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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1
The 2011 Oklahoma Hall of FameThe 1964 Sonic Boom Tests:
When Oklahoma City Became an International Test
LaboratoryOklahomas Original First Gentleman
Afro-Americana: Contemporary Black Artists in OklahomaHall of
Fame Spotlight: Wilma Pearl Mankiller
Fleeing SaigonOHAs Story Through Its People
Magazine of the Oklahoma Heritage AssociationMagazine of the
Oklahoma Heritage Association
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You know Loves from our stores, but do you know Loves as a
company? Tom and Judy Love founded what is now Loves Travel Stops
& Country Stores in 1964. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, today
Loves is still 100 percent family owned and operated. With a
national footprint of more than 265 locations in over 35 states,
Loves current growth rate is approximately 15 stores per year. We
are currently ranked No. 18 on the Forbes annual list of Americas
largest private companies. But, were not a stereotypical nameless,
faceless corporation. The Love family and the company is very
active in the Oklahoma City community, donating momore than 2
percent of the companys net proots each year to non-proots here in
our home city and across the nation where we operate stores. And,
Love family members personally visit each and every store across
the country several times a year. From the orst olling station in
Watonga, Okla., the Loves committment has remained the same: Clean
Places, Friendly Faces. So next time you stop at Loves, youll know
more about the Loves dierence.
www.loves.com 1-800-OKLOVES facebook.com/lovestravelstops
twitter.com/lovestravelstop
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From the President Shannon L. Rich
2 From the Chairman Calvin Anthony
3 The 2011 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Gini Moore Campbell
14 The 1964 Sonic Boom Tests: When Oklahoma City Became an
International Test Laboratory Bill Moore
21 Oklahomas Original First Gentleman Bob Burke
28 Afro Americana: Contemporary Black Artists in Oklahoma Corie
Baker
30 Hall of Fame Spotlight: Wilma Pearl Mankiller Millie J.
Craddick
35 Fleeing Saigon Nicole Harvey
44 OHAs Story Through Its People
47 Book Reviews
LIBrAry DISTrIBuTIOn MADe POSSIBLe THrOuGH THe GenerOSITy OF
MAGAZIne SPOnSOrS STATeWIDe.
DECEMBER 2011VOLUME 16 NUMBER 3
Magazine of the Oklahoma Heritage Association
M E
M B
E R
S H
I P
S Student ..................................... $15
Subscription ............................ $35Individualism
.......................... $50 Perseverance
........................ $100Pioneer Spirit
......................... $250Optimism
................................ $500Generosity
........................... $1,000Legacy Circle
...................... $2,000Honor Circle .......................
$2,500 Executive Circle ................. $3,500Presidents Circle
............... $5,000Chairmans Circle ............. $10,000
For additional information contact the Oklahoma Heritage
Association
1400 Classen DriveOklahoma City, Oklahoma 73106
Telephone 405.235.4458 orToll Free 888.501.2059
E-mail [email protected]
Visit the Associations website atwww.oklahomaheritage.com
Unsolicited manuscripts must be accompanied by return
postage.
PRESIDENT Shannon L. Rich
DIRECTOR, PUBLICATIONS AND EDUCATION
Gini Moore Campbell
CHAIRMAN, PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
Bob Burke
DESIGN Kris Vculek
kV GRAPHIC DESIGN WAUKOMIS, OK
MISSION PARTNERSAmerican Fidelity Foundation
Chickasaw NationChoctaw Nation of Oklahoma
ConocoPhillipsMr. and Mrs. Duke R. Ligon
Oklahoma Publishing CompanySimmons Foundation
Magazine of the Oklahoma Heritage Association
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CHAIRMAN
Calvin Anthony Stillwater
CHAIRMAN ELECT
Kathy Taylor Tulsa
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
Tom J. McDaniel Oklahoma City
VICE CHAIRMEN
Bill Anoatubby Ada
Bill Burgess Lawton
Stan Clark Stillwater
Marlin Ike Glass, Jr. Newkirk
Fred Harlan Okmulgee
Jane Jayroe Gamble Oklahoma City
David Kyle Tulsa
John Massey Durant
AT LARgE ExECUTIVE CoMMITTEE MEMbERS
Clayton I. Bennett Oklahoma City
Bond Payne Oklahoma City
Glen D. Johnson Oklahoma City
CoRPoRATE SECRETARY
Mark A. Stansberry Edmond
TREASURER
Nevyle R. Cable Okmulgee
PRESIDENT
Shannon L. Rich Oklahoma City
CHAIRMENS CIRCLEPat Henry LawtonRoxana Lorton TulsaJ.W. McLean
Dallas, TXLee Allan Smith Oklahoma CityG. Lee Stidham
ChecotahDIRECToRS
Alison Anthony Tulsa
Howard G. Barnett, Jr. TulsaBarbara Braught DuncanJoe Cappy
TulsaMichael A. Cawley ArdmorePaul Cornell Bristow
Carol Crawford Frederick
Rebecca Dixon TulsaFord Drummond BartlesvillePatti Evans Ponca
CityChristy Everest Oklahoma CityVaughndean Fuller TulsaGilbert C.
Gibson Lawton
Dan Gilliam Bartlesville
Joe D. Hall Elk CityJim Halsey Tulsa
Jean Harbison LawtonV. Burns Hargis Stillwater
Robert Henry Oklahoma CityDuke R. Ligon Oklahoma City
Vicki Miles-LaGrange Oklahoma City
Joe Moran TulsaMelvin Moran Seminole
Fred Morgan Oklahoma CityC.D. Northcutt Ponca CityGary D. Parker
MuskogeeGregory E. Pyle DurantCarl Renfro Ponca City
Frank C. Robson Claremore
Richard N. Ryerson Alva
Sharon Shoulders HenryettaMichael E. Smith Oklahoma City Stan
Stamper HugoClayton C. Taylor Oklahoma City
Steve W. Taylor McAlester
Chuck Thompson NormanSteve Turnbo TulsaTy Tyler Oklahoma
CityHardy Watkins Oklahoma City
Ron H. White Oklahoma City
Last month we inducted seven Oklahomans into the Oklahoma Hall
of Fame. Receiving our states highest honor were Tommy Franks,
Harold Hamm, Marques Haynes, Cathy Keating, Steve Malcolm,
Elizabeth War-ren, and the late Roger Miller. Their unique talents
and contri-butions remind us of the strong diversity we as
Oklahomans share. In this magazine you will find a story on this
amazing evening of celebration. Our members and donors are another
example of the strength that comes from diversity. Our membership
is made up of indi-viduals from every corner of the staterural to
cityand from every walk of life. Together, we are making a
difference in the lives of Oklahomans of all ages. In the coming
year it is our goal to retire our capital cam-paign and ensure the
continued programming and offerings of
the Oklahoma Heritage Asso- ciation and Gaylord-Pickens Museum
by significantly increas-ing our endowment. Within the last 60 days
we have received two transformational giftsthe Chickasaw Nation has
made a generous contribution towards the capital campaign and
chal-lenged others to do the same while T. Boone Pickens, whose
initial gift launched the reno-vation phase of the GaylordPickens
Museum, has pledged $2-million to our endowment. I want to take
this opportunity to thank those who already have made contributions
toward this effort. Every donation gets us one step closer. On
behalf of the officers, directors, and staff, thank you for your
support. Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year.
This past year we have seen thousands of students through our
field trip program; awarded our second Hall of Fame scholar-ship;
launched the exciting new Versus Series; and hosted our first
national exhibit in the Tulsa World Gallery. Marking Time: Voyage
to Vietnam will be open to the public through January 6. To
complement the exhibit we have focused on the role Oklahomans
played in this chapter of our his-tory. Inclusion in Art, a
celebra-tion of African American artistry and creativity, will
follow and run through April 21. This spring Ada Lois Sipuel Fisher
will be featured with the Versus Series. Fisher will be portrayed
by Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange and Dr. George Hen-derson will be the
modern-day contemporary. Our Teen Board will be hosting a 5K
Oklahoma Heritage Land Run as their annual fund raiser to support
educational
programming for the Association and Museum. High school students
will compete for more than $650,000 in scholar-ships to continue
their education and one senior will earn the $10,000 John W. &
Mary D. Nichols Scholarship, its eighteenth year to be awarded. The
Second Century Board will be hosting events to expand its
member-ship and awareness and our publi-cations arm will release a
number of new titles celebrating our rich heritage. The
Gaylord-Pickens Museum has allowed us to expand our reach and as we
begin our fifth year in our new home I want to take this
opportunity to thank every member, donor, and volunteer for making
our dreams a reality. Peace and joy to you and yours this holiday
season.
Shannon L. Rich, President
2
Calvin J. Anthony, Chairman
www.oklahomaheritage.com
FROM THE CHAIRMAN...
BOA
RD
OF
DIR
ECTO
RS
FROM THE PRESIDENT...
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3The Oklahoma Hall of Fame Class of 2011, left to right, Steve
Malcolm, Harold Hamm, Cathy Keating, Tommy Franks, Marques Haynes,
and Elizabeth Warren.
bY gINI MooRE CAMPbELL
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4 Cox Convention Center in beautiful downtown oklahoma City was
the venue for the 2011 oklahoma Hall of Fame banquet and Induction
Ceremony. on the evening of November 17 people from throughout
oklahoma and beyond gathered to celebrate the bestowment of our
states highest honor on seven outstanding oklahomans. The evening
began with Chickasaw Elder Pauline brown providing the invocation.
The Fires Center of Excellence & Fort Sill Color guard posted
the colors and Lisa Reagan Love performed The National Anthem with
the oklahoma Hall of Fame orchestra. oklahoma Heritage Association
President Shannon L. Rich and Chairman Calvin J. Anthony welcomed
those in attendance to the 84th annual oklahoma Hall of Fame and
updated the crowd on the accomplishments and the year ahead for the
Association and the gaylord-Pickens Museum. They also presented the
second annual oklahoma Hall of Fame Scholarship in the amount of
$5,000 to Mary Dwayna Temple-Lee, a senior at Pauls Valley High
School.
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5 Following the introduction of members of the oklahoma Hall of
Fame in attendance and a tribute to those who had passed since last
years ceremony, V. Burns Hargis and Michael C. Turpen were welcomed
to the stage to serve as masters of ceremonies for their ninth
year. After brief introductions, they welcomed the first presenter
to the stage and the 2011 oklahoma Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
was underway. Following the induc-tion of Steve Malcolm, Cathy
Keating, and Harold Hamm, recording artist Dean Miller performed
King of the Road as a tribute to his father and his posthumous
induction. Rounding out the 2011 Hall of Fame Class were Tommy
Franks, Elizabeth Warren, and Marques Haynes. governor Mary Fallin
congratulated the Honorees on their induction before being joined
on stage by Hargis, Turpen, and Miller to close the show with
oklahoma! Follow-ing the ceremony, guests had the opportunity to
congratulate the Honorees on their induc-tion during a reception.
The 2011 oklahoma Hall of Fame was aired on oETA, The okla-homa
Network, on Saturday, November 19 to oklahoma and the surrounding
states.
The Fires Center of Excellence & Fort Sill Color Guard
posted the colors during the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
The Oklahoma Hall of Fame Orchestra under the direction of Dr.
Kent Kidwell.
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6Left to right, Lisa Reagan Love performed The National Anthem,
Dean Miller entertained the crowd with his fathers hit King of the
Road, and Mary Dwayna Temple-Lee received the Oklahoma Hall of Fame
Scholarship during the 2011 Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
Oklahoma Heritage Association President Shannon L. Rich and
Chairman Calvin J. Anthony welcomed guests to the Oklahoma Hall of
Fame.
For their ninth year together, V. Burns Hargis, left, and
Michael C. Turpen have served as masters of ceremonies.
Elected as the first female governor of Oklahoma,
Governor Mary Fallin con-gratulated the Class of 2011
on their induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.
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7 ommy Franks was born in Wynnewood and grew up in Midland,
Texas. After two years at the University of Texas, he joined the
United States Army. He would later graduate from the University of
Texas at Arlington with a degree in business administration and
earn a masters of science degree in public administration from the
Shippensburg Uni-versity of Pennsylvania. Before his 2003
retirement from the Army as a general, he served as
Commander-in-Chief of the United States Central Command,
over-seeing American military operations in a 25-country region,
including the Middle East. Franks was the United States general
leading the attack on the Taliban in Afghanistan in response to the
September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon in
2001. He also led the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein. Franks was commissioned as a second lieutenant as a
distin-guished graduate of the Artillery Officer Candidate School
in Fort Sill in 1967. In Vietnam, Franks earned six awards for
Valor and three Purple Hearts. He has served in West Germany;
Korea; Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Monroe, Virginia; Atlanta, Georgia;
and The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. His many honors include the
Defense Distinguished Service Medal, five Distinguished Service
Medals, four Legions of Merit, Air Medal with Valor and an Army
Commendation Medal with Valor, in addition to a number of foreign
awards. He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the
British Empire by order of Her Maj-esty Queen Elizabeth II and
President George W. Bush awarded him the nations highest civilian
award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Franks serves on the
boards of the University of Texas, Arlington and William Penn
University. He is co-chair of the Flight 93 Memo-rial Foundation
and serves as an advisor to the Military Child Educa-tion
Coalition, Operation Homefront Oklahoma, and the Southeastern Guide
Dog Organization. He and his wife, Cathryn, have one daughter and
three grandchil-dren and live on their ranch near Roosevelt,
Oklahoma.
Clayton I. Bennett, left, presented Gen. (Ret.) Tommy Franks for
induc-tion. A class of 2007 Oklahoma Hall of Fame Honoree, Clayton
I. Bennett is president of Dorchester Capital, a diversified
private investment company, and chairman of the Oklahoma City
Thunder of the National Basketball Association. His community
service currently includes chairman of the Oklahoma State Fair,
director of the National Football Foundation, and as regent for the
University of Oklahoma. He has been honored with the Dean A. McGee
Award, the Economic Development Citizen Leadership Award, and was
named Oklahoman of the Year.
ToMMY FRANKS Wynnewood, OK
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8 arold Hamm was born in Oklahoma in 1945, the young-est of 13
children, to share crop farmers. After graduating from Enid High
School, he worked for an oilfield service contractor and Champlin
Petroleum Company before starting a one-truck oilfield service
business in Ringwood. In 1967, Hamm incorporated Shelly Dean Oil
Company, which later became Continental Resources. Today,
Continen-tal is a successful independent oil and natural gas
explora-tion and production company that operates in 20 states and
is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Hamm serves as chairman
and chief executive officer. Hamm is chairman of the board of
Hiland Partners GP Holdings and is a member of the board of
Complete Produc-tion Services. He is past chairman of the Oklahoma
Indepen-dent Petroleum Association and served as a founding board
member of the Oklahoma Energy Resources Board. He has served as
president of the National Stripper Well Association and founder and
chairman of Save Domestic Oil, Inc. He co-founded the Domestic
Energy Producers Alliance to preserve the domestic oil and gas
markets.
HARoLD HAMM Enid, OK
Hamm has received the National Ernst and Young Award in the
energy, chemicals and mining category for his accomplishments in
the oil industry over the past 40 years. A leading advocate of
education in Oklahoma, Hamm has received numerous awards and
recognition for his contributions including Doctor of Humane
Letters from the University of Oklahoma and the first masters
degree ever given by Northwestern Oklahoma State University, the
Masters of Letters of Law. Among his many gifts, The Harold and Sue
Ann Hamm Foundation donated $30 million for the Harold Hamm
Oklahoma Diabetes Center located on the campus of the University of
Oklahoma. He has established three chairs at the University of
Oklahoma College of Medi-cine and annually funds five, four-year
scholarships to Ringwood, Oklahoma students. He has made generous
contributions to the Institute for Economic Empower-ment of Women,
Allied Arts, the Central Oklahoma Humane Society, and the
Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod, among others.
University of Oklahoma President David L., Boren, left,
presented Harold Hamm for induction. A 1988 Hall of Fame in-ductee,
Boren is the longest serving university president in the big 12
conference, in his 18th year. He was elected as our 21st governor
and instituted the first state funded classes for gifted and
talented students. He served as a United States Senator and was
chairman of the United States Senate Intelligence Com-mittee. He
currently serves as co-chairman of the Presidents Intelligence
Advisory Board under President Barack Obama.
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9 native of Sand Springs, Haynes began his basket- ball career
at Booker T. Washington High School, where he led the school to a
high school national cham- pionship in 1941. He starred
collegiately at Langston University from 1942 to 1946, where he led
in scoring for four years and led the university to a 112-3 record,
a mark that included a 59-game winning streak. Haynes dribbling and
ball handling caught the attention of the Harlem Globetrotters
during an exhibition game against Langston. After earning his
degree in industrial education from Langston he began his career
with the Globetrotters, playing from 1947 to 1953. In 1953, he
founded his own team, the Harlem Magi-cians, but later rejoined the
Harlem Globetrotters as a player and coach. He played with both the
Bucketeers and the Harlem Wizards before playing his last nine
years of profes-sional basketball with his recreated Magicians. In
a four-decade career, Haynes played in more than 12,000 games,
traveled more than four-million miles, and entertained fans in
nearly 100 countries. Contrastingly, Haynes and his teammates
suffered discrimination at home and had difficulty locating hotels
and restaurants that would serve an African American troupe. Haynes
talents were not limited to the hardwood. In 1972, he entered the
world of womens fashion, opening Seventh Avenues first major Black
owned-and operated fashion house. At the time, the $9 billion
fashion indus-try was floundering. Within three months the Biella
line,
Marques Haynes, right, was presented for induction by Bill
Russell. Russell is a five-time winner of the NBA Most Valuable
Player Award and a 12-time All-Star. He was the foundation for the
Boston Celtics 11 NBA championships and captain of the Gold Medal
U. S. National Team at the Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the NBA
has named their MVP Trophy in his honor. He earned his first MVP
Award in Oklahoma City as a member of the University of San
Francisco team during the 1955 All-College Tournament. Most
recently, President Barack Obama presented him with the Medal of
Freedom, our nations highest honor.
MARQUES HAYNES Sand Springs, OK
meaning beautiful, was being carried in more than 500 upper-end
stores and boutiques from coast to coast. During the daylight
hours, Marques spent his time selling his line of high-end Italian
knits. He also owned a Tulsa-based insur-ance company and an ice
cream parlor in his hometown. Regarded as one of the greatest
dribblers to ever play the game, Haynes retired in 1992. He earned
the distinc-tion of being the first Harlem Globetrotter player
glorified in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He has
also been enshrined in the Langston Hall of Fame, Ethnic American
Sports Hall of Fame, National Black College Alumni Hall of Fame,
New York All Sports Hall of Fame, NAIA Hall of Fame, and the
Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame, among others. He is one of only five
Globetrotters to have his jersey number retired.
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10
athy Keating is a fourth-generation Oklahoman who was born and
raised in Tulsa. She has focused much of her life on community
service, most prominently while she was First Lady of Oklahoma from
1995 to 2003. During this time she visited all 77 Oklahoma counties
and more than 500 schools to read, motivate, and inspire young
people to work hard to make their dreams come true. After the
Oklahoma City bombing, Keating organized and implemented the
interna-tional prayer service. Her book, In Their Name, The
Okla-homa City Bombing, was on the New York Times best seller list,
with all proceeds going to project recovery. Also while First Lady,
Keating founded Friends of the Oklahoma Governors Mansion, a
non-profit organization dedicated to the mansions restoration and
preservation. She renovated and permanently furnished the Governors
Man-sion and the Phillips Pavilion and authored the books Our
Governors Mansions and Ooh La La: Cuisine Presented in a Stately
Manner, with all proceeds benefitting the cause. Keating has served
on the boards for the Habitat for Hu-
Cathy Keating was presented for induction by Sam Donaldson.
Donaldson has been a Washington political reporter for more than 50
years, the last 44 as a
correspondent and anchor with ABC News. With one exception he
has covered every major partys national political convention since
1964 and served as White
House correspondent during the administrations of Presidents
Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. Today he oversees
the management of the
family farming and ranching business founded by his father in
the New Mexico territory in 1910.
CATHY KEATINg Tulsa, OK
manities National Trust, Oklahoma City National Memorial,
Jasmine Moran Childrens Museum, Oklahoma School for Science and
Mathematics, and Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. She is
co-chair of the Washington, D.C. Ameri-can Red Cross capital
campaign and the Oklahoma City Salvation Army capital campaign. She
serves on the boards of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage
Museum, where she founded and chairs the Annie Oakley Society, a
womens leadership organization, and Express Services, Inc., where
she chairs the companys international philanthropy. Keating is the
recipient of the Thoroughbred Award for the David and Sybil Yurman
Foundation, the William Booth Award, the National Champion for
Children Award, Ameri-can Red Cross Women of Spirit Award, the Hope
Builders Award from the Ronald McDonald House, the Mona Lam-bird
Service Award to Children, and was named Outstanding Southerner in
Southern Living Magazine. She and her husband, Frank, have three
children and nine grandchildren.
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11
alcolm is the recently retired chairman, president and chief
executive officer of the Tulsa-based Williams Company. He holds a
bachelors degree in civil engineer-ing from the University of
Missouri-Rolla and has attained advanced management training from
Northwestern Univer-sity in Evanston, Illinois. In 2002, when
Malcolm was named chief executive officer of Williams, it was
facing financial crisis due to the collapse of the energy trading
and telecommunications industries. As the new CEO, Malcolm
immediately began to set both long- and short-term strategies to
get Williams back on track. He successfully led the company into a
new era of growth and expansion from 2004 until he retired in 2010.
His retirement marked the end of a 26-year career at Williams,
during which he held leadership positions throughout the company.
At the time of his retirement, Wil-liams had become the
tenth-largest producer of natural gas in the United States, was one
of North Americas largest providers of midstream gathering and
processing services, and its interstate gas pipelines delivered
approximately 12% of the natural gas consumed in America each day.
The companys market value had grown to more than $14 billion.
Malcolm has served as chairman of the Tulsa Future Oversight
Committee and vice chair of the Tulsa Stadium Trust. He has served
on the boards of the YMCA of Greater Tulsa, YMCA of the USA, St.
John Medical Center, the University of Tulsa Board of Trustees,
Tulsa Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Tulsa Community Foundation,
Metropolitan Tulsa Urban League Advisory Board, Okla-homa Center
for Community and Justice, Tulsa Educare, the Tulsa Area United Way
and is a trustee for Missouri University of Science and Technology.
He also has served as vice chair of the American Exploration &
Production Council and is a member of Americas Natural Gas
Alliance, the American Petroleum Institute, The Business
Roundtable, the National Associa-tion of Corporate Directors, and
the National Petroleum Council.
STEVE MALCoLM Tulsa, OK
Alison Anthony presented Steve Malcolm for induction into the
Oklahoma Hall of Fame. From Enid and an Oklahoma State University
graduate, Anthony is
director of diversity and community relations at The Williams
Companies and president of The Williams Foundation. She has been
honored by the Mayors
Commission on the Status of Women with the Pinnacle Award,
received the Huntingtons Disease Society of Americas Excellence in
Community Relations Award, and was named by The Journal Record as
one of 50 Women Making a
Difference in Oklahoma.
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12
graduate of the University of Houston and Rutgers Law School,
Professor Elizabeth Warren is the Leo Gottlieb Pro-fessor of Law at
Harvard University. Warren was the chief adviser to the National
Bankruptcy Review Commission and was appointed by Chief Justice
William Rehnquist as the first academic member of the Federal
Judicial Education Com-mittee. She has served as a member of the
Commission on Eco-nomic Inclusion established by the FDIC, as vice
president of the American Law Institute, and been elected to
member-ship in the American Academic of Arts and Sciences. Warren
has written nine books and more than one-hundred scholarly articles
dealing with credit and economic stress. Her latest two popular
books, The Two-Income Trap and All Your Worth, were both on
national best seller lists. Warren has been principal investigator
on empirical studies funded by the National Science Foundation, the
Ford Foun-dation, and more than a dozen other foundations. She has
testified several times before House and Senate committees on
financial issues. Time Magazine has twice named her one of the 100
Most Influential People in the World, The Boston Globe named her
Bostonian of the Year, and the National Law Journal named her one
of the Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade. She has been
recognized for her work by several other publications and
professional groups, including Smart Money, Forbes Magazines Seven
Most Powerful People in Their Field, and GQ Magazines 50 Most
Powerful People in D.C. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial
crisis, Warren served as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel
for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Her independent and
tireless efforts to protect taxpayers and to ensure tough oversight
of both the Bush and Obama administrations won praise from both
sides of the aisle.
ELIZAbETH WARREN Oklahoma City, OK
T. Boone Pickens presented Elizabeth Warren for induction into
the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. A Holdenville native, Pickens is founder
and chairman of BP Capital Management, managing one of the nations
most successful energy-oriented investment funds. Through the
Pickens Plan, he is on a mission to enhance U. S. energy policies
to lessen the nations dependence on Opec Oil. A generous
philanthropist, he has given away nearly $1 billion. Through the
Pickens Foundation, his focus on improving lives includes
supporting educa-tional programs, medical research, at-risk youth,
the entrepreneurial process, and conservation and wildlife
initiatives. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in
2003.
Most recently, she served as Assistant to the President and
Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury on the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau. She is married to Professor Bruce Mann
and is the mother of twoAmelia Warren Tyagi and Alex Warren.
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13
t was during long days in the cotton fields and on his
three-mile walks to school in Erick, Oklahoma, that Roger Miller
began writing songs. Entertainer Sheb Wooley, mar-ried to Millers
cousin, taught Miller his first chords on guitar and bought him his
first fiddle. Following discharge from the U.S. Army, Miller headed
to Nashville. He auditioned for Chet Atkins, who had to loan him a
guitar, and was told to work on his songs and voice before coming
back. While in Nashville, he played fiddle in Minnie Pearls band
and met George Jones, with whom he collaborated on a few songs.
After getting married and having a child, Miller moved his family
to Amarillo, Texas, joined the fire department, and played honky
tonks at night. There he met Ray Price and was asked to join the
Cherokee Cowboys. With his family in tow, he returned to Nashville
and signed a songwriting deal. Within two years, he cut a duet with
Donny Little and then launched his solo career. Among his hit
records were You Dont Want My Love, King of the Road, Engine #9
and
RogER MILLER Erick, OK
Dean Miller, recording artist and son of the late Roger Miller,
performed
King of the Road as a tribute to his father to
celebrate his induction into the Oklahoma Hall
of Fame.
The Last Word in Lonesome is Me. In 1964 Dang Me earned Miller
Grammy Awards for Best Country and Western Single, Vocal Male,
Song, and Album, as well as earning the title of Best New Country
and Western Artist. In addition to earning five more Grammys the
following year he earned his first award from the Acad-emy of
Country Music. Though he reached the peak of his career in the
1960s, Miller continued to tour and record until the early 1990s,
charting his final top 20 country hit Old Friends with Willie
Nelson in 1982. In 1985, Miller produced the score for and acted in
Big River, a Broadway stage adaption of Mark Twains Huckleberry
Finn, earning him a Tony Award. During Millers career he earned 11
Grammys, 22 Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) citations, and a BMI
3-Million Performance Award for King of the Road. He had one
platinum single, six gold singles, and five gold albums. Miller
passed away in 1992 and was posthumously inducted into the Country
Music Hall of Fame in 1995.
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1414
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15
n the morning of February 3, 1964, the first of what would
be-
come regular daily booms pierced the homes and bodies of
Oklahoma
City citizens for a period of six months. It was a study to
determine the
publics reaction to the booms created by aircraft going
supersonic, or
faster than the speed of sound referred to as a sonic boom.
In a speech to the United States Air Force Academy on June
5,
1963, President John F. Kennedy made public his desire to
compete
with the world for a Supersonic Transport, or SST. Just two
months af-
ter his assassination, preliminary design work was submitted by
manu-
facturers to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for an
American
SST in January 1964. Europe already had started work, with
France
beginning the Concorde SST with strong support from Prime
Minister
Charles de Gaulle. Not wanting to be left behind, President
Lyndon
Johnson pushed ahead on Americas own SST. Boeing, Lockheed,
and
North American were working hard to establish their own SST
versions.
By BILL MOOrE
Tinker Air Force Base in 1964 was the location from which the
jets would take off to go supersonic and fly the sonic boom tests.
The street seen cutting across the bottom of the photo is Southeast
29th Street. (Photo courtesy Research Division, Oklahoma Historical
Society.)
AUThOrS NOTE: As a seven-year old boy growing up in Oklahoma
City, I remember the constant sonic booms rattling my familys home
located on an acreage west of Tinker Air Force Bases main runway.
We were accustomed to the jet and prop engine noise coming from
Tinker Field, as Dad referred to it. But those booms were loud and
seemingly came from nowhere. The house would shake and dust would
settle from the ceiling and walls. I have always thought that was
normal military aviation activity in those days that eventually
changed and went away. I did not know Oklahoma City was part of an
intense government test program until I started researching this
article.
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16
Little was known about how people would react to the sonic booms
created by these future planes. There was concern by the FAA as to
what the effects would be on Americans with numerous daily SST
flights across the country as they envisioned in a supersonic
future. A test was needed to find out about those effects.
According to Gordon Bain, Chief of the FAA Supersonic Transport
Program, Oklahoma City was cho-sen because of the facilities
available the FAA Aeronautical Center and Tinker Air Force Base. he
noted back in 1964 that Oklahoma City did not volunteer for the
tests. Najeeb halaby, the FAA Administrator in Washington, D.C. at
that time said, Oklahoma City was cho-sen because of its air-minded
pioneering of the air age. he also claimed that city fathers were
consulted along with 100 or so of the communitys most thoughtful
and advanced thinking citizens. yet, none ever stepped forward to
be recognized as a part of that discussion. So, for the first time
in American history an entire city became part of an experiment
without a choice or a say in the matter. The FAA rented four homes
in the Oklahoma City area to be used as test homes. Two were in the
flight path, one was five miles away, and the last was ten miles
away.
Oklahoma City was chosen because of its air-minded pioneering of
the air age.
This map, from an FAA report on the Oklahoma City Sonic Boom
tests in 1964, shows the flight path of the jet over Oklahoma City.
It accelerates near Minco and decelerates near Arcadia eight times
a day for six months.
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The sonic booms occurred as an F-104 jet, that was used in most
of the test flights, flew over Oklahoma City from southwest to
northeast at supersonic speeds. A mini-mum of six booms and usually
eight booms were heard and felt at 7 a.m., 7:20 a.m., 9 a.m., 9:20
a.m., 11 a.m., 11:20 a.m., 1 p.m., and 1:20 p.m. The Daily
Oklahoman reported reactions to the noise from the citizens, some
were even humorous. One woman claimed she was able to receive
Channel 5 on her televi-sion after the booms and hadnt been able to
see it before. Another woman said that her bra had snapped eight
times in one day! A general store owner in Seward, Oklahoma claimed
that a family of skunks living under the store retali-ated each
time a sonic boom happened. One man called to tell authorities that
Oklahoma City wont need urban renewal because the booms will
flatten the city.
Susan Carter was a seven-year old living on Southeast 44th near
Sunnylane road in 1964. She remembers today, while thinking back on
those times, how very loud the booms were. She also remembers that
her mother was afraid the walls were going to crack and fall down
around them. When a decorative plate fell during a sonic boom, her
mother took anything remotely delicate off the wall as well as the
shelves in the house. her father worked at Tinker and like most
people in Del City, their family relied on Tinker for a living.
Lawsuits were filed to stop the tests. The first one was by an
Okla-homa City plumber named Woodrow Bussey. he asked the court to
stop the FAA from further using himself and his daughter as
unwilling guinea pigs. A lawsuit filed in state court in May
actually brought the tests to a halt for a day until a federal
court overruled it.
Oklahoma City in 1964 suffered damage downtown as well as the
suburbs during the sonic boom tests. The taller buildings had
windows broken at street level but not higher up. Note the tall
brown building in the far right center of the photo. This was the
Biltmore Hotel later demolished to make room for the Myriad Gardens
which stands there today. (Photo courtesy Research Division,
Oklahoma Historical Society.)
Seven-year old Susan Green Carter stands in front of her home on
Southeast 44th near Sunnylane lo-cated just one mile west of Tinker
Air Force Base. The Green home, like many oth-ers, absorbed many of
the booms. (Photo courtesy Susan Carter.)
Seven-year old Susan Green Carter stands with her parents in
front of their home on Southeast 44th near Sunnylane located just
one mile west of Tinker Air Force Base. Items were jarred from the
walls and shelves of the Green home during the Sonic Boom tests of
1964. (Photo courtesy Susan Carter.)
-
In 1964, Oklahoma Governor Henry Bellmon felt that Okla-homa
City could put up with the sonic booms and that it was a small
price to pay for what the aviation industry brought to the city.
(Photo courtesy Research Division, Oklahoma Historical
Society.)
United States Senator Mike Monroney, known as Mr. Aviation and
whom the
Aeronautical Center was named for years later, tried to support
the tests as long as he could. But constituent complaints in
letters and calls to his
office finally ended that support. (Photo courtesy Research
Division, Oklahoma
Historical Society.)
In May, two months before the sched-uled end of the sonic boom
tests, United
States Senator J. Howard Edmondson sent a letter to the
Administrator of the FAA requesting that the tests be
stopped. They continued until the end of July. (Photo courtesy
Research Divi-
sion, Oklahoma Historical Society.)
The Federal Aviation Administration in 1964 conducted the sonic
boom tests and had an office established at the Aeronautical Center
in oklahoma City to oversee the tests. The small, darker building
in the center of the photo is the headquarters building. (Photo
courtesy Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society.)
Gordon Bain from FAA once again weighed in on the situ-ation
saying, The true judge of the acceptability of sonic boom
operations is the people who live below the flight paths. It seems
unwise to proceed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars both by
government and industry (on the SST) without finding out if it is
acceptable. Ward 1 City Councilman William Kessler added that he
felt the peoples basic human rights are being ignored and violated.
Were being used as human guinea pigs. The city council voted to
demand that FAA suspend the tests. Then the very next day they
withdrew that request based on two citizen groups that came forward
asking for the council to reconsider based on the possibility that
Oklahoma City might become the SST center of mid-America, as well
as they felt it was the patriotic thing to do. Governor henry
Bellmon felt it was a small annoyance to put up with the booms and
it was a small price to pay for the great benefits Oklahoma City
receives from the aviation industry. As for damage in the city,
most was limited to cracked walls, ceilings, and broken glass. In
the test homes, wall mirrors were also cracked. In May, the booms
were increased in frequency from 1.5 pounds per square foot in
overpressure to the 2 pound level. Oklahoma U.S. Senator J. howard
Edmondson sent a letter to the FAA Administrator in May that
suggested Oklahoma City citizens had seen enough of the tests and
that patient though they have been, they must not be subjected to
unnecessary continuation of the annoyance. Oklahomas other Senator,
Mike Monroney, known as Mr. Aviation for his legislative work in
that area, opted
for a more restrained comment calling for the National Academy
of Sciences to step in and review the process. The booms continued
for two more months until on July 29, 1964, they ceased. For six
months they had pounded the citizens of central Oklahoma, stopping
only for Easter Sunday and the one day court ordered injunction in
May. Stories were printed and aired around the world about the
tests. All three major television networks had sent crews to cover
it. Magazines carried detailed stories about the tests.
Publications around the world today still refer to the Oklahoma
City tests when discussing sonic booms and their effects.
18
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19
It seems a little humorous now, but the FAAs code name for the
operation was Bongo. A lot was learned from these tests, however.
Lockheed and Boeing went back to the drawing board because of what
was learned here. In an FAA report, 73 percent of the citizens of
Oklahoma City felt they could live with the booms. however, 40
percent believed that it caused structural damage. There had been a
total of 1,253 sonic booms during that six-month period. The FAA
received 13,329 calls with 9,168 claiming damage. Of those, only
3,004 were officially filed. And only 229 damage claims were paid
as of April 1965 for a total of $12,845.
BELOW: The U.S. Air Force Office of Information dis-tributed
this small eight-page brochure asking citizens to be understanding
of the need for sonic booms in working on the nations defense.
(Photos from the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives,
Uni-versity of Oklahoma)
The true judge of the acceptability of sonic boom operations is
the people who live below the flight paths.
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18
The Boeing design for the SST was chosen on December 31, 1966.
Because of the Oklahoma City test and a few others conducted later,
SSTs would not be allowed to fly supersonic over the U.S.
continent. After hundreds of constituent letters of complaint,
Senator Monroneys support was finally gone for the program. In
March, 1971, the U.S. Senate rejected further funding for the SST
and on May 20, 1971, the U.S. house of representatives also voted
to end funding, thereby killing the SST. Oklahoma City has played a
huge part in aviation through its people and industry since the
early days of flight. This test of sonic booms in the mid-1960s
adds to that long list of aviation contri-butions through the
sacrifice of its citizens during six months of tests. One final
unique connection to todays Oklahoma City and those tests from the
1960s is its National Basketball Association team. In 1968,
Seattle, Washington, in support of the Boeing Company located
there, named their new basketball team the Supersonics because of
the new SST contract Boeing had received. That team eventually
moved to Oklahoma City and is now known as the Oklahoma City
Thunder and thats the noise sonic booms make!
This desk and floor in an Okla-homa City home were covered
with cracked plaster having fallen from the ceiling because of
a
sonic boom. The photo was taken at the residence on May 16,
1964.
(Photo from the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives,
University of Oklahoma)
Publications around the world today still refer to the Oklahoma
City tests when dis-cussing sonic booms and their effects.
The hole in the ceiling was left by cracked and falling plas-ter
after this Oklahoma City home was pounded with sonic booms. Aside
from broken windows, this was the most common complaint heard by
the government. (Photo from the Carl Albert Center Congressional
Archives, University of Oklahoma)
Sonic booms took a toll on this closet in an Oklahoma City home
during the tests in 1964. Plaster walls and
ceilings gave way to cracks caused by the booms.
(Photo from the Carl Albert Center Congressional
Archives, University of Oklahoma)
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21
or more than a century, the spouse of the governor of Oklahoma
was known as the official
First Lady of oklahoma. That changed in January, 2011, when Mary
Fallin was inaugurated as the states first woman governor
and the title of First gentleman of oklahoma was born. Governor
Fallins husband,
Wade Christensen, is a fourth-generation oklahoman with deep
roots in the pioneer agricultural heritage of Custer County. His
great grandparents came from Denmark and Tennessee in the late
1800s and began farming near Thomas long before the great
Depression and dust storms drove many western oklahoma farmers from
the land.
bY bob bURKE
Wade Christensen and Mary Fallin were married in Oklahoma City
on November 21, 2009.
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22
With hard work and sacrifice, the succeeding genera-tions of
Christensens stayed with the land and accumulated sizable tracts of
farmland in Custer and Blaine counties. Wades parents, Jim and Jo
Christensen, farmed the land
together with Jims brother, in the same manner that Wades
grandfather and his brothers did. The family always has been
closeknit and worked toward the common goal of rais-ing quality
cattle and a variety of field crops that included
wheat, alfalfa, milo, oats, barley, mung beans, cotton, and even
black-eyed peas. Wade and his siblings still farm together as his
family has done for generations. Wades father, Jim, earned a
bachelors and masters
degree from Oklahoma State University. Just a step away from his
doctoral degree, he was a teacher and principal in the El Reno
school system when Wade was born in 1954. Wades mother, likewise,
held a masters degree in education
from Oklahoma State University and in music from Okla-homa City
University. She was an exceptional teacher and gifted pianist. On
weekends, Jim worked on the family farm near Thomas. By the time
Wade completed the first grade, Jim
decided to return full time to farming and the family moved to a
house one mile south of Thomasacross the section from Jims
parents.
Jim and Jo added three more children to their family. Drew, who
obtained an accounting degree, still farms and lives in the house
where Wade grew up. Clay is an attorney in Oklahoma City. The only
daughter, Jane VanFossen, is an elementary school teacher in the
Tulsa Union system. Life was busy on the Christensen farm. During
the harvest season, days began early and ended late. Jim and his
sons were active farmers and Jo and Jane always had the table set
with bountiful meals to keep the Christensen men working in the
fields.
Young Wade drove a tractor and combine long before he had a
license to drive a car. While in grade school, Wades mother also
taught him to play the piano. From
his first memories, he developed a lasting appreciation of
nature and the rural way of life. He knows well the differ-ent
smells after wheat and alfalfa have been cut and is still in awe of
the serene beauty of a western Oklahoma sunrise hidden in the mist
that hovers over recently-broken ground. Wade is a farmer at heart.
He was an active member of the 4-H Club and Future Farmers of
America (FFA). He showed cattle, hogs, and horses at livestock
shows and expositions. Some of his first trips outside Custer
County
Wade makes his first call. He was the first of four children
born to Jim and Jo Christensen.
By the time Wade was in the seventh grade, he was an experienced
farmhand. He loved living on the farm, but sometimes wished he
lived in the town of Thomas where it was easier to ride his bicycle
on the paved streets.
ABOVE: As a member of the Thomas 4-H Club, Wade
showed off his favorite horse.
RIGHT: Wade took serious his responsibility of raising and
showing a steer as a member of the Thomas High School
Chapter of the Future Farmers of America.
Tall for his age, Wade was a
good running back for the
Thomas High School Terriers.
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23
were to 4-H Roundups in Stillwater and to the State FFA
Convention in Okla-homa City. He was a member of the National FFA
Band and played the trom-bone. In 1973, he was named Oklahomas Star
Farmer at the FFA Convention
and later was named the First Star Agri Businessman of the
Western Region of the United States. After graduating from Thomas
High School, Wade enrolled at Oklahoma State University where he
earned a business degree in 1977. He declined a football
scholarship from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, opting
in-stead to accept a Presidents Leadership Scholarship at OSU. He
was involved
in intramural sports, various collegiate social and political
student organiza-tions, and was a member of the Sigma Nu
fraternity.
The Christensen family when Wade was a senior at Thomas High
School. Left to ride, Wade, Clay, Jane, Drew, Jo and Jim.
Governor David Hall awards Wade a trophy as the Future Farmers
of America Star Farmer of Oklahoma in 1973.
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24
The only part of his life that stayed constant for Wade in his
college years was his drive from Stillwater to Thomas on the
weekends to help on the fam-ily farm. After graduation, he returned
to Thomas and farmed for three years before enrolling in law school
at the University of Tulsa. He was awarded his Juris Doctorate in
1983. During law school, he worked part time at a Tulsa law firm
and spent many weekends and summers on the family farm. Over the
years
Wade has built a successful law practice representing employers
and insurance companies in claims before the Oklahoma Workers
Compensation Court.
Even though Wade is a practicing attorney in downtown Oklahoma
City, he moved his children to the country where they would have
some room to roam as they grew up. Wade also managed to take his
children back to his home town of Thomas during wheat harvest and
other times during the year, so they could learn some of his
appreciation for rural Oklahoma farming and ranching. Wade has four
children, each one having excelled in their own way. Blake, 30, a
graduate of Oklahoma State College of Osteopathic Medicine, is a
sec-ond-year resident in anesthesiology at OU Medical Center. Adam,
27, gradu-ated from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City
University with a Ju-ris Doctorate and Masters in Business (JD/MBA)
and practices with his uncle, Clay, and the Christensen Law Group.
Brittiany, 21, manages a clothing store in Edmond. Wades youngest
child, Alex, 18, is a freshman at OU with his eye
set on a degree in medicine. One of Wades finest attributes is
his love for his
family and the attention he gives them as they grow up.
Wades father, Jim, wishes him good luck at his wedding in 2009.
Jim still farms and manages an implement dealership in Thomas.
Wade with his children and his father. Left to right, Brittiany,
Blake, Wade, Jim, Adam and Alex.
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25
Wade first met Mary Fallin during their college days
but it was a casual acquaintance at best. They met again after
Fallin was elected Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor and later
Congresswoman. Occasionally, Wade and his law partner, Bruce Day,
would meet with Fallin for lunch to talk about business and
legislative affairs. At one particular luncheon in 2009, Day left
early and Wade and Congress-woman Fallin were left alone to talk
for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into a few months and two
rings. They found they had a lot in commonespecially total
involve-ment in the lives of their children as single parents. Wade
spent a lot of time perfecting his plan to ask for Marys hand in
marriage at the Lincoln Memorial in Wash-ington, D.C. Wade chose
the Memorial of the 16th Presi-dent of the United States, rather
than some fancy restaurant, because he believed his future wife and
President Abraham Lincoln had similar values of inspiration, hope,
and love for country. Wade solicited the assistance of Marys
close
friend, Margaret Ann, to assist in his plan. Margaret Anns
role was to ask Mary to meet her and several friends at the
Memorial to take a photograph. Margaret Ann was actually at home in
Oklahoma City as she texted Mary, setting up a specific time for
the photograph.
Meanwhile, Wade arrived in the nations capitol in a
driving rainstorm and traveled by taxi to the Lincoln Me-morial
and his unanticipated four-hour wait. When security officers
wondered why a man in a nice suit kept pacing in
front of the huge statute of President Lincoln, Wade had to tell
them his plan. Some of the officers were so excited
they stayed past the end of their shift to watch the proposal.
Marys day in Congress grew busy, and her time to
meet Margaret Ann at the Lincoln Memorial was pushed back.
Meanwhile, Wade continued to pacehe was deter-mined to make the
moment one neither of them would ever forget. Finally, around 7:00
p.m., in near darkness, Mary left the Capitol. As she neared the
Lincoln Memorial, her driver mistakenly passed the turn and she was
forced to walk through the rain and over a soaked lawn to get to
the Memorial. For hours Wade had watched other women walk up the
long steps to the Lincoln statueonly to see that it was not Mary.
Finally, Mary arrived, climbed the steps, and was shocked to see
Wade. She exclaimed, Wade! Is that you? She thought he was in
Oklahoma City. Not to lose his intended element of surprise, at the
foot of President Lincoln, Wade dropped to one knee, pulled a
Wades life on the farm has now become part of the gov-ernors
life. They pose on a combine on the Christensen farm near
Thomas.
The Christensens at the family farm. Left to right, Clay, Wade,
Drew and Jane. Their father, Jim, is in front.
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26
ring from his pocket, and asked Mary to be his wife. Excited,
surprised, and covered in rain, she said, Yes! Wade and Mary were
married on November 21, 2009. Less than one year later, Mary was
elected as the first
woman governor of the State of Okla-homa. As with much of Wades
life,
the more things change, the more they stay the same. Although
Wade still works long hours, he is now not alone in the house. Most
nights working right next to him, sits one of the most recognizable
names in Oklahoma and the first female Governor of Oklahoma.
After Mary was inaugurated as Oklahomas 27th Governor on
Janu-ary 10, 2011, Wade assumed his new role as First Gentleman of
Oklahoma. He and his youngest son, Alex, still a student at Deer
Creek High School, moved into the governors mansion.
Later, Wades son, Adam, also moved
into one of the bedrooms in the historic home. With Marys
children and my
children frequenting the mansion, there is always something
different happen-ing, which is fun. Wade said.
Everyone who knows Wade recog-nizes that he is his own man. He
is in no way intimidated by the fact that his wife is the chief
executive of the state. He is very proud of his wife and is honored
to provide support in any way he can. His best friends of many
years have seen no change in him, although he arrives at court each
day in a black security vehicle operated by one of the state
troopers assigned to provide security for the Governor and his or,
in this case, her spouse. A trooper dressed in civilian clothing is
always close by as Wade tries workers compensation
cases, appears at prehearings before judges, and takes
depositions, as he has for nearly 30 years. A conscientious man by
nature, shortly before Mary was sworn in as governor, Wade resigned
from his law firm of more than 20 years and with-drew from his
representation of certain clients such as CompSource Oklahoma and
the University of Oklahoma in order to avoid any possible ethical
con-flict or the appearance of impropriety.
However, just recently, the Oklahoma Attorney General issued an
opinion that stated there was no conflict and
he could represent the clients that he had represented for many
years. As it turned out, Wade followed the same ad-vice he has
given his kids for decades, You have only one reputationdont
ruin it.
Wade is a private person who enjoys his family, his faith, and
his profession. Occasionally he will be a featured speaker, as he
was recently at a Salvation Army Auxiliary luncheon, which was a
gathering of several hundred women. His common man qualities were
evident when he met me for breakfast at the Classen Grill wearing
blue jeans. True to his love for Oklahoma farming, he ordered the
farmers omelet.
When asked if he has a cause as First Gentleman, Wade said, My
only cause is to promote Oklahoma. I love the land. I love being a
farmerthe pride of ownership of land and the feel-ing of
accomplishment when harvest comes. We are blessed to be in
Okla-homa because here, we can do anything and do it better than in
most other areas of the country. A special gleam appears in
Wades
eyes when he talks about getting up early, watching the sun
rise, and walk-ing through rich soil recently broken by a disc
pulled by one of the familys
tractors. To Wade, There is noth-ing like the smell of
fresh-tilled soil, especially after a summer shower has cooled the
day and the steam rises from the ground. Wade Christensen,
Oklahomas
First Gentleman, is a splendid example of the great character
traits of hard work, resilience, and honesty wrought from tilling
the Oklahoma soil. His love for the land will no doubt be passed on
to future Christensen generations.
While his wife is running the state as Governor, Wade is a
full-time lawyer representing employers and insurance companies in
workers compensation claims.
Oklahomas First Gentleman is com-fortable with himself, whether
in blue jeans or in the finest tuxedo.
-
B E ST W I S H E Sf o r a s u c c e s s f u l 2 0 1 1
from Mekusukey Oil Company, LLC
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28
A celebration of African American artistry and creativity,
Afro-Americana celebrates the contributions of Oklahomas Black
artists and artisans. These artists for many years remained
relatively unknown in Oklahomas visual arts community with little
connection to art-based organizations and galleries. With works
exhibited primarily in lesser-known venues, many created pieces
simply to satisfy their own desire. Dedicated efforts have resulted
in greater visibility and subsequent demand for the works of
African American artists while the quality of their work has grown
with mentoring and workshops. More and more galleries have become
receptive to showing the work of these artists and they have been
featured in a number of high profile exhibitions. The art work of
Afro-Americana includes mediums of painting, sculpture, and high
craft, ranging from realism and impressionism to the abstract. Just
as African American culture is diverse, the art illustrates the
richness and artistic diversity. The artists are from a wide range
of creative backgrounds and various levels of education. Some have
received professional instruction while others are self-taught.
Regardless, it is their common need to create that unites these
artists. Afro-Americana was created to embrace and endear these
artists to Oklahomas art community. These artists will launch the
2012 schedule of exhibits with Inclusion of Art in the Tulsa World
Gallery at the Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum. The
exhibit will open on January 12, 2012 and run through April 21.
Joyce M. CarleyJoyce Carley is primarily a figurative painter.
Her work embodies the African American experience on many levels.
Carleys paintings capture the simplicities of family life and her
strong sense of faith. Joyce M. Carley also captures the
complexities of the culture through subtle gestures. Her painting
Contemplation shows a young African American man with an intense
look on his face. His solemn look initially denotes menace but upon
closer observation, one can see uncertainty and perhaps even loss.
On the opposite side of this darkly contemplative work is her
painting Jesus Loves the Little Children. Family ties are extremely
close knit in African American culture and this painting captures
the joy and innocence of being young. It is in complete contrast to
the world weary eyes of her painting Contemplation. Joyce M. Carley
manages to capture the human-ity and vulnerability of her
subjects.
Robert HillRobert Hill is a multimedia artist whose works are
collected internationally. His art is an amalgam of cultures but
his strong connection to African culture is visually predominating.
Robert Hill has travelled several countries and his work shows the
influences of other cultures. Hills multilayered collages contain
references to European and Asian cultures. He is fluent in Dutch
and many of his paintings have Dutch writings in them. Also Robert
Hill journeyed through Asia nearly homeless but nonetheless
inspired as an artist. Hills work is in many significant public and
private collections including the personal collection of the
Kaisers, perennial supporters of the visual arts.
Betty RefourBetty Refour is a contemporary artist and caregiver
for her sister who has autism. Together they use art to advocate
for causes that are important to them including breast cancer,
myeloma, autism, and many others. Betty is an exceptional
figurative and abstract painter whose work is portrayed in bold,
striking color.
Afro-Americana: Contemporary Black Artists in Oklahoma
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Andrew AkufoAndrew Akufo is a young visual artist that excels in
figurative painting and landscapes. He owns his own company called
Andrew Akufo Art Enterprise. Akufo works small and large and has
done many murals and commissions over the course of his visual arts
career. His portraits and landscapes are rendered brightly and are
majestic in their presentation. His subject matter is varied and
includes everything from imagery of the Oklahoma football team, to
rural locations in Oklahoma. His portraits capture the emo-tions
and uniqueness of his subjects.
BY CORIE BAKER
Lola JenkinsLola Jenkins is a self-taught folk artist known for
her intricate quilts. Jenkins is more than a quilt artist however,
she is a visual archivist. Her subject matter is so diverse;
anything can be a topic for her work. A simple still life becomes
an intricate piece of fiber art. In her quilt Back in the Days,
Jenkins captures festive West African life in a colorful and joyful
way. Back in the Days celebrates African culture before slavery.
Her work My Grand Babies is a portrait of her beloved
grandchildren. Jenkins was a highlight at this past Junes Africa
West festival.
Nathan LeeNathan Lee is a self-taught mixed media artist. His
ceramic sculptures are rotund beings that seem to be quite content
in their opulence. Lee uses acrylic stains as opposed to glazes to
achieve a metallic luster to his work. His series of sculptures
Martyrs explores self-sacrifice for a greater cause. Lee is a
regular artist at Istvan Gallery.
Marcus EakersMarcus Eakers is a surrealist painter/illustrator
whose work evokes other worldly dreams. His char-acters are long
and rhythmic. At times they seem to move as if governed by some
kind of unseen kinetic force. Eakers work also seems to be
influenced by anime, cartoons, and even fairy tales. The paintings
are multilayered dreams with hidden meanings and abstract ideas.
Also, some of his figures transcend race and are neither black nor
white; some are red or even orange creating a sense of race just
being treated as just an incidental. That part of his art is what
makes his work flexible and universally appealing.
Afro-Americana: Contemporary Black Artists in Oklahoma
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30
BY MILLIE J. CRADDICK
ankiller was born in Tahlequah, the sixth of
eleven children to Charley Mankiller and Clara Irene Sitton.
Mankillers father was a full-blood Cherokee Native American
and her mother was a Caucasian woman of Dutch and Irish
descent who acculturated herself to Cherokee life.
Mankillers great-grandfather was one of more than 16,000
Cherokees, Choctaws,
Creeks, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and African slaves who were
ordered by President An-
drew Jackson, in the 1830s, to walk from their former homes in
the southeast United
States to the new Indian Territory, which later became Oklahoma.
The harsh weather,
hunger, disease, and abuse from United States soldiers that the
tribes experienced on
what came to be called the Trail of Tears led to the deaths of
at least four thousand
people. Many more died afterward as they struggled to build new
lives in the rugged
terrain with meager supplies, surrounded by hostile western
Indians.
Wilma Mankiller reinvigorated the Cherokee Nation through the
establishment of tribally-owned
businesses, improving infrastructure, and building a
hydroelectric facility,
among other projects.
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31
Mankiller lived on the land which was allotted
to her paternal grandfather, John Mankiller, just
after Oklahoma became a state in 1907. Surrounded
by the Cherokee Hills and the Cookson Hills, she
lived in a historically-rich area where a persons
worth was not determined by the size of their bank
account. In those days, everyone helped one an-
other, sometimes trading goods eggs for milk or
farm goods for store-bought goods. People were not
as hurried as they are today, and visitors sometimes
stayed well into the night or until the next day.
While the adults played cards or talked, the children
played games such as hide-and-seek, kick the can,
or marbles. Occasionally a contest was held to see
who could ring the most wall nails with the rubber
rings from Mason jars. New games were made up.
The natural world was their playground, and they
used their imaginations to invent interesting things
to do. During the day, very little time was spent in
the small wood frame house built by her father,
most of their work and play was outside. Time was
defined by the natural rhythms of the land. Even
today some Cherokee elders describe events by
the time when certain crops are ripe or foods are
gathered, rather than by a calendar, and they can
tell time by the sun with great accuracy. Her family
name Mankiller, as far as they can determine, is
an old military title that was given to the person in
charge of protecting the village, which is Asgaya-
dihi in Cherokee.
Mankiller wrote in her autobiography, our
childhood was not always an idyllic time of playing
and games. Each morning we walked the three
miles to Rocky Mountain School and then back
again at the end of the day. My family and everyone
else in our community worked very hard. My sister,
Linda, and I sometimes gathered water for drinking
and household use from a freshwater spring about
a quarter mile from our home. My older brothers
and sisters cut wood, hauled water, helped wash
an endless supply of clothing and dishes, and even
contributed to the family income by earning money
picking beans or strawberries or cutting wood
for railroad ties. My oldest brother, Louis Donald,
went with my father to Colorado, along with other
Cherokee men, to cut broomcorn. The money he and
my father earned bought clothes and shoes for my
siblings and me for the winter.
While preparing logs to sell for railroad ties,
Mankillers sister, Frances, severely cut her knee and
had to be taken to Hastings Indian Hospital in Tahle-
quah. Not too long after that her father signed the
family up for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation
Program, which promised a better life for their
family. They had no idea what to expect when they
gathered in the fall of 1957 at the train depot in
Stilwell, to prepare for the journey to San Francisco.
Mankiller wrote, We didnt know how to prepare
for or even think about our new life in San Francisco.
The farthest we had been from home was about
forty miles away to the Muskogee County Fair. It is
a gross understatement to describe our relocation
experience as culture shock.
Although they did not want to move to
California, Charlie Mankiller accepted a government
offer to relocate. However, promises that were made
to the family were not kept money did not arrive,
and there was often no employment available
and their life did not improve after their arrival in
San Francisco. As Mankiller recalled in her autobi-
ography, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, I experi-
enced my own Trail of Tears when I was a young girl.
No one pointed a gun at me or at members of my
family. No show of force was used. Nevertheless, the
United States government, through the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, was again trying to settle the Indian
problem by removal. I learned through this ordeal
about the fear and anguish that occur when you
give up your home, your community, and everything
you have ever known to move far away to a strange
place. I wept tears. tears from my history, from
Wilma Mankiller admired her grandmother, Anna Truan Dobson.
Dobson, upper right, grew up in Tennessee with French-speaking
Swiss immigrants and earned two college degrees before the turn of
the century. A teacher at the Tahlequah Institute, the female
faculty members shown served as her bridesmaids when she married
Mankillers grandfather, Frederick Lee Dobson. Revered Hamilton,
standing, officiated the ceremony.
LEFT: born in Tahlequah, the sixth of eleven children, Wilma
Mankillers father was a full-blood Cherokee and her mother was of
Dutch and Irish descent.
Charlie Soap, left, and Wilma Mankiller, right with
Muscogee/Seminole metal- smith Kenneth Johnson at Red Earth.
Courtesy Kenneth Johnson.
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32
my tribes past. They were Cherokee tears.
Not wanting to be an added burden to the
survival of the family, Mankillers brother, Bob, trav-
eled north and was picking apples in Washington
State. In the chill of an early1960 morning, he
mistakenly started a fire with gasoline instead of
kerosene, and his wooden shack exploded into
flames. Bob survived for only six days. He was
Mankillers role model for a care free spirit.
In California, cringing at the snickering that
always followed the school roll call when the
teacher said Mankiller, she nevertheless finished
high school and took a job as a clerk. In 1963, at
the age of seventeen while attending San Francisco
State, she met and married Ecuadorian college
student Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi. They moved to
Oakland, California, where they had two daughters,
Felicia, who was born in 1964 and Gina in 1966. She
settled into the role of wife and mother. Her hus-
band had definite and fairly narrow ideas about the
role of women. He thought she should be attrac-
tive, an excellent cook, a great household manager,
and devote most of her time to being his wife and
the mother of their children. This is a role that she
could not fill. Mankiller wanted to be engaged in
the world around her, to be involved in politics, civil
rights, and womens rights. San Francisco was an
exciting place to be at that time. She wanted to
learn more about the Cherokee world she had left
behind more than a decade earlier.
This was a time when there were many
political and social movements taking place across
America. In 1969 her life was changed. A San Fran-
cisco State student, Mohawk Richard Oakes, along
with other Native Americans of different tribes,
occupied an abandoned prison on Alcatraz Island in
the San Francisco Bay to call attention to the mis-
treatment of Native Americans by the United States
government. The invasion was seen as a historic
event by many Native American people, Mankiller
included. When Alcatraz occurred, I became
aware of what needed to be done to let the rest of
the world know Indians had rights, too. Alcatraz
expressed my own feelings about being an Indian,
Mankiller stated in her biography. She longed to do
more for her people and began a commitment to
serve the Native American people to the best of her
ability in the area of law and legal defense.
In addition to wanting to help her people,
Mankiller began to want independence, and
she began taking courses at Skyline College, a
community college in San Bruno, California and
later at San Francisco State University. She also
had been very involved in San Franciscos Indian
Center throughout her time in California. In the
late 1960s, she joined the activist movement and
participated in the Occupation of Alcatraz Island.
For five years, she had volunteered for the Pit River
Tribe. This caused a conflict within her marriage.
Once I began to become more independent, more
active with school and in the community, it became
increasingly difficult to keep my marriage together.
Before that, Hugo had viewed me as someone he
had rescued from a very bad life, she noted in her
biography. He had the only car and determined
when and where they would go when they traveled
out of the city. One simple act of independence
changed all that. She secretly withdrew money
from their joint savings account and bought her
own car a new candy-apple red Mazda. She
loved that car. With her two daughters, they visited
many places in California with friends and people
who shared her interest. By 1974 she was divorced
and became a single mother.
In 1971, Mankillers father had died from a
kidney disease in San Francisco, California, which
she said tore through my spirit like a blade of
lightning. The family took Charlie Mankiller home
Wilma Mankiller and her daughters gina Quinton, left, and
Felicia olaya. Courtesy the Oklahoma Publish- ing Company.
Wilma Mankiller became chief of
the second-largest Indian tribe in the
country in 1985. The first female to
hold the post.
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33
to Oklahoma for burial, and then Mankiller returned
to California. It was not long before she too had kid-
ney problems, inherited from her father. Her early
kidney problems could be treated, though later
she had to have surgery and eventually, in 1990,
she had to have a transplant. Her brother Donald
became her hero for donating one of his kidneys
so that she could live.
Five years after her fathers death Mankiller
returned to Oklahoma for good. She found a job
as a community coordinator in the Cherokee tribal
headquarters and enrolled in graduate courses
at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. This
required her to drive a long distance every day. She
was returning home one morning in 1979 when
a car approached her on a blind curve and, out of
nowhere, another car attempted to pass it. She
swerved to miss the approaching car but failed. The
vehicles collided almost head-on. Mankiller was
seriously injured, and many thought she would
not survive. The driver of the other vehicle did not.
It turned out to be Sherry Morris, Mankillers best
friend. Mankiller had to overcome both her physical
injuries and the guilt she experienced after the acci-
dent. Mankiller said it was during that long process
that she really began reevaluating her life and it
proved to be a time of deep spiritual awakening.
Then in 1980 she came down with myasthe-
nia gravis, a neuromuscular disorder. Neuromus-
cular disorders involve the muscles and the nerves
that control them. Again her life was threatened,
but her will to live and her determination to heal
her body with the power of her mind prevailed.
She maintained that it was the realization of how
precious life is that spurred her to begin projects for
her people, such as the Bell Project where members
of the community revitalized a whole community
themselves. It was the success of this project that
thrust Mankiller into national recognition as an
expert in community development.
Three years later, Ross Swimmer, then
Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma,
asked Mankiller to be his Deputy Chief in the elec-
tion. She accepted, and they won the election and
took office on August 14, 1983. On December 5,
1985, Swimmer was nominated to head the Bureau
of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., and Mankiller
was sworn in as Principal Chief.
After many years working together on
Cherokee community development projects,
Mankiller married her longtime friend, Charlie Lee
Soap, a full-blood Cherokee traditionalist and fluent
Wilma Mankillers autobiog-raphy with Michael Wallis, Mankiller:
A Chief and Her People, tells her own story while honoring and
celebrat-ing the rich history of the Cherokees. A national
best-seller, Gloria Steinem said As one womans journey,
Mankiller opens the heart. As the history of a people, it
informs the mind. Together, it teaches us that, as long as people
like Wilma Mankiller carry the flame within them,
centuries of ignorance and genocide cant extinguish
the human spirit.
Wilma Mankiller enjoyed sharing her story, and that of her
people, while signing copies of Mankiller: A Chief and Her
People.
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34
Cherokee speaker. They lived on her ancestral land
at Mankiller Flats.
Mankiller was freely elected as Principal Chief
in 1987, and re-elected again in 1991 in a landslide
victory, collecting 83% of the vote. In the historic
tribal election of 1987, Mankiller having won the
post outright, brought unprecedented attention to
the tribe as a result. As the leader of the Cherokee
people she represented the second- largest tribe
in the United States. Mankiller was the first female
in modern history to lead a major Native American
tribe. With an enrolled population of over 140,000,
and an annual budget of more than $75 million,
and more than 1,200 employees spread over 7,000
square miles, her task may have been equaled to
that of a chief executive officer of a major corpora-
tion. In 1995, Mankiller chose not to run again for
Chief largely due to health problems and instead
took a teaching position at Dartmouth College.
Initially, Mankillers candidacy was opposed
by those not wishing to be led by a woman. Her
tires were slashed and there were death threats
during her campaign. But as she shared her home
with her husband, Charlie Soap, and Winterhawk,
his son from a previous marriage, things were very
different. She had won the respect of the Cherokee
Nation, and made an impact on the culture as she
focused on her mission to bring self-sufficiency
to her people.
Mankiller overcame many tragedies to
become a guiding power for the Cherokee people of
Oklahoma and a symbol of achievement for women
everywhere. Throughout her life, Mankiller man-
aged not to complain about how bad things were
for herself, for her people, and for Native Americans
in general. She instead worked to help make life
better. Although she declined to seek another term
as principal chief in 1995, she remained in the public
eye, writing and giving lectures across the country.
She has stressed that if all the Native Americans
who were eligible to vote actually did so, officials
elected with those votes would be forced to address
the problems of Native Americans. She also called
for an end to the increasing problem of violence
against women.
Mankiller showed in her typically exuberant
way that not only can Native Americans learn a lot
from whites, but that whites can learn from native
people. Understanding the interconnectedness of all
things, many whites are beginning to understand
the value of native wisdom, culture, and spirituality.
Mankiller died April 6, 2010 at the age of 64 from
pancreatic cancer.
Mankiller won several awards including Ms.
Magazines Woman of the Year, the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, Woman of the Year, the Elizabeth
Blackwell Award, John W. Gardner Leadership
Award, Independent Sector, and induction into the
Oklahoma Womens Hall of Fame, National Womens
Hall of Fame, and the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in
1994.
Mankillers first book, Mankiller: A Chief and
Her People, an autobiography, became a national
bestseller. Gloria Steinem said in a review that, As
one womans journey, Mankiller opens the heart.
As the history of a people, it informs the mind.
Together, it teaches us that, as long as people like
Wilma Mankiller carry the flame within them, cen-
turies of ignorance and genocide cant extinguish
the human spirit. Steinem went on to become one
of Mankillers closest friends. In 2004, Mankiller
co-authored Every Day is A Good Day: Reflections by
Contemporary Indigenous Women.
The Cherokee Nation head-quarters is locat-ed in Tahlequah,
oklahoma
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35
You or the suitcase? This was the question Yen Tran was faced
with on April 29, 1975, one day before the fall of Saigon to the
communist North. The choice was an easy one. Her children,
evacuated four days prior, were wait-ing for her in guam. If she
did not make this heli-copter she might not get out of Vietnam.
Traveling via boat for 21 days, exposed to the elements of rain,
hot days, and cold nights, Tran finally was reunited with her
children in guam. The same evening Yen Tran was fleeing her
homeland, San Nguyen was facing a similar dilemma. His wife and
children already had left South Vietnam, and on the evening of
April 29, he took a helicopter from the roof of the United States
Embassy to a U.S. naval ship, eventu-ally finding himself in Fort
Chaffee, Arkansas.
BY NICOLE HARVEY
ABOVE: April 29th, 1975, U.S. personnel help Vietnamese refugees
board a helicopter on the roof of the U.S. embassy one day prior to
the North Vietnamese armys arrival in Saigon.
-
While Tran and Nguyens stories are extraordinary, what is so
remarkable about their tales is that they are not all that
remarkable. Their stories are very similar to the nearly 4,000
Vietnamese who had settled in Oklahoma City by 1978.
Tran and Nguyen were the lucky ones; they had both worked for
the
United States government in Saigon and were not as affected by
the war on a day-to-day basis. Because of their connec-tions, they
were able to move themselves and their families out of Vietnam
before
36
the communists overran Saigon. Tran worked as a personnel
officer for the
United States Agency for International Development, while Nguyen
worked directly under the head of the U.S. Army Supply. They also
knew that because of their affiliations with the United States
government they would be targets of imprisonment, re-education
camps, or worse when the North Vietnamese Army arrived in Saigon on
April 30, 1975. Although the United States involve-ment in the
Vietnam War officially was
over in April, 1975, U.S. officials, and
certain military personnel, remained in South Vietnam. Both Tran
and Nguyen remember the chaos of those last few days. They knew the
North Vietnamese Army was marching toward Saigon; this
was evident by the streams of refugees crowding the city from
northern rural areas, fleeing the invading Army. Ev-eryday Tran and
Nguyen went to work, helping to arrange for the closure of the
buildings in which they worked.
On the 28th of April, Tran arrived at work to be greeted by U.S.
Marines bar-ring her entrance. She feared the worst;
that all of her American co-workers al-ready had fled and that
she was now stuck
in Saigon. Later that day, the United States Agency for
International Develop-ment was struck by a missile from North
Vietnamese forces and caught fire. Tran
and her husband made their way through Saigon to the American
compound where her boss lived. With his help, they were taken to
the safety of a U.S. helicopter. San Nguyen knew the plight of
being a refugee long before 1975. In
RIGHT: A small boat containing 162 Vietnamese refugees arrives
in Malaysia in 1978.
Vietnamese refugees watch as a Thai Marine police boat casts
them adrift in the Gulf of Siam after being turned away on November
30, 1977. They had escaped earlier in November from Vietnam to what
they thought would be freedom, but Thai police refused to allow
them to come ashore. (AP Photo/Eddie Adams)
South Vietnamese refugees walk across a U.S. Navy vessel on
April 29, 1975.
We left empty handed. but be-cause we learn from the war era, so
we become very economic. We work hard. Most of us [Vietnam-ese
refugees] are very successful because we know how to deal with the
economic situation. - San Nguyen, on leaving Vietnam and starting
over
So much experience, you know people cannot know how it feels. It
was quite an experience. Every time I think about it I cant believe
that I survived it. but we survived. Yen Tran, on her jour-ney out
of Saigon to America
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37
Mobs of South Vietnamese try to scale the 14-foot wall of the
U.S. Embassy in Saigon, April 29, 1975, trying to reach the evacua-
tion helicopters as the last of the Americans departed from
Vietnam. On April 30, 1975, a dispirited South Vietnam surrendered
to North Vietnam, its lifeline of American blood dried up, its
supporting U.S. war ma- chine turned off. (AP Photo/Neal
Ulevich)
Vietnamese refugees rest as crewmen aboard the guided missile
cruiser USS FOX (CG-33) give them something to drink.
1954, Vietnam signed the Geneva Accords which created a split in
Vietnam at the 17th parallel until elections could be held to
re-unify the country. At this time, northernVietnam was controlled
by communist forces led by Ho Chi Mihn. There was a large surge of
refugees who fled the north of the country
to relocate in southern Vietnam where the communist did not have
a strong hold. Nguyens family took their opportunity to
leave northern Vietnam before it was too late. They resettled in
Saigon when Nguyen was around 10 years old. Despite the Ac-cords
declaring reunification elections must take place in 1956,
the reunification of Vietnam did not occur with elections,
but
with the arrival of North Vietnamese forces in Saigon in 1975.
As it became evident that South Vietnam would fall to the North,
many South Vietnamese citizens began making plans to leave t