Kathleen Boren Mullendore, who with her husband built

the Cross Bell ranch empire in Osage County, died Monday on

the ranch near Bartlesville. She was 93.

She will lie in state Wednesday at the Cross Bell Ranch

home. Services will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at the ranch

under the direction of Arnold Moore Funeral Service, and

burial will follow at the family cemetery on the ranch.

Mullendore was an active builder and partner in the

60,000-acre ranch, cooking for her family and ranch hands

in its formative years.

A pilot, she would fly to shop for groceries and other

supplies for the ranch, her daughter Katsy Mullendore Mecom

said.

"Mama could do anything," Mecom said. "Flying was her

hobby, and she loved to fly."

But flying was a necessity, too, especially on a ranch

that covered thousands of acres that took hours to cross

even by pickup.

"If a buffalo got out, Mama would take off in her plane

and find out where it was. She would use a shortwave radio

that she and Dad fixed up and would tell him where the

buffalo was," Mecom said.

Mullendore continued flying until the late 1960s.

She celebrated her 93rd birthday on Aug. 11 with her

daughter and grandchildren.

She was born in Caney, Kan., where she completed

elementary school. She finished junior-senior education at

the Bonn Avon Finishing School in San Antonio in 1923. She

also graduated from The Castle, a college in Tarrytown,

N.Y., in 1927.

She met E.C. "Gene" Mullendore at a dance in Bartlesville

in 1925. They were married on Dec. 21, 1927, and made their

first home in Cleveland, Okla., where her father-in-law,

E.C. Mullendore Sr., was building a ranch empire in Osage

and Pawnee counties.

Gene and Kathleen Mullendore began building their ranch

and cattle spread in 1929, buying land piece by piece.

Kathleen Mullendore also had property from her father and

grandfather, Charlee Brown, who also was Osage chief

Shon-kah in 1918-20.

Survivors include Mecom, eight grandchildren and seven

great-grandchildren.