William Harold Wolaver

September 2, 1900 – December 30, 1989

William H. Wolaver, 89, died on December 30, 1989, at the Swedish Medical Center in Seattle, Washington.

Born in Lexington, Missouri on September 2, 1900, he was the son of Charles Jacob and Edith Helena Tinkham Wolaver. In 1919 the family moved from Wichita, Kansas to Perry where William’s father took over management of the Perry Mill. Following William’s graduation from Perry high, he attended Oklahoma A. & M., Stillwater, for two years. He was a graduate of Missouri University and accepted a position with Smith and Senter, architects, in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

While living in Okmulgee, William met his future bride, Evelyn McQuarie. They were married on March 19, 1926, and made their home in Okmulgee until moving to Tulsa where they were blessed with 3 sons and 3 daughters. In a tragic drowning accident they lost their son, 3-year-old John Charles Wolaver, in 1947. In his memory, a YMCA endowment fund was created, to be used to purchase memberships for needy young boys so they may learn to swim.

William became a renown architect in Tulsa. The Tulsa Foundation of Architecture honored him for his designs for these buildings.

Manual Arts School (Manual Arts Building) southwest corner 9th and Cincinnati (1922)
Day and Night Cleaners, southwest corner 11th and Elgin (1946)
Seismograph Service Building, southwest corner 41st and Sheridan (1956)
Adams & Leonard Building, southwest corner 13th and Main (1956)
B’nai Emunah Synagogue, southwest corner 17th and Peoria (1959)
Webster High School, 1919 West 40th Street (1938)
Ardmore Air Force Base, Ardmore, Oklahoma (1941)
Ted Law Residence, 1841 East 27th Street

In the late 1960s William and his son, William Jr, began the architectural firm of Wolaver and Wolaver.

In their later years, William and Evelyn moved to Portland, Oregon and, finally, to Seattle, Washington.

Predeceasing him in death, in addition to his son, was his wife, Evelyn, in 1982.