OKU Fall 2026 Hall of Fame Recipients
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThree members of the Oklahoma Union community were inducted into the OKU Hall of Fame on Friday, Oct. 23, during the final home football game for the 2026 season.
The Hall of Fame award is designed to recognize and honor outstanding achievements by alumni and the support of businesses and individuals who support OKU and the surrounding communities. Inductees are selected from alumni, faculty or supporters of the school district.
This fall’s inductees were Lynn Maxey, Harry Howard and James Penn.
Lynn Maxey
Lynn Maxey was born and raised in Nowata. She is a 1977 graduate of Nowata High School. She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1980 from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater.
Maxey’s 32-year teaching career began in Pawnee. She taught at Ralston and Hominy, before joining the Lenapah staff, teaching third grade, in 1985. She remained at Lenapah, and later OKU after the consolidation, until her retirement in 2013.
She continues to serve on the OKU Educational Foundation board, helping to plan and promote activities to raise financial support for OKU Students.
While at OSU, she met and married her husband, David. They have been married for 46 years and have two adult children, Megan and husband, Levi, and Justin and wife, Chrissy, six grandchildren who either attend or graduated from OKU, and one great grandchild.
Together, the Maxeys have a combined 62 years of teaching, with 54 of those years at OKU. Their daughter and son-in-law continue in their footsteps, as a teacher and administrator, respectively, at OKU.
James Penn
A native of Pawnee, James Penn moved to Coffeyville, Kan., in 1954, with his parents, five sisters and three brothers.
A 1965 graduate of Field Kinley High School, Penn attended McFarland Trade School before being drafted into the United States Marine Corps in January 1966.
During his time in the Marines, Penn achieved the rank of sergeant. He was deployed to Vietnam from February 1967 to April 1968. Shot in the line of duty, he was awarded a Purple Heart, before being honorably discharged a year later.
After the Marines he spent 24 years working as a day shift foreman and a truck driver at Coffeyville Ren-Con.
He then worked in a multitude of roles for the next 33 years at Oklahoma Union, serving as a janitor, bus driver, maintenance supervisor, transportation director, safety coordinator, and the beloved high five giver to a vast number of students. Mr. James, was lovingly called by those at OKU, was just family. He retired in July 2026.
After returning home from his deployment, he met and married Adelphia Green. They have three adult children: Chris, Samantha and Jessica.
Harry Howard
Harry “Buzzy” Howard has lived in Nowata County for 67 years. He attended school in Snow Creek, South Coffeyville and Lenapah High School.
He worked at Butchers Grocery, Coop Refinery, Coffeyville Matchplate, and Missouri Pacific Railroad before becoming Union Pacific Railroad. He retired as Hazmat foreman general after 40 years.
Howard was one of the visionaries from the Lenapah, Wann, Delaware and South Coffeyville school districts that worked on the consolidation efforts that formed Oklahoma Union Schools.
Eventually those in the Lenapah and Wann districts voted on July 25, 1989, to form the new school district.
The Oklahoma Legislature approved $750,000 dollars as incentive to smaller school districts to consolidate, to be divided between districts that consolidated before the deadline. OKU’s consolidation vote was only to take place before the deadline. The state balked at awarding OKU the whole amount.
Howard was one of the men who went to the Oklahoma State Capital and lobbied successfully for the state to stick to original statement and award OKU the whole amount.
He was involved in purchasing the current campus, construction of new facilities and even laying sod and finishing gym with other volunteers when funds got tight.
He has served on the District 7 water board for 14 years, both the Lenapah and OKU school board, was chairman of the Mt. Washington Cemetery for 10 years, has served on the Nowata County Excise and Equalization board since 2020, and remains involved in the Native American Fellowship of South Coffeyville which along with Eastern Oklahoma Food Banks, USDA and State of Oklahoma delivered more than 1,080 boxes of 10 meals per box to Oklahoma children.
He married Carolyn Lowery in 1974, and they were married for 49 years. They have two adult children, Kristie and husband, Ken, and Tim and his wife, Sharla, along with four grandsons and three great-grandchildren.
Howard and his family sponsor two memorial scholarships in the memory of his late wife, Carolyn, for students at OKU. His daughter is a special education teacher at OKU.
Nominations Requested
The Hall of Fame committee includes Chairman Tom Steward, and members: Ralph West, Robert Jobe, Jim Woody, Tim Kilpatrick, Brad Hall and Kevin Stacy. The committee meets yearly to select inductees. Community members with possible nominations should contact a committee member.