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OEM Director Albert Ashwood works with Public Information Officer Keli Cain. Photo by James Pratt





Muskogee himself, Ashwood is a public servant to the core. Ashwood was born to Thomas Lee and Bettye Jean, a hard-working couple from Muskogee, Okla.


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His father was raised in a dairy farm family and graduated from eighth grade. Tom spent most of his working years as maintenance supervisor for Brockway Glass in Muskogee. Ashwood’s mother graduated high school and worked for Southwestern Bell. The couple had three children: Thomas, Albert and Jane, all who graduated from college—a delight to their parents. Ashwood led a happy, active childhood filled with athletic events, community involvement and


valuable lessons. He graduated from Muskogee High School and was engaged in both sports and academics. Early on, his father instilled in him the value of living by his actions, not by words alone. “Dad was persistent about telling us people talked a good game, but it was really their actions that


showed if they were sincere or not,” Ashwood says. “Talk is cheap. You need to show what you’re really going to do with your actions. This is my mantra.” His father’s words continue to resonate with Ashwood. As he transitions through each stage in his


life, his ultimate goal is to serve with sincerity, a purpose easily visible in the service-oriented role he fulfills for the land he loves: Oklahoma.


’m proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,” rings the country favorite “Okie From Muskogee,” by Oklahoma singer Merle Haggard. The 1969 hit brought a unique tune to Oklahomans during the Vietnam War years. For Albert Ashwood, the country’s longest-tenured state emergency management director, the song is intrinsically close to his heart. An Okie from


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