Vic Van Hook was born April 12, 1924, in Springfield, Missouri. Following high school graduation, Vic worked briefly for the Treasurery Department in Washington, D.C., before being recruited into the Army at age 18 to serve in World War II. During the war, he was stationed in Europe.

After returning home, Vic attended college at Southwest Missouri State. He graduated with a double major in commerce and history in 1948.

Vic taught business and English at Norwood High School in Missouri three years before entering graduate school at Oklahoma A&M. Vic received a master’s degree in business education in 1952.

He later taught in the Air Force clerk/typist program at Oklahoma A&M for three months before moving to Stillwater High School where he taught business and English.

Four years later, Vic became a field representative for McGraw-Hill Books. His territory was the four-state area of Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and New Mexico.
In 1964, Vic joined the Oklahoma Department of Vocational and Technical Education as a traveling auditor in the manpower division. He later became state supervisor of business and office education. In 1978, he was named assistant state director for occupational programs. Eight years later he was named deputy director.

Vic served as special assistant to the associate commissioner of the Bureau of Adult Vocational and Technical Education in Washington, D.C., and worked with the American Vocational Association, from 1974-75, on legislation to improve the Vocational Education Act of 1963. He also served as president of the American Vocational Association and was part of a U.S. delegation that studied vocational programs in the Soviet Union in 1975.

Vic retired from the Oklahoma Department of Vo-Tech in 1988. He also retired as a colonel in the Army National Guard after serving more than 30 years. He currently lives in Stillwater and enjoys traveling throughout the United States and Europe.

Mr. Van Hook was inducted into the CareerTech Hall of Fame in 1999.