Gerald Orvin Hodge, Deputy Sheriff

Ottawa County Sheriff's Office

About 8 P.M. on Wednesday, January 2, 1935, Deputy Hodge, 30, was leading several other officers in the search for ex-convict Buster Cooper, 27, wanted for several armed robberies in the area. The officers went to the home of Cooper’s sister near Picher. When Deputy Hodge went to the door and ordered that it be opened, a man opened the door and started backing up. Deputy Hodge followed the man inside. As Deputy Hodge entered the house, Buster Cooper ran into the room and shot the deputy. The other officers then opened fire on Cooper killing him with 27 bullet wounds. Deputy Hodge died the next day, January 3rd and was survived by his wife, daughter and son.

John Doyle Lawrence, Deputy Sheriff

Ottawa County Sheriff's Office

Shortly before midnight on Monday, May 20, 1957, Deputy Lawrence, 54, and his partner Deputy Sheriff William L. Lawson spotted a blue 1953 Packard that fit the description of a car used in the wounding of two Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers an hour before in northwest Miami. The deputies followed the Packard to one mile west of North Miami where the Packard rolled to a stop apparently “drowned out” by the heavy rains that had occurred. The driver got out of the Packard as the two deputies were approaching and opened fire on them. The first shot struck Deputy Lawrence in the neck and he fell to the ground. Deputy Lawson returned fired and wounded the man who got back in his car and escaped. Deputy Lawson stayed with his wounded partner and broadcast the tag and car description to other units. The driver, Jack D. Sloan, 27, was found dead an hour later in his house where he apparently committed suicide. Deputy Lawrence died a few hours later about 3 A.M. on Tuesday, May 21, leaving behind his wife and son.