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Mary Fincher
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Octabiano Ramirez
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Walter Hewett
B: 1960-05-04
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Hewett, Walter

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2602 South Houston Avenue
Humble, TX 77396
Phone: 281-441-2171
Fax: 281-441-1445
Stanley King
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Obituary for Stanley Lee King

Stanley Lee  King
A long time ago, in a far-away land, Nell Caroline King gave birth to a fine baby boy named Stanley Lee. That “long time ago” was 89 years ago, and the “far-away land” was Calcutta, India. On October 13th, Stan went to be with the Lord. He is preceded in death by his parents Richard Erle and Nell King, and his brothers, Richard and Bob. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Carolyn; his daughter Melinda and husband Kevin Hooper; and his daughter Lisa and husband Johnny Linney. He also leaves behind granddaughter Elizabeth and husband David White; grandson Christopher and wife Daniella Young; grandson Bradley Young; granddaughter Liza and husband Billy Chapman; and granddaughter Abby Linney; plus several nieces and nephews.

Life Story for Stanley Lee King

This long ride began at nine in the morning on February 5th, 1927, at the Edith Cavell Nursing Home in Calcutta, India, born of American parents, Nell Caroline King and Dr. Richard Erle King, Dentist. Two older brothers were Richard and Robert, now both deceased. After serving as a Dentist in the U.S. Army during World War 1, my Dad accepted a job as Dentist in India for Smith Brothers American Dentists of London. He returned to his and my Mother’s hometown of Keithsburg, Illinois, to set up practice there when I was three years old.

I was raised in Keithsburg, until the age of eighteen, attending Keithsburg Consolidated Schools and graduating high school in a class of thirteen students as Salutatorian in 1945. Most important to me during those high school years were the many friendships formed.

One year was spent at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, followed by three years at the University of Wyoming with a B.S. Degree in the Professional Curriculum of Petroleum Geology. Highlights of my high school and college years were playing the trumpet in marching and dance bands, culminating with my overall improvement to play in Laramie in a dance band we called, “The Cinder City Five”, which had the distinction of being given a write up in the National Music Magazine, “Down Beat”. Although this is my only claim to fame, being young and stupid, I failed to keep a copy, an act I regret to this day.

After leaving Wyoming, the Korean War broke out and my 1-A draft status prevented me from getting a job as a Geologist. The Army was not that particular, and after basic training in 1951 at Fort Ord, California, I was sent to the 64th Engineers Base Photomaping Company at Fort Winfield Scot, California. From there I shipped out to Japan to be assigned as an Infantry Rifleman to duty in Korea. The night before I was to leave for Korea, my orders were changed to the 34th Engineers Base Photomaping Company, Tokyo, probably as a result of my earlier short assignment to a like unit at Winfield Scot. I remained in Tokyo as a Multiplex Map Compiler until discharged in the spring of 1953.

I was hired as a Geologist at this time in late May with Texaco. When I called my Dad and told him I had a job with Texaco, he asked me, “How much are they paying you?” When I replied, “385 dollars a month”, he said, “You can’t be worth that much money to anybody!” Texaco sent me to Venezuela to an oil camp called Mata. I soon met the then, and still, greatest highlight of my life, Carolyn Gay Hoggard, from Kingston, Oklahoma. She was living at the Mata 4 Wildcat Camp in the jungle with her Aunt Bess and Uncle Mac, a tool pusher with the Santa Fe Drilling Company. A geologist co-worker, Tony Petullo, and I arrived at the rig in the evening in need of a cup of coffee. The driller pointed to some trailers on a hill, “go to the end trailer and they will give you some coffee”. We did, Carolyn opened the door, and at that point, my life was changed forever. When I told her Aunt Bess we wanted to get married, she thought I’d better check that out with Mac first. I found him up on the rig floor drilling and he said, “We’d be proud to have you in the family” – reached into his back pocket, pulled out a plug of “Beachnut Chewing Tobacco” – a high price to pay for Carolina! We were soon married in the old section of Maracaibo on Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, 1953, in a small courthouse/jailhouse setting (such as that seen on the old Andy Griffith Mayberry TV Show). On the plane with her coming to Maracaibo from Central Venezuela was Texaco’s President, in Venezuela, Mr. Jo Rice Carroll. When she told him she was going to be married tomorrow, he said, “I’ll just take the day off and go with you”, bringing her some flowers to hold. The wedding was all in Spanish, taking about four hours, requiring the eleven witnesses to have their histories recorded in longhand in a huge ledger. My boss, Al Perko, later informed me of one place in the ceremony where Carolina promised to walk behind the burro while I rode!

We first lived at Camp Marcelino near Maracaibo and then at a camp called Paujisal in the state of Falcon where I worked the Tiquaje and El Mamon Fields. From there we were sent to Camp Roblecito in Central Venezuela where my two daughters, Melinda and Lisa were born in 1956 and 1959, respectively, delivered at the Texaco Roblecito Hospital.

After seven years in Venezuela, I accepted a transfer to Oklahoma City in 1960 with stops in Tulsa in 1964 and New Orleans in 1966. While in New Orleans I was assigned to offshore work in Ghana, Africa and office duty in London. After serving twenty and one half years with Texaco, I resigned in 1973 and hired on with Signal Oil Company in Houston, which later merged with Burmah Oil, then with Aminoil. Three others and I formed NRG Exploration in 1979, of which I was Vice President of Explorations. We helped create the Austin Chalk Oil Boom of the 1980’s by borrowing $500,000 to buy wildcat acreage out ahead of the play in Burleson County, Texas. We drilled the first Austin Chalk well in Burleson County, the #1 George Simak, which blew out while drilling and was completed for 900 barrels of oil per day. The next well across the road was a dry hole. From then on we drilled 350 successful wells and several dry holes. In addition to the Chalk, we discovered the prolific Giddings Edwards Lime Gas Field and the Taylor Sand “Big A” Gas Field. While at NRG, I traveled twice to the Ivory Coast, Africa, to evaluate offshore oil concessions.

In the mid-1980’s came the oil crash which nearly destroyed the U.S. Oil Industry. At this time we were subject to a 75 percent personal income tax plus a punitive “windfall profits” tax. This tax was never applied to movie actors, sports figures, or U.S. Congressmen, only those in the “evil” U.S. Oil Industry. When the price of oil fell from $30 per barrel to $9 per barrel, I lost in a period of a few months almost everything I had worked for, later being forced into bankruptcy. Bankruptcy was all business related and all debts of a personal nature, I managed to pay.

I started over by doing short time consulting work and peddling drilling deals with limited success during the time from 1987 – 1994. In August 1994, with $242 in the bank, I was offered a two week consulting job with Randall and Dewey, Inc. of Houston, a struggling new company having sixteen employees. The two weeks turned into over twelve years with a short layoff in early 2004.

My daughter Melinda, with their father Marc Young, has given me three grandchildren – Elizabeth, eighteen, Christopher, seventeen, and Bradley, fifteen. My daughter Lisa and Johnny Linney, have made me a Grandfather to Liza, fourteen, and Abby, eleven.

I am still working at 78 and figure I am way too young to quit. All in all, it’s been a great ride.

–Written by Stan King in the late spring of 2005,

The following was updated by Carolina:

Stan continued working for the next eleven years doing consulting work, mostly in Kentucky. During this time, his son-in-law, Johnny, gave Stan office space in his place of business. Working up to 5:00 the day before his surgery, he completed and packed his maps. I am sure when he walked to the door he turned around and gave his office one last look, turned off the light and closed the door, wondering if this was his last goodbye to this place. He mailed his maps to Kentucky. He was 89 years old.

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