Graduation ceremonies for students completing their training programs at Southwest Technology Center are slated for 7 p.m. May 18 at in the Frances Herron Seminar Center at the school.

Herschal Crow, former state senator and secretary of transportation for the state of Oklahoma, is slated to be the keynote speaker. He was born in Olustee and graduated from Altus High School in 1953 and from Oklahoma State University in 1957 with a degree in education.

In 1968 he was elected to the Oklahoma Senate and was re-elected three times, serving until 1982. While in the Senate, he served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee and as chairman of the Joint House and Senate Budget Commission. In 1995, Gov. Frank Keating appointed him to the Oklahoma Transportation Commission where he later served as chairman until 2001, when the governor named him to his cabinet as secretary of transportation. He served in this capacity until 2003.

He has served his community in a variety of positions including president of the Altus Rotary Club, director of the Museum of the Western Prairie, president of the Altus Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Altus Military Affairs Committee, director for the Jackson County Memorial Hospital Health Care Corporation; member of the board of directors for the Altus National Bank of Commerce and is a past chairman of the Altus Public School Foundation.

He and his wife Betty have two sons, David of Altus and Carter, who lives in

Houston.