The Path I Chose

By Jasmine Moran with Karen Anson

A seven-year-old child sent far away from her mother as the bombs of World War II exploded all around her, Jasmine Moran had to grow up quickly to care for her two-year-old sister. When the daughter of the family she was evacuated to became increasingly unkind, Jasmine had to find her way out of the situation. Returning home was not an option.

From the fields adjacent to the Hornchurch, Essex, aerodrome to the stage of London’s West End, Jasmine Moran makes choices that ultimately bring her to Oklahoma. The many works of philanthropy by Jasmine and her husband Melvin Moran are legendary. Well known is their founding and ongoing support for the Jasmine Moran Children’s Museum in Seminole, a premier place for children to learn and grow. Possibly less known, but just as close to her heart, is her work as an animal rights activist, which culminated recently with Seminole’s new animal shelter.

Finding her path from the explosions of World War II London to the relative tranquility of life in small town America, Jasmine Moran’s choices make interesting reading and show us that tough beginnings can inspire resilience and good works.