Oklahoma Family Tree Stories
This beautiful sculpture of three redbud trees is located just outside the Eleanor and John Kirkpatrick Research Center in the Oklahoma History Center. Each leaf of the Oklahoma Family Tree memorializes an Oklahoma family with the family surname, first name(s), and the town or county where they lived. In addition, a short family history is preserved in the digital family history book at the base of the tree. Sponsoring a leaf is a special way to recognize your family history and benefit future generations at the same time. To find out how to honor your own family with a leaf visit the Oklahoma Family Tree Project page.
Huey Family
Family Tree Leaf
Huey, George Owen and Adrienne Cochran
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County
Oklahoma was always “home” to George Owen Huey Jr. and his wife Adrienne Cochran Huey, although they were born elsewhere and traveled the globe for twenty years.
Owen, as he was known to his family, graduated from Central High School (1938) and Adrienne from Classen High School (1939). They did not know one another in those school days but met while living in Washington, DC in 1941. Adrienne’s friend Patricia Huey suggested her brother Owen call on Adrienne. He did, and they were married on Adrienne’s twenty-first birthday, September 2, 1942.
World War II prevented the young couple from setting up housekeeping. Owen enlisted in the Army Air Force. Adrienne returned to Oklahoma City to live with her parents Paul R. Cochran, Sr. and Fan Cochran. Paul was a sales manager for the American Snuff Company. His sales territory included Oklahoma and Texas. Fan Cochran was a well-regarded artist in Oklahoma City and was featured in Who’s Who in Oklahoma City (1960).
After the war, Owen joined the US State Department as a passport agent. Known professionally as George Huey, he served in the Chicago passport office from 1948 to 1956. He was accepted into the Foreign Service as a career diplomat. He served the United States at consular offices in Liverpool, England; Buenos Aires, Argentina; New Delhi, India; and the Panama Canal Zone from 1957 to 1977. He began his career as vice consul and retired as consul general, chief of mission.
A highlight of his career occurred in 1966 in New Delhi, India. He was the officer on duty when Josef Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva sought asylum at the US Embassy. George, along with a CIA agent, succeeded in helping Svetlana defect from the USSR and got her on a flight to Rome. Svetlana recounted the harrowing adventure in her book Only One Year.
In 1975 George was the principal in a team of four individuals tasked with negotiating the release of Consular Agent John Egan, who had been kidnapped by the Montoneros in Cordoba, Argentina. Egan was murdered before negotiations began. George notified Mrs. Egan of her husband’s assassination and helped coordinate funeral arrangements. It was a frightening time in Argentina, a time when many people disappeared off the streets. Their families called them los desaparecidos, the “disappeared ones.” George and Adrienne lived in an apartment with a safe room, which contained a radio for emergency use. George also had a bodyguard.
Between country assignments, the Hueys had two-month home leaves, and Oklahoma City always served as their base. From there, they would visit relatives and travel in the United States. When they retired in 1977, they chose Oklahoma City to be near Adrienne’s parents, the Cochrans. It was the only stateside home that they had ever known. They purchased a home on Meridian Place.
Sadly, a few days before his fifty-ninth birthday, George Owen Huey Jr. died of kidney cancer. George was born February 12, 1920, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father, George Owen Sr., was an architect and his mother, Elise Rensis Huey, was a homemaker.
The Huey history in Oklahoma began in 1927 when George Owen Sr. moved his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was assistant manager of the Pickering Lumber Company. He was appointed engineer-examiner for the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 because of his extensive experience in the building industry. This position brought him to Oklahoma City. He became state director of the PWA. He died of cancer at age 52.
Adrienne Cochran Huey was born September 2, 1921, in Booneville, Mississippi. Her father’s sales territory took the family to Terrell and Dallas, Texas, before he settled in Oklahoma City. After graduating from Classen High School, Adrienne attended Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha, Oklahoma. She was a fashion artist but put aside her easel to sell war bonds in Washington, DC.
Adrienne was a true partner to George Owen in their world travels. She enjoyed being a hostess and meeting new people. She kept her household organized and always had a positive attitude. She would say, “I can live anywhere for two years.” She immersed herself in the challenge of each new assignment and learned the cuisine and native arts of the region.
While in New Delhi, Adrienne became enamored with the art of batik. She learned the craft and also taught batik at the American Women’s Club. She had several one-woman shows with her batik artwork in Washington, DC, and in Oklahoma City. Adrienne also excelled as a pastel portrait artist.
She was a member of the National League of American Pen Women, the oldest women’s arts organization in the United States. She had numerous essays published in the Foreign Service Journal, including “Night Flight,” which told of Svetlana’s defection. Adrienne died in 1999 in Wisconsin.
In addition to their professional achievements, the Hueys raised four daughters: Nancy Huey Runner of Wisconsin, Barbara Huey Brennan of Virginia, Shirley Huey Hastings of North Carolina, and Peggy Huey of California. These daughters donated a number of medals, photographs, certificates, and important correspondence related to George Owen and Adrienne Cochran Huey to the Oklahoma Historical Society in 2016.
