January 2022

Body At the end of 2021, the SWOSU Digital Commons at Southwestern Oklahoma State University passed another major milestone with 750,000 downloads made from the repository.

Body The Oklahoma Department of Commerce (Commerce) has hired Jimmy Cagle to serve as the State Automotive Director. Cagle is retiring after 37 years on the communications staff of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, 12 of which were spent at the company’s Lawton facility.

Body Memorial services for Helen Irene Maher will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, at El Reno Wesley United Methodist Church. Helen passed away Dec. 25, 2021, in Lakewood, Colo. She was born Dec. 31, 1934, in Lawrence, Kan., to Dorothy and James Weed.

Body Memorial service with military honors for Wallace G. Beckley Jr. will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 31 at First Christian Church with Rev. Colton Lott officiating. Services are under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home. Wally died Jan.

Body Funeral services for James Wayne Pedro Sr. were held Monday at the Concho Emergency Response Center with Rev. Waylan Upchego officiating. Burial was in the Concho Cemetery under the direction of Huber-Benson Funeral Home. James died Jan.

Body Jeff Charles Walker, 64, passed away Jan. 19, 2022, in Oklahoma City. He was born in Okarche to Albert and Marlene Walker. He spent most of his life in California, moving back to Oklahoma in 2003 and settled in Fort Gibson, Okla. Jeff married Judy L. McClaskey on April 24, 1993.

Body MARRIAGE LICENSES Thomas Victor Gray, 62; Brenda Kaye Ditmore, 60. Gary R. Underwood, 76; Joy Jenean VanHooser, 62. Bradley Thomas Angel, 36; Mattie Elizabeth Rankin, 31. Alan Paul Fowler, 53; Melissa Jayne Hoyden, 41. Xavier Andrew White, 26; Jasmine Marie Terrell, 22.

Body To the Editor: Regarding the guest column by Dr. Paul Kengor in the Jan. 19 issue of the Tribune. I wonder who are the “growing number of advocates” of critical race theory? CRT is taught as a legal theory in university law schools and nowhere else.

Body A bid for a third straight trip to the Class 5A dual state championships hit a pothole last week as El Reno High School’s wrestling team dropped a narrow 39-35 outing to Elgin in the finals of the 2022 District 3 Championships.

Body El Reno High School’s girls basketball team made its second straight tournament finals but fell short of another title with a 47-32 loss to Class 6A’s eighth-ranked Mustang in the 2022 Shawnee Invitational.