Northern Oklahoma College alumni Joe R. Kreger and Tara Tucker Vaughn will be inducted into the NOC Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame March 26.Joe Kreger, Class of 1959, and Tara Tucker Vaughn, Class of 1989, will be honored in ceremonies taking place during the NOC Alumni and Friends Reunion Dinner in the Renfro Center at NOC Tonkawa at 5:30 p.m.The public is invited to the event and all NOC Alumni and Friends of the college are encouraged to attend, according to Kayla Wooderson, director of alumni and community relations. The deadline for reservations is March 7. Reservations are required; the $20 payment for the dinner event may be paid in advance or at the March 26 event.Also, the Classes of 1970, 1971, and 1972 will be honored at the event.For reservations or for more information, contact Wooderson at 580-628-6473 or e-mail kayla.wooderson@noc.edu. To make reservations online, visit www.noc.edu/alumni and then click on “Alumni and Friends Reunion Form”.Joe R. Kreger, a native of Tonkawa, received his Associate of Science degree from Northern Oklahoma College in 1959 and his Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University in 1961.Following his tenure at NOC and Oklahoma State University, Kreger worked in administrative support positions in the purchasing and geophysics departments of Continental Oil Company while continuing to raise cattle.Kreger left Continental Oil in the early seventies to establish Kreger Equipment, a state-wide wholesale livestock equipment business which he operated until 2001. Since that time, his efforts have been devoted to the cattle ranching enterprise.At age 56, he began writing poetry born of life experiences. Often referred to as “Cowboy Poetry,” his works were passed around, and requests for performances started to come in from farm and ranch organizations, schools and churches. This developed into a heavy speaking schedule that required travel from Texas to Nebraska and Iowa. For a number of years, Joe authored a poetry column in the “High Plains Journal.” His work has also been displayed in numerous other periodicals.In 1988 Joe was appointed “Poet Laureate of Oklahoma” by Governor Frank Keating. He continued to perform poetry presentations for a number of years, but with the constraints of ranching and advancing age, he became somewhat inactive in poetry activities.Then, in 2021, Governor Kevin Stitt appointed Joe to the Laureate position once more, making him the first poet to have received this appointment twice, and by two different governors. Now, Joe is ...
