Larry R. Ferguson

Larry R. Ferguson, former publisher of The Cleveland American, Pawnee Chief and Hominy News-Progress, died May 23, 2025.
Services will be held on Tuesday, May 27. He will lie in state at the Oklahoma State Capitol from 3:30 to 5 p.m. followed by a sunset burial service at 7 p.m. at Highland Cemetery in his hometown of Pawnee.
Larry was born on Oct. 4, 1937, in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He married his childhood sweetheart Nina Gay Flanagan in 1957. They had three children, Lori, Rusty and Kari, and were married for 65 years before her death in 2022.
Larry graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 1960 with a degree in journalism. In 1962, the Ferguson family moved to Cleveland where Larry took over the family newspaper, The Cleveland American.
Larry believed in the power of words and the importance of ideas. Each Thursday, readers of The Cleveland American turned to his weekly editorial column, Larry’s Listening Post, where he offered insights, posed questions, and sometimes stirred the pot, all in the hope of getting his fellow citizens to think a little deeper about their town, their state, and their responsibilities to one another.
In 1985, Larry entered the political arena and made headlines when he won the Oklahoma House seat for District 35, a district that, at the time, was 70% Democrat. His dedication to listening, problem-solving, and putting people first allowed him to faithfully serve for 20 years in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
From 1991 to 1998, Larry served as House Minority Leader, the longest-serving in Oklahoma history at the time. He became the first Republican representative in two decades to be appointed by a Democrat to chair a House committee; a rare honor that underscored the bipartisan respect he earned at the Capitol.
A lifelong newspaperman, Larry was honored by the Oklahoma Press Association with induction into the Half Century Club and was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2014.
He is survived by his children and their spouses, Lori and Tim Lucas, Guthrie; Rusty and Deana Ferguson, Cleveland; and Kari and Hardy Watkins, Edmond. He is also survived by his pride and joy, his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Larry is also survived by his brother and sisters-in-law, Tom and Carla Flanagan and Kathleen Keeton.