Guymon mourns former Mayor Jessie Nelson, dies at 91

Guymon’s five-member council still runs on the kind of steady, practical governance Jessie Nelson spent decades building, and city leaders said his influence remains visible in the way the county seat conducts its business. Nelson died June 8 at 91, leaving behind a record of service that included 28 years on the Guymon City Council and 14 years as mayor.

Current Mayor Kim Peterson said Nelson represented public service at its best and helped guide Guymon through important periods of growth and change. City Manager Micheal Shannon, who served under Nelson’s leadership, called him a mentor and a true gentleman, and said Nelson faced challenges with integrity, common sense and respect for others.

That legacy matters in a city where local government still sits close to everyday life. Guymon is the county seat of Texas County, had 12,965 residents in the 2020 census and remains the largest city in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Its economy is tied to agriculture, feedlots, pork production, natural gas and wind energy, making planning, infrastructure and public trust essential parts of City Hall’s work. The council continues to meet at 424 N. Main St. on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m., with the mayor chosen by the council.

Nelson stepped away from office in 2005 after deciding not to seek re-election. At the time, The Oklahoman reported that he was 70 and Guymon’s longest-serving mayor. The Oklahoma Hall of Fame for City and Town Officials says his public career in Guymon stretched across nearly three decades on the council, with his last 14 years as mayor, giving him a long view of the city’s changes and the patience needed to manage them.

His reach extended well beyond Guymon. The Oklahoma Municipal League says Nelson served 11 years on its board of directors and became board president in 1999. In 1995, he became the first and only official to receive both the Mayor of the Year and Don Rider awards from the league. The Guymon Chamber of Commerce created the Jess Nelson Community Leadership Award in 2001, a sign that his name had already become part of the city’s civic identity while he was still alive.

Before and alongside his years in elected office, Nelson spent 36 years in public education as a sixth-grade teacher and elementary school principal in Buffalo, Shattuck and Guymon. He also spent 18 summers as a smoke jumper parachuting into forest fires, a second career that underscored the same willingness to take on hard work that marked his public service.

For Guymon, Nelson’s death is more than the loss of a former officeholder. It closes a chapter on a generation of local leaders who shaped how the city governs itself, and whose standards for service still define the community’s present-day identity.