
Okey Leonidas Patteson (14 September 1898-3 July 1989) was the Democratic Governor of West Virginia from 17 January 1949 to 19 January 1953, succeeding Clarence W. Meadows and preceding William C. Marland.
Biography[]
Okey Patteson was born in Dingess, West Virginia in 1898, and he was raised in Mount Hope. He lost his legs in a hunting accident in 1932, but he became an automobile dealer and realtor and served as President of the Fayette County Court from 1935 to 1941, as county sheriff from 1941 to 1944, as a Democratic presidential elector in 1944, and as Governor from 1949 to 1953. During his tenure, he placed the medical school of West Virginia University in Morgantown and built the West Virginia Turnpike. He later became a banker, and he died in 1989.