Lillian Canon Boland is a 1940 graduate of the Oklahoma College for Women. She just
completed nine years with the USAO Board of Regents. Her last meeting was in June.
She is scheduled to present the address at USAO’s summer commencement ceremonies August
2.
Boland retired from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1987. She was a faculty member in the communication and humanities department. She has been a book and play reviewer for various Oklahoma City clubs for the past eight years. Before teaching at UCO, Boland taught at Oilton High School, Willard and Britton Elementary Schools in Oklahoma City, and the University of Michigan.
In addition to teaching, Boland has also been active in television and theatre and has conducted workshops and seminars in communication. She once even served as a lecturer on a cruise ship.
Boland has served as an officer in several community organizations, including the Oklahoma City Town Hall, president; Oklahoma City Art Museum Volunteer Association, president and docent; National Cowboy Hall of Fame, docent; the Orchestra League, chairman of the Speakers Bureau, the Westminster Presbyterian Church S.P.A.R.K.S. Program, tutor; and the Oklahoma City Professional Chapter of Zeta Phi Eta, president.
While at OCW, Boland was president of her freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes. She was selected Miss OCW in 1939.
In 1949, she earned her master’s degree in speech from the University of Michigan. She graduated from high school in El Reno. She and her husband, clinical psychologist John L. Boland, reside in Oklahoma City.
“The nine years I have spent as a member of the USAO Board of Regents have been the most meaningful to me. The four years I spent at OCW were the most important to me. OCW professors inspired me to live life to its fullest; to have an inquiring mind, and confidence in my abilities.
“Frances D. Davis convinced me that if the first approach to a problem doesn’t work to keep trying another solution and another until a satisfactory answer is found,” she said.