AKA Soror, Tulsa community leader Helen Rouce taught by example

Source

Helen Rouce taught some of her most-lasting life lessons by example.

“She was the best bridge player in Tulsa and always took home the prize,” said Effie Lee, Rouce’s close friend of nearly 60 years. “But you enjoyed playing with Helen, because if you made a mistake, she wouldn’t gripe like some do.”

Sweet-natured almost to a fault, Rouce rarely got upset about anything, Lee said, adding that she never knew anyone who didn’t like Rouce, “and there aren’t many I can say that about.”

The longtime Tulsa-area educator was similarly hailed in the classroom, where she was known as patient, encouraging and quick to praise.

Rouce’s teaching career, which included lengthy stints at Booker T. Washington High School and Langston University, spanned five decades, bridging the eras before and after state schools were desegregated.

Helen Adams Rouce died Aug. 18 at her daughter’s home in Houston, where she’d been living since her health declined. She was 99.

A funeral service is set for 1 p.m. Friday at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Tulsa under the direction of Russworm Funeral Home of Watonga.

Rouce’s famously sweet nature had its limits.

Once, as a student, she was denied the opportunity to accept an honor at an assembly because she was black. When offered to have it presented in private, Rouce refused to accept it at all.

But for all the injustices she witnessed or experienced during the era of segregation, she never harbored any animosity, friends and relatives say.

“That was probably her most important lesson to others,” said Rita Duncan, a friend who considered Rouce her second mother. “She should be on her way to sainthood. She was that kind of person.”

A native of Denver who had a master’s degree from the University of Denver, Rouce started her teaching career in 1933 at Booker T. Washington School in Sand Springs.

The old school, which is set to be torn down soon, served black students from first through 12th grade until 1966, when schools were desegregated.

Rouce, who taught math and science, went on to teach at Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, at Langston University and briefly at Hale High School in Tulsa before she retired in 1976.

Rouce co-founded and was the first president of Tulsa’s chapter of Jack and Jill of America, an organization for black mothers and their children.

She also was a longtime member of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church.

Besides making “the world’s best cookies,” Rouce was the devoted church member you could always depend on, said Sandy Boyd, who leads St. Aidan’s altar guild.

“Whatever she was doing, she got it done,” Boyd said. “She was treasurer for a long time and paid all the bills. She made sure the altar was set up. She was friendly and always glad to see you.”

Rouce kept close ties with several organizations. She joined the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority while in college and was active with the group, the oldest Greek-letter organization in the country for black college women, for the rest of her life. She was recognized in 2004 for her 75 years of continuous service.

Rouce’s late husband of 59 years, J.A. Rouce, was a fellow educator and school principal.

Rouce is survived by two daughters, Myrtle Fanchon Rouce Hamilton and Sandra Diane Rouce; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Popularity: 2% [?]