Voices of Claremore

Gerome Riley – HIstorian, Semi-Pro Baseball Player

Biography 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…

how Ne-Mar Shopping center came to be

Main street claremore 1950-1970

Lifetime Claremore Resident, Businessman, and Historian Rob Melton reflects on growing up with a bustling Main Street spanning 1950's to the 1970's.

TAD JONES

State representative and Will Rogers Memorial Museum Director Biography Tad was raised in Claremore, Oklahoma and graduated from Oologah High School. He went to Westside Elementary in Claremore and Oologah for Middle and High School. He played football, basketball and baseball for Oologah. After high…

ANDY HOGAN

Long time educator and former Will Rogers Memorial employee Biography Life has changed for Andy Hogan, an educator more than 30 years. After retiring as an elementary school principal, he says his interests are long distance running, bow hunting and anything to do with Will…

JOANNE GREEN

Long time Claremore businesswoman and ordained minister Biography Joanne Green was born in 1950 in Claremore at the old Franklin Hospital to Junus and Gussie Bentley. She was raised with 5 siblings on a farm north of Claremore near the Round Mound. Joanne…

Noah Grimett

Claremore High School Teacher and Coach Biography Noah Grimett graduated from Claremore High School in 2018. He earned an Associates Degree in Arts at Seminole State University. He is now in his last year at RSU where he will earn a BA in Communications in Radio…

Darnell Jones

Federal judge on senior status with the US District Court Biography Born in Claremore, Oklahoma, Judge Darnell Jones received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in French from Southwestern College in 1972, and a Juris Doctor from the American University Washington College of Law in 1975. He…

BETTY OLDHAM

Lifetime nurse and hospital volunteer Biography Betty Ruth Brown Oldham was born on June 17, 1932, at the Brown farm 13 miles northwest of Buffalo, Oklahoma. She was the second child out of six children born to Halbert and Nadean Brown. Betty has 4 brothers…

DR. LARRY RICE

RSU President Biography Dr. Larry Rice – a lifelong educator, administrator at the University of Tulsa and former member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives serves as President at Rogers State University. An Oklahoma native, Rice has over 40 years of experience in higher education.…

LILLIE WARNER

Lifetime nurse and hospital volunteer Biography When Lillie Ada Thompson was born on September 8, 1891. Her father, William, was 33, and her mother, Mary Elizabeth Riggs , was 30. She married Charles Henry Warner on July 26, 1909, in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. They had two…

JOHN COCKRUM

Claremore graduate, Educator and Pearl Harbor survivor Biography John Andrew Cockrum is a “once in a lifetime educator” - the embodiment of what an educator should be. In the course of his tenure as Sapulpa Junior High and Sapulpa Senior High principal, he was mediator,…