Jean Sinclair, the first woman chairman of the Tulsa Democratic Party, passed away on June 8th, 2024. She was 98 years old.

Sinclair was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduated from Will Rogers High School in 1943.  After she graduated from high school, Jean took journalism and photography courses at the University of Tulsa and Oklahoma University.

During her school years, she met Jim Sinclair, whom she wedded in October 1943, just before his enlistment in the Marine Corps during World War II.

Jean and her husband were active in Boy Scouts. She became the first female member of a district Cub Scout Training Team and was the first woman to receive the Scouter's Award from the Tulsa Indian Nations Council.

From 1946 and on, Sinclair was involved in numerous political and community financing campaigns. In September 1971, she became the first woman to be elected chairman of the Tulsa County Democratic Party. Sinclair later developed and owned Politigraphic Services, a political campaign services company.

In 1980, she was highly honored when, at the invitation of President Jimmy Carter, she, along with 7 other Oklahomans, were invited to attend a luncheon with the President and Mrs. Carter in their family dining room in their living quarters at the White House.

She later served with the Panel of American Women in support of the Civil Rights Legislation.

Jean has been chairman of the Tulsa Park and Recreation Board, and has served on the Board of Directors for Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa Zoo Development, Tulsa Zoo Friends, and Park Friends, Inc.

As an avid avocational archaeologist, Jean was a member of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society, where she served as Vice President and was awarded the annual Golden Trowel Award for that year's Outstanding Amateur Archaeologist. She also taught archaeological photography for the Society.  She also served on the board of the Tulsa Archaeological Society.

She was an avid photographer, sailor, tennis player, jazz and bluegrass bass player. She was a member of the Sequoyah Yacht Club, Green Country Bluegrass Association, and Tulsa Camera Club. In her 60s, she fulfilled a lifetime of ambition by flying in a glider and riding in a hot air balloon.

Jean is survived by children Jim Jr. and Margaret Sinclair, Walt and Marinete Sinclair, Ray Sinclair and Marianne Adams, David and Susan Potter, Frank and Gail Padilla; grandchildren Wayne Sinclair, Mariah Sinclair Humphries, Briana Sinclair Kittredge, Andrew Sinclair, Christine Wilkins, and Andres Padilla; and ten great-grandchildren.  She was loved by many and will be missed by all.