Russell Pierson

Pierson’s wife, Bernice, died in 2002. They were married for 67 years before she died. His oldest daughter, LaNese, died in 2013. Pierson died on March 31, 2015, at 103 years.

After retiring from WKY, Pierson spent a lot of time at the fairground, first with his own business, and then as supervisor of the feed and bedding services. Pierson worked in this capacity as a state fair consultant since 1983. Pierson also remained an active alumni at Oklahoma state university, and kept in touch with the agriculture department.

After working as the director of the marketing division of the state board of agriculture, Pierson’s alma mater Oklahoma A & M contacted him with an offer to take over the farm broadcasting for WKY Radio and Television. In 1959, Pierson accepted the position with the Oklahoma Publishing Company owned station WKY. For every broadcast, Pierson closed the program with a rhyme. Every broadcast for over twenty years had a different poem that he came up with himself.

Pierson was offered the head of the Oklahoma Crop Improvement Association and served in that position for seven years. At the time, the main crop Pierson worked with was wheat, but he also worked with alfalfa, grain sorghums, and watermelons. Pierson and his department were responsible for the entire state of Oklahoma. In 1953, Pierson established Pierson Seed Company and through contract production became the nation's largest producer of certified okra seed. After his time in the commercial seed business, Pierson’s career took quite a different path.

Pierson met his would-be-wife, Bernice Strom, when he and some other students elected her for “Aggie Princess.” Bernice was honored with the title in 1933 and the two began to date soon after. They dated for three years and married in 1936. A year into their marriage, their first daughter LaNese was born. Six years later, their second daughter Patricia was born. Pierson was the first of his family to graduate from college in 1937.

Pierson enrolled at Oklahoma A&M (Oklahoma State University) in September 1929 with the intention of becoming an athletic coach. After a few weeks he switched over to agriculture. Pierson did not often return home for a visit because their main mode of travel was hitchhiking. It could take well over a day to get from Stillwater to Mangum.

Russell Pierson (December 15, 1911 – March 31, 2015) was a farm broadcasting pioneer and nationally recognized figure for his work in agriculture. Pierson was the Farm Director for WKY-TV and WKY for over twenty years as well as the owner of Pierson Seed Farms, Inc.