Oklahoma is celebrating its 100th anniversary of
statehood this year. Because most people think of the
stage play ” Oklahoma !” when they hear the state’s name mentioned, citizens are attempting to update the state’s image by sharing interesting state facts with others as we celebrate our Centennial.

Oklahoma is not only the home of Ado Annie and Aunt
Eller from ” Oklahoma !” but of the parking meter
(invented in OKC) and the shopping cart (invented in
Ardmore).

The electric guitar also was invented in Oklahoma , by
a Beggs musician named Bob Dunn. The first “Yield”
sign was installed in Tulsa .

**Environmental Protection Agency recognizes Oklahoma
as having the most diverse terrain of any state in the
nation. The state, according to EPA, boasts 11
distinct eco-regions.

The state has more man-made lakes than any other
state, which give us more than a million surface-acres
of water and 2,000 more miles of shoreline than the
Atlantic and Gulf coasts combined.

The Sooner State has produced more astronauts than any
other state in the union. Owen Garriottis an Enid
boy, of course, while Tom Stafford is from
Weatherford, Shannon Lucid from Oklahoma City , William
Pogue from Okemah and the late Gordon Cooper from
Shawnee.

Oklahoma is home to the Amateur Softball Association
and Hall of Fame, a world class zoo in OKC and more F4
and F5 tornadoes than any other state.

Oklahoma is the third-largest gas-producing state in
the nation and ranks fourth in the production of
wheat, cattle and calves, fifth in the production of
pecans, sixth in peanuts and eighth in peaches.

The state’s colors are neither OU’s crimson and cream
nor the orange and black of OSU but green and white.

Oklahomans practice 73 major religions. The largest is
the Southern Baptist Convention, with nearly 1,600
church and more than 960,000 members.

Oklahoma gave birth to Dick Tracy (cartoonist Chester
Gould is a native of Pawnee) and Donald Duck (Clarence
“Ducky” Nash, the original voice of Walt Disney’s
Donald, grew up in Watonga).

Oklahomans have survived the Dust Bowl, any number of
killer tornadoes, the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City ’s
Alfred P.Murrah Federal Building and various oil
booms and busts. Oklahoma is populated by people who
are caring, giving, hard-working, patriotic and
fiercely independent. Oklahoma is a good place to
live, work and play.

The challenge in this, our centennial year, is to make
the rest of America aware of what Oklahoma has to
offer, besides “beautiful mornings,” “fringe-laden
surreys” and “a girl who cain’t say no.”

The official statehood celebration will be in November. In the meantime, individual cities are
staging various events associated with statehood and
the settling of Indian Territory which eventually
became our state. It’s a great time to be an Oklahoman
and I wanted to share this with you!

**I shared a closet with the first shopping cart (or one of the first). The Morris family that I visit when we are using their hyperbaric chamber are related to the person who invented the shopping cart and the guest quarters I stay in have the framed letters from the Smithsonian Institute and the shopping cart in the closet. Pretty cool.