Voices of Oklahoma Voices of Oklahoma

Born near Chelsea, Oklahoma, Gerome Riley attended a rural all-black school through the Eighth grade. And because of segregation he had to choose between going to Claremore, Nowata, or Vinita for high school. He selected Claremore Lincoln and became a member of Claremore’s only boys’ basketball state championship team in 1952.

Gerome was a member of the Claremore Clowns, a local baseball team of all-Black players who played teams in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. The Clowns were considered a semi-pro team. The end of school segregation in the early 1960s meant the end of the Claremore Clowns.

Riley worked 37 years for Phillips Oil Company. He started out as a porter at the Will Rogers Turnpike station at the Claremore gate and became the station’s final manager. He retired in 1995.

Gerome became a student of Black history, and as a living part of that history, he contributed his knowledge to the Claremore Museum of History.

Growing up in an artistic household, Patrick S. Gordon took his first painting lessons from his mother, Janelle Gordon, a locally recognized still life painter. He began his formal studies under the tutelage of the widely regarded watercolorist Glenn Godsey, at the University of Tulsa.

Patrick received his BFA from the University of Tulsa in 1974, where he also completed extensive graduate work in watercolor.

Born in 1953 in Claremore, Oklahoma, Patrick gained national attention with a series of solo exhibitions, beginning in 1982, at the Fischbach Gallery in New York City and Joseph Gierek Fine Art in his then-adopted hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Since then, he has continually exhibited at numerous, prominent galleries around the country, been featured in notable museum shows and competitions, and his works can be found in important private, corporate, and museum collections throughout the United States. Print editions of Patrick’s work are widely popular with collectors throughout the world.

Dr. Don G. Nelson specialized in Internal Medicine and pulmonology for 60 years. He graduated from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1965. Don became affiliated in Oklahoma with multiple hospitals including Hillcrest Hospital South, St. Francis Hospital, and the Veteran Affairs Hospital in Muskogee.

He was born in Moline, Illinois, where he graduated Moline High School and then the University of Illinois. 

In 1973 he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and was first associated with Springer Clinic.

In addition to his medical career, Dr. Nelson became a triathlete and participated in three hundred Triathlons. His first triathlon was the first Hillcrest Ultimate Challenge. He was one of the pioneers of the sport in the Tulsa area and traveled to many countries while competing in World Championship events.

Listen to Dr. Don Nelson talk about his love for the medical profession, his triathlon experience, and his advice for everyone, regardless of their age, to exercise for good health on the oral history website and podcast VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

In celebration of Voices of Oklahoma's 15th anniversary, founder John Erling shares this oral history example: a recording of his father, John Arnt Frette telling the story about how his father emigrated from Norway and built (and re-built) their family home.

Though John Erling regrets not recording his mother's voice, it's thanks to this recording that he remembers his father's voice and this brief story of his family's history.

James Gray East grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma and, while attending Oklahoma State University started, an underground newspaper which led to employment with the Daily Oklahoman.

Realizing he was interested in crime reporting, he moved to Binghamton, New York to report on the Mafia for a Gannett-owned newspaper.  

Moving back to Oklahoma, Jim worked for his hometown newspaper, The Muskogee Phoenix, and then was hired by the Tulsa Tribune where he became an editorial writer. 

When the Tribune closed in 1992, Jim became Chief of Staff for ten years for Tulsa Mayor Susan Savage. Then he began a career in the car rental business with Vanguard Car Rental company, later moving on to the Hertz Car rental company, becoming VP of Government Relations.

Jim was deeply involved in the Tulsa community serving on many boards including the Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority and CAP-Community Action Project of Tulsa County. 

Jim was 69 when he died in Japan on April 16th, 2024.

His oral history interview was recorded on February 6th, 2024.

Richard Chapman was the head track coach and history teacher at the year-old Memorial High School in 1963.

In 1965, “Coach.” as he became known, was hired as head football coach at Edison High School, where, in his second season, he led his team to win the District Championship title. 

Coach was named Tulsa Tribune Coach of the Year in 1966. He coached and taught at Edison for seven years before returning to Memorial High School as head tennis coach.He retired for a year in 1986, before being hired to coordinate the in-house program at Nathan Hale High School, a position he held for several years before retiring completely.

In 1988, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame and also was inducted into both the Edison High School and Memorial High School Coaches Halls of Fame, as well as the Oklahoma Track Coaches Hall of Fame.

Richard Chapman was 91 when he died May 21, 2020.