On our trip to Houston in March we stopped in Oklahoma City. First we went to the History Museum, where we learned where the name 'Sooner' comes from. I enjoyed reading and seeing so much information about the various tribes of Native American Indians. Then we toured the state capitol and sat in on a live senate session. I was reprimanded by a security guard for standing up...so we ducked out the door quietly. Something that caught our attention was that the capitol was built in 1917 but didn't have a dome. The original blueprints specified a dome but budget constraints, politics and shortages of material due to the war prevented the dome from being erected - until 2002. We studied some beautiful artwork, then saw a portrait of this lady. You should read about her life and see if you are as impressed as we were:

Mrs. Lamar Looney became Oklahoma's first female State Senator in 1921 and was elected to public office before women had the right to vote. She was born Mirabeau Lamar Cole in 1871, named after the second president of the Republic of Texas. Prior to her political career, Mrs. Looney was a young widow with five children under the age of ten when she filed a claim for a quarter section of land near Hollis. She traded her organ for a team of mules and build her own sod house. With only the help of her ten-year old son, she planted her first crop of 20 acres. In 1912, Mrs. Looney was elected registrar of deeds for Harmon County and was later elected county treasurer. In 1916, she was elected Harmon County Clerk, and in 1920, friends persuaded Mrs. Looney to enter the Oklahoma State Senate race.