Oklahoma Public School Systems. She was the founder and benefactress of the Nimrod/Hardman Awards at the University of Tulsa. The Ruth G. Hardman Literacy Service of the Tulsa City-Council Library was named in her honor and she received the Lt. Governor’s Literacy Recognition Award in 1997 for her efforts on behalf of literacy. Mrs. Hardman created a Chair in the University of Oklahoma’s College of Education to establish the Oklahoma Center for Children with Learning Differences. She was inducted into the Tulsa Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of
Fame in 1997. She was the recipient of Planned Parenthood’s Founder’s Award in 1994. Mrs. Hardman was a member of Southern Hills Country Club. 
   A service in her memory will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, at Trinity Episcopal Church with Fr. James Thomson presiding. Cremation is planned. Stanleys Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. She is survived by 3 sons, Mr. William L. Kistler III, New York City; Dr. J. Philip Kistler and wife, Wendy, Belmont, MA, John G. Kistler and wife, Sandy, Santa Fe, NM; 7 grandchildren; and 4 great-grandchildren. 
   In lieu of flowers friends are asked to contribute to the Kistler-Gilliland Center at Holland Hall, the Ruth G. Hardman Literacy Service at the Library or to the charity of their choice. 

-- Contributed and transcribed by Kate Maynard, 2009.