01/28/2026
The OOA is saddened to learn of the passing of former State Senator Bernice Shedrick of Stillwater, a longtime champion of rural healthcare and education in Oklahoma.
Sen. Shedrick recognized the urgent need for more primary care physicians in rural Oklahoma and authored the 1988 legislation—signed into law by Governor Henry Bellmon that transferred the state College of Osteopathic Medicine to the Oklahoma State University & A&M Board of Regents when its independence was threatened.
Osteopathic physicians in Oklahoma originally founded the state school at the request of legislators who saw the need for Oklahoma to educate more primary care physicians to serve underserved rural and urban communities. Governor David Hall signed the legislation into law on March 10, 1972, creating the nation’s first free-standing, state-supported osteopathic medical institution. The school was originally named the Oklahoma College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery (OCOMS).
Primary care physicians are licensed medical or osteopathic doctors trained in specialty programs such as family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, or emergency medicine. Oklahoma State University recognized the osteopathic medical school as a natural fit with its land-grant mission, and this forward-thinking decision ultimately strengthened both the university and the osteopathic medical school located in Tulsa.
Sen. Shedrick also chaired a Senate committee and was a strong advocate for increased funding for public education at all levels in Oklahoma. She was the primary author of House Bill 1017 in 1990, which led to significant improvements in education funding statewide. Today, the HB 1017 apportionment fund generates more than $1 billion annually for public education in Oklahoma.
We have linked Sen. Shedrick's obituary below.
https://www.strodefh.com/memorials/mary-shedrick/5679940/
