Homecoming Activities Continue At Eastern
(Press Release 10-31-08)
Hank Mooney, Office of Public Information

Eastern Oklahoma State College Alumni have named retired Air Force Col. William H. (Bill) Lewark as the twenty-sixth inductee into the Eastern Alumni Hall of Fame since the program began in 1988.

Lewark will join the Hall of Fame during ceremonies at the annual alumni homecoming dinner 6:30 p.m. Friday (Nov. 7) at Pete’s Place in Krebs.

Lewark, a member of the Eastern class of 1955, is also a graduate of Oklahoma State University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was awarded a Regular Air Force Commission upon graduation from OSU, and served in the Air Force from 1957 until 1984. As Command Pilot, Col Lewark, flew KC-97s and KC-135s for the Strategic Air Command and EB-66 electronic warfare aircraft in Southeast Asia. He flew more than 100 combat missions and earned military recognition including two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and 21 Air Medals.

Lewark is a Distinguished Graduate of both the Squadron Officers School and the Air Command and Staff College and a graduate of the Defense System Management College Program Managers Course.  He served as a program manager on the original B-1A program and as the Director of Projects for the Strategic Systems Program Office managing the development of the rocket ramjet powered Advanced Strategic Air Launched Missile. He served as the System Program Director for the Over the Horizon Backscatter Radar Program and was responsible for getting the HF Radar program fielded.

Lewark served as the Director of the Logistics Engineering Division of The Analytic Sciences Corporation from 1984 until 1996 and set records for business growth, profitability and extraordinarily low turnover rates.

On the local level Lewark led the effort and served as program manager for the definition and construction of the Family Life Center for the First Baptist Church of Clayton. He also led the planning, fundraising and construction of a new Clayton library. He led the steering committee that secured improvements and cabins at Clayton Lake State Park. He has served as Veteran’s Day speaker at various area schools and was speaker at Clayton’s 911 First Anniversary Remembrance; serves as volunteer subject matter expert for development of Clayton Airport; Board Member for Pushmataha Water District No 1; vice chairman of Clayton Public Housing Authority Board and secretary, Pushmataha Development Initiative.

At Eastern, he has served as a speaker at Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremonies; Eastern Alumni Association speaker at eight area commencements. He filled in for an ill Eastern commencement speaker in 2004. He served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors for approximately 10 years moving from member to officer and ultimately to president for two years (2004 and 2005) where he devised and implemented a long series of initiatives to improve the Alumni Association.

Lewark joins McAlester native George Nigh who served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, as Lieutenant Governor, Governor and president of the University of Central Oklahoma.

He will also join Dr. E.T. Dunlap, who was recognized nationally for his contribution to education and served as Eastern President and Chancellor of Oklahoma Higher Education; Scott Salmon, who was a nationally known choreographer; Rita Smith Kipp, class of 1966, who served as professor of anthropology at Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, a widely published author and Wilburton native. She later served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Anthropology at Sewanee: The University of the South, Sewanee, TN.

Lewark also joins J.D. Williams who was inducted while an attorney in Washington, D.C., and, among other things, served as Editor of the George Washington Law Review and Federal Bar Journal.

Billy West became the sixth Eastern alumni to be elected to the Hall of Fame. West served as a laboratory research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta. Sidney Carney, among other achievements, served as Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Director in Anadarko where he developed and supervised programs benefiting more than 40,000 Indians within a four state area.

Ross Harlan, Oklahoma City, was added to the Hall of Fame in 1992. He served as Senior Vice President of Administration and Public Affairs before his retirement from OG&E.

“Pat” Murphy, Tulsa, followed Harlan in 1993. He established the Frank W. Murphy MFR, an international company holding 15 United States and foreign patents in the area of instruments and control systems.

Sports journalist “Spec” Gammon was inducted in 1994. He served as sports information director at Texas A&M and became known as the radio voice of Texas A&M football. Don Parham became the eleventh member added to the Hall of Fame and began his academic career as an educator in southeast Oklahoma more than 40 years ago. He is recognized not only as one who has experienced success in athletics but also as one whose life’s work has stressed high academic standards.

Dr. Robert H. Purcell became the twelfth member. He is a research scientist and serves as the head of hepatitis viruses section, Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Charles Montgomery serves as the Director of the Center for Comparative Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. He is recognized as an expert in comparative medicine. Dr. Henry Migliore, Jenks, was added as the fourteenth member of the Hall of Fame. He is a university professor and consultant in strategic management.

James F. Howell became the fifteenth member of the Hall of Fame in 1999. He was admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Guy L. Curry, class of 1961, became the sixteenth member of the Hall of Fame. Curry is a professor of industrial engineering at Texas A&M University.

Ken Brasfield became the seventeenth member. He has compiled an outstanding record of corporate and community leadership in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. Sue Ellen Read was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. She was named the 2001 Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Charles W. Davidson and John H. Hendrix became the nineteenth and twentieth members of the Hall of Fame. Although Davidson has lived in San Jose, CA, since May of 1952, he was born and raised in Pittsburg County near Bache and has never forgotten his roots that go deep in Oklahoma as Indian Territory. He attended East Central, Eastern (1950-51) and later received a degree in civil engineering from San Jose State University. Davidson has been a homebuilder and developer and currently owns several construction and property management companies. Hendrix has a myriad of life experiences beginning as a high school student cutting pulpwood and logs with hay cutting and bailing tossed in for good measure to Chairman and President of numerous educational and financial boards including his own company, the John H. Hendrix Corporation.

Ray Henson became the twenty-first member of the Hall of Fame. He served as Talihina Superintendent of Schools and as a nationally recognized school administrator.

The twenty-second member was Supreme Court Justice Tom Colbert. Colbert is a 1970 Eastern graduate and star-athlete. On Oct. 7, 2004, Colbert became the first African-American to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

As a national figure with the Boy Scouts of America, Don R. Adkins was inducted in 2006 as the twenty-third member of the Hall of Fame. He spent 39 years employed as a professional executive within the organization. Atkins retired in 1994, after spending his last 12 professional years as a member of the National Council Staff.

As president of East Central University, Dr. Bill Cole led the university through the technology revolution, continuous improvements of campus facilities and the development of centers of academic excellence until his retirement in 2006. He became the twenty-fourth Hall of Fame inductee in 2007. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Higher Education Hall of Fame in 1996.

Bill Lewark, Clayton, addressing the 2002 Eastern graduating class during commencement.

Wilburton Mayor Stephen Brinlee signs a proclamation, along with Eastern Oklahoma State College President Dr. Steve Smith, declaring the week of November 2 through 8 as Eastern Homecoming Week.

For more information contact the Alumni office at 918-465-1759 or visit Homecoming 2008 page.