Major General Rita Bly Aragon

Portrait of Rita Bly Aragon, c. 1947 - 2016, photograph, Oklahoma Hall of Fame and Gaylord-Pickens Museum, Portraits and Busts Collection.


Inducted: 2016

Hometown: Dale, Oklahoma

Branch: Oklahoma Air National Guard


Inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2016, Major General Rita Aragon was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, in 1947, but calls Dale, Oklahoma, her hometown. An educator by trade, Aragon began her career as an elementary school teacher and eventually became a principal. She was named Principal of the Year in 1988 and 1992 by Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Aragon joined the Oklahoma Air National Guard in 1979. She started out as a basic airman, acting as a draftsman for an engineering squadron. She applied three times before being accepted into an officer candidate school. At the time of her acceptance, Aragon was the third choice to attend officer candidate school; however, she graduated as an honor graduate. During the Gulf War, she served at Dover Military Mortuary, because she was a Mortuary officer. She held the rank of Brigadier General, the first female in the Oklahoma Air National Guard to ever hold that rank, before becoming Major General. Aragon is the first woman to command a unit, a base, and, ultimately, the Oklahoma Air National Guard. Aragon served two tours at the Pentagon as the Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and as the Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Air Force for Manpower and Personnel.

Aragon is the first female and the fourth Oklahoma Secretary of Military and Veterans' Affairs. In addition, she is a member of the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame.


Impact Map


Photos from the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives


Rita Bly Aragon Acceptance Remarks at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame Ceremony

Oklahoma Hall of Fame, 2016

© 2020 Oklahoma Hall of Fame
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