George Nigh
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George Patterson Nigh (born June 9, 1927), was a popular Oklahoma U.S. Democratic Party leader, served as Governor of Oklahoma on two separate occasions. Although the Oklahoma constitution only allows two consecutive terms, vacancies in the Governor's office twice elevated Lt.Gov. Nigh to the Governor's office. Additionally he was elected to two consecutive terms.
He was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, and was the son of Wilbur R. and Irene Crockett Nigh. In 1950, he graduated from East Central State College in Ada, Oklahoma. From 1951 to 1959, he alternated between service in the Oklahoma House of Representatives, and as a teacher in the McAlester public schools. During his tenure in the state legislature, he introduced legislation designating Oklahoma! as the state song. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Oklahoma from 1959 to 1963. Taking office at age 31, he became the youngest state Lieutenant Governor in the United States. He served as Acting Governor in January, 1963, following the resignation of Governor J. Howard Edmondson, who he appointed to the U.S. Senate, filling a vacancy caused by the death of Robert S. Kerr.
He had served as Lieutenant Governor again from 1967 to 1979. From 1979 to 1987, he served two elected terms as Governor and was the first Oklahoma Governor to serve consecutive terms, but took office five days early, as a result of outgoing Governor David L. Boren's swearing-in as a U.S. Senator. He was reelected in 1982, carrying all 77 of the state's counties.
Following his term as Governor, he served as President of the University of Central Oklahoma from 1992 to 1997. In 1992, he received the Jim Thorpe Lifetime Achievement Award. From November, 2005 to April, 2006, he served as Interim Director of the state Tourism and Recreation Department, during the agency's search for a permanent director.
Nigh and his wife Donna appeared in a walk on roles in the NBC network television soap opera, Texas (soap opera), playing themselves, as Governor and First Lady of Oklahoma, sometime between 1980 and 1982.
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