Reflections by W.T. (Dub) Riley

W.T. Riley

Description

This is the story about growing up in a poor cowboy/farmer family, serving in the armed forces during WWII, and then starting at the bottom in the oil fields of West Texas and then rising to an office position in the Gulf Building in down town Midland, Texas.

Sujets

• HISTORY
• Histoire
• General officer
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Outskirts Press
• Date de parution: 08 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781977266002
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

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Reflections by W.T. (Dub) Riley All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2023 W.T. Riley v2.0
The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.
This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Outskirts Press, Inc. http://www.outskirtspress.com
ISBN: 978-1-9772-6600-2
Cover Photo © 2023 W.T. Riley. All rights reserved - used with permission.
Outskirts Press and the "OP" logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
T ABLE OF C ONTENTS
Foreword
Chapter 1 The Beginning and My Family
Chapter 2 My Early Years
Chapter 3 My Military History
Chapter 4 Early Days in the Oilfield
Chapter 5 Newly Married and Work Life
Chapter 6 Stories of folks that I met in the oilfield
Chapter 7 Investing in land
Chapter 8 Motor Home and Travel Group
Chapter 9 Stories of Living in Odessa
Chapter 10 Early Radio and Television Stations in the Permian Basin
Chapter 11 "Rileyisms" or my Sayings
Chapter 12 Stories written by my Uncle
F OREWORD
Dr. R. Mikel Lemons (Agriculture and Horsemanship Instructor at Odessa College)
I HAVE KNOWN Mr. Dub Riley for many years. He and his wife Sue were part of the crew that fed a large group of students that came out to the YT Ranch on an educational NRCS Field Day trip each year. I would also see them at Hamburger Night at the American Legion in Odessa, Texas. Sue and I were talking one night and she told me that she had made some good Fig preserves from a big bush that grew in their backyard. I told her that I had made some grape jelly. We traded jars and the fig preserves were wonderful.
Dub would call me at the Odessa College Ranch every now and then to offer magazines that the students could use when writing papers. He has donated to different scholarships at Odessa College and was recently recognized as the oldest living graduate of Odessa College.
Dub is full of oilfield wisdom and has a vast knowledge about country music singers and other facts about the history of Odessa and the oil field. He also tells great stories of his time in the Marine Corps and World War II. He was recently awarded a Marine Corps ring that he is very proud to wear.
After Sue passed away, one night when we were at Hamburger Night at the American Legion. Dub introduced me to his "Lady Friend", (Nancy Spano) and told me that they had been friends for a long time. Well a few months later, he and Nancy married.
At Hamburger Night about a year ago, I gave him a book that I had written about "Cowboy Philosophy". Dub mentioned that he wanted to write a book. Nancy and I encouraged him and said "Let’s get it done", so he purchased an iPad and began to make voice recordings. Nancy is such a sweet lady and she has been a great "cheerleader" for this project.
My wife and I have become very close friends with both of them. Beside Hamburger Nights, we have gone dancing with them and to many other functions. At Hamburger Nights at the American Legion, it’s always the table that Dub and Nancy sit at that’s the loudest. He always says that we solve the world’s problems when we are waiting on our burgers and I would say that at least we try. From time to time, I would take the recordings from his iPad and put them to type written form to put in this book.
I am still impressed with his knowledge of the history and the people that he crossed paths with. In reading this book, you will learn about the simple life that country folks in west Texas lived back in the 1920’s and beyond before we had all the pleasantries of life that we are used to today. You will also learn about the early oilfield technology and see how it has progressed to the automated oilfields and equipment that we have today. I hope you get as much out of this book as I have in helping Dub "get it done".
Chapter 1
T HE B EGINNING AND M Y F AMILY
T HE B EGINNING
I’m going to tell you a story of my life, where it started and a few things that happened along the way, but as I go along, you will find that my family moved about 15 times between when I was born and when I left for the service during World War II. I actually grew up in the farming and ranching industry in West Texas and then came home after the war to have a career with Gulf Oil Company. I served in many capacities during my tenure in the oil patch. We lived in Goldsmith for twelve years when I first started out in the oil field, then moved to West Odessa, then to Midland when I was transferred to the main office for eleven years as the purchasing agent for Gulf and then back to Odessa where I currently reside. As a veteran, I am proud that I was able to serve in the armed forces and am also proud to be a Marine. I initially wanted to title this book "Roots", but that title was already taken and then I thought of "Ruts" because it seemed like my family was always in a rut, but I guess I will just settle for a classier title. I’ll just call it "Reflections by W.T. "Dub" Riley. Anyway, let me tell you a little about my family and where we came from.
One of the first Riley’s to ever come over here to America was Hugh Riley. He came to New England and settled in Maryland when he was about 24 years old. He lived there about two or three years and then brought his brother over from Europe and settled in what is now Washington DC. He had about a section of land or whatever he could cultivate there. He had a bunch of kids and some of that bunch migrated down to North Carolina. They lived down in that area for about 75 to 100 years. Some of them then moved to Alabama and my grandfather was born near Montgomery Alabama. I don’t know the year, but he was a 14 year old kid during the civil war. He was at the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi where the Yankees tried to starve them out.
My aunt Ellen told me stories about my grandfather and the civil war. My grandfather had four or five brothers there in Alabama, but after the war was over, my grandfather never went back to Alabama. He was in the Siege of Vicksburg with a bunch of Texans and had heard about all the land and frontier, so he came to East Texas after the war and settled in Gatesville. He married a lady from Gatesville and they had three kids. His wife died and he was raising the three kids and so he married his wife’s sister. Her name was Tabitha Ann Franks. She was my grandmother.
Another side note is that my aunt Ellen eventually lived in Roswell, New Mexico. She found an old map that she could not identify or did not know why it had been saved by her mother. I ended up with the map and showed it to several people that tried to figure out what it was saved for. I eventually showed it to the people at the museum in Eden, Texas. They were able to understand it and identified it as land in a part of Bexar County before Concho County was split off of Bexar County. It was probably saved because my grandparents had acquired land in what was then Bexar County, Texas. I donated it to the museum in Eden, Texas. It now hangs on the wall in the museum and has a plate that shows that it was donated by Dub Riley.
So, here is a little more about the Franks. There were a bunch of Franks that lived in Gatesville. One of them was John Franks who owned Franks Meat Market over on the North side of Gatesville. So my grandmother was my grandfather’s second wife, but they got busy and had a bunch of kids. That’s where the Riley’s came from. My Grandmothers dad was named David Richardson Franks. He helped organized Coryell County in 1854. He was the first tax assessor and was later was elected the sheriff. My grandmother was from Arkansas. They were interested in the wide open spaces of Texas and that’s how they ended up here in Texas and in Gatesville for that matter. Most of the Riley’s and the Franks were farmers or even if they worked in town, they farmed on the side.
I might mention that Gatesville is located on the North East side of the Leon River and at times the river gets out of the banks, gets deep and covers up some of the lower areas. We were down there in the RV Park on the banks of the river just south of the Courthouse one time and the river got up and we had to evacuate and RV park and move up at to different place in town because the RV Park that we were staying in was under water in a matter of hours. The river goes on down and empties into Lake Belton at Temple, Texas.
My grandpa eventually bought a section of land just west of Eden, Texas at a little place called Live Oak. He farmed maize and grazed cattle there. My dad was born in 1893 at Live Oak. My grandpa traded that place for 640 acres about six miles north of Millersview, Texas. My grandpa died in 1909 when my dad was about sixteen years old. My granny then traded that for 320 acre farm about one mile north of Millersview. She and her children farmed that for a few years. My dad went to visit his brother out in Arizona and then granny moved into a two acre place in Millersview, Texas. My grandpa Wiley Tom Riley was the first person buried in the cemetery in Millersview. Many of my relatives are buried in Millersview, but there is not much there now. My grandpa’s brand is on display as one of the original settlers and cattlemen of the county.

W.T Riley Brand
M Y F AMILY
My Mother and Daddy were married in Duck Creek which is half way between Millersview and Paint Rock, Texas. A lot of those old towns just withered and went away, but the Duck Creek school house is still there. It is a hunt camp now. I remember my mother telling the story that they went off in a horse and buggy. The