Commencement to Celebrate Johnson's Service

OKLAHOMA CAPITOL -- Leaving on a high note, George Earl Johnson Jr., director of communications, Oklahoma Department of Human Services, will leave government after 44 years of state and federal service, effective Sept. 15, 2010. 

With 30 years of OKDHS tenure, Johnson has served as the OKDHS public relations and communications director since 1994. He has been recognized as the face and voice of human services with state, regional and national media during that time. Johnson is currently the longest tenured human services communications directorspokesperson in the same position in the nation. 

Johnson said there have been a myriad of changes in state government during his 30 years working in the Oklahoma Capitol complex. “It has been a great ride and a tremendous experience from which I continue to learn each day,” Johnson stated, “However, this is a commencement for me. There is still a lot of life to live, a great deal of work left to do and many experiences to learn from in the private sector. I am moving from public service in the public sector to public service in the private sector. At the beginning of the day and at the end of the day, life is all about service – human service.” 

Johnson has served under five gubernatorial administrations, eight human services directors and 44 human services commissioners led by eight human services commission chairman. 

Leaving government will cap a public service career that began at 6:30 a.m. the morning of Dec. 5, 1966, when Johnson entered the U.S. Air Force in Chicago, IL. It was the Air Force that brought Johnson to Oklahoma in 1969 where he completed his active duty military service at Tinker Air Force Base in 1970. 

Family, co-workers and friends will celebrate Johnson’s years of service from 2-4 p.m. Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, in the Reginald D. Barnes Human Services Commission Room, Sequoyah Memorial Office Bldg. in the Capitol Complex, 2400 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City.

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