John Wolfe

John William Wolfe, Jr. was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma on December 18, 1928 to Helen Hope (Eby) Wolfe and John W. Wolfe, Sr. His brother, Hal Huchison Wolfe, was born on October 16, 1930. John attended Ponca City schools, graduating in 1946. During high school, he lettered twice in basketball and was active in the mixed chorus, boys’ chorus, and the octet. He was active in local and state badminton tournaments and earned a collection of trophies. In 1946 he entered Oklahoma A&M College (Oklahoma State University) to major in mechanical engineering with a petroleum option. He made the honor roll several times and was active in Pi Tau Sigma honorary society.

After graduation in 1950, he took a job in the training program with Continental Oil Company (CONOCO) Production Department, in Big Spring, Texas as a roustabout. On December 14, 1950, he was married to Virginia Ruth Phelps in Big Spring. In January 1951 he was drafted and sent to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas for basic training. He was sent to Officers Candidate School at Ft. Sill which he completed in April, 1952 as the Honor Graduate, 1st in Class. He was assigned to OCS as a tactical officer for the next few months before he was shipped to Korea to join the 96th Field Artillery. He received a Bronze Star for his efforts in the war. During his tour of duty in Korea, Virginia stayed in Oklahoma City with John’s parents and worked at a mortgage company.

After his tour ended in 1953, he was hospitalized with a rare disease (infectious hemorrhagic fever) which slightly delayed his return home. He was discharged at Ft. Lewis, Washington in December, 1953. He returned to Conoco in January, 1954 in Houston. His first permanent job as an engineer was in Ventura, California in August, 1954.

While in Ventura, John worked as a junior engineer, district engineer, drilling foreman, and production foreman. His sons, Stan and David, were born in Ventura. He said all Virginia could remember about Ventura was being broke and pregnant. In 1961, he was promoted to District Engineer in Odessa, Texas. In January, 1962 he moved to Eunice, New Mexico, then to Hobbs as supervising engineer in charge of unit operations and state government regulatory affairs.

He moved to Corpus Christi, Texas in 1964 and was promoted to Assistant Manager in 1965. He was promoted to Manager of the Abilene District office in the spring of 1967, and then in the fall of that year he moved to division engineer in the Oklahoma City office. He held this position until his promotion to Assistant Manager of the Casper, Wyoming Division Office in 1969. After two years in Casper, John moved into the offshore division in New Orleans, Louisiana. He helped establish the first co-op oil spill clean-up association (Clean Gulf Associates) and became its first engineering committee chairman.

In 1978, John joined the production engineering services section in Houston where he became supervisor of a group of engineers who worked on production problems worldwide. He worked on projects in the North Sea, Dubai, and South Pacific. He was part of a task force that made three trips to China (before they allowed tourists) as guests of the Chinese Offshore Oil Company to attempt to gain leases for Conoco. These efforts failed when DuPont bought Conoco and funds were not available. He continued his efforts in the oil spill area by working to establish co-ops in California and Alaska. John was appointed by James Watt, Secretary of the Interior, to represent American Petroleum Institute on a committee composed of environmental directors of all the offshore states from Texas to North Carolina. He was also chairman of the API on down-hole safety valves for four years.

He moved to the production department again in 1983 as Director of Environmental Affairs. He spent time in Washington, D.C., working with the Environmental Protection Association and Coast Guard to help develop regulatory programs. After two years in this job he moved back to Production Engineering Services as supervisor of drilling engineers worldwide. He worked with engineers in Dubai, Cairo, Norway, and the United Kingdom. He would remain in this position until his retirement in 1987 after 37 years with Conoco.

After retirement, John remained in Houston for a year before moving to Horseshoe Bay, Texas in 1988. He was active in the church choir as he had been in all locations. He was elected to the church board for six years, serving the last three as Chairman. He continued to play golf, with a handicap as low as 6 and rising to the 20 plus range. He was looking for his 5th hole-in-one, having two in Houston and two in Horseshoe Bay. John’s last round of golf was with his three grandchildren two months prior to his passing on November 5, 2010.

Memorial service will be Thursday, November 11, 2010 at the Church at Horseshoe Bay at 2:30 PM with Johnny White and Pete Christy officiating.