{{more citations needed|date = February 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Infobox person | image = Carolyn Skelly Burford.jpg | caption = | image_size = | birth_name = Carolyn Mary Skelly | birth_date = {{birth date|1905|12|2|mf=y}} | birth_place = Marion, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1996|12|10|1905|12|10|mf=y}} | death_place = Newport, Rhode Island, U.S. | occupation = Heiress | parents = William Grove Skelly<br />Gertrude Elizabeth Frank | family = Joanne Jane Skelly-Stuart (sister) | spouse = {{marriage|Freeman W. Burford|1926|1940|end=div}} | children = William Skelly Burford<br />Carolyn Burford<br />Ann Burford }}
'''Carolyn Mary Skelly''' (December 2, 1905 – December 10, 1996)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?gl=ROOT_CATEGORY&rank=1&new=1&so=3&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=ms_r_f-2_s&gsfn=Carolyn+Mary&gsln=Skelly&msbdy=1908&msbpn__ftp=&msddy=1996&msdpn__ftp=Newport%2C+Rhode+Island%2C+USA&cpxt=0&catBucket=rstp&uidh=000&cp=0|title=Carolyn Mary Skelly }}</ref> was an American oil heiress and socialite. She was well known for her extravagant parties but was herself mysteriously disfigured. As the owner of Bois Doré, she continued clubbing well into her 80s and became “America’s No. 1 Jewelry Robbery Victim”.<ref name="NYT2006" />
== Early life == Carolyn Mary Skelly was born in Marion, Indiana, to William Grove Skelly, founder of the Skelly Oil Company (which became part of Getty Oil) and Gertrude Elizabeth Frank. Carolyn's only sibling was a younger sister named Joanne.
The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
== Marriage == In Tulsa, she met and started dating Freeman W. Burford, a law student at Tulsa University. Freeman also moonlighted as a truck driver for Skelly Oil. Once married, the couple moved to Shreveport, Louisiana, where Freeman became the vice-president and general manager of Crystal Oil Refining Corp, a division of Skelly Oil. Later he started working independently in Dallas, Texas. The family moved to Dallas in 1929, where Freeman became the organizer and general manager of Burford Oil Company after he opened the East Texas Refining Company in Pecos, Texas, which operated from 1929 to 1939 before it was destroyed in an explosion.
They became part of the Dallas elite. When their close friend, Sheppard King, was in financial trouble in 1933, they traded him their home and $76,000 in cash for the Rosewood mansion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/article/2875174|title=William Skelly Burford|date=November 24, 2004|publisher=}}</ref>
During her lifetime she had jewelry stolen worth an estimated $20 million.<ref name="NYT2006">{{cite news|last1=Green|first1=Penelope|title=The Heiress Out Back|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/garden/28dollie.html|accessdate=7 March 2017|work=New York Times|date=28 September 2006}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Skelly, Carolyn}} Category:1905 births Category:1996 deaths Category:American socialites Category:Marion, Indiana Category:People from Tulsa, Oklahoma Category:20th-century American people