Ralph and Gladys Butterfield first met on the grounds of the Home of Redeeming Love.  Ralph’s parents worked and lived on the grounds and he had grown up just behind the brick building that served as the first hospital.  She was a young nursing student who quickly became enamored of the handsome young man home from college.  The feeling was mutual and the couple married in 1924.

In ensuing years, Ralph entered the ministry, serving several churches before being elected superintendent of the Oklahoma conference of the Free Methodist Church.  Then, in 1949, sensing a new calling to minister to the sick and unfortunate, he was hired as administrator of the fledgling Deaconess Hospital.  In 1953, Gladys took on the role of superintendent of the Home of Redeeming Love and traveled the country, finding homes for babies needing adoption and raising funds for the Home’s operations.  In the meantime, Deaconess Hospital flourished under Rev. Butterfield’s leadership and careful stewardship, becoming a major Oklahoma City institution with a sterling reputation for providing excellence in health care.

Click here to view a video clip of Mrs. Butterfield.