Marvin York

York was born in 1932 in Fredonia, Kansas. He and his family moved to Claremore, Oklahoma, where he graduated from high school. He attended schooling at Oklahoma Military Academy, Northeastern Oklahoma State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education and later a juris doctor degree at Oklahoma City University, later becoming a teacher and private attorney in Oklahoma City. He also served in the United States Air Force in the 1950s. He is married to Joan D. Dilbeck, with whom he has two children.[1]

York was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives as a Democrat for the 92nd district in 1969 and served until 1973. After sitting out the 34th Oklahoma Legislature, York was elected to serve in Oklahoma State Senate for district 44, serving from 1977 to 1986. From 1980 until 1984, he served as president pro tempore, the first Oklahoma County senator to hold the highest office in the Oklahoma Senate.[2]

Because of his background in education, York was keenly interested in legislation that affected state activities affecting in that area. During the 1960s and early 1970s, he was one of the most active promoters of the South Oklahoma City Junior College, the original name of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC). The school opened in the Fall of 1972. In 2012, he was recognized as an honorary member of the OCCC Alumni Hall of Fame, for his efforts to make the school a reality.[3]

In an interview, as he prepared to step down from the pro tem position, York reminisced about his efforts to make the Senate more efficient acting on the problems he foresaw looming before the state. These included:

• Reducing the number of committees from 25 to 12;[lower-alpha 1]
• Scheduling meetings so that no senator would be meeting on more than one committee per day;[2]
• Requiring that a quorum actually be present when a committee intended to take action on a bill;[2]
• Abolishing the Legislative Council, whose function was to provide staffs for both the House and Senate;[2]
• Eliminated the practice of allowing a committee chairman to take a bill to each committee member for sign-off in order to advance it to the senate floor.[2][lower-alpha 2]

York said that his biggest disappointment was failure to pass a resolution supporting passage of a Senate resolution supporting the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. He told the interviewer, "I wanted to pass it more than any bill I undertook."[2]

• President pro tempore of the Oklahoma Senate

• 2012 Video featuring Marvin York. Accessed December 19, 2018.