Trailblazing TV reporter, disabilities advocate Pam Henry dies at age 68
Pioneering Oklahoma television journalist and disability concerns advocate Pam Henry died Tuesday. She was 68.
Henry, who contracted polio when she was 14 months old, was the last national polio poster child for the March of Dimes. She walked on crutches, but didn’t let that stop her from achieving her goal of being a television news reporter.
Mick Cornett first met her when they worked together at KOCO Channel 5 in the 1980s. Cornett said he walked into the news station one day and Henry was on air reporting breaking news.
A water heater explosion at Star Elementary School in Spencer had injured 35 people and killed five children and a teacher. Another child died later.
“I remember the dignity she had in handling such a sensitive story,” Cornett said.
Among the many comments posted Tuesday on Twitter, news anchor Kevin Ogle noted: “My dad helped hire her at then WKY Channel 4 in the early ’70s. First female reporter. She never let her polio get in her way of her job. GREAT lady, journalist and friend.”
Henry had a career in television news and related fields for 31 years before retiring in 2002.
She was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2004.
“Pam was a trailblazer and mentor to a lot of young women. Many of us aspired to emulate her courage and conviction,” said Kelly Dyer Fry, editor of The Oklahoman and vice president of news for The Oklahoman Media Company.
“In 2002, due to postpolio, I had to retire from my beloved career in TV news,” Henry said in a 2014 interview. “Since then, working to help people with disabilities has become my job.”
Henry was serving on the Mayor’s Committee on Disability Concerns when Cornett was elected mayor and became reacquainted with her.
“She always felt we had underserved people with disabilities,” Cornett said. “I don’t think I ever heard her complain. She always wanted to know what she could do to help.”
He tapped her to take over the committee chairmanship from retiring George B. Lewis, who had served since 1973. Henry chaired the committee for eight years.
She also served on the MAPS3 committee for sidewalks and trails, advocating accessibility for everyone.
“She brought a positive energy to any project she worked on,” Cornett said.
Henry was honored in March with a plaque at city hall recognizing her decades of advocacy for people with disabilities in Oklahoma City. Her work also earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award from the state Department of Rehabilitation Services.
In a tweet Tuesday, Mayor David Holt thanked Henry “for being an inspiration of kindness and persistence and triumph. No community has ever had a better advocate than the disability community of Oklahoma City had in you.
“You will be missed but long remembered.”
Don Sherry, a friend who worked with Henry for years at OETA, produced and directed the documentary “The Last Poster Child: The Life of Pam Henry,” which premiered in 2015.
She was “a bright light,” Sherry tweeted Tuesday. “Our lives are richer for having known her.”