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Famous People of Pottawatomie
County, Oklahoma
| Dan Boren was born in Shawnee, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma on
August 2,
1973 to David Lyle Boren
(current President of the University of Oklahoma
and former Governor of Oklahoma) and
Janna Lou Little. His
grandfather,
Lyle Boren, also served also served in the U.S. Congress —
representing southeastern Oklahoma (Congressional District 3) from 1937 to
1947.
He married Andrea Heupel. Dan and Andrea have one
daughter, Janna Lou, born October 9,
2007. Dan
Boren served in the
Oklahoma House of Representatives
from 2002 to 2004, representing the 28th
House District. In the 2004
elections to
the U.S. House of Representatives, Boren ran as
the
Democratic candidate for Oklahoma's
second congressional district, ,
succeeding Rep. Brad Carson, who was
retiring from the House to run for
the
United States Senate. He defeated Republican candidate
Wayland
Smalley by more than 85,000
votes (66% to 34%) and was inaugurated in
the 109th Congress in January
2005. Boren was one of only two
politicians endorsed by county singer
Toby Keith (also from Oklahoma), the
other being President George W. Bush.
Boren was re-elected in 2006.
Boren is a cosponsor of H.R. 25, the
Fair Tax Act, which replaces federal
taxes with a flat sales tax. This
legislation attracted 59 members in the
109th Congress, more than any other tax
reform proposal. He attended
both
the University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian
University. His
usual occupation
is that of a high school administer. |
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| Joe Frank Cobb was the original "Fat Boy" from the Our
gang
series. He was born in
Shawnee, Oklahoma, on November 17, 1916 and
was "discovered" while vacationing with
his dad in Los Angeles. He was in
86 Our
Gang comedies and made the transition from silent film to
talkies. After his acting career
ended in the early 1940s, Cobb
became an
assembler for North American Aviation, a division of Rockwell
International. He retired in 1981.
Decades after his last film role,
he
appeared in "Classic Comedy Teams," a 1986 documentary that
focused on
the Our Gang actors and other
early film comedians, including Laurel
and Hardy and the Marx
Brothers. He died on May 20, 2002 in
Culver City, Los Angeles County,
California and was laid to rest at the
Forest Lawn Memorial Park in
Glendale. |
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| Gordon Cooper, Jr. was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma on March
6,
1927. He attended primary and
secondary schools in Shawnee, Oklahoma
and Murray, Kentucky; received a
Bachelor of Science degree in
Aeronautical Engineering from the Air
Force Institute of Technology (AFIT)
in
1956; recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Science degree
from
Oklahoma City University in
1967. As a veteran WW II Air Force
Pilot, he was a member of the original
first seven selected as a Mercury
Astronaut in April 1959. On May 15 and
16, 1963, he piloted the "Faith 7"
spacecraft on a 22 orbit mission which
concluded the operational phase of
Project Mercury. During the 34 hours and
20 minutes of flight, Faith 7
attained
an apogee of 166 statue miles and a speed of 17,546 miles per
hour and traveled 546,167 statue miles.
He served as command pilot of the
8 day
120 revolution Gemini 5 mission which began on August 21,
1965. It
was on this flight that he and
pilot Charles Conrad established a new
space endurance record by traveling a
distance of 3,312,993 miles in an
elapsed time of 190 hours and 56
minutes. He also became the first man to
make a second orbital flight and thus
won for the United States the lead
in
man-hours in space by accumulating a total of 225 hours and 15
minutes.
He served as backup command
pilot for Gemini 12 and as backup commander
for Apollo X. He met his
first wife Trudy whie in Hawaii and
they
married in 1947. After divorcing his first wife
Trudy,
Cooper married Suzan Taylor in
1972. He had four daughters, Camala Keoki
(Cooper) Tharpe and Janita Lee (Cooper)
Stone (both from his first
marriage)
along with Elizabeth Jo and Colleen Taylor (from his second
marriage).He retired from the Air Force
and NASA as a Colonel in 1970,
with a
total of 222 hours logged in Space. Gordon died on
October 4,
2004 in Ventura,
California. |
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Wade Hayes made Bethel Acres famous when he rocketed to
the top of the
Country Music
Charts. Born on April 20 he attended Bethel Acres
schools. He grew up with the love
of country music. His
grandfather a fiddle-player, Wade was
given his instrument by his own father,
a carpenter and a professional
musician.
At ten, Wade played mandolin; a year later, he switched to his
life-long love, guitar. By 14, he was
performing with his dad's band in
the
traditional venues of a journeyman picker - honky tonks, VFWs,
grocery
store openings. And yes, he
worked construction, too - an experience that
no doubt helped instill in him his
noteworthy work ethic. Moving to
Nashville in the early 90s in hopes of
playing lead guitar with an
established
star, Wade soon got more than he bargained for. Hooking up
with veteran songwriter Chick Rains, he
immediately co-penned two songs
that
would soon become #1 chart toppers, "Old Enough to Know
Better" and
"I'm Still Dancing with
You." With a writing deal and a record contract
under his belt, he was ready to hit the
big time. His
parents still have their home in
Bethel
Acres and when he comes home to visit you often see him
visiting
with old neighbors and
friends. In fact one of the small stores
adjacent to the high school is the place
to search for memorabilia, some
of which
is personally autographed.
Source: Wade
Hayes, biography |
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Brad Henry is currently serving his second four-year term
as governor
of Oklahoma. Originally
elected in 2002, Governor Henry was re-elected in
2006 by one of the largest margins in
state history. A third generation
Oklahoman, Governor Henry was born in
Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he attended
public schools and graduated from
Shawnee High School. The governor
attended the University of Oklahoma as a
President's Leadership Scholar
and
earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1985. In 1988, he
was
awarded his law degree from the
University of Oklahoma College of Law,
where he served as managing editor of
the Law Review. Governor Henry
returned
to Shawnee to practice law with his father, Charles, and start
a
family. He married the former Kim
Blain, a Shawnee school teacher, and
they have three lovely daughters, Leah,
Laynie and Baylee. Before his
election
as governor, Brad Henry served ten years in the Oklahoma State
Senate, chairing the Senate Judiciary
Committee and serving as vice-chair
of
the Senate Economic Development Committee. |
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| Brewster M. Higley VI was born on
November
30, 1823 in Rutland,
Ohio. He was a surgeon who
became famous for writing "The Western
Home." Dr. Brewster Higley
settled
in Kansas in 1871 in a limestone cabin he homesteaded. The
blue
skies and endless prairie inspired
him to write the lyrics to the song
"Home On The Range" in 1872. It was
published in a Kirwin, KS newspaper in
1873. Higley got fiddler Dan Kelley to
help him set the poem to music.
Their
efforts resulted in a song that was an immediate
hit. Brewster
was married a total
of five times, first to Maria Winchell who died in
1852 of a disease. His second wife
was Eleanor Page
Higley
mother of Brewster Higley VII. She left his taking their
son
with her. She died about
1867. His third wife was Catherine
Livingston mother of Estella (daughter)
and Arthur Herman (son), injured
in 1864
and died subsequently. Wife number four
was Mrs.
Mercy Ann McPherson,
Higley quite literally ran from the tumultuous
marriage in 1871 to move to
Kansas. His last wife was Sarah
Clemens. He spent most of his
latter years in Kansas, but he
died
in 1911 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery at Shawnee,
Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma. |
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| William Bradley Pitt was born December 18, 1963 in
Shawnee, Oklahoma
is an actor and
producer. He became famous during the mid-1990s
after starring in several major
Hollywood films. He received both a
Golden Globe award and an Academy Award
nomination for his role in "Twelve
Monkeys." His former marriage to
actress Jennifer Aniston
(2000-2005) and current
relationship with Angelina Jolie have been
widely covered in the world media He is
the father of six children with
Jolie,
three biological, all of whom have also received media
coverage.
Since his relationship with
Jolie, who is known for
humanitarianism, he has become
increasingly involved in social
issues,
both domestically and internationally. He recently built
many home in the New Orleans are after
Hurricane Camille's destruction. |
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