Okey Leonidas Patteson (September 14, 1898July 3, 1989) was the 23rd Governor of West Virginia from 1949 to 1953. He was a member of the

United States Democratic Party The Democratic Party is one of the Two-party system, two Major party, major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in eve ...

and of the "machine" that totally controlled politics in that era in the state.

Biography

Okey Patteson was son of L.C. and Lola (Groves) Patteson. He was born at Dingess, West Virginia and raised at Mount Hope, Fayette County. He married Lee Hawse in 1923 and they had two daughters, Fanny Lee and Anna Hughes. His religious affiliation was Methodist. In 1932, a hunting accident left him disabled, as both of his legs had to be amputated below the knees.Okey Leonidas Patteson
West Virginia State Archives. Patteson graduated with a bachelor's degree from

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

and did post-graduate work at

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

. He was awarded honorary degrees of L.L.D. from

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State College ...

in 1949 and from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Patteson worked as an automobile dealer and with real estate in Mount Hope. He served as President of Fayette

County Court A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions (subnational entities) within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of ''county courts'' held by the high ...

1935–41 and as sheriff of Fayette County 1941–44. In the 1944 elections, he was Campaign manager for the Democratic Party and became a

Presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia appo ...

. The new governor, Clarence W. Meadows, appointed him his personal assistant, a position he held for three years, until he resigned to run for Governor, January 1, 1948. He won the nomination with a margin of 62 000 over the nearest opponent and was elected by majority of 110 000 in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. He served as governor for one term.J. Howard Myers (Ed.): ''West Virginia Blue Book'' 1951, Vol. 35. Patteson was a member of the Board of Trustees of West Virginia Wesleyan, and of a number of societies:

Free mason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

Moose International The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternal and service organization founded in 1888 and headquartered in Mooseheart, Illinois. Moose International supports the operation of Mooseheart Child City & School, a community for children and teen ...

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Sons of the American Revolution The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR or NSSAR) is an American Congressional charter, congressionally chartered organization, founded in 1889 and headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky. A non-prof ...

and

Elks The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (BPOE; also often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City. History The Elks began in 1868 as a soci ...

. He was a member of the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

for three years. After his term he served as general manager of the Turnpike, returned to real estate business, and became president of the Raleigh County Bank. In 1969, Governor

Arch A. Moore, Jr. Arch Alfred Moore Jr. (April 16, 1923 – January 7, 2015) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from West Virginia. He began his political career as a state legislator in 1952. He was elected the 28th and 30th governor of West Virgi ...

named Patteson to the newly created

Board of Regents In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual col ...

Governorship

He is best known for his decision to place the state's first medical school at

in Morgantown, in the northern part of the state, rather than in the more centrally located Charleston. A section of West Virginia Route 705 leading to

West Virginia University Hospitals The West Virginia University Health System, commonly branded as WVU Medicine is a nonprofit health enterprise affiliated with West Virginia University. It provides services throughout West Virginia and portions of the surrounding states of Maryland ...

is named Patteson Drive in his honor. He also is known for the initial construction of the

West Virginia Turnpike West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, which was to be a 4-lane road system throughout the state, although, after his term, it was superseded by the

interstate highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

system, with only a 2-lane section between Charleston and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

ever completed. During his term, the legislature created the position of state Tax Commissioner and authorized cities to levy

sales taxes A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...

. He was praised by crime writer

Erle Stanley Gardner Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of crime fiction, detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of ...

for his careful re-investigation of the case of convicted murderer Robert Ballard Bailey when doubts were raised about the validity of the conviction. Gardner dedicated his detective novel ''Top of the Heap'' to Patteson.

References

External links

patteson.html Biography of Okey L. Patteson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patteson, Okey L 1898 births 1989 deaths American amputees American bank presidents Methodists from West Virginia American politicians with disabilities Democratic Party governors of West Virginia People from Mount Hope, West Virginia People from Mingo County, West Virginia West Virginia sheriffs West Virginia Wesleyan College alumni 20th-century American politicians West Virginia Wesleyan College trustees 20th-century American academics