Orel BUSBY
"Special interest attaches to the career of Orel Busby, the well known Ada lawyer, because of his being father of the movement that resulted in the organization of the Young Men's Democratic League of Oklahoma, which now has a membership of over eight thousand and which is an efficient and vital arm of the state democratic organization. While a student of the law department of the university, in company with one or two friends in his room one night, Mr. Busby conceived the idea of this organization and presented it to Streeter SPEAKMAN, now county attorney of Lincoln County, Oklahoma, and Will RANDOLPH, now a practicing attorney of McAlester, Oklahoma, who were his classmates. They were favorably impressed with the idea. Thereupon plans were made for the organization. It was launched in 1912 at the state democratic convention at Oklahoma City and Mr. Busby presided over the initial meeting and was elected the league's first president. It prospered from the outset and in three years there were affiliated local and county; organizations in every county. Annual meetings are held on Washington's birthday, and these are largely attended and bring party enthusiasm to a climax. So great was the interest in the 1915 meeting at Muskogee that special trains were operated from several points of the state. The purpose of the organization is to interest young men in party work, encourage them in the study of party politics and inspire them to take an active part in campaigns. Several members of the organization, due to the support of their fellows, are now holding important county and state offices.
Orel BUSBY, who has spent nearly all his life in Oklahoma, was born at Batesville, Arkansas, in 1890, a son of G. W. and E. C. (Pegg) BUSBY. He moved with his parents to old Indian Territory when he was less than one year old and has since lived on the east side of what is now Oklahoma. His father, a native of Alabama, has for many years been a successful farmer and ranchman of Oklahoma, having come to this state in 1891 and being now engaged in the mercantile business at Allen.
The primary education of Orel Busby was acquired principally in subscription schools in Indian Territory before the days of public schools. Subsequently he entered the high school at Ada and Konawa, graduating at Konawa high school, and then spent two years in the University of Oklahoma. In 1910 he was graduated from from the East Central State Normal School at Ada. This was followed by a year as principal of the public schools at Konawa, Oklahoma, and during the term he was elected justice of the peace and mayor of the town being the youngest man - only twenty-one at the time - to hold that position in Eastern Oklahoma. In June, 1913, Mr. Busby was admitted to the bar, and in June, 1914, finished his regular course in the law department of Oklahoma University, graduating with the degree of LL. B. In July, 1914, he opened an office for the practice of law at Ada, and in his profession is making a pronounced success. His previous accomplishment had given him a state-wide reputation that has afforded him a profitable clientage.
At the 1915 meeting of the Young Men's Democratic League, Mr. Busby and many other young democrats initiated a movement having for its object the creation of a National Young Men's Democratic League. Stephen JOHNSON of Altus, Oklahoma, a newspaper editor and secretary to Congressman Jim McCLINTIC, is representing the league in Washington and hopes through members of Congress to promote the national organization.
Mr. Busby is a member of the Christian Church, of the Ada Commercial Club and of the Sigma Nu, Phi Delta Phi and Sigma Delta Chi college fraternities. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge at Konawa, the Elks' Club at Ada and is a member of the Pontotoc County and the Oklahoma State Bar Association."