George Nigh, Oklahoma's longest-serving governor, has died at the age of 98.
Throughout his decades-long career, the McAlester Democrat held office as a state representative, lieutenant governor, governor and the president of the University of Central Oklahoma. He was also a Navy man, a teacher, a member of the JCPenney board and a public relations contractor.
As a state representative, Nigh introduced the bill that made "Oklahoma!" the official state song.
He served four different gubernatorial terms, although two were short substitute governor shifts covering for J. Howard Edmondson and David Boren, when they moved on to serve in the U.S. Senate. Although his first stint as governor only lasted nine days, Nigh made the most of it.
"He fired and replaced the members of the Oklahoma Planning and Resources Board to facilitate the approval of an agreement with the federal government to build the Arrowhead and Fountainhead lodges on Lake Eufaula," Nigh's friend and biographer Bob Burke wrote for the Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.
Nigh was elected governor in 1978 and became Oklahoma's first re-elected governor four years later.
He appointed the first two women ever to serve on the Oklahoma Supreme Court: Alma Wilson in 1982, followed by Yvonne Kauger two years later.
"George changed my life by appointing me to the Supreme Court and making Oklahoma one of the first states to have two women on the state's highest court," Kauger, now retired, said in a statement. "I sent him flowers every year after I was appointed on March 14 to thank him for giving me that honor. He never failed to write me a note and to tell me how proud he was of me. That meant the world to me."
As governor, Nigh also appointed a commission to streamline the state's executive branch, grouping more than 500 state agencies under cabinet sections for more efficient interagency coordination.
Nigh led the state through an economic downturn after the early-1980s oil bust. He signed Oklahoma's franchise tax into law, providing some state revenue from corporations independent of their profitability.
Nigh's friends and fellow political leaders remember him as a kind and gregarious storyteller.
"He was a man of love, humility, and goodness," former Gov. Frank Keating shared in a statement. "We loved him for who he was and what he was. We shall miss him terribly."
Nigh's wife, Donna Nigh, and daughter, Georgeann Nigh Duty, still live in Oklahoma.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
