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By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged

OKLAHOMA CITY — Twenty-five years ago this week, I watched as two-time killer Wanda Jean Allen was strapped to a gurney and injected with lethal drugs at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, about 130 miles southeast of Oklahoma City.

Then a state news reporter for The Oklahoman, I served as a media witness for Oklahoma’s first execution of a woman since it became the nation’s 46th state in 1907.

Earlier, I had covered Allen’s unsuccessful clemency hearing and an anti-death penalty march on Allen’s behalf led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. 

Prisons were a major part of my reporting work at that time. That same month, I reported on the state Corrections Board’s debate on high inmate phone rates and did front-page stories on the escape — and later capture — of two violent inmates from the penitentiary.

But about that same time, I learned that a more appealing job — at least to me — was about to become open in The Oklahoman’s newsroom.

The Oklahoma City newspaper’s religion editor had decided to step down.

I knew this because I was married to her. That’s right: My move to full-time Godbeat reporting — which has lasted 25 fulfilling years as of 2026 — was made possible by my wife, Tamie.

In a farewell column headlined “Some jobs are more important,” Tamie explained her decision to devote more time and attention to our three children. Brady was 7, Keaton 3 and Kendall 1 at the time.

“So many stories remain to be told, though,” Tamie wrote. “And if I know my successor as well as I think I do, he’ll make a real effort to find every one of them when he officially comes on board in a few days. 

“Bobby Ross Jr. will become the next religion editor, putting me in the unique position of introducing my husband to you,” she added.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online magazine Religion Unplugged.

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