Cathy Costello dropped by Woods County in her campaign on the Republican ticket for Oklahoma labor commissioner. She agreed to talk to us about the tragic stabbing death of her husband when he was labor commissioner two years ago.
Cathy Costello has five children. All are doing well except number two son, Christian Costello, who has schizophrenia with psychosis and was in a special caretaking unit. On Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015, his dad, Mark Costello, the recently re-elected labor commissioner, and his mom, Cathy, made their regular trip to visit their son and take him outside the facility for a family dinner at a local restaurant.
Inexplicably, during a paranoid, delusional psychotic break, Christian stabbed his father to death. Mark died in his wife's arms.
(This writer, when I heard the news from Oklahoma City media, realized this was the man who had hired me to videotape and take still pictures of his inauguration day in 2011. We loaned a small video/still camera so family members could take breakfast and getting-ready pictures, and then during the icy inauguration ceremony on the south steps of the capitol building, I took both still and video from a stand erected for the media. A picture from that event was the cover of a Friday Alva Review-Courier. A print hangs on the wall between the doors of Marione's offices.)`
In her visit to the newspaper, Cathy said she has wrestled with how to present her interest in using the power of the labor commissioner's office to better provide mental health services for Oklahoma's labor force. About a year after the stabbing of her husband, a workplace beheading occurred at Vaughan Foods in Moore.
She said, "I don't want anyone's vote because of my personal tragedy in the past. I want people to understand that serious help is needed for mental health issues in the labor force."
Since her husband's death, Cathy has been a frequent public speaker, traveling the state and the nation to share her personal and heartbreaking story.
She has testified twice before a Senate hearing committee and was instrumental in the unanimous passing of the Labor Commissioner Mark Costello Act, which provides assisted outpatient treatment to Oklahomans in an ongoing mental health crisis.
She traveled to Washington, D. C., to advocate for mental health reform, encouraging federal legislators to vote for the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, which passed the House and Senate in 2016.
Cathy was born in Overland Park, Kansas, and put herself through the University of Kansas. She said, "I was poor. I held three jobs and didn't own my first car until I was 22."
After a stint of school teaching in Texas and Oklahoma, she and her new husband, Mark, started their first business together with a card table and two folding chairs. She and her husband worked hand-in-hand to develop and launch eight businesses in six industries around the world.
In 2009, with Cathy's support, Mark decided to run for public office. In 2010, Mark was elected the Oklahoma State Labor Commissioner. In 2014, he was elected to a second term. Cathy was Mark's partner and personal advisor, discussing the operations and challenges at the Department of Labor on a daily basis.
The current labor commissioner, Melissa Houston, was appointed after Mark's death and says she will not run. Other Republicans filing include State Representative Leslie Osborn and Keith Swinton, besides Cathy Costello. Democrats filing include Fred Dorrell and Sam Mi-Sourn. An Independent candidate is Brandt Dismukes.
Cathy said her emphasis will be to work with other state agencies to promote job creation, workplace safety and workforce training and development.
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