Jerry Langrehr, who passed
away in July 2000, was many things in his life: loving father, good husband,
football player, coach and "oil finder." Two terms that are perhaps
not used enough to describe how his peers and contemporaries felt about
Jerry are "well liked" and "well respected," a rare combination found in
few individuals.
Jerry's early years were spent on
a farm just south of the Barton County line in Stafford County. Jerry
and his five siblings: Fern, now living in Great Bend, Thelma who resides
in Wichita, Patty Jo who died in 1997, Harold living in Great Bend, and
Jim deceased since 1974, enjoyed their early years there. This included
going with their parents on Saturdays to Ellinwood for shopping, going
to the movies etc.
He attended the 1st through 8th
grade at a nearby one room country school. For many of those years
he was the only student in his class. The teachers were excellent,
however. He commented in later years that he really didn't learn
much new about the structure of English grammar after he left this school.
His education was continued at Great Bend High School where he was involved
in a myriad of activities. Some of the highlights being four years
of football (Co-Captain in his senior year), four years of baseball, attendance
at Boys State as a Junior, Junior Class President etc. He graduated
in 1954 and enrolled at the University of Wichita on a full football scholarship.
Jerry entered engineering school and did very well in math, but found some
of the engineering courses not to his liking. He talked to Harold
"Cug" Steincamp who suggested that he try geology. Jerry having enjoyed
his summer work in the "oil fields" followed "Cug's" suggestion and made
the switch.
Numbering among his classmates were
these well known local geologists: Harvey Gough, Gus Messinger, Gene Falkowski,
and Neil Sikes. While at the university, jerry was involved with
the Geology Club. During this period he worked for Doyle Fair as
a draftsman.
Graduating in January of 1959, Jerry
found employment with Pierce Musgrove where his later extremely close friend
and business associate, Albert Abercrombie, worked. Jerry and Albert
were to develop a special relationship. Over the years after the
death of Pierce Musgrove, the company evolved into Abercrombie Drilling.
Jerry became a partner in Abercrombie Drilling last year. So in a
sense Jerry was employed by the same company for 41 years. Truly
a rarity of devotion and loyalty to one company, that is seldom encountered.
Jerry has a son Scott who lives
in Augusta, and whose baseball team Jerry coached from 1973 until 1977.
Jerry also coached softball from 1987 until 2000. He loved to be
involved in his children's activities. His daughter, Nancy, was a
national class swimmer. Jerry managed to attend all of her meets.
Nancy now lives in Bel Aire, and she and Scott provided Jerry with four
grandchildren.
In 1978, Jerry married Kathyrn Boyd
of Winfield and they have two daughters: Sarah now attending Wichita State
University and Emily currently attending high school. Both daughters
have plans to become medical doctors. Kitt Noah who worked with Jerry
recalls how much he loved his girls. Jerry served his profession
and industry well. He was on the Kansas Geological Foundation for
a term and also was President of the Kansas Geological Society in 1991.
At various times he served on the Boards of KIOGA and the Wichita Petroleum
Club. Jerry was also a member of IPAA and the American Association
of Petroleum of Geologists.
Jerry's passing has left a hole
in the community, the profession, and petroleum industry. He will
be particularly missed by his family, his co-workers and his multitude
of friends.