John Raiford Lokey

Memorial services for longtime Capital-Democrat publisher Ray Lokey, 63, will be held this Saturday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. in Fletcher Auditorium on the campus of Murray State College in Tishomingo. Officiating will be David Whitlock, president of Oklahoma Baptist University, assisted by Luke Holmes and Aaron Lokey. The son of the late John Rex Lokey and Sarah Margaret (Hicks) Lokey, he was born Dec. 15, 1953, in Ada, and died Nov. 11, 2017, in Tishomingo. Services will be held under the direction of Clark Funeral Service of Tishomingo and Coleman. John Raiford Lokey was a third generation newspaper publisher, following in the footsteps of his grandfather, E.R. Lokey, and his father, John Lokey. He began his newspaper career peddling his fathers paper, the Johnston County Capital-Democrat in Tishomingo, as a newspaper boy in the 1960s. He started working at the C-D after school on his 11th birthday, and he continued to work there until graduating from Tishomingo High School in 1972, where he was editor of the student newspaper. As a youth Lokey was also active in the Boy Scouts, where he earned the Eagle Scout rank in Tishomingo Boy Scout Troop 100 and was a Vigil Honor member of the Order of the Arrow, in addition to serving as Lodge Chief of Wisawanik Lodge No. 190. Lokey entered the University of Oklahoma that fall as a McMahon Scholar, graduating with a bachelors degree in journalism in 1977.Â During that time, he worked briefly on the student newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, both as a staff writer and in the composing room. Between his junior and senior year at O.U., he sat out of college for a year to work for his dad full-time and learn the newspaper business first hand. After declining an offer from his father to purchase the C-D in 1977, Lokey worked for the Boys Club of Denver, and for two years as a language arts teacher at Marietta High School. He also remained active with the Boy Scouts, serving as District Executive for the BSA Arbuckle Area Council and as Scoutmaster for Tishomingo Troop 100. Just last week he was named the recipient of the Arbuckle Area Councils Golden Eagle Award. He earned his masters degree in education with a specialization in English from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1983, where he also served as news editor for the student newspaper, The Southeastern. He returned to Tishomingo in 1988 to assume the role the public information officer at Murray State College, where he taught journalism and English and served as the advisor for the student newspaper, The Aggielite. Following encouragement from his father and Herb Pate Jr., then-publisher of the Madill Record, Lokey purchased John D. and Gracie Montgomerys interest in the Capital-Democrat on Jan. 1, 1990, becoming publisher and managing editor. He later purchased the remaining interest in the paper from Jim and Maribeth Pate and was joined by his wife, Jenny, as co-publisher in 2006. As publisher of the C-D Lokey became active in the Oklahoma Press Association, serving on various committees and as a member of the OPA board of directors. He served as OPA President during 2003-04. He was also involved with the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation and in 2007 was named as that years recipient of the ONFâ€™s Beachy Mussleman Award for outstanding contributions to journalism in Oklahoma. He was elected president of the foundation in 2014; that same year he was chosen as the recipient of the OPAs highest honor, the Milt Phillips Award. Ray was a past president of the Tishomingo Lions Club,Â the Johnston County Literacy Council, the Johnston County Animal Alliance, and former chairman of the Johnston County War Memorial Committee. As president of the local humane society, he was involved in fundraising efforts and overseeing the construction of the Tishomingo Animal Shelter. He was also one of the organizers and original board members of the grassroots organization Citizens for the Protection of the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer (CPASA) in south-central Oklahoma. His role in the creation of CPASA and his efforts to educate area residents about the need to protect the Arbuckle-Simpson Aquifer - the city of Tishomingos sole source of water - led to Lokey being named as the Johnston County Chamber of Commerces Citizen of the Yearâ€ in 2002. Ray also served in the U.S. Army Reserve from January of 1981 to October of 1992, attaining the rank of staff sergeant. He married Jenny R. Willoughby in Tishomingo on May 16, 2002. The couple resided in Durant, where she survives of the home. Other survivors include two brothers, Rex Lokey and wife Rita and Tom Lokey and wife Mary, all of Tishomingo; three sisters, Margaret Overstreet and husband Jimmy of Jefferson, La., Susan Kiser and husband Frank of Ada and Leigh Hurst and husband Brian of Greenwood, Ind.; several nieces and nephews; the staff of the Capital-Democrat, whom he considered his second family; and countless friends, colleagues and other family members. The family has requested that donations in Rays memory can be made to the following organizations: Johnston County Reaching Out; Boy Scouts of America; Tishomingo Lions Club; and the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation.

Tributes

John Raiford Lokey

December 15, 1953 - November 11, 2017