Fred Dorwart was the United States National High School Extemporaneous Speaking Champion in 1954, the year he graduated from Muskogee Central High School.

He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1959 and served in the Navy until 1965. Fred was awarded an LLB cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1966.

From 1967 until 1994, he served as president and of counsel with Holarud, Langholz, Runnels & Dorwart, before founding his current practice, Frederic Dorwart, Lawyers.

He has contributed to our community through his service as general counsel for the Bank of Oklahoma, an organizing trustee of the Tulsa Community Foundation, and, currently, as president and trustee of the George Kaiser Family Foundation.

Fred was a member of the University of Tulsa Board of Trustees for a decade, serving two years as chair, and now holds the title of trustee emeritus.

In his oral history, Fred talks about the Woody Guthrie Museum, negotiating the terms for the Bob Dylan Museum, and the early discussions surrounding Gathering Place, on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Rick Hudson was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. His family moved to Chamblee, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, in 1948.

After graduating from Georgia Tech, Rick accepted a job with Parker Seal Company as an engineer working on sealing applications in the military, aerospace, and commercial aviation industries.

In 1969, Rick moved to Tulsa to take on the role of Territory Sales Manager. In 1980, he started a distributorship known as RL Hudson & Company. The company’s product lines evolved from sealing products to custom molded rubber and plastic component assemblies.

In 2019, the company purchased Rapid Production Tooling in Berthoud, Colorado, a manufacturer of high-quality precision injection molds for the medical and electronic industries. 

In addition to Rick telling you about his company, he will talk about his China connection, flying helicopters, and the airport yellow line on the podcast and oral history website – Voices of Oklahoma.

Rodger Erker, a native of St. Louis, earned his Real Estate Broker’s License in the state of Missouri. After moving to Tulsa in 1966, he became a Sales Associate with Detrick Realtors. In 1975, Rodger became a partner with Joe McGraw and Harold Grimmer in the firm of McGraw Breckinridge Realtors.

Rodger Erker Realtors was formed in 1984 with the main office in Tulsa’s Midtown Brookside area, for over 25 years. Rodger sold his company to McGraw Realtors in 1992 while remaining with the firm.

In his oral history, Rodger talks about his time in a catholic seminary, the family carpet business, how he started selling houses, and how diabetes affected his family -- on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Jim Langdon comes from an Oklahoma newspaper family. His parents, Francis and Gloria Langdon, published The Tonkawa News. After graduating from OU in 1974, Jim sold advertising for the Norman Transcript. 

He was associate publisher for The Tonkawa News from 1977 to 1981, taught advertising at OU from 1981 to 1982, managed OPA’s Oklahoma Newspaper Advertising Bureau from 1982 to 1984, and was president of American Newspaper Representatives in New York from 1984 to 1986. 

Jim founded Langdon Publishing Co. and established TulsaPeople Magazine in 1986. The company also publishes Ovations, TulsaPeople City Guide, Tulsa Guest Guide, and Vision Tulsa. 

In his oral history, Jim talks about the individual who helped him launch TulsaPeople on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Gordona Moore Duca received her real estate license in 1971 and was recognized, both locally and nationally, as one of the outstanding REALTORS®in residential real estate. She opened her own real estate firm in 1975 and was named REALTOR® Emeritus in 2011 by the National Association of REALTORS®.

During her extraordinarily successful career, Gordona received many recognitions and honors. She was appointed by Governor David Walters to the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission.

She was reappointed to a second term by Governor Frank Keating and became chair of the commission. Gordona served on the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank board, in addition to many boards in the Tulsa area.

Listen to Gordona talk about the celebrities who attended Will Rogers High School, the start of her real estate career, and how billboards helped her business on the oral history podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

A Massachusetts native, Dan Boudreau served 25 years on the state’s judiciary before retiring in 2004 to focus on mediation and arbitration. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College and a law degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law, after which he practiced as a private attorney prior to judicial appointments.

His judicial career began in 1979 as a trial judge; he progressed to the Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, where he authored hundreds of opinions for eight years, leading to an appointment by Governor Frank Keating to the Oklahoma Supreme Court as an associate justice, briefly serving as chief justice upon swearing in.

Post-retirement, Dan contributed to dispute resolution as a mediator and arbitrator.

Listen to Dan tell his story about being a Vista volunteer, how he put a Tulsa minister in jail, and his experience as a state supreme court justice on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Toni Garner is the daughter of a Cherokee educator and a first-generation Lebanese homemaker. Having grown up with flower shops on both sides of the family, she learned the ins and outs of the trade from her grandmother and her aunt.

Toni graduated from Northeastern State University and opened Toni’s Flowers & Gifts in Tulsa in 1983 when she was 26 years old.

Toni was one of a hundred floral designers invited to do the inaugural flowers for George W. Bush’s second term. 

Locally, she has given her time and resources to many community organizations, non-profits, museums, and universities. She and her good friend, Charles Faudree,  published a book titled Country French Florals and Interiors. 

Listen to Toni talk about the challenges of Valentine’s Day, her friendship with Charles Faudree and Pat Gordon, and the story behind “Merry Christmas Anyway” on the podcast and website of VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Vietnam veteran, Rick Ogden, was born and raised in Pryor, Oklahoma. Rick worked in the family business, Chouteau Lime Company, which was started by Rick’s grandfather when he discovered limestone leading to a quarry in Chouteau.

Coming from a military family, Rick joined the Army in 1966 during the Vietnam War. As a U.S. Army paratrooper, his first mission was to stop the Detroit Riot in 1967, which lasted for five days. In September 1967, he arrived in Phan Rang, Vietnam, home of the 101st Division headquarters.

While on patrol, along the Cambodian border, he was wounded, an injury that marked the beginning of a long journey of healing. While Rick’s wounds eventually mended, the emotional impact of war stayed with him. But he found a path forward, and Voices of Oklahoma is honored to preserve and share his oral history for future generations.

Listen to Rick talk about his face-to-face encounter with the Viet Cong, including the day he suffered a major wound, on the podcast and website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.

Bob Blackburn, a native Oklahoman, served as executive director of the Oklahoma Historical Society from 1999 until 2021. He joined the OHS in 1980 as editor of The Chronicles of Oklahoma and became deputy director for agency operations in 1990.

Blackburn is a 1973 graduate of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He earned his M.A. & Ph.D. in history from Oklahoma State University. He grew up in Edmond and graduated from Putnam City High School in 1969.

Blackburn published several articles and his first book while still in graduate school, and has since written or co-authored more than 25 books and numerous articles, journal entries, and screenplays. He is a steady source of historical information for the media and has appeared numerous times on The History Channel.

He was instrumental in planning and building the Oklahoma History Center, a 215,000-square-foot museum and research center.

Listen to Bob talk about his mother and the TV show Romper Room, Killers of the Flower Moon, and how writers shape the image of Oklahoma on the podcast and website of VoicesOfOklahoama.com.

Joe Robson grew up on a cattle ranch east of Tulsa. After graduating from SMU, Joe came home to start his real estate career. In 1986, he formed the Robson Companies and began to develop part of the family ranch into the master-planned community of Forest Ridge.

Joe promoted infrastructure improvements in the Tulsa metro area—roads, water, and sewer. He helped in the efforts to widen the Broken Arrow Expressway, the extension of the Creek Turnpike, and the breakup of the old University Center at Tulsa in favor of the now stand-alone satellite universities.

Joe joined the local home builders association, which led to two terms as President of the Tulsa Home Builders Association, President of the Oklahoma Home Builders, and, in 2009, Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders. Joe was also Chairman of the Board of RCB Bank.

Listen to Joe talk about Sam and Helen Walton, the family ranch, and the Forest Ridge development on the podcast and oral history website VoicesOfOklahoma.com.