Douglas Melville Webb’s Memoirs:

Where did I come from? Or: What Is My Geneaology:

Both of the following Geneaology’s, are only brief discussions of what’s available.

My Father’s Family: The. Webb’s: Christopher Webb from, Portsmouth England, crossed the Atlantic to Massachusetts, apparently sometime between 1639 and 1644. The first we are aware of him, is the announcement that he was made a freeman in 1645. Normally, an indentured servant, served their master for 5 years to pay for their Atlantic passage, but, of course, his servant status could have started in England. The Webb clan stayed principally in New England for many years. My great grandfather, Melville Olin Webb, was a railroad man, whose family settled in Olathe KS, and his son, my grandfather, Herbert M. Webb, became a doctor, and settled in Humboldt KS. Dr Webb was a member of the Kansas National Guard, and he was called up in 1918, in WWI, and they went to France. My grandmother, Blanche Fowler, who grew up in Ottawa KS, had three children and sang in the Methodist Church Choir in Humboldt. Her son, Herbert M. Webb, Jr, was my father. Unfortunately, Blanche died in 1918, when the Spanish Flu wreaked havoc across the country. My grandfather was hurt badly, when his horse bucked him off in France, and he was evacuated back to Maine, to recover from his injuries. Blanche’s sister, moved to Humboldt to take care of the three kids. Eventually, Dr. Webb, made it home, after recovering for a year. A number of years later, his second wife, Jo, lived with him in Humboldt, when I used to visit him at his house and at his Medical office.

My Mother’s Family: The Crook’s: My grandfather’s family came to the US from England, sometime between 1830 & 1855, because of ongoing religious persecution in England, against Catholics. They lived in a farming community Southeast of Preston, England. During a genealogy field trip in about 1990, my mother, my Aunt Lucene and I found one of the farms, that secretly doubled as a Catholic church, and the secrecy was to prevent persecution and attacks, by Church of England zealots. In the church cemetery, there were many Crook headstones. When they came to the US, they settled on the banks of the Mississippi near Hecker IL, South of St Louis. Then a few decades later they came to Southeast KS, to get away from the KKK harassment of Catholics in Illinois. My grandmother’s side of the family, settled in the Kansas Territory near Ft Scott KS, having come from the state of Missouri, and they came with two slaves. In 1910, my grandmother and grandfather were married. They got married in the Catholic church in Humboldt, at 4:30am, then caught the train to Kansas City, where they honeymooned. My grandmother, didn’t graduate from High School, until she was 21, because, after she completed the 8th grade, she accompanied her sister Clara, who was 3 years older, to the school for the deaf in Kansas City for 4 years.

My memories of my childhood

I sort of remember, when I was 5, my uncle Walt took me to a movie, when my sister Christine was born (I don’t think, this is my memory, but came from what I heard, my uncle and mother say). We lived in Kansas City when Christine was born. We moved to New York, and I remember a little about living in New York, when my father worked for TWA. The boys I ran around with, and played stick ball in the street with, were the Morrison brothers. I remember the celebrations in the streets, when WWII was over, which must have been 1945, when I would have turned 7. I remember our neighbors across the street were the Schwerins, and he was in advertising, and one of his clients was Bactine. I remember being visited by one of Mom’s female friends, or relatives, for about two weeks. I also remember my mother, cooking oysters on the half shell in our kitchen. I have very few memories of my father. I do remember my father, mother, and I, and I suppose Christine, walking home from church, after my first communion, and looking in a toy store window and wanting a toy pistol set for a first communion present. I sort of remember my father saying, that was an odd gift for a 1st communion present. I seem to remember my grandmother and I flying from New York to Kansas City when we moved to Iola, after my father had left us.

In Iola I have a trove of memories. 

When we returned from New York to Iola, I started going to the Jefferson Elementary School, about 3 blocks from my grand-parent’s house, where we lived, and right across the street from our Catholic church. I was in either the 4th or 5th grade, either 9 or 10. The boys I remember are Eddie Abbott, Charles Bowlus, Bob Cooksey, Cecil McClure and David Conine. The girls I remember are the twins Patty & Peggy Shannon, Vivian Tice, Helen Calkins, Mary Murrow, Charlene Sutherland, Jeanine Brazil, Virginia White and Edith Colt. I was with all these kids from Elementary School through High School.

Mom and Dad tried again, to restart their marriage, in California – My sister Christine and I are not sure about when this occurred, but it was probably about a year after we had come back from New York, and probably the trip started in the summer. My Mom, Christine and I went by train, from Iola to California, apparently, because our Mom and Dad, wanted to try to put their marriage back together again. I can remember arriving by train in California, where Dad was supposed to meet us, but he didn’t show up, and another relative picked us up. He did eventually show up, and we all got settled in an apartment in Oakland that was on the 2nd story over a small grocery store. I can remember playing Monopoly, and the game lasting for days. I can remember starting school in Oakland and not liking it. Christine who is 5 years younger than me, remembers Mom telling her, after she had gone to my school to talk to my teachers, “that Doug is upset, and we needed to go back to Iola”. Christine and I both remember the train ride back to Iola. Obviously, their marriage restart, didn’t work.

Being an altar boy was a fun experience for me, we had to learn several Latin phrases, and we had to learn the different way of doing things, of the several priests, that said mass.

Being fired as an altar boy, because I chose to continue going to public elementary school with my friends, rather than go to the new Catholic school, my sister went to, was not a fun experience. The priest that fired me wanted to send a message, and I recall it as being humiliating. I know my mother was concerned about having me change schools, after only two years of being uprooted from New York and then having a less than pleasant experience in California, so she gave me my choice, and to me it was an easy choice, I did not want to leave my friends. 

Wetting the bed until I was 11 or 12, was also not a fun experience. I have no idea why I wet the bed, but I suspect it had something to do, with my Dad leaving us, in New York. But in time, I grew out of wetting the bed. 

Living with our maternal grandparents was a good experience. My grandfather was a baseball nut. He often had a baseball game on TV, and he would listen to another game on the radio, in the kitchen, during TV commercials. He told me a story, about playing baseball as a kid in Humboldt, where he grew up. One of his school friends was Walter Johnson, and he was a pitcher, and my grandpa was a catcher, so he caught for Walter Johnson a lot as a kid. Walter Johnson, of course, went on, and had an illustrious baseball career with the Senators in Washington DC, as a right-handed pitcher and manager. My grandmother, was an energetic person, whom I dearly loved, she imbued me with her incredible work ethic. I can remember her making lye soap. I also remember her, wringing the necks of live chickens and then leaving them on the clothes-line, to bleed, before taking them into the kitchen to remove the feathers. She was an incredibly good cook, and she was always making one savory or sweet delicacy, after another. She was an excellent bridge player and she taught Christine and I how to play bridge, and with my mother, we often played as a foursome. My grandfather played pitch, but not bridge, so as a family we often had pitch nights, which were great fun. 

Going to Iola Indians Baseball Games with My Grandpa – I remember many times of summer evenings, my grandpa and I would go to our Iola Memorial Park, where a baseball field with stands were, to watch the Iola Indians, a D league farm team of the Cleveland Indians, playing in the KOM (Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri) league. I was 9 or 10 when we first started going. I can remember sitting in the stands with grandpa, and I also remember going outside to chase down foul balls. One summer, after my Mom started working, as Secretary to the Principal, at the High School, the man who managed the concession stand at the baseball park, who was a High School teacher, was looking for help in selling cokes. As a result, I got my first job at 10, selling the small green coke bottles in the grandstands, at the baseball park.

I was a substitute paper boy, delivering The Iola Register, for my friend Eddie Abbott’s paper route. One day, I was with a friend, and we walked to the river, and I completely blew off the paper route. I was in lots of trouble when I got home. My mother read me the riot act, and my grandmother, who I loved and respected dearly, was very disappointed in me. I apologized to Eddie, and I never missed an obligation, ever again. 

I soon got my own paper route, and in addition to delivering papers, we had to collect the monthly cost of the papers, and split it with the newspaper. I quickly learned about a side of human nature, that was a real mixed blessing. Many people were great about paying, but some weren’t. At a young age, we saw some pretty bad behavior, on the part of some adults.

I had a good bicycle, with a large basket on it for my paper route. During the summer, and on all week ends, we played outside, and riding bikes everywhere, was something a large group of kids did. One day, I had riden my bike to a convenience store, about a block from my grand-parent’s house, and for some reason, I left it there, and went off with some kids. The convenience store owner knew it was my bike, and he called my grandfather, who went and retrieved my bike, and then hid it in the garage. He, of course, let me think someone had stolen my bike, and I think he let that go on until my grandmother made him come clean. It was both a cruel trick, and a huge object lesson.

Paying Jon Shafer, to be my substitute on the paper route, after our family trip back to New York, in 1951, to see the Schwerins – My friend Jon, was about two years younger than me, and we were gone for two weeks, and during the time I was gone, we had the big flood of 1951, and part of my paper route was inundated. In any event, I wanted to reward Jon for the job he had done, so I went to the bank and got enough silver dollars to pay him what I owed him. He was really surprised. Jon went on, and like me, got an NROTC scholarship to KU. He became a Navy Pilot, and during his first tour on active duty his plane went down, killing him and all others on board. His mother was a good friend of my mothers, and they lived right across the street from one another, after her husband died. I can remember going to visit Jon’s mother, when I was home, visiting my Mom.

We lived with my grandparents for several years after we came back from New York, until my Mom, rented the 2nd story of a house for us, that had everything the three of us needed. The new place, was about three blocks from my grand-parent’s house, on Elm Street. It was a good location, and I enjoyed living there with my sister and Mom. 

Junior High was 7th to 9th grades, and in either the 7th or 8th grade we all had to take a vocation class, where we had to pick a vocation, we were interested in, and give a presentation about that vocation to the whole class. This way, an impressionable group of students, would get to hear in depth, about a bunch of vocations. I wrote to my Uncle Walt, who was then well into his career as a Petroleum Engineer, with Humble Oil and Refining Company. He sent me lots of information, and the presentation went well. The important thing for me was, that I decided, in the 7th or 8th grade, that being a Petroleum Engineer, would be my profession, and it was.

I can remember visiting my grandfather in Humboldt, several times. He had a big back yard, and I was really impressed that he had about a dozen fruit trees of different kinds growing there. I also remember, he had a large metal tub in the basement, full of worms for fishing in the river or creeks. I also went to his medical office a few times, and hung out there for awhile, usually waiting for my mother to pick me up. 

When I was in High School, I got out of the paper boy business, and I got a job at Cook’s Rexall Drug Store. I worked Monday to Friday after school, from about 3-5:30, and my job was to keep the soda fountain supplied, with several sandwich mixes, including egg salad, pimento cheese and several ground meats, including baloney. I was also to keep the soda fountain stocked, with chocolate sauce, strawberry sauce, marshmallow, caramel, and several other sauces. I had a small kitchen in the back of the store, with a hot plate and a refrigerator, and lots of sauce storage. I had a ball, making all the sandwich spreads, but the egg salad spread, in particular. I would hard boil eggs, for the egg salad spread, and then I would throw the hard-boiled eggs, against the wall to crack the shells, making it easy to remove the shells. My system worked very well. Of course, I was a real target for pranking, as I was to discover. One of the regular employees saw what I was doing, and he noted that I would normally leave a bowl of hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator. One day after school, I needed to replenish the egg salad spread, and I got out my bowl of eggs and the 1st or 2nd egg against the wall went splat. Of course, he had put a regular egg in my bowl of hard-boiled eggs. On Saturdays, I worked the soda fountain, or the regular counter. This was the 50s, and our drugstore had condoms and the equivalent of KY jelly, but you had to ask for them, and at my age, I was totally naïve about such things. One very busy Saturday, I was working the counter, and an adult lady quietly asked for something I had never heard of, and so I repeated what she said in my usually loud voice. Two things happened simultaneously, she turned red, and our younger pharmacist came up behind me and said, Doug I have this. He later explained what she wanted in very explicit terms, and then I turned red.

We as a group of teenagers, were totally blessed by Charlene Sutherland and her parents. They had a farm close to Iola, and we were often invited to dances there, in a medium size building, on their farm. It was simply music, dancing and socializing. I think all of us that went, learned to dance there. There must have been soft drinks, but I have no memory of them. And there were no alcohol or drugs. I can even remember one time, Charlene’s Dad, pulled us on a hayride around the farm.

My best friend Jerry Seyb, and I, came up with a different kind of prank. I think we were in High School, and it may have been around Halloween. We walked through our home-town, of Iola, and we took gas caps off, of about 30 cars. We put a piece of masking tape on each gas cap and wrote the car’s license plate number on the tape. Then we put all the gas caps in a bag and put the bag on the porch of The Iola Register Editor’s home. We rang the bell and took off. A few days later, in the Iola Register, was an article about the, “sophisticated pranksters”. We both laughed about the article, but we never did that again, or told anyone, that we were those pranksters.

I think I was a Junior in High School, when I started going out with Sharon Higginbotham, who was a year behind me in school, I think. It was my 1st experience with total lust, but I was naïve, and didn’t take advantage of her. I remember one summer, when I was working at Cook’s Drug Store, and word came to me that Sharon was going out with one of the Remsberg boys - think football jocks. I was crushed, but got over it, in a few months.

One of the highlights of my Junior and Senior High School experience, was that my grandparents had the three of us for lunch Monday through Friday, we walked to lunch and almost every day, I would come into Grandma’s kitchen and ask her what was for lunch and lift the lids on pots, to check out lunch, and she shooed me away every day. Then one April 1st I did that, and in one of the pots was a note: April Fools!!

I played High School football my Sophomore through Senior years. I am now convinced, the only reason the coach allowed me to play, was because of my mother’s position as Secretary to the Principal. I was too skinny, and not an athlete, with not many football skills. All my friends who played, lettered every year, and I never did. 

I don’t remember when Vivian and I started seriously dating, and became a couple, but I think it was after Sharon rejected me for a Remsberg. Vivian and I, became very close to each other, and I made good friends with her parents. The only area of not matching, was I was a Catholic and she was a protestant going to the Christian Church. But that never really got in our way.

One of the real highlights of my time in High School was the Marching Band, our Concert Band and the Symphonette. Mr. Crietz, was the band and symphonette director, and he motivated students like no teacher that I ever experienced. I can’t say enough about the influence, and the drive to excel, that he fostered.

I think it was in my Senior year, I left Cook’s and went to work at our Kroger’s store, and I was required to join the Retail Clerks International Union. Our store manager was Leo Jeck, and he went to our Catholic Church, and he knew our family well. I enjoyed working for him. My job was to stock shelves, change prices, bag groceries and carry groceries out to cars. Leo taught me to keep the shelf stock looking attractive to customers – something I now practice when working at the Grace food pantry.

My Mom knew about the NROTC Scholarship program, and we both figured that was probably the only way I would be able to afford college. When the navy recruiter came to our High School, she got several of us together to talk to him, including my best friend Jerry Seyb and me. We both took the Navy test our senior year. Jerry passed and I did not. To me it was a setback, but I could go to Iola Junior College for a year, and then retake the test. That was my plan.

My High School Graduation was fun, but not particularly notable. Almost all my High School friends were heading for college, including Vivian, who was headed to Phillips Bible College in Enid Oklahoma.

My memories of College at IJC and KU

I really worked hard my freshman year at IJC, I figured that my Physics, Chemistry and Math teachers at IJC were just as good as any KU had, and I worked hard. My Physics teacher, Mr. Caldwell, was also the High School and IJC Guidance Counselor. He and I had a frank discussion of what happened, that I failed the NROTC Scholarship test. Basically, my test taking skills needed improvement. He suggested that I stop by his office several times a week and take tests. He said he was always being sent all kinds of tests, including a number that were like the Navy test. He would grade the tests and critique them with me. That year with Mr. Caldwell, essentially teaching me how to take tests, was the secret to my gain in confidence, in my test taking ability, and set me up for a successful KU experience, and helped me immensely in my career. God bless Mr. Caldwell. He was a Christian, and I can’t wait to meet him in Heaven, and thank him, for the incredible gift he gave me.

My 1st summer after my High School graduation, I worked in the oil fields for Mack Colt Oil Company. I quickly volunteered, to work as the 2nd person on a two-person pulling unit. Our pulling unit was a D6 Caterpillar Tractor with a tall mast that folded up on top of the Cat, and when we were over a well, we would raise the mast and then work on the well. The production wells, of Colt’s, were fairly shallow, rod pump wells, with a pump jack to stroke the rods up and down, to activate the down hole pump and lift the oil and water to the surface. We usually started by pulling the rods and pump, repairing the pump, or replacing it, and then running the pump and rods back in the hole. Sometimes we had to pull the tubing, to replace part of it. On new wells, that often had some reservoir gas pressure, I was surprised more than once that summer to get coated with crude oil, from head to foot. 

One Christmas vacation, I contacted Mack Colt to see if they had any work I could do, and they were laying a pipeline that required digging a ditch in rocky soil in the very cold Kansas winter, and after two weeks, I was very happy to get back to school.

As you can already guess, I had no problem with the second Navy test, after Mr. Caldwell taught me how to take a test. I then passed the Navy physical, and was on my way to KU, for my Sophomore year of college.

The summer before I went to KU, I needed to buy a car, and I went to the local Ford dealer and found a 1952 black two door Ford. The owner himself financed it, after I gave him a sizable down payment, and in just a few months, I had it paid for. I bought that car in 1957 and had it until 1963 when I traded it in on our first new car.

My friend Jerry was a TKE, and invited me to pledge, which I did. I lived in the TKE house for the next two and a half years. During the Fall 1960 term, Jerry and I moved out and we had several apartments. At one point, I was the Vice President of our TKE house. 

After Vivian’s and my Freshman year, we didn’t want to be apart again, so she came to KU, and took Apparel Merchandizing, and she graduated in the summer of 1960, and moved into an apartment in Lawrence, and got a job, while I finished my last semester. I went to college 4 ½ years, but that is not surprising, with an Engineering Degree plus 24 hours of NROTC classes. 

I really enjoyed my time in NROTC. An interesting thing happened when our marine Sargent was looking in my grade, for a new Navy Midshipman Battalion Commander. He apparently heard my command voice, and liked it. He had me start leading our Navy Battalion in command drills, and before long I was the KU Navy Midshipman Battalion Commander, a position I really enjoyed.

My Petroleum Engineering Department head, was Dr. Weinaug, who was an author of a Petroleum Engineering text-book on Natural Gas. He was also very versed in Computers, which was rare in 1957. The Garvey Drilling Company of Wichita, offered a Scholarship to a student chosen by Dr Weinaug, that payed them, by the hour, to help him with the computer. Dr. Weinaug chose me, and I got to help him run computer programs on KUs mainframe computer, which I really enjoyed doing, and the extra money was appreciated.

My Geology Field Trip, to the Arbuckle Mountains of Southern Oklahoma was a wonderful experience, of finding and examining formations of different kinds, and finding and cataloging fossil remains. I can remember my first geology class, my 1st semester of my sophomore year, in the Fall of 1957, it was Introduction to Geology, and it was taught in a huge-tiered class-room. On the day of the final, just before class started, Wilt Chamberlin, KU basketball star, walked in and climbed to the top tier and took a seat. We had no idea, Wilt was taking that class, until then, it was obvious that he had tutors, and never came to class.

I had three great Navy Cruises. My first cruise in 1958, was my 3rd Class Midshipman Cruise, where we wore sailor uniforms, but instead of a white cap, we wore a white cap with a blue rim to identify us as 3rd Class Midshipman. Of course, the sailors told all the girls at our liberty ports, that the blue rim meant we had the clap. I was on a destroyer, the Sigourney, and the fleet crossed the Atlantic and went into La Coruna Spain, as a liberty port. Then when we came out, we had to refuel in rough weather, and all the 3rd class Midshipman were on the fantail, getting drenched with seawater, while we hauled on lines to bring the fueling line from the tanker to our destroyer. One of the fueling lines broke, but eventually our destroyer got refueled. Then we went North to Goteborg Sweden for liberty, and then to Copenhagen Denmark for liberty. At some point our destroyer had to leave on a secret mission and we 3rd Class Midshipman were high-lined, to a Heavy Cruiser. We were considered trash by the regular Naval Academy Midshipman on the Cruiser, but we endured. 

My second Cruise was my Marine Corp Cruise, and we went to Camp Pendleton CA, and on to San Diego and Seal Team Headquarters. We were on several helicopter flights, and spent some time on a special Marine aircraft carrier. I enjoyed this cruise, but I had no interest in becoming a Marine Corp Officer.

My 3rd Cruise was my 1st Class Cruise, where we were treated as Officers, and ate in the Officers Mess aboard ship, and were welcomed to the Officers Club on Base. I was sent to Pearl Harbor to the destroyer Walker, which was in dry dock when we arrived. Liberty went at 1pm every day. I always went to the Officers Club every day because after a bad experience the following year getting drunk on Bourbon, I was determined to acquire a taste for Scotch, which I did that year. There were several young single officers that would loan us their cars now and then, and we found several Navy personnel only, beaches, that we enjoyed around Oahu. One day, we borrowed a car, and drove to Hickam Air Force base, and attended The Kingston Trio concert, and it was fabulous. The Walker finally got out of dry dock, and we then went on daily cruises around the Hawaiian Islands. One day, the 1st Class Midshipman, went on a Navy submarine, and we submerged for a few hours, and it was quite an experience. 

The poison ivy incident with Vivian occurred just before one of my Navy cruises – I don’t remember which cruise it was, but one day Vivian and I were hanging around my house talking, and I pointed out a poison ivy vine in a flower bed of our house. She commented that she didn’t react to poison ivy, and I bet her I could get a reaction out of her, she said give it your best shot, so I picked one out and broke the stem getting oil out and put it on her arm. I went on my cruise, and when I got home, I learned that she had a big reaction.

One summer before my cruise I planted a cucumber barrel in my grand-parent’s, neighbor’s yard, with their permission, of course. I put top-soil and manure, in the barrel, and drilled a number of holes around the barrel and planted cucumber seeds in the holes. My grandpa said he would keep it watered, in a gutter pipe with holes in it, running down the middle of the barrel. When I got home from that Cruise, I couldn’t believe the cucumber vines that stretched out to a 30-foot radius around the barrel, chock full of cucumbers. My grandmother canned pickles galore that summer.

After my 1st Class Navy Cruise, in 1960, I had a six-week visit scheduled with Humble Oil’s Trouble Shooting Division, Drilling Department, in New Orleans. I stayed in a spare room of one of the single engineers, near St. Charles Street, in New Orleans. I found a diner that I ate dinner at most nights, not far from my quarters, that served Sea Trout Almondine, which I absolutely loved. One day, we visited a drilling rig on Avery Island, which was the home of Tabasco, and it was harvest time, and the workers were all over the fields, on Avery Island. We had to laugh, because all most all the workers cars were vintage Cadillacs. At the end of my time in New Orleans that summer, Vivian came down and we got adjoining motel rooms, and took in a lot of the sights in New Orleans. We were a semester away from getting married, but we refrained from getting totally carried away, and after we got home, I went back for my last semester, and Vivian went back to her job and her apartment in Lawrence.

My Memories of life in the Navy and Vivian’s and my early life together

Vivian and I got Married February 3 1961, and I can’t remember my best man’s name, but he was a married TKE fraternity brother, and he really supported me well, on my wedding day. The next day, we drove to my best friend Jerry’s wedding in Hutchinson KS. Then, we traveled to Houston to join Humble Oil, and then take a 4-year leave, which they allowed me to do. We then drove to Oxnard CA, and the Seabee Navy Base, at Port Hueneme, to allow me to attend the Civil Engineer Corps Officers School (CECOS).

We discovered that Vivian was pregnant soon after we arrived in Port Hueneme. She had been suffering morning sickness during our trip, but we were so naïve, we didn’t realize it. We did have a serious sexual encounter about 3 or 4 weeks before we got married, and apparently, she had gotten pregnant at that time. That was a precursor to our having 5 children together, we were obviously, very fertile.

After CECOS, I joined the Seabee Disaster Recovery Training Team, as the Asst Team Leader, and I had two different bosses in the first 6 months. My first was Lt Walt Eager, my professor at CECOS, that I had worked most with, and when he left, my new boss was a mustang Lieutenant, that put a sign on his door that said: When You come in, Please Choose Your Excuses, by the following numbers. He didn’t allow excuses, you got the job done as you knew to do it, with no excuses. I loved his approach. 

When I was on the Parade Grounds marching with our Team, Vivian’s contractions got serious, and a friend took her to the Hospital and Vivian delivered our daughter Kathy within a few minutes after reaching the Hospital, on October 6, 1961

Kathy was our first child, and we were totally ignorant as parents, but we bought a book on how to raise children, I think it was by Dr Spock. Kathy survived, and she was a delightful child. Two things I can remember about her, she loved to come outside with me in our back yard, which was small, but so was she, and she would run to me, and I would pick her up and swing her around, and she loved that. In 1963, we bought our first new car, and Kathy christened it by throwing up in it during our first outing. We, of course, learned of Kathy’s tendency, to not handle car rides and boat rides well, a problem that has affected Kathy for her entire life. 

Shortly after Kathy was born, we took a train ride back to Kansas, so everyone could meet Kathy. I can remember introducing her to my grandmother, and she really, loved Kathy.

One day Vivian’s Dad called me at work, and he gave me the very bad news, that Vivian’s mother, who had developed a bad depression problem, had committed suicide. I went home, and had to tell Vivian, that her mother had died. That was a very sad time in our house. But everything considered, Vivian recovered, fast and well.

Our 2nd daughter, Debbie, was born at Port Hueneme, on January 8, 1963, just before we left to go to Taft, CA for my next duty assignment.

We moved to the Naval Petroleum Reserve at Elk Hills CA, near the town of Taft. And we lived North of Taft, in the old USGS Camp. The house we were given wasn’t fantastic, but it wasn’t bad, and we fixed it up to accommodate our family. One recollection about life in the USGS Camp that was unusual. In that part of the semi-desert, Tarantulas were common and once a year there was a Tarantula walk-about, when they were on the move and there were constant battles between Tarantulas and Tarantula Wasps, which the wasps often won. It was quite a vivid example of what goes on in the insect world – fascinating to children and adults too.

My recollections of my daughter Debbie – when Debbie was born her right hip socket was not yet developed and so the doctor showed us how to rotate her hip for a time every day, and I normally did that for her every evening, when I got home from work. We made it into a game, and she enjoyed it, and in just a few weeks, it seemed, her hip socket started to strengthen. Debbie was a very active daredevil, and we worried about her going too far and getting hurt, and her pediatrician suggested, we give her Ritalin to calm her down, so we did, and it seemed to help.

We were poor and I remember once, all of us going to the grocery store, and when loading our car’s trunk, we dropped and broke a bottle of gin, and Vivian and I both, almost cried.

I loved my job as a Navy staff reservoir engineer, and I really liked, that we had to commercially develop, a 160 acre, Navy owned property, to prevent oil drainage from other commercial leases, right next to our Navy property. Arco was our contractor, and I was one of our primary contacts with ARCO, as we developed and drilled wells on 10-acre spacing. The navy wells were also, usually double or triple completions, which is unusually complex.

On November 22, 1963, I was working in the field, and when I returned to the office, and discovered that President Kennedy had been assassinated, I recruited another officer colleague. We went outside and lowered our office’s, US flag, to half-staff, to honor our assassinated President.

Our son Stephen, was born at a hospital in Taft, on June 16, 1964, and our family became: Vivian and me, and our three kids, Kathy, Debbie and Stephen.

I choose to resign my regular Navy Commission and leave active duty after my 4-year obligation was up, in early 1965, and I took a reserve commission. I thought about staying and making the Navy a career, but I knew my next duty assignment, would be in a Seabee Battalion, on the way to Vietnam, and I couldn’t do that to my young family, and besides, I really liked being a Petroleum Reservoir Engineer, and I wanted to pursue that career.

Our life with Humble Oil and Refining Co/Exxon and with Vivian and kids from 1965 to 1977

We moved from CA to Midland TX, where I joined Humble Oil (soon to become Exxon), as a staff Reservoir Engineer working in the Sprayberry field, at Humble’s District Office in Midland. We rented a house, in a not very nice part of Midland, as we were soon to understand. I remember we caught an older neighbor boy, trying to molest a very young Debbie. As a result of this and other things we saw occurring in our neighborhood, Vivian and I started looking for our first house to buy, and we found one and bought, it in about 1966, in a much better part of Midland.

I joined Toastmasters and studied public speaking, which really helped my career. I really enjoyed the challenges of public speaking.

I went to the, Exxon Reservoir Engineering School in Houston. The following year, I was asked to help teach and facilitate at the school, and we moved to Houston, into a large apartment. As I recall, Stephen’s bedroom, was in a large walk-in closet. For some reason, I developed some anxiety problems that year, but thankfully, they didn’t persist.

In 1967, I was promoted, to Supervisor of the GCIGS Natural Gas, Reservoir Engineering Group, in Kingsville, Texas. We were responsible, to develop and produce the gas necessary, to fill Exxon’s industrial gas pipeline, that went from the King Ranch to Houston, from our leases on the King Ranch, to provide natural gas to industrial customers in Houston.

Michael was born in 1967, in Kingsville, and right after we brought him home, Hurricane Beulah was headed straight for us. We chose to evacuate our family to San Antonio, for a few days. When the Hurricane hit Kingsville, it smashed a window in our master bedroom, and Michael’s crib, was right below the window, and it was filled with glass and debris. My recollections of my son Michael, include him playing football in our front yard in Corpus Christi, with a cast on his arm, and blocking with his cast. Michael was also a bit hyperactive, and we gave him Ritalin also.

In about 1968, the Senior Reservoir Engineering Supervisor who had my group and three others was promoted and transferred, and I was selected to replace him. I did that for about a year, and was then transferred, to Chief District Engineer in the Corpus Christi District and so we moved from Kingsville, to Corpus Christi.

I remember, coming out to our living room in Corpus Christi once, early in the morning, before anyone else was awake, and finding a big Scorpion in the middle of the floor.

After about a year, I was transferred to Houston into a high-level strategy group, and I did not perform very well, apparently.

While in Houston we lived in a subdivision on Westheimer, and I remember one of Stephen’s birthdays, when we got him a bicycle. He excitedly got on the bicycle, and took off, and rode around the whole large block.

Doug was born on September 30, 1970, in Houston, just before we moved back to Corpus Christi. Vivian had trouble with her 5th pregnancy, so we already knew that this would be our last child, and we decided to name him after me, but not as a junior. His middle name started with M but unlike me his middle name was, not Melville, but Martin, after Vivian’s brother. Vivian took Doug to his 1st pediatrician visit, and she called me at work and told me that he didn’t do well on some tests, and that we needed to take him to Texas Children’s Hospital right away, because they thought it was very serious. I can remember Vivian and me, in the TCH waiting room, both of us really concerned, but not wanting to panic each other. We were Catholics, and we both had been taught, that he needed to be baptized, before he died. We each, without the others knowledge, went to the rest room, got a handful of water and quietly without the other knowing, baptized Doug. It turned out to be a totally false alarm. We laughed, when we figured out, Doug had already been baptized twice, before his third church baptism. 

I remember when Doug was ready to go to college. He would be the 4th kid, I had paid for, to go to college, but he was very different. Before each semester, he would send me an itemized list, of his expected needs for money, for the entire semester, and it was always accurate. He was studying to be an accountant, and it was obvious to me, he was in the right field of study.

I returned to Corpus Christi as an Operations Superintendent, and that required lots of road travel, but I loved the position, because it was the epitome of operations.

Our time in Corpus, was very special, largely because of our neighbors. About three houses down from us, were Ron and Gayle Briggs, and their kids, who were our kids ages. Gayle, taught Vivian and me, to play the guitar, and we formed a worship band, and played at our Catholic church masses, for several years. In 1973, with Gayle’s leadership, we all put together, a 62-page book of 140 songs, complete with guitar chords. We called the songbook: The Si Si Singer’s Sing Along Songbook. I still have a copy of that songbook today. Ron and I played golf together, and we were well suited, because we both were not very good at golf, but we always had a good time together. Ron and I also prepared both of our two car garages for Hurricane winds, by working together, to put up a bracing system, of 2x4s, that was designed to securely brace, our two car garage doors, from being blown away, by hurricane force winds.

Gayle and I had a bit of a clandestine relationship, that never went anywhere, we were attracted to one another, but thankfully, it never blossomed, other than a few lunches. In hindsight, I can see that I was wrong to have gotten into this with Gayle. Our focus should have been solely, on our respective families.

I was an assistant coach for Steve’s baseball team, with head Coach, Kent Maggert, whose son was on the team. Kent was an Exxon engineer, working with me. Kent’s son Jeff, went on, to become a PGA tour pro. Steve and me, used to follow Jeff on the PGA tour. I remember, one game, that Kent got thrown out of, because he mouthed off to the umpires. They made him leave the dugout, and I had to take over. Kent arranged, for one of the kids, to sneak over to me, in the dugout, with notes, on what to do.

I remember one Christmas, in Corpus Christi, when we got the girls bikes. Debbie’s bike was missing the key part, that held together the front of the bike. Christmas was on a Saturday, so we couldn’t get the part until Monday. Debbie took it very well, but I was really upset, because Christmas shouldn’t be a time of disappointment, to a child.

I remember another Christmas, when we had bought Steve a tractor, and I waited until Christmas Eve, to put it together. That was a ghastly chore, so many small nuts bolts and screws, but I finally got it together, early in the morning.

I also remember our boys and the Briggs boys, playing tackle football in our front yard in Corpus Christi, and having the best time doing so.

After a few years as an Operations Superintendent, I was transferred to our Division Reservoir Engineering Group and put in charge of Railroad Commission Relations, which were extensive. I spent a lot of time in Austin, representing Exxon’s South Texas Division with the Railroad Commission (TRC). The TRC, was the oil and gas operations regulator, for the State of Texas.

The highlight of this work, was when the Railroad Commission, decided on acreage allocation, on some thin gas cap, Mobil owned property, where Exxon had the much thicker property in the same field on the King Ranch, called the Seeligson 21B field. We had argued for volumetric allocation, which would have been much fairer. After this decision, I then argued, along with our Austin attorney, to the Exxon Board, that we should sue the Railroad Commission. We did sue them, and we won decisively. I was soon, transferred back to Houston, to our Government Affairs Group.

In the Summer of 1973, we had an incredibly fun family vacation, to The Lake of the Ozarks. Also there, were Grandmother Webb, and the families of my sister Christine, plus the families of our Aunt Lucene and Uncle Walt. We all had great fun in the lake with Ski Doos and a water-skiing boat. I love eating Jalapenos, and I talked my cousins Max and Dan into trying Jalapenos, and they had very hot mouths for a few hours.

In the Summer or Fall of 1974, our family and the Briggs family, went on a river tubing vacation, on a river we had heard about, West of San Antonio. I am sure of the year, because I can remember the discussions, we adults were having, about how disappointed we were in President Richard Nixon, for his part in the Watergate scandal, which caused him to resign the Presidency, in August of that year.

We had great fun tubing on the river, for several days. Then, one night, there were hard rains. The next morning, not giving one thought to the impact of the rains on the river, we sent the kids down to the river to tube, while the adults stayed back at our cabin to talk, along with a 4-year-old Doug. Before long, a panicked young Mike came running back and told us the kids were in trouble in a raging river. Ron and I ran to the river, which had become a torrent, and started desperately looking for the kids. We found Linda and Debbie, soon after we arrived. We found a rope and threw it to them and pulled them ashore. The five older kids were further downstream. By that time, there were other adults along the shore helping, and before long all the kids were found, and rescued. Thank God, none of them were hurt, but they were all water-logged. A parent’s, worst nightmare, was averted. We Praised God, that no one was hurt.

We moved again, from Corpus Christi to Northwest Houston, where I played a lot of tennis, and really enjoyed that. I became the head of our subdivision HOA, and I will never again do that, it is a frustrating and thankless job. We made good friends, of a couple, where the wife had a wonderful singing voice, and she and Vivian and I, plus a few others, formed a Guitar Mass group, and played at one of the Sunday masses, at our local Catholic church.

In 1976, I was transferred to Exxon Corporation’s Washington DC office, as a lobbyist. I, was assigned, to the Executive Branch. This included the Interior Department, the Energy Department, The USGS, the Treasury Department and the White House, and several other agencies.

We moved to Alexandria VA, where I was very active in the kid’s sports, including swimming, baseball, football and basketball.

I really enjoyed educating the executive branch personnel, and trying to convince them to adopt reasonable policies, toward the oil and gas industry. As I saw it, the job of an industry lobbyist, is to educate the government staff of either the Executive branch or the Legislative branch. Most of the staff that I dealt with, really wanted to know, how things really worked, and it was my job to educate them.

During this time, I met Alice Zelenack, who was a psychiatric nurse, and single. We happened to go on the same ski trip to Vermont, and that was a fateful meeting.

Unfortunately, we started an affair, that became known, and led to Vivian and I getting a divorce. In hindsight, I can say without any hesitation, that this was the biggest mistake of my life. During this time, I was aware of a huge spiritual warfare battle that I was the focus of. I just wish I had been fully aware of that battle, and what I was being encouraged to do, by the forces of God. I am aware now, that my actions were selfish, and that I put my wants, ahead of my family’s needs, a decision that I now totally regret. I am sorry for the harms that I caused in the moment, and for the longer-term harms, that I also caused.

We took Kathy to her first year at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and got her settled in her dorm room. I couldn’t believe we had our first kid in college.

I spent a lot of time with all the kids after Vivian and I divorced, usually taking them to lunch or dinner, or coaching Doug’s basketball team with Steve and Mike as my assistants. I also drove Debbie, to several tennis matches around Northern Virginia. Another thing we did, was one Saturday, I took Kathy, Debbie and Stephen to a bank, and we opened savings accounts for each of them. They still remember that experience. In fact, Debbie who is now a Senior Vice President, at a bank in Virginia, remembers thinking, when she was in the bank that Saturday, that this is something she could do for a living. Debbie went to Old Dominion University, in Norfolk VA, and got a degree in finance, and she has been in the banking business, her entire,  business career. 

One of the highlights with Doug’s basketball team, that I coached with Stephen and Mike as assistant coaches, was a boy that played hockey and basketball both. On Saturday, he played hockey first, and then came to play basketball. Inevitably, he would get two or three fouls right away, until he stopped checking other players, then he played good basketball.

My life with Alice, Vivian and kids from 1978 to 1990 

Alice and I got married in the Kennecott Copper Co. Suite, at the Watergate Hotel, by a local Judge. We got a townhouse near where Vivian and the kids lived, and our lives, were very entwined around the kid’s lives.

In 1979, I left Exxon, and joined Kennecott Copper Co, and headed their Washington Office, then in 1981, SOHIO bought Kennecott. I then worked for SOHIO’s Washington Office, until 1982.

One day, when I was living in an apartment, at the Horizon House in Arlington, Kathy and Debbie, borrowed their mother’s car, and came to have lunch with their Grandmother, who was visiting me. On the way home, the girls were in a head on collision, and Debbie, who was driving, hit the windshield, and the Ambulance took her to the hospital, with a suspected concussion. Kathy called me, and said, that Debbie had been taken to the Hospital by ambulance, and she had a possible concussion. I drove over, and picked Kathy up near the accident site, and we went to the hospital. The concussion wasn’t very serious, and Debbie was released later that day. It turned out, that the man that hit them, had crossed the median and hit them head on. Vivian’s car was almost totaled. USAA insurance estimated her car would cost $5000 to get repaired, and they agreed to rent a car for Vivian to drive. The man driving the car that hit the girls, was a diplomat, and he had diplomatic immunity. I am not sure now, of his Embassy, but I think it was the Nigerian Embassy. At that time, I was the head of the Kennecott Copper Washington Office, and because of that, and because of my prior association with the Exxon Washington Office, I was very plugged in, to both the Mining and Oil & Gas industries. I got an appointment, with two of the driver’s managers, at the Nigerian Embassy, and went to see them. I, of course, didn’t threaten them, but I suggested that if they choose to fall back on diplomatic immunity, and didn’t come up with the five thousand dollars, that Vivian needed to fix her car, that there was a very good chance, that Nigeria would develop a bad reputation in the Mining and Oil & Gas Industries. Several days later, the Nigerian Embassy diplomat, whose car hit Vivian’s car, came to see me, and handed me an envelope with $5000 in it. I put the money in a separate bank account, and I called Vivian, so she could start the process of getting her car repaired. I also called USAA, and I told them I had been given $5000 to get Vivian’s car repaired. USAA couldn’t believe I had gotten the money from the driver, and they insisted, I turn the money over to them. I said NO, we will manage the money and get Vivian’s car repaired, and if there is any money remaining, we would turn it over to them. USAA was not happy, but I think, they figured they couldn’t force us to give them the money. We did manage the money, and made sure Vivian’s car was repaired well, and that all Vivian’s and the girl’s expenses, associated with the collision, were covered. There was no money left to give USAA.

The highlight of my work experience in DC after struggling through the Carter Administration, was the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and getting to work with his administration for two years. I have a framed letter, on my office wall, from President Ronald Reagan, dated August 14, 1981, thanking me for my help in assisting his Administration in passing his Program for Economic Recovery. I also have, in that same frame, an invitation from President and Mrs. Reagan to a reception, at the White House, on the South Lawn, for Tuesday afternoon, September 15, 1981. That reception was to celebrate, the extensive lobbying effort, to support the bipartisan passage of Reagan’s Program for Economic Recovery that the Kennecott Washington Office participated in. That, particular law, that was passed, in the first year of the Reagan Administration, reduced the highest marginal tax rate from 70% to 50%. Then five years later, after I had left Washington, the Reagan administration passed a law, that reduced the highest marginal tax rate from 50% to 28%. Since then, it has crept back up to 37%.

In 1982, the former Chairman of Kennecott, Tom Barrow, who was then the Vice Chairman of SOHIO, invited me to be his Executive Assistant in Houston.

Alice and I moved to Houston, and Stephen came with us, and enrolled in U of H, and had a dorm room there, but he often lived with us on the weekends, and the three of us had a good time together.

After a year plus in Houston, I was transferred to Dallas, as the Dallas Division Engineer, with Districts in Oklahoma City and Midland.

I loved this job, and loved being back in Operations, and made frequent trips to the Oklahoma and Midland Districts

During the summers, my kids were frequent visitors, having flown into Dallas from their home in Virginia. Stephen drove to Dallas, to see us during the school year, and stayed with us in the summer.

It was during this time, that I suspected Alice was cheating on me. She worked on a psychiatric unit in Dallas, and ran around with her fellow nurses, and their husbands, without me.

I then transferred to our San Francisco office as an assistant General Manager. This office did a lot of engineering work, for the Anchorage AK office, and I didn’t think it made sense, to have a San Francisco office, and vocally advocated for shutting it down, and moving all Alaska support to Anchorage. This was not a popular position, including with my wife Alice, but it did happen.

Alice and I lived in Marin County, and Mike came to live with us, and it was very nice for me, to have him with us, and he went to High School, in Marin County.

I was transferred to Anchorage, as Vice President of Operations, in 1985, and Alice and I bought a house in Anchorage, and Mike came with us and enrolled in High School, at Dimond High School, and in a few years, graduated.

I really enjoyed my job. I was in charge, of all our operations on the North Slope, including production, construction, production drilling, and Exploration Drilling in the winter. We did our winter Exploration drilling on ice roads, that in the summer totally melted away. Because our winter exploration drilling, was normally remote, we had to protect our personnel on those rigs from polar bear attacks. In Alaska, only natives could shoot, or take, a polar bear, supposedly, for sustenance. We hired native sharpshooters, to keep polar bears, away from or exploration drilling rigs.

Alice and I, enjoyed the socializing in Anchorage. We made good friends with a man, that headed up a well controls company, that we did extensive business with. Alice really liked him, and I discovered she would visit him at his office in Anchorage, while I was in the field. I didn’t have proof she was cheating, but I certainly suspected it. 

In Anchorage, my budget person for the business, was Ruth Germany, she was an excellent budget person and we got along great, and when we were working together, we laughed a lot to break the tension of a serious business challenge. My secretary at the time totally misunderstood Ruth’s and my relationship, which was business and friendship, but absolutely nothing romantic. My secretary went to my boss and claimed Ruth and I were having an affair. HR intervened, and after talking to everyone involved, my secretary was transferred, and I got a new secretary, Judi, that in a few years, would become my wife, and still is. While she worked for me Judi and I became friends, but nothing romantic occurred at all, and she was also friends with Ruth.

Judi was an excellent secretary, and when my boss, the President of SOHIO Alaska, lost his secretary, he asked Judi to be his secretary. 

In my capacity as VP Production for SOHIO, I was the primary contact with Alyeska Pipeline, for the Prudhoe Bay Unit, Organization of companies, that included major owners SOHIO, ARCO and EXXON and several minor owners. One day in March 1989, several Executives from SOHIO and BP, took a corporate jet, and spent several days on the SOHIO Operated side of the Prudhoe Bay field. While there, I was notified that the Exxon Valdez Tanker, had run aground in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, and was causing a huge oil spill. On the way back to Anchorage later that day, we rerouted our plane, and flew over Prince William Sound, and we clearly saw the huge oil spill. We all knew that we were witnessing the beginning, of an unbelievable black eye for the oil industry, that would affect every company in Alaska, and not just Exxon. I worked closely with Alyeska, for months, and they disappointed all of us, with a lack of any real capacity, to effectively handle this big oil spill. Exxon stepped in with a huge effort, and took control, of managing the oil spill, and they did an excellent job.

Two of my most treasured experiences in my life have been, my opportunity to participate, in both of my daughter’s getting married. Debbie got married in 1988 to Scott, in Alexandria Virginia. I enjoyed helping Debbie plan and pay for her wedding. My greatest pleasure was walking Debbie down the aisle. Debbie and Scott have two sons, Ben and Matt, who are adults now, and Debbie and Scott, just celebrated their 35th Wedding Anniversary. Ben recently got married to a woman, from Ukraine, Karolina. Ben and Karolina recently had their first child, Leo, who is Debbie’s first grandchild, and my fourth great grandchild. Matt is working as an accountant in Northern Virginia.

Kathy got married in April of 1992 to Van, also in Alexandria Virginia. Judi and I, were living in London, at that time, and we, of course, were not available for most of the planning, but I did pay for her wedding. We did come for the wedding, and I again, had the greatest pleasure to walk Kathy down the aisle. Kathy and Van, have two adult children, Aaron and Clara. Kathy and Van just celebrated, their 31st Wedding Anniversary. Also in 1992, in August, Judi and I got married in London. Recently, in June of 2023, a large contingent of our family, came together, for Aaron’s wedding to Lauren, in Huntington Beach, California. Aaron and Lauren, now live in Pennsylvania, where Aaron is in school working on his PHd in Aeronautical Engineering. Clara, is working in Commercial Real Estate in Houston.

The President of BP Exploration and Production, John Brown asked me to come to London, in 1989, and help him with a corporate change process, that we were going through. As we were approaching the time to go to London, Alice and I were not doing well, and Judi and I started drawing closer.

Mike by this time, had graduated from Dimond High School in Anchorage, and had returned to Northern Virginia.

Alice and I went to London, and settled in, but we were not getting along at all. We finally agreed to split, and she went back to Anchorage, and then to Washington DC.

My life with Judi from 1991 to the Present, 2024

Judi and I were corresponding, and I invited her to come to London, and she did. After Alice and I were divorced, and Judi and her husband John were divorced, we got married in London at the Chelsea Town Hall. It just happened, that my son Doug, and his friend Daniel, were visiting us, and Doug agreed, to be my best man. It certainly wasn’t planned, for Doug to be in the wedding, but I was pleased he had agreed to help me out. 

Several weeks after we were married, we had a wedding reception, at our townhouse in Kensington. My friend Glen and I, on an early Saturday morning, picked up several food trays, at the Herrod’s Food Halls, with food for the reception. One of the highlights, of our reception, was that our friend Ruth Germany, flew over from Alaska, to help us with the reception. Our guests included, fellow expats that we had befriended, and people from my office.

Judi and I, thoroughly enjoyed our life in London, we ate out at lots of restaurants, and we went sight-seeing outside of London on the weekends, particularly looking for spectacular gardens, which were plentiful. For one of our honeymoons, we took the Orient Express from London to Venice. Also, our good friends, and Judi’s matron of honor when we got married, Sheila, and her husband Glen, went to Bonaire Scuba Diving with us, and we had a great time. Another love of ours, in London, was to attend the Chelsea Flower show, which we did for several years. Just before we were transferred back to Alaska, my mother came over and the three of us, went on about a two week, driving vacation in Ireland. We had a great time in Ireland.

When we were in London, Jill, Scott, and a very young Croslei and Gabe, flew over to see us. We did a lot of sightseeing, and they all enjoyed that. One day, a good friend of ours, and a fellow expat, Chris Cape, came to our house and was going to pretend to be Mary Poppins. Judi snuck Chris up to our flat top roof. Then Judi went and got Croslei and Gabe and told them she had heard some noise coming from our roof area. She led the kids to our roof, and there was Mary Poppins, with her umbrella. “Mary” talked with the kids, and eventually told them she had to be on her way.

Judi took the kids downstairs, and Chris snuck down, and out of the house. The kids couldn’t stop talking about their visit with Mary Poppins. 

I was elevated to the Director of HR, for the BP Exploration and Production Company, but I did not enjoy my HR assignment, as it was just too unrelated to my love, which was operations.

In 1993, I was asked to return to Alaska to help solve a big public relations problem, that Alyeska Pipeline Company had developed, with whistleblowers, and with a powerful Oversight Committee in Congress, and with the media, both local and national, including the Wall Street Journal. I returned, as the Senior Vice President, of Government and Public Affairs, of Alyeska Pipeline.

Judi and I bought a house in Anchorage and got reacquainted with a lot of friends we had known before, including Ruth Germany.

In 1993, Doug got married to Robyn, in Columbia South Carolina. The whole family was there, including Judi and I and Jill. Croslei and Gabe, who were just 5 and 4, were also there. After the wedding, our family, had rented a beach house, for a week or so, and we all had a pretty good time. Almost everyone was kind to Jill and the two young ones, and Croslei and Gabe were told to “call me Aunt or Uncle” by most everyone. Judi, and I, overheard a 5 year-old Croslei, referring to Uncle Steve, and he reacted immediately saying, I am not your uncle and don’t call me that. That was the first indication, that we had that Steve, at least at that time, wasn’t interested in blending families. We have hoped, that Steve would clearly tell us what he needs, in the way of blending families, or not.

My relationship with Judi’s daughter Jill is special. She became my third daughter. Jill and I had a good relationship from the beginning. Her Dad, Don, was a terrible father to her. Jill’s older brother, Greg, treated her badly, and their father seemed to support Greg, in his harassment of his sister. In effect, I adopted Jill, as my daughter and she adopted me, as her father, which was fine with both of us. Of course, there were no legalities involved, because she was over 18, but for both of us it is heartfelt. Jill’s two children, are adults now, Croslei is 35 and Gabe is 34. Croslei is married to Michael, and they have two children, Marcus and Brycen. Both boys go to school at Manna House, in Portland. Croslei works as the Head of Pre-School at Manna House. Michael is a carpenter. Gabe has a daughter, Olivia who is 14, and a freshman in High School, at Manna House. Olivia lives with her Grandmother, Jill. Gabe is a restaurant manager in Portland. My first three great grandchildren are Olivia now 14, Marcus now 9, and Brycen now 5. 

In 1994, when Croslei was in the 1st grade, and we were back in Alaska, and I was working for Alyeska Pipeline, Judi and I were visiting Jill in Portland. I went to Croslei’s, 1st grade classroom, and told the kids about the Trans Alaska Crude Oil Pipeline. I really felt, like Croslei’s grandfather that day.

In the Public and Government Affairs job, I hired Jennifer Ruys, from a local TV Network, where she had been, an on screen reporter, and sometimes anchor. She and I tackled the Alyeska whistleblower etc. problem. Our solution, was based on, taking power away from the whistle blowers. We did that, by putting a press release out every time, Alyeska had any kind of a problem, that could be perceived as serious. That made the problem public, and then we offered to take the press, to the site of the problem, so they could see it, and see what we had done about it. That policy was supported by Alyeska owners ARCO and BP, but bitterly opposed by Exxon. But we went forward with the policy, including a visit with the House Oversight Committee Staff in Washington DC, where we thoroughly explained our new policy. Then Jennifer and I visited the WSJ reporter, who was our nemesis, in his San Francisco office. Within a year of the new policy, the Alyeska problem was well on the way to being solved. In addition, our reputation with local and national media, improved a lot, with the perception that Alyeska was trying hard, to be honest with the public and the media.

At one point, Mike decided to enter the Salvation Army’s Rehab program. Rehab started with detox, and moved on, until he was eventually working in various Salvation Army commercial enterprises such as their thrift stores and others. In the commercial phase of his rehab, Mike discovered, that he was a very good salesman. Mike and I discussed, what he was learning about himself, and we had a conversation about how he might make the most out of his discovery. We talked about, that the most important buying and selling anyone ever did, was usually their house. I suggested he give residential Real Estate some real thought. It didn’t take right away, but it eventually did, and now Mike and his wife Claudia have a thriving Real Estate business in Arlington VA.

In 1997, I was chosen to be President of BP Colombia, located in Bogota Colombia. Judi and I took several months of Spanish lessons in Mexico, and we arrived in Bogota in June of 1997. The Presidents, position in Bogota, was essentially a Public and Government Affairs position.

Our security in Bogota was notable. I had 7 bodyguards, two in an armored SUV with me, 4 in a chase car behind us, and 1 on a motorcycle in front of us. Judi had two bodyguards, that were also her chauffeurs and companions. They went everywhere with her. All our bodyguards were armed. In the Christmas season of 1997, I discovered how weird it was going shopping for my wife’s Christmas present, in an upscale Bogota Mall, with 7 bodyguards.

Living with constant security was difficult. On Friday I had to tell my head bodyguard, Adan, where we wanted to go all weekend and if we forgot something or a last-minute opportunity arrived, it could take many hours to round up bodyguards.

Judi and I enjoyed our bodyguards, and treated them, much different than our English predecessors did. For example, when Judi and I went to the movies, we took all 7 of them with us, and our predecessors took Adan only. And when Judi was out and about and went to lunch, she invited her two bodyguards to join her, and her predecessor would never have allowed them to eat with her. The funniest thing that happened, was the BP office insisted Judi had to have a housekeeper, that came 5 days a week. Judi finally relented, and the poor woman had to ride buses for three hours to get to our apartment. Typically, Judi only had her work, about two to three hours, and then told her to go home. Of course, Judi made sure she got paid for a full day’s work, 5 days a week.

In the middle of 1998 in Bogota, I went to a local doctor for an annual physical, and he noticed a mole on my back. In the US, doctors would have probably ignored it, but in Bogota they were very aware of skin-cancers, because of the high altitude. My doctor took me upstairs, to do a quick consult with an older doctor, who was a dermatologist. He took one look at it and said, that mole must be biopsied, right away. They did that, and it came back as malignant melanoma stage 2. They then surgically, took a hunk off my back, and said it didn’t look like it had spread. Then after days of medical tests, they confirmed it hadn’t spread. Being in Bogota likely saved my life.

Our BP office was executive heavy, and so after my Melanoma experience, I started looking for other assignments, and I noted that BP and two Commercial Tanker Operating Companies, were forming an LLC named Alaska Tanker Company, that would be Headquartered in Portland OR, and they were looking for a President/CEO. I volunteered for the assignment, and I was selected. We soon moved to the Portland area (Judi’s hometown, and where her daughter and two grandkids lived). 

We started up ATC on April 1, 1999, and I committed three years to the position. Our start up went well, and by the Fall of 1999, I felt Judi and I, needed a vacation, and she had never been to the wine country, so we went to Napa Valley for a week, and then Sonoma Valley for a second week. One day, while walking around St Helena in Napa, we noticed several Real Estate offices with their wares prominently displayed. We decided to spend some time looking for a retirement property. We found nothing in Napa but the next week in Sonoma, we found a 10-acre property, about 1000 ft above the valley floor, with a nice new house, and great views, with about 7 acres around the house, and somewhat flat, where we could grow something, which really appealed to me. We made the biggest impulse purchase of our lives, when we bought it, before returning from vacation. We now owned a retirement property. 

Steve and Kristy, eloped, and got married on October 14, 1999. They were married on the beach in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Steve and Kristy, have twin boys, Luke and Philip who are now 14. Luke is a High School freshman attending, Cistercian Academy in Irving Texas, which is an all-boys Catholic School run by the Cistercian Monks. Philip is a freshman at Grapevine High School.

In June of 2000, I traveled back to Portland from Santa Rosa, after a few days of vacation there, to make an annual physical appointment, and for some work meetings. Judi stayed at our retirement home near Santa Rosa. On the way to my doctor’s appointment, early one morning, I had a stroke, and my doctor took one look at me and called an ambulance. It was a right-side stroke and really clobbered my speech. I was back on my feet and fairly-well recovered physically, in about 6 weeks, but my speech did not recover for a full year. 

At every opportunity over the next two years, we went down to our retirement home, just South of Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. I couldn’t decide what to grow, but I knew I didn’t want to grow grapes, because everyone in Sonoma County did that, but also, I didn’t think we had the water to grow grapes. At that time, we only had the house water well. One day, however, I discovered the taste of a Tuscan blend of olive oil, and that changed my life. I quickly decided to plant Italian/Tuscan olive trees, and in 2001, we planted 13 Italian olive trees and another 200 trees in 2002.

After buying our retirement home, having a stroke, and choosing to grow olives, I set my retirement, for the three year anniversary, with ATC, of April 1, 2002, when I would be 63.

Judi’s and My Retirement Life 2002 - ???

In the late summer of 2002, Judi and I drove from Santa Rosa to Kansas, and picked up my mother, and took her to see her sister, my Aunt Lucene, who was living in an assisted living home, near her son Dan and his wife Scherri, my first cousins, who lived in Evansville Indiana. Judi and Scherri got along very well. Scherri, who was a Teaching Leader in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), told Judi all about BSF. When we returned to Santa Rosa, Scherri sent Judi information on signing up for BSF in Santa Rosa. Judi signed up, and after waiting a few weeks, they had room for her, and she started BSF, studying the Gospel of John at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa (FPCSR), in the Fall of 2002. In early 2003, her BSF teachers kept telling Judi she needed to find a church, and she finally told them, OK she would start going to the church where the BSF classes were taught. She came home and asked me if I would go to church with her, and I said those now famous words: “Sure, but don’t expect me to get involved.”

To expand a bit on my statement to Judi, about going to church with her, “but don’t expect me to get involved.” You will hear about my Mission Trips in a little while. Over the next years, I was elected as an Ordained Elder, in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and served two 3-year terms on Session, which was the governing body of our church. During my first term, I was Chairman of our church Missions Committee, an assignment I grew to really like, and I was good at it. My second term, I was the Treasurer of our Church. I also got involved in several other ministries, including, with the Redwood Gospel Mission. Judi became a Deacon, and worked with people in our neighborhood, to see to their needs. We both got very involved with the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Rosa, and we enjoyed every minute of being in service to others.

After we started going to FPCSR, we joined a Small Bible Study Group that met weekly, and we started climbing a steep learning curve, as Judi and I had no prior Bible Study experience, before this time. 

I continued to buy Tuscan Olive Trees and eventually we had almost 500 trees, that were mostly Frantoio and Leccino, and a few other varieties. We also had a Citrus and fruit and walnut area of about ½ acre, with 11 Citrus trees, 3 walnut trees and a variety of about 15+ fruit trees. I also had 4 large-raised beds that I planted summer vegetables in. We had a high fence, around about 7 acres at the top of our property, that was fairly-flat, to keep the deer out. We also put in a hot water solar array, to heat our swimming pool. We also had two large electricity generating solar arrays that provided more electricity than we needed. We sold the excess electricity back to the grid.

Mike and Claudia got married on October 30, 2004, at Saint Thomas Cathedral, Catholic church, in Arlington, Virginia. The wedding, was a small, but very nice, family event. They now have two boys, Brian and Jacob. Brian, is now 18, and is a freshman, at George Mason University. Jacob is 15, and is a sophomore, at Gonzaga High School for boys, run by the Jesuits, in DC. 

In early 2005, we were sitting in our pew at church, and listening to a woman describe a construction mission trip, to a Bible church, in Mendenhall Mississippi, that was to take place that summer. It was as if someone tapped me on the shoulder and said: Doug you need to sign up for that trip. I figured that was a message from the Holy Spirit, so I signed up that day, and went on my first Mission Trip later in the year. Next year I led the Mission trip to Mendenhall, and then we started going to New Orleans, post Hurricane Katrina, one year, and Mendenhall the next year. I have been on 13 Mission trips since 2005, including 3 to Kerala India, 1 to Lebanon and 1 to Costa Rica. The Holy Spirit really started something with me, that I thoroughly enjoyed. I think, I personally got more out of these trips, than I gave to others. Most of us that went felt the same way. 

One year, after we had been in Bible Study awhile, we changed Bible Study groups, to the West County Bible Study Group in Sebastopol CA. There were several couples, in that Group, that had become good friends of ours. 

During our time in Santa Rosa, I started two casual Ministries, that I still actively pursue. One day, we were with our West County Bible Study Group, when I admired a cross, that my friend Steve Frary was wearing. He told me the cross was made of nails and it was wrapped in a very thin black coated wire. He asked me if I would wear such a cross if I had one. I said yes, I would. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cross and handed it to me. I was impressed, and that became my casual Ministry. Over the years, I have given away many crosses, to waiters and waitresses, to a nurse for her three kids, and to others. Recently, during several of my 85th Birthday celebrations, I gave these same crosses, to all my kids, and others, who attended. 

And now to my second casual ministry. In 2004 Randy Alcorn published his book Heaven, and sometime in the next few years, he published a 60-page pamphlet, titled Heaven. We discovered that the pamphlet, was very comforting, to surviving Christian spouses, to learn about what their partners were probably experiencing, after their death. We bought many of these Heaven pamphlets, and over the years, have given away hundreds of them.

In 2009, we went on a Mission Trip to Beirut Lebanon, with another couple from our church, Tim and Popie Stafford. The missionary family we were visiting, the husband and wife both worked as professors, at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, in Beirut, where they taught in Arabic. We stayed at the Seminary.  We had a few meals with our hosts at their home in Beirut. One day, Popie said to me: Doug you should take some seminary classes at Fuller’s Northern California Campus in Palo Alto, I think you would really like them. Well, she planted a seed, probably from the Holy Spirit, and during the Fall Quarter of 2009 I took my first seminary class, and I continued to take classes for three quarters a year, or more, until 2016 when I received my MA in Theology from Fuller. Then in 2017 and 2018 I took eight more classes over four more semesters, at the King’s University Seminary in Southlake TX. Then in the Spring of 2019, the Holy Spirit asked me to stop going to seminary. 

One day, our missionary host at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary, arranged for the 4 of us to interview a Moroccan student, that was about to graduate and become a Pastor. Fortunately, he spoke English. At one point in the conversation, I asked him about Muslims seeing Jesus in dreams, and becoming followers of Christ. His reply was, yes that is happening quite often all over the Middle East, and that is why, I am becoming a Pastor. Muslims who are motivated to follow Jesus, because of a dream, know nothing about the Bible, or about Christianity, and badly need to be discipled, and that is what I will be doing when I return home to Morocco. We were amazed at how God works.

We had our first commercial olive harvest in 2005 and every year after that the trees produced a larger harvest, that finally got up to 5 tons of olives. 

I had a real passion for producing olives that yielded an outstanding tasting Extra Virgin Olive Oil. The olive orchard required a lot of work. The most sustained work effort was during the Spring pruning, and two of my friends, David Berg and Steve Frary, pitched in and helped me prune the olive trees, several years. The Olive Fruit Fly pest, also caused a lot of work, spraying an organic spray to kill the pest. 

I referred to the orchard as God’s Olive Orchard, and that’s the way I felt. In 2011, God himself reinforced that view. In 2010 we had a 10,000 lb olive harvest, and since olives are alternate year bearing, I expected a smaller harvest in 2011, maybe between 5000 and 7000 lb. However, was I surprised, my orchard had hardly any olives, in fact I personally went and harvested every olive on my almost 500 trees, and I got less than 100 lbs of olives. Other olive orchards, I knew about, were getting the usual alternate year crop of 50-60% of 2010. It was a total mystery. At that time, I was taking a class at Fuller on Old Testament prophets. One day, I was in the house reading my assignment, that included Exodus 23:10-12 that read: “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat;…you shall do likewise…with your olive orchard.” I almost fell off my chair, the mystery had been solved. My 1st commercial crop was 2005 and that meant that the seventh year was 2011. God’s message to me was, use the resources of your Olive Oil Company, to assure the poor have something to eat. From that year forward, our Terra Bella Vista Olive Oil Company, made a generous contribution to a local foodbank. God is amazing!!!!

We had a high fence around about 7 acres at the top, somewhat flat part, of our property, primarily to keep deer out. One deer could do a lot of damage, to fruit trees, and probably olive trees. One day, our pool man left the gate open, and a mature doe wandered in. I tried to get her to go back out the gate, but she was having none of that. I had to get her to leave, and I finally decided that if properly motivated, she could, I was sure, leap over the fence. I got my shotgun, loaded it with number 8 quail load, and headed for the orchard, to see where the deer was. The deer was going back and forth along the East fence line, and I decided to shoot her in the rump from about 30 yards away, and at that distance, and with quail load, that should not break the skin and only sting her, and hopefully motivate her to jump the fence. When I shot her, she jumped way up and came down in a heap, and she did not move. She apparently died of pure fear. Now, what do I do, with a sizable dead deer. I decided to think about that for a bit. I should have known that nature has answers to all such questions. Within an hour there were a dozen Turkey Vultures all around the dead deer, and it looked like they were doing a celebratory dance. In about, 72 hours, the deer was completely gone, bones and all.

In 2003, I decided to try my hand at selling Real Estate. I got my license, through Coldwell Banker, and was active for four years, and sold several houses. But since I had not grown up in the area, I was at a distinctive disadvantage, and I decided to use my time for other things. 

In 2003, I decided to realize a dream of mine, and become a California Master Gardener. I took the class in early 2003, and by the end of 2003 I had passed all requirements, and I continued as an active Master Gardener until we moved to Texas in 2015. My specialties were Olive Trees, fruit trees and citrus trees. My favorite, Master gardener activity, was manning the Master Gardener table, at the Santa Rosa Farmer’s Market, on a schedule that ran from Spring to Summer, and into the Fall. I had the best time doing that. I can remember one summer a radio station had a morning program broadcast from the Farmers Market. They announced, a tomato growing contest. I entered, with my Stupice tomatoes. These are a Czechoslovakian tomato, the size of a large cherry tomato, with a great taste. I won the contest, and I got interviewed on air.

One of my personal most fun activities, that my dog Monty fully participated in, was giving Olive Orchard Tours. We wound up giving a lot of Olive Orchard tours, that consisted of about 40 minutes walking around the orchard, with me telling them all about, how I took care of the olives and trees, and answering questions. Then we would take them to a sitting area, on our back deck, that had a breathtaking view of the valley, from 1000 feet altitude. They would get to taste olive oil, and buy it, if they were so inclined. There was no charge for the tour. One very funny thing that Monty and I worked out, was that he always was with me, when we greeted those going on the tour, in our driveway, and he went with us, when we started going through the fields. When we got to the second stop, which was near the top of the North Field, near one of our wells we had drilled for the olives to have water, Monty then disappeared. After telling them about our water wells and how we drip irrigate the olive trees, we then walked to the middle of the North Field where there was a hose bib, and there was Monty sitting right next to the hose bib, looking at it as if he wanted a drink. I then said, “well looks like the dog is thirsty. Excuse me a minute and I will give him a drink.” Then Monty gobbled up the water when I opened the hose bib and everyone went ‘Ahhh, isn’t that cute”. Monty was a total ham, and we milked that, on every tour. Monty and I both, really enjoyed the Olive Orchard tours. 

In early 2009, we bought into the J.Keverson Winery, with 10% ownership, along with 3 other owners, one of which was a good friend of ours. My role was primarily to help with our tasting room, in which we had a 50% interest. The Tasting Room was in Healdsburg. Over the years, I spent many hours working in the Tasting room, and I really loved the interaction with our customers and partners. Our winemaker over the years, produced several Gold Medal Winning, Zinfandels, Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons. We were justifiably proud of our wines.

On the second Saturday of November, after Daylight Savings Time had expired, on the 1st Saturday in November, we held our Family & Friends Olive Harvest, with 75-85 of our friends and family. We asked them to get there at 7am, and we fed them coffee and a hot breakfast, and then I gave them their field assignments, and made a plea for safety, and one of our pastors blessed the harvest, and we had everyone picking olives by 8am. We picked olives until about 2:30, and then everyone came into our 3-car garage, and we fed them a delicious harvest lunch, with J Keverson wines. This was one of the most popular and social events of the year, for most of these people. There were always lots of our fellow church members there, including both of our pastors. Plus, there were other friends we had made from other places, so there were a lot of social encounters of all kinds. Our daughter, Jill, was a caterer, from Portland OR, and she came every year, to help Judi put on the breakfast and lunch, and everyone raved about how good the food was. In our house, we invited about12 -15 family, and out of town friends to, stay with us. After all the harvesting on Saturday, about 15-20 of us picked more olives on Sunday morning, and we quit about Noon, and by 1pm, we had delivered the olives to the olive press in Hopland CA. Then we went and had Sunday lunch, at a restaurant in Hopland, which was my treat. 

In early December, after our two olive harvests, we had a large quantity of olive oil kept for us at the mill site in Hopland. In early December, we gathered up a crew of good friends, and went to Hopland, and bottled about 1000+ 375ml bottles of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We were normally through by about 12 or 1pm, and then we went to lunch in Hopland, at the same restaurant we went to when we took our olives to be pressed, after the Family & Friends Harvest.

In late 2012, the Holy Spirit, put on my heart, to start a Revival Prayer Group in our church. I asked our Senior Pastor, Dale Flowers, and he thought it was a good idea. On the 1st Monday in January 2013, we started a Revival Prayer Group with about 6 to 8 people, and kept it up, until we moved to Texas in June 2015, and then others in the group kept it going. One of the things I did, was prepare a teaching every Monday, about a Holy Spirit Revival, somewhere in the world. For example: The Welsh Revival of 1904 – 1905; I developed three teachings about the Azusa St Los Angeles Revival of 1906-1915; the New Hebrides Revival of 1949-1952; the New York, Business-Men’s, Revival of 1857; etc.

For the Spring Quarter of 2013, I physically relocated to the Fuller Seminary Campus, and got a room at the Fuller House. I took 3 classes that quarter, and that turned out to be a heavy load for me. I really liked being on Campus. I also enjoyed meeting many students and professors. I did a lot of walking for exercise, through the streets of Pasadena, on streets with a lot of Commercial stores as well as on blocks with houses. There were a lot of beggars on the commercial blocks, and I made a deal with God. I would give anyone who requested money from me $20, so I asked God to send me people who really needed the money. I think he did. On Saturday’s, I would treat myself to a good dinner out, and I discovered how much I liked the Ruth Chris Steak House in Pasadena. Every Monday, I would go to a prayer chapel on campus, in the evening, and pray for Revival. Almost every Monday, I was by myself, but it never bothered me, because I was doing what the Holy Spirit had asked me to do.

Sometime around 2012 or 2013, Judi and I began to talk about moving. The two reasons we agreed on were, we would like to be close to family, as there were no family near us in Santa Rosa. Also, we would like to be close to an airport, that could with one flight, get us all over the country. The DFW area really had everything we were looking for. My son Steve and Kristy and the boys, lived in Colleyville, and it was a 15 min drive to DFW Airport from Colleyville. Also, Kathy and Van and Clara only lived 4 hours from DFW in Houston. In 2014, we talked to Steve and Kristy about a move to the DFW area, and they started helping us. Steve had a Texas Real Estate license, and he started looking for houses, as we did online. We made three or four visits to Colleyville over the next year, and in early 2015, we put an offer on a house, that was accepted, for closing in June. We had already sold our house in Santa Rosa, for a good price and we had no trouble buying the house in Colleyville. In fact, we had enough left over to increase our savings. In recent years, I have become convinced, that the move from Santa Rosa, was orchestrated by God. Many of our Santa Rosa friends, have commented about what a great time it was for us to have moved. The fires that devastated Santa Rosa in 2017 and 2019 were horrible, and we were glad we weren’t there then.

Steve and Kristy were really a big help in our move, they helped us in many ways, and we very much appreciated it. We continued to develop a good relationship with them, and we got closer to their boys, Luke and Philip. That continued for almost five years, until March of 2020. At that time, Jill and Olivia were visiting us, for their Spring Break week, and I called Stephen, to see if they wanted to join us for a casual dinner, which was something we both normally did. He blew up at me, and said no way, I want nothing to do with her, meaning Jill. I was mystified, because I had no idea, he felt that way. However, I did remember the “don’t call me Uncle” episode from the beach. Several months later, Stephen met with me, and he said his counselor told him that I ruined his life, and that you should never be the cause of a problem between the oldest son, and his mother. He has never since then, shown any desire to forgive me, for the wrong I acknowledge, I must have done to him. For three years and 6+ months, we have had almost no relationship with Steve, Kristy, or the boys. I constantly pray that he will forgive me. I never wanted to cause Stephen pain by my actions. The estrangement from Steve and his family, has been very hurtful to Judi and me. We hope, some day to have a resolution, to helping Steve, feel safe with us again.

When we got to Colleyville, we decided to attend the Gateway Church in Southlake. We were concerned about its size, and in about three years, when we had not met many people, or any Pastors, we wondered, who would do our funeral service. We decided to try and find a new smaller church. We wanted a church where they respectfully served communion at every service, where we could meet and talk with the Pastors casually, and get to know them, and they us. After trying about 4 other churches, we found what is now called Restoration church. We have been members for over 4 years. We are active greeters, we serve communion periodically, and I read Scripture about every 6 weeks. We have a new Lead Pastor, Ryan Welsh from Bellingham, Washington, and he is fantastic at preaching Sermons, and in teaching classes. Ryan, along with Pastor Matt Clakely, taught two year-long equipping classes, one I attended as a student, and the second as a Cohort Team Leader. These classes were every bit the equal to my best seminary classes.

One very pleasant surprise for Judi and me when we moved to Colleyville, was finding, that our good friend, from Alaska, Ruth Germany, and her husband Dennis, who we also knew in Alaska, lived in Trophy Club, about 20 minutes from Colleyville. The four of us, often go out to dinner together, and we have a great friendship, with them. Ruth is very talented technically, and she often guides us through technical glitches, with our several devices. Ruth has also been very helpful to me, in preparing aids for Judi, should I die before her, which I think, will probably happen.

Our beloved Monty, lived for 13 years, he died in early August of 2017. He had a tumor on his liver, and he was in more pain every day. We called Lap of Love, a veterinary service that comes to your home, evaluates your dog, and puts them down, with you being with them every second. Judi and I really took Monty’s death hard. I was depressed. Monty was my first dog and he and I were companions. In late August, we contacted DFW Lab Rescue and went to one of their, meet and greets, where dogs needing rescue, and prospective owners, got to interact. We met Toby, and at the end of the visit we told them that we wanted him. We picked him up at his foster home about a week later. He loved having his own home, and his own persons. From the beginning, we knew he was so grateful that we adopted him. We don’t know who trained him, but from the beginning he was a well-behaved dog. Toby has now been with us for over 6 years, and he is a big part of our lives.

During our early years in North Texas, between 2016 and 2018, we were blessed to take two trips to Israel. The first trip in 2016, was with our Gateway church. The highlights of that trip were two. First, our group took a boat that crossed the Sea of Galilee, reminiscent of Jesus and his apostles. The second was, that we were both baptized in the Jordan River, just downstream from the Sea of Galilee. Then in 2018, we went with Joel Rosenberg’s, Joshua Fund, that we had supported for several years. Joel’s trip was special, in that he included stops with Messianic Jewish groups that the Joshua Fund helped. Joel also taught Bible lessons to the group at several sites. However, the most interesting thing the group did took place in Jerusalem. One day, we broke up into groups of about 12, and each group went by small bus, to a different neighborhood in Jerusalem, where Messianic groups, aided by the Joshua Fund, took part in distributing food, and other things like small kitchen appliances, to people in need. We were able to stand alongside members of the Messianic group and handout food +. Several people spoke some English, and all of them expressed sincere thanks for the aid they received that day. We were all in awe of this truly blessed opportunity, we had been given. We were also impressed with the work of the Joshua Fund.

In the Fall of 2018, my Seminary Practicum class, at the King’s University Seminary, was to be a student Chaplain at the BS&W Hospital, in Grapevine. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it was clear that I had an aptitude for being a Chaplain. Also, I learned about BS&Ws Faith Community Health Ministry, of matching trained church volunteers with lonely former hospital patients, who then visited them, once a week. Being an advocate for FCH, meant both recruiting churches and training their volunteers, and doing Hospital visits with soon to be discharged patients, who lived alone or with an elderly spouse. In hindsight, I realize I was being groomed to be an FCH advocate. 

One of the things I really enjoyed, was going to Wal Mart and buying food + for the Grace Food Pantry. When I work at the Grace Food Pantry on Friday’s, I write down what we are completely, or almost out of. Then, about 6 times a year, I would pick up my grandson Luke, and we would go to Wal Mart, and buy about two full carts of what the Food Pantry was out of, and then take the food to Grace. Luke and I really were fast at buying the food from Wal Mart, we developed a system that worked well. I also had several times when my great granddaughter Olivia and I did the same thing. I really enjoyed teaching Luke and Olivia, the importance of helping others, who were those, that Jesus referred to as “the least of his”.

Larry and Suzanne’s Six month stay with us – we were asked by a friend, to consider letting Larry & Suzanne stay with us for 6 months, while their house was being completed. Judi and Suzanne were both Interior Decorators, Judi retired and Suzanne still active, and they had met before. We invited them over to talk to about it, and we then decided to grant their request. It turned out to be a real blessing, for all of us. We loved having them here. Larry was really a big help to Judi, he vacuumed the downstairs every evening and he was very handy, which I am not. They are both great Christians and they joined our Small Bible Study group that I led, once a week. When it was time for them to leave, we were all very sad, but we have stayed in touch to this day.

Early 2019/Visitation of the Holy Spirit. In early 2019, I came down with a very bad back pain, and I only had Tylenol, which didn’t relieve the pain much at all. I suffered non-stop, and I got little to no sleep, and it was very bad. I prayed for relief, but it didn’t come. Then, one night, the Holy Spirit came to me and had a message for me. He asked me to stop going to seminary and, of course, I said yes, I will stop. The next night, I asked the Holy Spirit if that was what he really wanted from me, and he confirmed it was. The next day, I told Judi we were going to the ER, and there my pain was properly dealt with. In no time, the pain started going away. Obviously, the Holy Spirit used my pain and suffering, to get my attention, to receive a message, that he knew I didn’t want to hear. I don’t know exactly why the Holy Spirit wanted me to stop going to Seminary, but I suspect, I was beginning to use getting my MDiv (Which I was three semesters from receiving when I quit.) as a way, to make me look good, and the Holy Spirit wanted to redirect me into more humble pursuits.

Having dropped seminary, I went back to see the head Chaplin at BS&W Grapevine Hospital, and she agreed to have me become the FCH Advocate for the Grapevine Hospital. I worked on FCH very hard for the next three years. I talked to Pastors from about 30 faith communities, trying to get them interested in partnering with BS&W in FCH, which would have involved them finding volunteers, and me then training them, to visit former BS&W Grapevine patients, who lived alone, or with an elderly spouse, once a week. I did get six faith communities to agree to partner with us, and I trained their volunteers, and got them assigned to former patients. I was able to get two Catholic churches and a synagogue as three of the faith communities that I recruited, and no other FCH Advocate in Texas has ever been able to accomplish that. The other activity I was involved in, was going to both BS&W Hospitals in Grapevine and Irving, and visiting patients, before they were discharged, to recruit them as FCH patients. After 3 years, of intense effort, in FCH work, I got burned out and decided to try other work. 

Doug and Barbara, got married, on August 2, 2020, in Columbia, SC. Unfortunately, Judi and I did not attend, because of our, supposed Covid vulnerability, during the Covid Pandemic. Between them, they are in the latter stages of raising 5 kids. Doug has 3: Jordan, graduated, from the University of South Carolina (USC), several years ago. She now works, in Nashville. Douglas, who graduates from USC, this coming year, is interviewing for employment post-graduation, and Madison graduates from High School, next year. Barbara has 2: Hugh, who is in his last semester at Furman, and Kristen who is in her sophomore year, at Clemson.

While I was still involved in FCH, I was contacted by the head Chaplain at BS&W Grapevine, I think in November 2020. They had an 84-year-old, male patient, named Walter, whose wife had just died, and who desperately needed help. He couldn’t drive, and he didn’t know how to pay bills, his wife had done everything for him. I contacted one of our volunteers, but he did not want to help him with driving, which was Walters greatest need, so I agreed to become Walter’s chauffeur. I went to pick Walter up at his house, in Roanoke usually 2-3 times a week, to run errands. We went to Wal Mart, the bank, the laundromat, a local Braum’s, several doctor’s offices, his wife’s former insurance company and other places. Every time I brought him home, I prayed for him. Walter turned 85 in January of 2021 and after a short illness, he died in about October 2021. I really enjoyed my almost one year with Walter.

In the summer of 2021, Mike, Brian, Jacob and I flew to Anchorage Alaska, where we picked up a van, and we stayed in Anchorage for a day, and then we drove down to Kenai, and fished for two days in the Kasilof river, and then to Homer for two days of fishing, and then to Seward for two days of fishing, and then back to Anchorage to fly home. The fishing in Homer and Seward was fabulous. Mike and I both sent, 250 lbs of fish filets home, including King Salmon, Halibut, Yellow Eye and Ling Cod. It was a real fun time for three generations of Webb fishermen.

In early May of 2022, the six first cousins of my Aunt Lucene, my Mother, and my Uncle Walt, got together in Iola and had about 5 days together, with our spouses. The occasion was a genealogy field trip that included, Iola, Humboldt, and Ft Scott. The group included: Judi and me, Barbara and Ed Lukes, my sister Christine and Ron, Max and Nancy, Dan and Scherri, and Linda and Myles. We all had a really good time visiting and talking about our grand-parents and their families.

For about a year, I went to Grace of Grapevine and volunteered with their Friends and Family Senior Service Ministry. I was involved with monthly commodities distribution, trying to help the Director of the Friends and Family Program, and attending the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce Seniors Service Mtg that occurred every 2nd Wednesday of the month at 10am. I also volunteered to work in the Grace Food Pantry, front of house, on Friday mornings from 8:30-12 Noon, which I continue to do.

Something that occurred recently was quite surprising to me. I believe that spiritual warfare between Satan and his demons and God’s angels is very real, and is constantly going on, but not often are we aware of it, or involved with it, as my family and I were twice recently. The first Satanic attack occurred on a Saturday morning when I was driving Judi, Toby and I, to Lowe’s in Southlake, to pick up some hoses. We were driving North on White Chapel Rd., and at the intersection of White Chapel and Southlake Blvd, in front of us, the light was red and there were two rows of cars stopped, but the left turn lane was not occupied, and I noticed lots of traffic, in the near lane of Southlake Blvd going East. As I got close to the parked cars, I could not find the brake, and I panicked knowing that we were bound to crash, I was going about 35 mph and I turned toward the Left Turn lane to safely pass the cars waiting at the red light and then intended to quickly turn right and merge into Eastbound traffic on Southlake Blvd, thinking there was so much traffic, I was bound to get in a wreck. I did just that, but then we found ourselves, in the middle lane of Southlake Blvd, heading East, having not touched another car. Judi and I both thanked and praised God, because, we knew our guardian angels, had saved us from a near certain bad crash. The second Satanic attack occurred a few days later. On a Thursday I started to notice some unusual hip pain that was bothering my sleep, then Friday night I went to bed and hurt so badly I got up and sat in my chair next to my bed and prayed for relief, after a bit I was told that I was experiencing a Satanic attack. When I heard that, I told Satan, I am a child of God - leave me alone! I repeated that a few more times, then I got back in bed and fell asleep, and had no more unusual hip pain.

For some time now I have considered myself to be a theologian, That, is someone who studies God. To be more precise, I am an ecclesial theologian, as opposed to being an academic theologian. Ecclesial refers to the church. I also call myself a nascent ecclesial theologian, nascent meaning beginning. I read a lot about God, and I pray a “prayer list” at least once a day, that has about 40+ prayers on it. 

From my study of God, I have discovered near death events, where a person is in a medical event, that causes them to “die” and they temporarily go to Heaven, and meet Jesus and others, and experience Heaven, before being sent back. Imagine Heaven by John Burke came out in 2015, and is all about near death events, and using many of these events, the author was able to put together a pretty clear picture of Heaven, and it is amazing. Heaven, is better, than what our wildest imagination, could come up with. The colors, the light and love coming from Jesus and Father God, the city of New Jerusalem, the experience of meeting friends and family that have died, and gone to Heaven, and the amazing Life Reviews that Jesus offered to NDErs. It is during the Life Reviews, where we find out, what is important to Jesus, about how we live our lives. What we learn that is important is, have we loved others well, and been kind to others, even those who are strangers?? Judi and I have both read Imagine Heaven, and we strongly recommend it. Of course, the Life Reviews were done for those who were Christians, and had already agreed to believe in Jesus, as the Son of God, who died for our sins and was resurrected to life on the third day.

This Memoir would not be complete, without my including a fitting tribute, to my wonderful and remarkable wife, of 31 years, Judi. At 9 months old, Judi and her twin brother Jerry were sick, but their father would not take them to a doctor. By the time their Aunt intervened, and took them for medical care, it was too late for Jerry, and he died. During the winter, when Judi was 1 ½, she was dressed in a snowsuit, and she was in the back seat of their family car, with her older brother and sister. Her parents were in the front seat, and they were driving on a busy road. Apparently, a back window was open, and Judi fell out the window. Her sister Bethene, said something like, “Judi just fell out of the window, and she is laying in the road behind us.” They went back and picked Judi up, and she didn’t have a scratch on her.  When Judi was 2, her mother took her to the Nazarene Children’s Home, where she lived, until she was about 12. Her parents, who were divorced, came to the Children’s Home, and got Judi’s older sister, who went to live with her mother, as well as her older brother, who went to live with his father, but they left Judi there. At about 12, Judi left the Children’s Home and went to live with her father and his wife, Kelly in Bandon OR. Judi did well in High School, and she excelled socially. She became the Junior Prom Queen, Homecoming Queen, the Cranberry Queen and was a competitor in the Miss Oregon Pageant. Judi was also very active in Jobe’s Daughters, during her High School years. However, Judi’s home life, was very bad. Her father was a drunk. He got drunk every night and all weekend. Judi said that until she was 18, she didn’t know people drank liquor out of glasses, because her father and his cronies, always passed a bottle around. On several occasions when his cronies were in the house, to feel safe, Judi slept in the bathtub. Her father was terrible to Judi, and often, verbally abused her. However, for 5 days a week her father ran a successful logging business. He was apparently a functioning alcoholic. Because of her fathers, drinking, Judi decided to never drink, and she has stuck to that. In Judi’s Senior year of High School, a couple she knew from Jobe’s Daughters, asked Judi to live with them for the year, and Judi welcomed that change, from living in her father’s house. Right after Judi graduated from High School, she moved to Portland and started working for a dentist, while she went to school to learn to be an Interior Decorator, a profession she practiced for the rest of her life, either as a business or for friends and family.

Of course, I met Judi many years later, when she became my secretary at SOHIO Alaska, and not long after she started working for me, she was asked to be the secretary to SOHIO Alaska’s President. Over the last 31 years of married life, I have gotten to know and value Judi, more and more. We are partners in our marriage, and we love doing things together, and traveling together. We also have gotten to know and appreciate, each other’s families. Despite her childhood, Judi does not worry about anything, and she has a very positive outlook, and she is a very optimistic person. She makes friends easily, and in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), she is an awesome group Leader, and that is attested to by probably hundreds of ladies that have been in her groups, over the about 15 years, that she has been a group leader. One activity that Judi and I enjoy doing together, is reading the same book, and then discussing it. I read a lot, and often I want Judi to read a book, to get her perspective. Judi reads fast, and usually reads a book faster than I do. After Judi and I came to Christ together in early 2003, she was finishing up the BSF study of the Gospel of John, and she had a clear insight about her childhood. She said she couldn’t understand why, given her awful childhood, that she didn’t turn out to be a bitter resentful person. But instead, she turned into a loving and optimistic person, with a very positive outlook. But after studying the Gospel of John, she realized, that God has been protecting her, and guiding her, throughout her entire life. 

Today, most people think, that the most remarkable thing about Judi, is her incredible level of energy. I am constantly amazed, at how much she gets done every day. We both walk our dog Toby every morning for about 2.7 miles, and we get about 6500 steps, and by the end of the day I will have 9000 steps, and Judi will have 14,000 to 16,000 steps. Judi is also an excellent cook, and she makes the most delicious desserts. Judi is an outstanding hostess, and is consider by many, to have been gifted by God, in hospitality. Every week it seems, she is always baking cookies or mint brownies, and such, to freeze and have ready, for any number of opportunity’s that come up. This summer, Judi and I, with emphasis on Judi, canned 62 pints of Salsa that we use during the year for things that come up. The many ladies that are in Judi’s life now, through church and BSF, just can’t believe, that Judi does not have a house cleaning service, but still cleans her own house. My mother used to call Judi the “Energizer Bunny” and it is an appropriate characterization.

Judi no longer is in the business end of Interior Decorating, but she loves to help friends and family, with their decorating. And, of course, Judi decorates our house for all 4 seasons, and for Christmas, our house is really decorated, including a spectacular Christmas Village. Judi always has her BSF ladies, and her PEO sisters as well several church friends, that come over during Christmas season, to enjoy our very decorated house. Judi’s talents in decorating include, color selection, flower arranging, knick-knack arranging, picture arranging and others.

A few years after we relocated to Colleyville, Judi made friends with a lady that participated in an Icon Writing class, every Monday, for about 6 hours. Judi joined the class, and soon she was producing beautiful Icons every 3 months. Over time, her Icons are getting better and better. She has become excellent, at painting eyes and hands, which requires real talent. 

Judi and I both came to Christ in early 2003. We were then, always in a couples Bible Study class, and we still are. Neither of us knew anything about the Bible, until 2003, and then we started learning together and we continue to learn together today. Judi was my biggest cheerleader when I was going to Seminary. After Seminary, when I started to see myself as a nascent ecclesial theologian, Judi has fully supported me. Judi is fully my partner, in our study of God, and in life. I feel totally blessed to have Judi as my wife.

This is my penultimate contribution to my Memoirs. I am pleased and proud to see how well my six adult children, including Jill, have turned out. You are all kind, and responsible, mature, adult, contributors to family and society. I take no credit for this, but it is nevertheless good to see. One regret I have, is that I had hoped to see, before leaving this world, all six of my kids, become mature followers of Christ Jesus. But I have great faith in the Holy Spirit’s ability, to soften hearts, and I will be praying daily for this to occur. However, I do realize, that I didn’t start my own real faith journey with Jesus, until 2003, when I was 64.

My final word in my Memoir, is my second appeal, on behalf of my grandson Philip. Philip is family to us all, and he could really use our support, because he will need support, after we are all gone. Please consider making annual contributions to Philip’s ABLE NOW account. Steve can provide you the details of how to do this.

Finished,

Douglas Melville Webb

October 24, 2023