Edmund M. FRY
"Prominent among the men who in recent years have contributed by their services and abilities to the progress and upbuilding of Oklahoma's public institutions, one who has labored faithfully and with helpful results is Edmund M. FRY, deputy warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester. Not alone as a capable official, an excellent handler of men and an executive of capacity has Mr. FRY been useful since coming to the institution in 1909, but in his professional capacity of civil engineer, in which he has been one of the leading factors in the inauguration and carrying through of a number of projects which have added to the worth and efficiency of the institution.
Mr. FRY was born at Lake Village, Chicot County, Arkansas, October 29, 1873, and is a son of Reuben M. and Eliza B. (HUTCHINS) FRY. His father was a Virginian by nativity, born at Orange Court House, Orange County, of English lineage, and served as a soldier of the Confederacy, being one of six brothers who enlisted in Virginia regiments and served gallantly in the support of the lost cause. At the close of the struggle between the forces of the North and the South, Reuben M. FRY removed to Lake Village, Arkansas, in an endeavor to build up his fallen fortunes. There he was married, his wife being a native of Mississippi, a member of an old and distinguished family of that state, and also of English ancestry. At Lake Village, Reuben M. FRY engaged in mercantile pursuits until 1880, in which year he moved to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and there continued merchandising. His death occurred at Fort Smith, in 1905, after several years passed in the office of United States internal revenue collector, and other public positions. He was one of his community's substantial, reliable, progressive and public-spirited citizens, esteemed and respected by those who knew him and with a large circle of warm friends and admirers.
In the graded and high schools of Fort Smith, to which city he was taken as a lad of seven years, Edmund M. FRY received the foundation for his education. Subsequently he took up the study of civil engineering, a subject which he thoroughly mastered, and for ten years, at intervals, was identified with the work of the United States Geological Survey. During this period, when not in the employ of the Government, he rendered services to gold and silver mining companies of the United States and Canada. In 1895 he moved to Muskogee, Oklahoma, where for three years he was connected with the work of the Dawes Commission, and at the time of statehood was appointed deputy register of deeds for Muskogee County, a position which he held until October, 1909. At the latter time he was appointed deputy warden of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, at McAlester. He has not only given valuable assistance to Warden Robert W. DICK in making this the ideal institution of its kind in the United States, but his knowledge of civil engineering has led him into work in which a mastery of this vocation has been necessary. He belongs to the Oklahoma Engineer Society, and also to the National Geographical Society. Mr. FRY is a democrat in his political views, and fraternally is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
In 1908, Mr. FRY was married to Miss Nita WILLIAMS, of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and they are the parents of one son, Philip Hutchins FRY, born at McAlester in January, 1912."