Gene Stipe
| Gene Stipe | |
|---|---|
| Oklahoma State Senator | |
|
In office 1957–2003 |
|
| Succeeded by | Richard Lerblance |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 21, 1926 Blanco, Oklahoma |
| Died | July 21, 2012 (aged 85) McAlester, Oklahoma |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Agnes |
| Residence | McAlester, Oklahoma |
Eugene E. "Gene" Stipe (October 21, 1926 – July 21, 2012) was an American politician from Oklahoma. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Gene Stipe was born in Blanco, Oklahoma, the son of Jacob Irvin Stipe, a farmer worker and coalminer, and Eva Lou Stipe. Following a stint in the United States Navy in the mid-1940s, he was elected to the Oklahoma House of Representatives at the age of 21 in 1948, and served as Assistant Floor Leader from 1949 to 1953. He graduated from law school at the University of Oklahoma while serving in the state House of Representatives, and living at the fire station in Norman, Oklahoma.
Stipe married Agnes L. Minton on February 3, 1949, and had one daughter and three grandchildren. They were married until her death on September 29, 2002, at the age of 82. Following Agnes Stipe's death, he married Mary Bea Thetford in December 2003.
Stipe did not seek re-election to the State House in 1954, but was an unsuccessful candidate for a State Senate seat representing McAlester, Oklahoma. Two years later, he was elected to the State Senate in a special election, serving from 1957 until his resignation in 2003, becoming the longest-serving member of that body.
In 1968, Stipe was indicted on charges of federal income tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay taxes on $110,000 in income, but was later acquitted of the charges. In 1975, he was paid $100,000 plus expenses to assist William Con Sutherland in a bankruptcy case involving Sutherland's vending machine empire. Stipe was accused by bankruptcy trustees of taking his retainer fee from illegally diverted funds. In an out-of-court settlement, Stipe repaid $60,000 in order to resolve the dispute.
Stipe was once a candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Dewey F. Bartlett in 1978, but finished far behind popular Governor David L. Boren and former U.S. Rep. Ed Edmondson, a late entry in the race who finished distant second in the primary and lost the runoff to Boren. The following year, he was indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged role in securing a fraudulent Small Business Administration loan for McAlester Frozen Foods, a food processing company based in Stipe's district. He was acquitted on those charges in 1981. While awaiting trial in the SBA loan case, he was indicted by another federal jury on charges of fraud, extortion, and conspiracy relating to his intervention in an extradition case involving a Colorado man.
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