Raymond Dancel Gary (January 21, 1908 – December 11, 1993) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 15th

governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma Executive (government), executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The gover ...

from 1955 to 1959 and the first governor to be born in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

since statehood. Born in southern

, he became a state senator in 1941, until he assumed the office of governor in 1955. Amongst other accomplishments, he ordered the desegregation of the

Oklahoma State Capitol The Oklahoma State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the building that houses the Oklahoma Legislature and executive branch offices. It is located along Lincoln Boulevard in Oklahoma City and contains 452,50 ...

restrooms. One of his first actions was to order the "whites only" and "colored only" signs removed from the Capitol's restrooms. He also declared his intent to make the state comply with the 1954 Supreme Court decision in

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

, which declared segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. Gary died December 11, 1993, and is interred at Woodbury Forest Cemetery,

Madill, Oklahoma Madill is a city in and the county seat of Marshall County, Oklahoma, United States. It was named in honor of George Alexander Madill, an attorney for the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. The population was 3,914 as of the 2020 Census, up 3 ...

Early life

Born January 21, 1908, on a farm midway between

and

Kingston, Oklahoma Kingston is a town in Marshall County, Oklahoma, United States, in the central southern portion of the state close to the border. The population was 1,431 as of the 2020 Census, Geography Kingston is served by US Route 70, as well as State hi ...

, he was educated in the local schools and graduated from Madill High School in 1927. He married Emma Mae Purser in 1928, and they had two children. After five years of teaching and attending Southeastern State College from 1928 to 1932, he had earned his Bachelor of Science degree. He was elected Marshall County Superintendent of Schools and served four years. He was a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

. In 1936, Gary established Gary Manufacturing Company, to make school and office furniture. He purchased Kingston Commercial Oil and Gas in 1946 and renamed it Sooner Oil Company of which he was president. He also purchased a 120-acre ranch outside Kingston which grew to hundreds of acres.

Political career

Gary was a member of the

Oklahoma Senate The Oklahoma Senate is the upper house of the two houses of the Legislature of Oklahoma, the other being the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The total number of senators is set at 48 by the Oklahoma Constitution.Scales, James R. and Danny Goble (1982). "Raymond Gary: Master of the Old Guard." ''Oklahoma Politics: A History'', p. 289-306. University of Oklahoma Press. As governor, Gary was able to get legislative support for his endeavors, most notably his proposed state budgets, which included neither raised taxes nor large spending increases. He also led and supported efforts to improve the state highway system, particularly the major highways that crisscrossed the state and expressway routes through the two largest cities, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. It was during Gary's tenure that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation oversaw efforts to survey and approve the routes of the Interstate Highway System through the state including east-west

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

and north-south

Interstate 35 Interstate 35 (I-35) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route. It stretches from Laredo, Texas, near the Mexican bo ...

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

through

Clinton, Oklahoma Clinton is a city in Custer and Washita counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 8,521 at the time of the 2020 census. History The community began in 1899 when two men, J.L. Avant and E.E. Blake, decided to locate a town i ...

is locally designated as Gary Freeway or Gary Boulevard in honor of the former governor in commemoration of Gary's promises and efforts to push for improvements of US-66 into a four-lane highway through Western Oklahoma during his administration. Those efforts ultimately led to US-66 being transformed into Interstate 40, which bypasses Clinton's south side. Gary Boulevard is also designated as Clinton's I-40 Business Loop. One of his first actions was to order the "whites only" and "colored only" signs removed from the Capitol's restrooms. He also declared his intent to make the state comply with the 1954 Supreme Court decision in

, which declared segregation in the public schools unconstitutional. In a statewide radio address, he said: "I feel sure that defiance of the Supreme Court mandate will not be tolerated. School boards which might entertain such ideas will find themselves on their own. Certainly the State of Oklahoma cannot possibly defend such action." As part of his effort, he won passage of an amendment to the state Constitution that discarded the financing of separate schools for whites and blacks. He reportedly said, "You know, this is the right thing to do. We're all God's children, and that's what we're going to do."

Death and legacy

Gary died December 11, 1993, and is interred at Woodbury Forest Cemetery in Madill, Oklahoma. Lake Raymond Gary and its associated Raymond Gary State Park in Choctaw County were named to honor him. Speaking of Gov. Gary in the days following his death, Republican Gov.

Henry Bellmon Henry Louis Bellmon (September 3, 1921 – September 29, 2009) was an American Republican politician from the U.S. State of Oklahoma. A member of the Oklahoma Legislature, he went on to become both the 18th and 23rd governor of Oklahoma, mai ...

commented, "He led the state through the initial integration era and successfully integrated our schools without any of the violence and complications that erupted in many of the Southern states." Gary Hall at the

University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma The University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO) is a public liberal arts college in Chickasha, Oklahoma. It is the only public college in Oklahoma with a strictly liberal arts–focused curriculum and is a member of the Council of Publ ...

is named after the late governor of the state.

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Gary, Raymond
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gary, Raymond 1908 births 1993 deaths People from Marshall County, Oklahoma Democratic Party Oklahoma state senators 20th-century members of the Oklahoma Legislature Democratic Party governors of Oklahoma 20th-century Oklahoma politicians Presidents pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate