Former state Sen. Ted Fisher, who represented Sapulpa and Senate District 12 for 20 years, tells his story in a new interview on Voices of Oklahoma, the oral history podcast and website.
Fisher was elected in 1986 and served until term limits ended his time in office in 2006. In the interview with John Erling, recorded in Tulsa on July 14 and published Sept. 3, he talks about the fight to pass House Bill 1017, the creation of the Oklahoma Quality Jobs Act in 1993, and his work on career tech, rural regional centers of the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, and early childhood education.
Sapulpa readers will recognize plenty of the story. Fisher came to town in 1966 to manage the Montgomery Ward store, later became a partner in the Lon T. Jackson Agency, and after leaving office served as Sapulpa’s economic development director. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Career Tech Hall of Fame in 2007.
The interview also covers his years as a chauffeur for oilman W.K. Warren Sr. and his life with Parkinson’s disease. “I live a full life,” he says. “I’ve got good doctors and good medicine and I’m gonna be OK.”
Asked how he would like to be remembered, Fisher answered simply: “Honest and hardworking, I guess.”
Watch the interview on YouTube: