Senator Henry S. Johnston - 1st President Pro Tempore
by Mike Wimmer
Henry S. Johnston was born December 30, 1867, near Evansville, Indiana. He migrated to Colorado at the age of twenty-four, where he studied law and was admitted to the Colorado Bar in 1891. Later he came to Perry, Oklahoma Territory, to practice law.
He was a member and temporary presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention in 1906. He was elected to the Senate in 1907 and was selected as President Pro Tempore for the first session of the Oklahoma legislature. He was elected Governor, took office January 10, 1927, and was impeached on March 20, 1929. Johnston once again was elected to the Oklahoma State Senate in 1932 and served four more years. He continued to maintain a law practice in his beloved home town of Perry in Noble County, until his death on January 7, 1965.
Senator Henry S. Johnston - 1st President Pro Tempore by Mike Wimmer was dedicated on April 28, 1999. The commission was managed by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund, Inc. The portrait is located inside the Oklahoma State Senate Chamber on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30 when the Senate is not in session.
The Artist
Born
and raised in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Mike Wimmer began his career as
an artist during the seventh grade. He earned his B.F.A. from the University
of Oklahoma, where he met Don Ivan Punchatz. Wimmer later moved to
Arlington, Texas to be Punchatz apprentice at Punchatz famous Sketch
Pad Studio. Wimmer learned valuable knowledge regarding the
business aspect of illustrating as well as various painting techniques
and the working methods of the local Dallas illustrators. After his two and a half year apprenticeship, he moved back to Norman, Oklahoma and
set up his own studio using all that he had learned in Texas. Since
then Wimmer has become very successful illustrating children’s
books such as “Flight: The Journey of Charles Lindbergh” by
Robert Burliegh which was the winner of
the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction for Children in 1990. He also illustrated “All the Places to Love” by Patricia MacLachlan which
was published in 1994 and won the Oklahoma Book Award
for Best Illustrated Children’s Book 1995. Wimmer’s latest
book, “Will Rogers” by Former Governor Frank Keating, was
published in 2002 and has won the 2003 Spur Award from the Western
Writers Association of America. Even though Wimmer has worked for some
of the largest corporations in the world including Disney and Procter
and Gamble, Wimmer finds the greatest artistic pleasure within his
creation of fine art.