Speakers

Major Rick G. Henson attended Fire Training Academy of the Oklahoma City Fire Department in 1979 as a Recruit/Trainee.  This would lead to a stellar 27 year career with the Oklahoma City Fire Department. He was previously a 1969 Graduate of Tuttle High School where he played varsity athletics in football and track and field. 

Major Henson was promoted to Corporal in 1980, serving in Oklahoma City Stations 21, 19, 9, 1, and 11. In 1986 he achieved the rank of Sergeant and later, Lieutenant serving as an Apparatus Operator/Driver for  Station 15, Rescue/Ladder 15, Station 3, Engine 3, Station 9, Tanker/Pumper 9, and Station 11, engine 11.  In doing so he finished first in the competitive exam for this rank. His promotion to Captain and Junior Officer was completed in 1991 when he served in that capacity at Station 8 until his promotion to Major in 1993.  

After his promotion, Major Henson was temporarily assigned as Training Officer at the Oklahoma City Fire Training Academy, supervising the training of two rookie training academies totaling ninety new fire fighters. Following this he served as Station Officer at Stations 27, 19 and 35.

While at the Training Academy on April 19, 1995, Major Henson was among the first line officers on the scene at the Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Downtown Oklahoma City.  During the next thirteen days he served first in the Incident Command Post as Planning Officer, Logistics Officer and Materials Acquisition Officer.  Perhaps his most intense role in the search and recovery phase of the incident was his leadership of a thirty person search and recovery team during the latter days of the event. 

In addition to a very long and successful career with the Oklahoma City Fire Department, Major Henson also received the Award of Merit from the Oklahoma State Firefighters Association in 1985 for intervening to save the life of a shooting victim in peril of his own life. He also was selected in 1996 as Fire Fighter of the Year by the Committee of One Hundred, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma for significant contributions in the development of rural fire fighting capabilities and methods.  He is married to Mary, his wife of 46 years. They have four adult children, Joshua, Matthew, Abagail and Jonathan and eight grandchildren. He is a member of The Bridge Assembly of God, Mustang, Oklahoma. 

Lawrence McAtee, Jr. was elected to his first full term of office in April 2001, after serving four months as Ward 3's interim representative. He has since been re-elected four times, most recently on Feb. 14, 2017.

Councilman McAtee is president of the consulting firm Ironsharpeners, Inc. From 1981 to 2006, he worked for Kimray, Inc. in various management positions, including treasurer.

From 1965-69 and 1973-81, Councilman McAtee worked in sales and management for Honeywell, Inc. From 1969-73 he held various positions, including sales manager for Univac, head of McAtee and Associates (a distributor of family and motivational programs) and associate professor of management at Oklahoma City University.

Councilman McAtee earned a master's degree in management from New York University Graduate School of Business Administration in 1962, and a B.A. in public & international affairs from Princeton University in 1959.

Councilman McAtee is a member of the Quail Springs Baptist Church. He and his wife Joann have three daughters and 12 grandchildren.

He has authored a book titled, "Rebuilding Your Financial Wall God's Way."

 

Michael Allen Alexander, M.D.

Emeritus Chief of Rehabilitation Medicine 

Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children

 

How I grew up with polio and

why I want my and your offspring to avoid it?

 

 

Less than 70 years ago the United States was in the grip of fear and uncertainty as a highly contagious  virus spread throughout communities. The disease was Polio  and it left  many children and adults with often permanent and crippling paralysis.   Like Covid-19 there was no known cure or vaccine for this  disease , just wild theories as to the origins and transmission and a steep learning curve for both scientists and the public. 

In 195l, some four years before a Polio vaccine was discovered, Dr. Michael Alexander contracted Polio resulting in near total paralysis. He underwent numerous surgeries and decades of extensive rehabilitation, including six surgeries at the Alfred I duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE,  before he graduated from high school. 

With the help of his family, physicians and friends,  coupled with untiring drive and determination, he would return to the very same hospital  21 years later as the Chief of Rehabilitation Medicine.  At duPont Hospital from 1986 until retirement in 2012, he served thousands of patients and families while conducting research, teaching, lecturing and publishing. He served as a consultant for numerous programs including  The Children’s Center in Bethany.

During his career Dr. Alexander earned a much-deserved reputation as a leader in pediatric medical  rehabilitation.  He was recognized in 2013 for lifetime achievement by The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation  with the Gabriella Molnar Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Alexander earned a B.A. in Biology with honors from George Mason University and his  M.D. from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.  He completed a combined program in Pediatrics and Physical Medicine from the Ohio State University and Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.  Most recently Dr. Alexander also served as Professor of Pediatrics & Rehabilitation Medicine, Thomas Jefferson Medical College. 

Dr. Alexander is an avid gardener, babysitter, and classically trained singer and performer.  He resides in Wilmington, DE, with this wife, Michele.  He has three children, one son-in-law, one-daughter in-law and five grandchildren.  His brothers, Patrick and William, both live in Oklahoma City.

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