Although they heard it preached countless times from the parish pulpit, Thetis Masterson and Teresa Soerries, who always sat side-by-side in the same pew, needed little admonishing to "love thy neighbor."

It was a principle that the two longtime midtown residents lived out daily.

For more than 50 years, ever since Masterson's family moved across the street from Soerries', the women carried on a neighborly relationship that inspired those who knew them, friends and relatives say.

Eileen Nash, Masterson's daughter, said: "It's just so unusual and so rare anymore for anyone to be neighbors for that long. And to have that kind of friendship - it's such a great example."

Not only did the two attend Mass together every week at the Church of the Madalene, they volunteered tirelessly for the congregation and its parochial school.

They baked together, between them turning out thousands of cakes and pies for new families in the neighborhood and favorite causes.

They stuck together through just about everything, in fact, raising families - two sons and two daughters each - and burying loved ones.

Long after they had begun to depend on walkers and each other's arms to get around, Masterson and Soerries continued to enjoy the tightest of bonds.

Thetis Masterson, a Joplin, Mo., native, died Wednesday. She was 92.

A Rosary is set for 5 p.m. Sunday with a funeral Mass at 10 a.m. Monday, both at Church of the Madalene under the direction of Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Funeral Home.

Although determined to stay in her home of 50 years, Masterson's health started to fail, and in 2007 she moved to Oklahoma Methodist Manor.

But the separation would not finish off her friendship with Soerries.

The two comrades, who after half a century could finish each other's sentences, stayed in close touch.

Watching each other's houses and each other's backs had long since become second nature to them. Soerries visited Masterson and kept a constant eye on her friend's former home.

Both women had buried their husbands years before; Masterson's died 20 year earlier, and Soerries' more than 30. Living alone for so long, each had come to rely more than ever on her neighbor.

If one's lights weren't on and shades raised by a certain time of the morning, the other called to check on her.

"They were neighborhood security," Nash said. "If something got by one of them, the other would spot it. It was really a comfort to us that they were looking out for each other."

Soerries' daughter, Pat Frakes, said her mother, now 90, said a rosary for Masterson a few days ago and, upon her death, immediately started planning to cook for the family.

"It was a godsend that they had each other all those years," Frakes said.

Masterson is survived by one daughter, Eileen Nash; one son, Jim Masterson; one brother, Charles White; and two grandchildren.

Memorial contributions may be made to Church of the Madalene or Oklahoma Methodist Manor.



Tim Stanley 581-8385 [email protected]

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/ourlives/article.aspx?subjectid=58&articleid=20101015_11_A19_CUTLIN890865