Good Government
Free Market Friday: A true statesman
March 25, 2016
Jonathan Small
We usually reserve the title “statesman” for those who achieve elected office. But Webster provides another definition, “a wise, skillful and respected political leader.” This describes Lew Ward perfectly, and his death this week, at the wise age of 85, deprived our state of one of its truest and most loyal statesmen.
The Ward biography is a classic tribute to hard work: an aspiring young oilman sent off to serve during the Korean War, and then back to his hometown of Enid to begin building his own oil company from scratch. Before he was through, Ward Petroleum was an industry leader, with hundreds of completed wells. His entrepreneurial work has provided economic opportunity for many and benefited the most vulnerable in numerous ways...