On a cool spring evening in April of 1962, Czar D. Langston, Jr. (then General Manager of the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives) presented a State Champion Public Speaking plaque to a shy, undersized and completely surprised sophomore boy from the Purcell FFA Chapter.

The speech was titled “Co-ops are Facing the Challenge!”

The scene was Gallagher Hall, home of Henry Iba’s Oklahoma State University Cowboys. The overflow crowd seemed to wonder how a pint-sized country boy wearing hand-me-down slacks with a tie and FFA jacket supplied by his Vo-Ag teacher could speak so earnestly and convincingly to the challenges of providing electricity to Oklahoma’s vast stretches of rural farms and ranches.

Harry Frank, Jr. was the Vo-Ag teacher and the boy was me. Mr. Frank literally changed my life and opened the door to a much larger world than the one into which I’d been born.

My experiences as an FFA boy, student at OSU, soldier, Vo-Ag teacher and with the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce prepared me to be more useful in service to rural electrification … here in Oklahoma, across America and even internationally. I had no idea what God had been preparing me to do.

The last thirty years here at OAEC have been challenging, rewarding and satisfying. You have elected excellent directors who educate themselves and are accountable to the membership. You have terrific managers and employees who are committed, dedicated and skillful. I’m so proud of our state association staff—so bright, talented and always willing to help beyond their job description.

But the quality most responsible for your continuing ability to pay 1940 prices for electricity is COOPERATION. It’s a cooperative spirit that provides the assurance that we get far more done together than we can by ourselves. Cooperative is more than a business model … it’s a personal quality. The former doesn’t work absent the latter.

And now it is time for me to retire.

I’m grateful to our Congressional delegation for their faithful support and sacrificial efforts on our behalf.

I’m grateful to our legislators and elected officials who have been willing partners in establishing our right and our ability to electrify Oklahoma.

Most of all, I’m grateful to you and our state association board for the opportunity to lead an organization so mission driven, people oriented and service minded.

I’ll head back to the ranch…saddle some really nice cow horses…get started on Natalea’s “honey do” list, be a useful volunteer and become our three granddaughters’ personal Vo-Ag teacher.

Thanks … it’s been quite a ride!