Wayne Millard Holden

     Wayne Millard Holden was born in 1918 at Loco, Stephens County, Oklahoma. He was the son of Ramon Harry Holden and Mollie Ollie Wilson. Wayne Millard Holden married Carolyn Marie Morgan circa 1940 at Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma.
     From Gary R. Hawpe, ed. and comp., 'Wayne Holden Family,' Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 6 (April 2001), pp. 2 - 5.

WAYNE HOLDEN FAMILY

Wayne Holden s family roots go deep into Stephens County History. Wayne s paternal grandfather, Charles Parham Holden, was born in 1853. His paternal grandmother, Lula Patience Smith, was born in 1859. They were married in Texas around 1879 or 1880, and came to what is now Stephens County for a few years. They moved back to Texas where Ramon H. Holden was born in 1895, in Brownwood. He was the youngest of their five children. He was the youngest of their five children. Soon after his birth they returned to Oklahoma and settled around Ardmore. Charles moved his family to the Loco area sometime before statehood. He operated a store in Loco for several years. He was a merchant, rancher, and cattle trader for many years. For several years preceding, during, and after World War I, Charles was also a mule trader. He bought many mules throughout the country and sold many of them to tUncleA John Ray.

Wayne s maternal grandfather, John Wesley Wilson, was born in Polk County, Arkansas, in 1859. John s family moved to Texas during the Civil War. Wayne s maternal grandmother, Louisa Van Bebber, was born in Missouri in 1865. John and Louisa were married in Montague County, Texas. They moved to what is now Stephens County long before the turn of the century. They settled east of Duncan. John freighted for merchants with oxen-drawn wagons. He worked with his team on the construction of the road bed for the railroad track that was being laid through the area. He purchased land south of present day Velma around what later became Santa Fe. He cleared and improved this land. Later oil was discovered in this area. The wells developed on the J.W. Wilson are still producing. Maudie Ollie Wilson was born east of Duncan in 1898. She was the sixth of seven children in the Wilson family.

Ramon Holden and Maudie Wilson were married north of Loco at Mountain Grove in 1917. Ramon was employed by Magnolia Petroleum Company at Santa Fe. He retired at Ada after more than 40 years service with the company. Prior to his employment with Magnolia, now Mobil Oil, he was a farmer and raised cattle. During his years with Mobil he remained active in that field.

Wayne Holden, the oldest of four children, was born on a farm five miles north of Loco in 1918. He started school at Mountain Grove. He went to school at Santa Fe and then Loco until 1935, when his father was transferred to Maud, Oklahoma. He graduated from Maud High School. He worked for a time in the oil fields and then enrolled in East Central State. He worked for an oilfield electric service company while attending college. Wayne and Carolyn Marie Morgan, also a student at East Central, were married at Ada. They moved to Duncan in 1941, when he was employed by Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company. They had four children who were born and reared in Duncan.

David Wayne was born in 1942. He is now a lawyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He and his wife Anita, a Duncan girl, have two sons, Jeffrey David and Gregory Jones. Douglas Michael was born in 1944. He is involved in banking and land development. He and his wife Glenda have two children, Lisa Michelle and Anthony Wayne. They live in Edmond, Oklahoma. Denise Marie was born in 1953. She is a registered dietician and lives in Oklahoma City. Deborah Lynne was born in 1956. She is a deputy court clerk in Oklahoma County and lives in Harrah, Oklahoma. She and her husband Larry Martin are expecting their first child in January of 1981.

Earle Halliburton lived two blocks from Wayne Holden. On numerous occasions he visited with Wayne urging him to run for the City Council. Mr. Halliburton kept telling Wayne that Duncan was in a rut and needed a progressive young man to pull it out. John Green, Rufus and Hubert Green s father, lived in the neighborhood. John had known Wayne all of his life. One evening they came to Wayne s home and finally convinced him to run for the City Council.

Wayne Holden was elected Mayor of Duncan in 1953. He served four terms. He resigned in 1963, when he was elected to the State House of Representatives. Wayne served one term in the House of Representatives and was then elected to the State Senate. He served four terms in the State Senate. During his tenure he was chairman of many of the major committees. He served as Chairman of the Oil and Gas Committee his freshman year in the Senate. A freshman senator has never chaired this committee before or since. He was Majority Whip for two terms and was elected by his fellow senators to serve a third term. Wayne was defeated in his bid for reelection to the State Senate. Just prior to the campaign his sister filed a lawsuit falsely accusing him of fraud in a family matter. All during the campaign his opponent and his sister campaigned together circulating these false accusations. It is now conceded by the general public that this lawsuit and the numerous rumors that sprang up because of it played a major role in his defeat. After the election the lawsuit, having no foundation, was dismissed.

Duncan and Stephens County benefited greatly from Wayne Holden s years of public service. While he was Mayor of Duncan he acquired the land and built Lake Humphrey. The land was acquired and construction started on Lake Faqua. He initiated upstream flood control measures for the protection of these lakes and to help prevent the erosion of farmland. When Wayne was elected Mayor in 1953, there was only one through street that ran all the way from north to south Duncan that was hard surface. A program of street improvement was started. During this time more streets were paved with permanent paving in the City of Duncan than any other city in the State of Oklahoma with the possible exception of Oklahoma City and Tulsa. The electric system of Duncan was changed from a secondary to a primary system and was put on a paying basis for the first time.

When Wayne was elected to the State Legislature he sought to sponsor programs that would be the most beneficial to the state and to the people of this district. One of the first measures he introduced and pushed through the legislature was a bill that exempts proceeds from profit sharing plans from the Oklahoma estate tax. This was most important to industry and working people in Oklahoma and particularly in Stephens County where Halliburton Services employees participate in a profit sharing plan.

Wayne Holden was directly responsible for creating the State Fire Marshal s Office, setting up the War Veterans Commission and creating the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. He worked tirelessly on a state-wide water development program. He sponsored legislation that built the Veterinary Diagnostic Center and the Veterinary Teaching School at Stillwater. He sponsored legislation that enlarged the Oklahoma University Medical School and created the Health Sciences Center. He sponsored the building of the School of Dentistry in Oklahoma City and the Osteopathic School in Tulsa. He sponsored and helped pass legislation that exempts the surviving spouse from the estate tax.

Duncan has many things to be proud of that Wayne Holden brought into existence. He provided funds to build a new, improved, and much larger division headquarters building for the Department of Transportation. He was responsible for building the new road to the Vo-Tech School, a new road from Highway 81 to the hospital on Elk Street, a new highway to Comanche, a new highway from Velma to Countyline, the four-lane Highway 7 across south Duncan, widened and improved Highway 81 from Comanche to Red River, and is responsible for the new highway that is under construction between Duncan and Marlow at the time of this writing. The four-lane Highway 7 across south Duncan is most important to this area as it connects Halliburton Services main offices, the Manufacturing Center, and the Research Center.

Wayne Holden was responsible for diverting the old Transportation Department building to the City of Duncan. He provided funds for building a new Armory in Duncan. He obtained the old Armory buildings for the City of Duncan. He provided the Stephens County Historical Society with the funds to set up and renovate Duncan s Historical Museum. He brought the district office for the Corrections Department (that serves 13 counties and provides jobs for many people) to Duncan. He also brought the District Corporation Commission office (that serves 19 counties) to Duncan. Wayne also provided funds for building the Red River Area Vo-Tech School in Duncan.

This is only a small partial list of the many things Wayne Holden accomplished during his tenure in office. A few of the numerous awards he received are---for outstanding service to Oklahoma Agriculture from the Oklahoma Cattlemens Association, outstanding contribution to the law enforcement in Oklahoma from the Oklahoma Peace Officers Association, for outstanding service from the War Veterans Association, outstanding contributions in the fields of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine from Oklahoma State University and for outstanding contributions to the Health Sciences Center and other health related fields from Oklahoma Baptist University, Independent Oil Operators Association, South Central Regional Energy Board and many others too numerous to mention. Wayne received the Liberty Bell Award during the bicentennial year. This is an annual award given by the Stephens County Bar Association for Outstanding Service to Stephens County.

History of Stephen s County, Stephens County Historical Society. Pages 317 x 320.