Jack Lyndon Stanford

Jack Lyndon Stanford died on Sunday, May 6, 2012. He was born on January 5th, 1926 to Mona Martin Stanford and Mark Stephen Stanford. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mona, and by his sister, Betty Stanford when he was two (2) years of age; and by his father in 1949. His maternal aunts and their husbands raised him in Oklahoma City, and Harrah, Oklahoma.

Jack attended Edgemere, Harding and Classen schools before entering the Air Force Aviation program during World War II. He flew 15 bombing missions to Japan from Guam, including the last ever flown in Word War II. Two weeks after the atom bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this last bombing raid foiled the Japanese military in an effort to take over the rule of Japan, allowing the Emperor to remain in power and agree to surrender. Jack flew a number of air-sea rescue search missions for fellow airmen and finally, prisoner-of-war supply drops in Manchuria, after peace negotiations. He was awarded the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Clusters for service to his country. On returning, he finished his college education with a degree in Petroleum Geology at the University of Oklahoma. While in college, he married his childhood sweetheart, Jacqueline Jane Fulton and celebrated fifty-nine years of marriage together.

His work in the oil industry with Kerr-McGee, British American, Anadarko Production and Oppenheimer Companies gave him an opportunity to make many friends in Billings, MT, Denver, Amarillo and Dallas, and Alabama. In 1974 he formed his own oil company, The Maverick Oil Company, and remained president until his death.

He was a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Oklahoma City Geological Society, Exploration Managers Association, Kappa Alpha Fraternity, Men’s Dinner Club, Quiet Birdmen Pilots Association and The English Speaking Union. He attended Westminster and the First Presbyterian Churches.

A son, Jay Stephen Stanford, a daughter, Sally Sue Stanford, and his beloved companion, Mary Beth Berney, all of Oklahoma City, survive him.

Memorial Services will be held at Hahn-Cook at 2:00 P.M., on Monday, May 14, 2012. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation or Integris Foundation.