Ernest E. Dirks
While a Kansan by birth, our first inductee this evening has probably traveled Oklahoma more extensively than most natives. The travel came as he labored to mentor, tutor, motivate, and challenge for the best in local government performance and practice. As State Director of the Oklahoma Commission for Training Municipal Clerks and Treasurers, he traversed the state for 19 years to conduct training for over 1,000 clerks, treasurers, and deputies, annually. Ernest E. Dirks distinguished himself in his unfailing devotion to bringing a high degree of professionalism among these essential municipal officers.
With his ten years of experience as City Clerk and Finance Director at Ardmore, Ernie was unquestionably the perfect choice in 1975 to succeed the Commission’s initial director, Fred Roniger. After growing up in Goltry, he was drafted in 1944 as an Army infantryman. He was shipped overseas to Germany. There he was in the battalion awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for the “Roer to the Rhine River” campaign in 1945. Three days after the campaign he suffered shrapnel wounds that led to the amputation of his right leg below the knee. One of Ernie’s personal treasures is a painting he created for that campaign.
Upon discharge, he attended Oklahoma A&M College and then graduated from Blackwood-Davis Business College in Oklahoma City. He honed his administrative skills in several Ardmore businesses for 14 years until 1965 when he became the City Clerk and Finance Director. In 1970, he helped influence the legislature to create a new State agency for training municipal clerks and treasurers. Soon he and his infamous "Orange Manual" spread terror, then hopeful relief, among the thousands of newly elected or appointed officials who had to learn the myriad and complex laws that confronted them. The “terror” came from the immensity of the duties - the “relief” in knowing they had a steady mentor to patiently help them perform as responsible officials.
Building upon the great success of the Commission training programs, Ernest also helped to bring about another level of professionalism. When the Commission was combined with the State Department of Vocational and Technical Education, he helped to develop the Oklahoma Municipal Clerks and Treasurers Institute. Graduates of the Institute, now conducted through OSU Business Extension, earn the prestigious certification of the International Institute for Municipal Clerks and Treasurers.
Since his retirement in 1994, Ernest continues to mentor and inspire those who accept the challenge of being non-voting officers of their city or town.