OKC arts supporter Martha Mullally, mother of Megan Mullally, dies at age 97
Oklahoma City arts supporter Martha Jane Palmer Mullally, the mother of Emmy-winning actress Megan Mullally and mother-in-law of actor Nick Offerman, died Monday. She was 97.
Mullally died in her Oklahoma City home of 54 years, attended by her daughter and son-in-law, according to her sweet obituary published in today's The Oklahoman.
She was born Oct. 2, 1921, in Tulsa, to William Elias Palmer and Hazel White Palmer. After graduating from Tulsa's Central High School, she continued her education at Stephens College in Missouri and University of Texas at Austin, where she pledged Kappa Alpha Theta. She worked as a runway model for The John Robert Powers Agency in New York and was an award-winning equestrienne.
She married Carter Mullally, Jr. in 1948 in Tulsa and gave birth to daughter Megan in Los Angeles in 1958. The family lived in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and Costa Mesa, California, before settling in the Nichols Hills area of Oklahoma City.
Mullally made a name for herself as an unflagging, supportive parent to Megan and supporting various causes in her community. Besides her contributions as a tirelessly devoted den mother and homemaker, she belonged to the Junior League, the Casady Mothers' Club, Christ the King Church, Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club, Tuesday Book Club and Wednesday Study Club.
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She also served on the Casady School Board of Visitors and on the board of Ballet Oklahoma (the precursor of Oklahoma City Ballet), of which she was one of the early founding members. In 2009, she was honored by Lyric Theatre with a "Special Recognition Award as an Unsung Hero of the Stage."
Megan Mullally has shared a few touching moments of her mother's final days on Instagram, where she wrote, "she’s been the most purely positive influence in my life. she was always there to provide encouragement, support, and love. really the best mother and friend anyone could ask for."
Over the course of her acting career, the "Will & Grace" star also related funny tales of her mother during interviews, including a particularly entertaining story last year on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" about her mother's reaction to her first Emmy Award nomination:
After her daughter left for college, Mullally became a successful advertising saleswoman and later as sales consultant for Doncaster clothing.
She loved visiting Megan and her husband in California, and also vacationing all over the country.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister Mary Ann and "gentleman caller" in her later years, Nathaniel Bert Smith. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, niece Ann Wagner Arutunoff and nephews William and Richard Wagner II and their loving families, niece Cherry Fisher, brother-in-law Taylor Mullally and family,as well as her caregivers and friends.
Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursda at Christ the King Catholic Church, 8005 Dorset Drive, with Father Rick Stansberry donning the vestment. She will be laid to rest at Rose Hill Cemetery in Tulsa.
Memorial donations may be made in her name to Ballet Oklahoma or Lyric Theatre.
-BAM