Roscoe “Ross” Rizley (1892-1969)

U.S. Congressman. After receiving teaching credentials, he taught in the rural schools of Beaver County, Oklahoma, (1909 to 1910) and served as a deputy register of deeds of Beaver County, (1911 to 1912). He graduated from the law department of the University of Kansas City, in 1915, was admitted to the bar and commenced to practice law in Beaver, Oklahoma. He served as the Beaver County Attorney, (1918 to 1920), a member of the Guymon Board of Education, (1924 to 1932), Guymon City Attorney, (1928 to 1938) and a member of the Oklahoma State Senate, (1931 to 1934). In 1941, he was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-seventh Congress and to the next three succeeding Congresses, serving until 1949. Not a candidate for re-nomination, he served as solicitor for the Post Office Department, Washington, D.C., in 1953, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, (1953 to 1954) and a member of the Civil Aeronautics Board, (1955 to 1956). In 1956, he was appointed U.S. District Court Judge for the Western District of Oklahoma and served until his death.

Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith