Jerry Isbell was raised in Broken Bow. He graduated from the University of Oklahoma and has been involved in numerous corporate and entrepreneurial ventures. Jerry, and his wife, Sherri, created www.BeaversBendVacations.com in 2006. Their Mountain Vista Cabin features acres of seclusion...

M. J. Alexander is a photographer and writer who explores the people and places of the American West, combining the vision of an artist with the skills of a storyteller. Her photographs have been published here and abroad and exhibited in venues ranging from Pleiades Gallery of New York City to...

Robert Allen never has strayed far from his Oklahoma State roots. Allen has served in the media as a television sports reporter and anchor at a pair of NBC affiliated stations. He has done television play by play and color for college and high school broadcasts as well as horse racing. He has...

Robert L. "Bob" Allen was born May 22, 1939 to Corliss and Katherine Allen in El Reno, Oklahoma. He attended all 12 grades in El Reno public schools and graduated high school in 1957. He later graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1962.

Known as "Mr. OETA,"...

Darleen Bailey Beard is an award-winning author of picture books, chapter books, and middle-grade novels, many of which were nominated for the Oklahoma Sequoyah Award. She loves history, is an eighth cousin to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and has slept in the same bed as Teddy Roosevelt, though...

Bob Blackburn, a native Oklahoman, served as executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society from1999 till 2021. He joined the OHS in 1980 as editor of The Chronicles of Oklahoma and became deputy director for agency operations in 1990.

Blackburn is a 1973 graduate of Southwestern...

Bob Burke, born in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, has written more historical non-fiction books than anyone else in history. He earned a law degree from Oklahoma City University and received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from OCU and a BA in journalism from the University of Oklahoma....

Gini Moore Campbell is an Oklahoma City native and member of the Choctaw Nation. With the Oklahoma Hall of Fame for more than 30 years, she has played an integral role in the growth of the publishing and scholarship programs and serves as scriptwriter and executive producer for its annual...

Mary Susan O'Dell Conway in an Oklahoma native. She earned her master’s degree in Learning Disabilities from East Central University in Ada. After teaching for ten years, she became a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for the victims of child abuse and neglect in Oklahoma County,...

Von Russell Creel holds B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Oklahoma. He was a law clerk for Judge Alfred P. Murrah from 1969 to 1971. In 1971, he joined the faculty of the Oklahoma City University School of Law. He took a leave of absence in 1975 to serve as Chief of Staff for Oklahoma...

Lou Dean is the author of countless articles in major magazines, three books of memoirs, and two young adult novels. She has received a Colorado Blue Spruce nomination, a Top Hand Award from the Colorado Author's League, and a prestigious Wrangler Award from The National Cowboy & Western...

Betty Katherine Palmetter Falato grew up in Earlsboro, Oklahoma, in Pottawatomie County. She holds a bachelor’s in mathematics and a master’s in human relations from the University of Oklahoma, and a master’s in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.

During her...

Ginny Johnston Goresen was born and raised in Blackwell. Her grandparents and parents were members of the Blackwell business community. Her grandparents owned Peddicord Jewelry, her mother owned the Pollyanna Clothing Store, and her father practiced law in Blackwell.

After graduating from...

Mike Gundy qualifies as "Mr. Cowboy" as he has played, coached as an assistant, and is currently the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. He will soon be the winnings football coach in OSU history. The All-State quarterback from Midwest City took his talents to OSU where, along...

Pati Hailey was born in San Francisco, California, but has lived most of her life in Oklahoma. She writes both fiction and non-fiction and has published articles in newspapers and magazines, including Cricket and Hopscotch. Her first book for children was Te Ata: Oklahoma Cultural Treasure....

Aimee Robb Harlow was born and raised in Norman, Oklahoma, and has lived in Oklahoma City with her husband David Harlow for over 30 years. They have two children, Kristina and William. Harlow recently retired from a 33-year career in high tech banking consulting and sales finishing with FIS...

John Hersley, a native of West Texas, was Primary Case Agent for the FBI in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation. He was responsible for managing the FBI’s case against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and participated at counsel table during both trials in federal court in Denver, Colorado....

Joe Hight is a journalist, writer, and educator. His nonfiction book, Unnecessary Sorrow, was released in the fall of 2019, and Our Greatest Journalists: Fifty Years of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame celebrates the contributions of our state’s journalists and their role in furthering the...

Gwendolyn Hooks is the author of many books for children including Porpoises in Peril and The Pet Club Stories series. She also has a non-fiction science series about food webs. Hooks has written for a South Korean publisher and an English publisher. Some of her books have been translated into...

Sarah Eppler Janda is a Professor of History at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma where she has been teaching since 2001. She received a bachelor’s degree in history and philosophy in 1996, a master’s degree in history in 1999 and a Ph.D. in history in 2002 from the University of Oklahoma,...

Jane Jayroe is the author of several inspirational books, including Devote Forty Days, More Grace than Glamour (with Bob Burke), and Oklahoma III (with David Fitzgerald). She is the founder and director of a successful luncheon series for Oklahoma women called “Esther Women.” Jayroe’s career...

Robert M. "Bob" Johnson, a Thomas, Oklahoma native, attended Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma College of Law, earning Bachelors and Juris Doctor degrees respectively. He served in the United States Army, awarded The Distinguished Graduate

Award and The Leadership...

Cathy Keating is a fourth-generation Oklahoman with a focus on community service. While First Lady she planned and organized the International Prayer Service and published In Their Name, which was listed on the New York Times bestseller list, following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal...

Frank Keating grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from the University of Oklahoma.

His 30-year career in law enforcement and public service included service as an FBI agent, U.S. Attorney and state prosecutor, and...

Jo Ann Kessel, an Oklahoma Choctaw, received her Associate of Arts at Christian College in Columbia, Missouri, and Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social Work degrees from the University of Oklahoma. She worked with children and families in adoption, foster care, parenting classes, and school...

Ryan Leonard is a fourth-generation native of Beaver in the Oklahoma Panhandle. An attorney and avid historian, Leonard began his career as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Don Nickles in Washington, D.C., returned to Oklahoma to serve as a state prosecutor in Canadian County, and...

Larry A. Lewis, born in Oklahoma City, graduated from Oklahoma State University and Georgetown University Law Center. For 44 years he has served as an attorney representing public school districts in Oklahoma and authored several books about education law for school administrators.

With a...

Patti Loughlinis Professor of History and Chair of the Department of History and Geography at the University of Central Oklahoma. She serves on the board of directors of the Oklahoma Historical Society and participates as a scholar in the Oklahoma Humanities Let’s Talk About It Oklahoma book...

Jane McKellips lived in Oklahoma all her life. After receiving her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Elementary Education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University, she was an elementary school teacher for four years. Then she began working as a piano teacher and freelance writer. Her...

Kim Parrish earned a J. D. from Oklahoma City University School of Law, M.P.A. from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and B.S. from Oklahoma State University

After serving as an Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney, Judge Parrish was in private practice for...

Peter G. Pierce is a fourth-generation Oklahoman. After studying Classical Languages at the University of Oklahoma and law at the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University, he practiced commercial law and litigation for sixteen years while teaching and authoring a number of...

Jim Priest is president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma. He is a husband, dad, granddad, attorney, author, speaker, and ordained minister in The Church of the Nazarene. Priest was a trial lawyer focusing on employment and civil rights law for more than 34 years and prior to...

Brad Robison has served as a volunteer for the Oklahoma City National Memorial since1997 and in 1998 began working as an archivist. In 2000 Robison developed a library/information center dedicated to preparedness and prevention of terrorism for the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of...

Cheryl Schuermann is a reading specialist and published author. She taught school for many years and now works as an education consultant. Schuermann wants every student she meets to love reading and learning. When she is not in schools or writing, she can be found having fun with her thirteen...

Marshall Snipes is an insurance executive who lives in Oklahoma City. He has chaired and managed many political campaigns, including the successful Mickey Edwards’ campaigns for Congress in the 1970s. He has held many positions in the Republican Party, including chair of the Oklahoma County...

Gary Sparks was born in Murphy, North Carolina. He lived most of his early years east of the Mississippi River, graduating from high school in Jasper, Alabama.

Sparks moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma, in 1960 to work on the Keystone Dam. During that summer he met a young man attending...

C. Renzi Stone is a former member and three-year starter of the University of Oklahoma basketball team who now serves as president and CEO of Saxum Public Relations, one of the region’s largest independent public relations firms. He has been published in numerous books and his opinion editorials...

Larry Tongate, a native of Texas, was co-case agent of the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing investigation and took part in the federal trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. In 1998, he was presented he Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service for his work in the bombing case....

Berry Tramel was born in Norman and is a lifelong sports fan and newspaper reader. He entered the newspaper business at the age of 17 at The Norman Transcript. He Joined The Oklahoman in 1991 and has served as beat writer, assistant sports editor, sports editor, and columnist....

Kari Watkins, a third-generation journalist and Cleveland, Oklahoma native, became the Oklahoma City National Memorial’s first staff member in 1996. Three years later she was named Executive Director, overseeing the design competition for the for the Memorial, the building of the Museum, and the...