Robert A. Hefner

Robert Alexander Hefner ("The Judge"), born in Hunt County, Texas, to William Lafayette Hefner and Sarah Jane Masters Hefner, was a lawyer-turned-politician. He served as mayor of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and of Oklahoma City, and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Oklahoma. Hefner was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1949. Hefner also became notable because of his work in government, especially in Ardmore and later in Oklahoma City.

Early life

Hefner was born on February 7, 1874, in the community of Hefner Chapel north of Lone Oak, Texas, to William Lafayette Hefner and Sarah Jane Masters Hefner. Growing up in poverty, self-teaching was the only education Hefner could afford. By the age of 21, he had received only nine months of formal education, primarily from books received from a cousin at College Station which he read "at night while I was working on the farm and also when I was out herding sheep".

In 1895, the family had to sell the farm to pay off debts, though the proceeds were insufficient to settle them in full. Just after Hefner's 21st birthday, his father died. Hefner then resolved to work the farm for the following year to clear the family debts. He received $15 per month credited against the debt, and studied at night under a kerosene lamp given to him by his father in the hope of passing the entrance exams for college. In 1896, Hefner passed the examination and gained entrance to North Texas Baptist College at Jacksboro. Hefner then taught school before entering the University of Texas Law School in 1899. He paid off the remaining family debts.

Hefner went to college with only the clothes on his back and 35 cents, but found work splitting wood to pay his way. At Jacksboro, he met his wife, Eva Johnson, daughter of a banker. She spoke four languages fluently and became valedictorian of Baylor University in 1905, after gaining her third degree. Hefner and Johnson have 3 children: Robert A. Hefner Jr., William Johnson Hefner, and Margaret Evelyn Hefner. On graduation, he decided he would study law at the University of Texas in Austin, but once again found funding to be a problem. As a result, he worked for a while to save up enough to pay his way and, at the age of 25, he enrolled at the University of Texas and found himself only the second student from the "South Prairie" to do so. In 1902, he graduated near the top of his law class.

The boom Following his graduation, Hefner headed to Beaumont. It seemed all Texas had heard of the Hamill brothers' gusher which gained Beaumont the title "Oil Capital of the World" for a short time. Hefner decided to specialize in oil and gas law, and to save his money to invest in land that one day might produce. He found a partner, and opened Parker and Hefner. They landed the Southern Pacific Railroad account for their division just seven years after Hefner arrived in Austin. The workload was so great that they had to hire a third partner, renaming the firm Parker, Hefner and Organ. (The property turned out to be part of the highly profitable Healdton oil field in Carter County, Oklahoma.) to replace the . The ship was commissioned on December 8, 1942, after one month of fundraising. With the help of E.K. Gaylord, Virgil Brown and H.E. Bailey, he negotiated with Army officials (General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Robert P. Patterson and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz) in an effort to have Washington DC locate a new air depot in Oklahoma City, rather than in any of the other four cities under consideration. In May 1941, the chief of engineers of the United States Army named the base the Midwest Air Depot (now called Tinker Air Force Base.)

Hefner was re-elected in 1942 without any opposition and served out that term before finally stepping down in 1947.