2015 Hall of Fame Honoree
Senator Gene Howard, ’43
Senator Gene Howard attended OMA for three years before enlisting in the Army in 1944. He served at Leyte and Luzon and then Japan after the war ended.
Upon his discharge, he attended Muskogee Junior College for one year and then enrolled in the University of Oklahoma where he obtained his law degree in 1951. That same year, he set up a law partnership with his close friend, Lloyd Larkin, which continues today.
In 1953, the Tulsa County Bar Association named him the Outstanding Young Attorney for that year. Howard was elected in 1958 to the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and in 1964 he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate, where he served six years as President Pro Tempore.
During this time he continued his military service, being recalled to active duty for the Berlin Crisis (1961-62). He retired as a lieutenant colonel following 20 years of active and reserve service.
Howard then returned to public service in 1990 when he took over as chairman of the Oklahoma State and Education Group Insurance Board, leaving in 1998 to become a trustee of the Oklahoma College Savings and Loan.
Upon being informed of his being inducted into the OMA Alumni Hall of Fame, Howard said, “This is one of the greatest honors of my life. It was OMA which framed my values and gave me what I needed to have a productive life.”
Howard is in the process of retiring from his law firm and looking forward to spending full time with his wife and family.