Oklahoma Leader and Pioneer Dies

November 13, 2008 – The IAFF regrets to report the death of Thomas Jefferson Riddle Jr. Riddle, 79, a former president of Oklahoma City, OK Local 157 and the Professional Fire Fighters of Oklahoma (PFFO), died November 12. "Tom Riddle will be remembered as a friend, leader, mentor and labor-movement pioneer," says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.

The family will be receiving friends Friday, November 14, at Smith and Kernke Funeral Home, 14624 N. May Avenue, from 1:00 -7:00 p.m., in Oklahoma City. The memorial service will be held at All Souls Episcopal Church, NW 63rd and Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

IAFF 11th District Vice President Sandy McGhee remembers, “Tom Riddle taught me a long time ago that if you are a fire fighter in trouble, no matter what kind of trouble, he was your friend.

McGhee adds, “He taught me, along with hundreds of others, how to use collective bargaining and the law to fight for better working conditions and benefits. There will never be another Tom Riddle.”

Riddle was born January 12, 1929, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The family moved to Oklahoma City in 1930, where he attended high school.

He began serving his country in the U.S. military in the Navy and Marine Corps Reserves. In 1950, he began his 28-year career as an Oklahoma fire fighter, serving in the Midwest City and Tinker fire departments before joining the Oklahoma City Fire Department in 1951.

In 1964, Riddle was a charter member of Oklahoma City Local 157 (formerly Local 1524). Almost immediately, he began fighting for better working conditions and benefits for his fellow fire fighters. Among other things, he helped pass state Workers’ Compensation legislation and the state’s Fire and Police Collective Bargaining Act.

“Thanks to Riddle, 77 IAFF locals in Oklahoma have collective bargaining,” says Rick Beams, president of the PFFO. “Since then, the PFFO has worked hard to ensure those bargaining agreements are honored. But we owe more than just our bargaining rights to Riddle. We have relied heavily on his direction over the years and we will be lost without him for a while.”

Riddle served as president of Oklahoma City Local 157 from 1971-1976 and then as president of the PFFO from 1977-1979.

“He coined the phrase, ‘you crack the whip, we make the trip,’ which means if a member calls for help, we respond,” says Beams.

After his tenure as PFFO president, Riddle served as a labor consultant, helping fire fighters and other workers in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri and New Mexico negotiate their contracts and protect their rights as workers.

Other positions he held include: Oklahoma AFL-CIO Executive Board member, Oklahoma County Democratic Party Secretary-Treasurer and Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area United Way Trustee.

He is survived by his wife, Winona Dee; four children, Sherri Henderson, Tamlyn Jordan (and husband Matthew), Robin Riddle and Thomas Jefferson Riddle III (and fiancée Elizabeth Ashley Ingram); five grandchildren, Patrick Delaney, Nicholas Snodgrass, Sydney Riddle, Shaun Stephenson and Zachary Jordan, and his brother Peter Riddle and wife Barbara, and nephew Jerry Riddle and wife Michelle Shipley.