Former Gov. George Nigh, Oklahoma's elder political statesman, dies at 98

Yahoo

3 days ago

Former Oklahoma Gov. George P. Nigh, a legendary politician who served in the state's highest office four times and guided it through the early stages of the 1980s oil bust before becoming president of one of the state's largest universities, has died. He was 98.
Oklahoma historian Bob Burke, a family friend who once wrote Nigh's biography, confirmed Nigh's death on Wednesday, July 30. Burke said Nigh died at home, surrounded by family members.
Every living former Oklahoma governor – two Democrats and two Republicans – issued statements upon Nigh's death, showing the bipartisan love for a man who'd been Oklahoma's unofficial elder statesman for nearly 40 years.
'George Nigh captured his age,' former Gov. Frank Keating, a Republican, said. 'He loved Oklahoma. Totally. He loved his family. Totally. The 'state of his State was great.' He believed. He was a man of love, humility and goodness. We loved him for who he was and what he was. We shall miss him terribly.'
Added former Gov. Brad Henry, a Democrat: 'If I compiled a list of the top five people who had the greatest impact and influence on my life, George Nigh, along with my parents, would be on it. George was a longtime dear friend, a mentor and a true public servant. He was a great man, but, perhaps more importantly, he was a really good guy. Few, if any, have had as significant of an impact on our state for as long as George did.'
The family will announce a public memorial service later, Burke said.
George Nigh's early years focused on politics, service
Nigh was born in McAlester to Wilber and Irene Nigh on June 9, 1927, the fourth of five children. As a child, George Nigh worked in his parents' neighborhood grocery store. According to Burke, when Nigh's teacher asked students in an eighth-grade vocations class what they wanted to be in life, 14-year-old George answered, 'I wanna be governor!'
After graduating from McAlester High School in 1945, Nigh served in the U.S. Navy in 1945 and 1946 as a 'plane handler' on the USS Ranger, a pilot-training ship, before attending college. He graduated from what's now Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton in 1948, then from what's now East Central University in Ada in 1950.
While a student at East Central, Nigh began a campaign in 1950 for a seat in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He did not own a car, so he hitchhiked from Ada to McAlester every weekend to campaign, Burke said. Nigh won the election, beginning a 32-year career in public office by first serving four terms as a Democrat in the state House.
Among his top legislative accomplishments was introducing a bill that designated the song 'Oklahoma,' from the famed musical of the same name, as Oklahoma's state song. While serving in the Legislature, Nigh taught social studies at McAlester High School from 1952 to 1958.
In 1958, the 31-year-old Nigh became the youngest lieutenant governor in Oklahoma history and he was elected to that office again in 1966, serving through January 5, 1979. He also served four different times as governor, earning election in 1978 and 1982 to that office — making him the first Oklahoma governor to be reelected.
He served out the brief unexpired terms for then-Gov. J. Howard Edmondson (for nine days in January 1963) and then-Gov. David Boren (for five days in January 1979). Both Edmondson and Boren resigned early to go to the U.S. Senate. When Nigh took the oath of office for his first full, four-year term later in January 1979, it actually was the third time he'd been governor.
After pushing through record tax cuts in his first full term, Nigh earned reelection in 1982 and became the first gubernatorial candidate to win in all 77 counties in Oklahoma. At his reelection celebration, he told supporters, "The best thing I can do is be the type of governor you expect me to be."
Nigh shepherded Oklahoma through the oil bust that followed the collapse of Penn Square Bank in July 1982. With sales tax and gross production revenues plunging that fall, Nigh ordered a 13% cut in state agency budgets. The financial situation was so dire, Nigh said in 2016, 'We were pulling highway patrol cars over to the side of the road to save gas. … I kept thinking, 'It will come back. It will come back.''
It eventually did, but not until years after Night left office. In Nigh's last year as governor, the state budget was cut by more than $300 million, a huge amount at the time.
'If I could have switched my two terms, I would have,' Nigh said. 'But the challenges that came had to be addressed.'
Notable moments in Nigh's later career
As governor, his notable appointments included the first women named to serve as Oklahoma Supreme Court justices, Alma Wilson and Yvonne Kauger. Kauger, appointed in 1984, served as a justice until 2024.
A consummate politician, Nigh referenced both his youth, and later his age, while running for office in different decades, something former Oklahoma Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Taylor – who's also from McAlester – wryly noted.
'One thing to keep in mind, back in 1950 when he ran for state representative, his campaign slogan was 'Give a young man a chance.' He used that all through the state representative time and actually when he ran for lieutenant governor,' Taylor said in 2013. 'Then in 1978, when he ran for governor, he changed that slogan to 'Experience counts.''
In 1987, he founded the Nigh Institute of State Government at what's now known as the University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond. He also served as a 'distinguished statesman-in-residence' at UCO until 1992, when he was named as the university's 18th president. He held that position until 1997, when he retired.
Former Gov. Mary Fallin, a Republican, remembered Nigh as setting the standard for public leadership in Oklahoma. 'He devoted his life not just to governing, but to elevating our state's spirit – whether through promoting Oklahoma tourism, supporting education or simply being a good neighbor," Fallin said. "He was the kind of statesman every generation hopes for.'
According to the National Governors Association, during his career, Nigh chaired the National Conference of Lieutenant Governors, co-chaired the Interstate Oil Compact Commission, served on the Executive Committee of the Southern States Energy Board, chaired the southern Growth Policies Board, and presided over the Council of State Governments.
Nigh was also a popular graduation speaker at schools throughout Oklahoma. When he gave the commencement speech in 2024 at East Central, it extended his streak of giving at least one such speech to 75 years. In some years, he delivered as many as 20 graduation addresses. He delivered recorded remarks for Epic Charter School's online ceremony during the COVID-19 pandemic graduation of 2020.
His first such speech came in 1950 at a rural two-room, eighth-grade schoolhouse known as Plainview, located north of Arpelar in Pittsburg County. Nigh, then a senior at East Central, was running for the state Legislature but didn't have a car, so he hitchhiked to the ceremony.
While the speeches differed from year to year, Nigh said in 2015 they maintained a consistent theme. He wanted graduates to know, 'You can do it from here. … Wherever you are in Oklahoma, you can become successful.'
Nigh married the former Donna Mashburn, who was an airline ticket agent, on Oct. 19, 1963. She had a 10-year-old son, Berry Mashburn, and together, George and Donna had a daughter, Georgeann. Both George (in 1989) and Donna Nigh (in 2008) earned induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, considered the highest honor that can be given to an Oklahoman. Burke said George assisted Donna in establishing and maintaining the Donna Nigh Foundation, which provides services to Oklahoma's developmentally disabled.
In addition to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, George Nigh was a member of the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma Conservation Hall of Fame, McAlester High School Hall of Fame, Eastern Oklahoma State College Hall of Fame, the Oklahoma CareerTech Hall of Fame and was an East Central University Distinguished Alumnus and the recipient of the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award, among other honors.
Former Gov. David Walters, a Democrat, recalled Nigh's final public speech, delivered to a packed house of 950 people in Tulsa on June 28, two days after Nigh was checked out of an Oklahoma City hospital after being treated for pneumonia. During the event – in which he was presented with the first Albert Nigh Award for lifetime public service – Walters said Nigh, after he was seated, led the crowd in a raucous singing of 'Oklahoma.'
'I can say without exaggeration that a great man has left this life … a great, great man,' Walters said. 'He believed in public service and devoted his life to it as a legislator, lieutenant governor, and served as governor longer than any other. But the elected positions paled to who he was, a devout Oklahoman, always encouraging others to work together for the common good.'
In 2000, Burke published his biography of Nigh, 'Good Guys Wear White Hats: The Life of George Nigh.' The title was a nod to Nigh's political trademark.
"What I want the history books to say... is that the state prospered, the people prospered and the state grew,' Nigh said in 1982 after winning re-election. 'I hope history records this was a good period for Oklahoma. I pledge that I will always wear the white hat."
Nigh is survived by his wife of 61 years, Donna; daughter Georgeann Duty and husband Steve; his younger sister, Mary Cargill; and grandchildren Macy, Ayla, Chase, Berry and Gray.
'I'm saddened to hear of the loss of a true Oklahoma statesman and public servant," said current Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican. "George Nigh guided Oklahoma through difficult times and led with kindness and humility. Sarah and I are praying for his wife Donna and their family and friends as they remember and honor a life well lived.'
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: George Nigh, former Oklahoma governor, longtime politician, dies at 98
Solve the daily Crossword