Family, Friends Remember Longtime City Of Tulsa Leader Dwain Midget

Family and friends are remembering a longtime City of Tulsa leader who passed away Tuesday night.

Mayor Bynum said Dwain Midget was "a true Tulsa success story."

He started working for the city at the age of 18 doing a summer job as a trash collector. He then earned his law degree and worked his way through the ranks of city government and was assistant to several mayors.

It all started with that summer job in 1972 and later joined the City of Tulsa full time.

Over the next nearly 40 years, he served under 8 mayors. Dewey Bartlett was one of them.

“He was always Mr. Energy. Full of energy, always smiling, always laughing, joking about something," said Bartlett.

Dwain's passion was working for positive change and growth in Tulsa.

“We drove around for several hours and he started taking us to places that I hadn’t seen, or it had been a long time since I’d seen it. And he’d say 'Mayor well here’s something over here' and he’d tell me about what’s going on,” said Barlett.

Bartlett said Dwain was proud of where he came from -- North Tulsa.

“And he made sure that we knew that. And he made sure that people were taken care of as best as possible," said Bartlett.

Dwain was a 1972 graduate of Booker T. Washington High School and grew up with Bobby Eaton junior.

“We were just what they say – we were boys, you know?” said Eaton.

Eaton said one of his favorite memories with Dwain -- who he calls "Flip" was watching him sing at their Motown Talent Show.

“I can just remember Dwain wanted to sing at one time, but he wasn’t a great singer. You know what I mean, but he wanted to sing,” said Eaton.

But he's never going to forget his childhood friend who was always willing to help someone in his colorful bowties.

“I’ll be talking about flip for years to come. I’ll be telling his story for a long time,” said Eaton.