Claytie: The Roller-Coaster Life of a Texas Wildcatter

Recognitions

Recognitions From day one, Claytie stressed to me that the secret to whatever success he’s enjoyed is no secret at all. “I have always surrounded myself with bright, talented, and conscientious people,” he said. Looking back over his fifty years in the oil and gas business and his other endeavors, he cited “just a handful” of the friends, associates, and employees who played important roles during the pivotal business cycles of his life. “In the pre-Giddings years, roughly two decades,” he said, “the group included the Weavers and Dow Puckett, my dad and uncle, J. C. Williams, and all the shareholders in the Scope and other royalty companies. And certainly my early partner Johnny May and his family. There were different bankers such as Clayton Puckett, Charles Frazier, Tom Stevens, and particularly Karl ‘Buddy’ Butz. There were landowners and oil drillers like Ralph Burkholder, John and Johnny Dorr; dealers like Ned Marrow, Jack Blake, Gary Burnett, Stan Beard, and many, many others. There were great employees like Bill Haverlah, Clint Atkins, Wayne Roye, Doc Malone, Bernie Scott, J. L. Davis, Sandy Jones, Lana Loyd, Wynona Riggs, Pilo Perales, Jim Shepherd, and Dick Morton. There were also great friends and teachers like Ted Gray, and good friends like Charlie Moody and Cleo and Mike Costello at Sarah’s Café. “Of the many ventures, projects, and activities that I’ve taken over a lifetime, one of the most satisfying was the acquisition of the Alpine [Happy Cove] Ranch. Along with the ranch, came Guadalupe ‘Chappo’ Ramirez and later, his son James. What a pleasure it has been to me to go to the ranch, work on projects, work cattle, and always have these two solid men there to help me every step of the way. Chappo is as much of a workaholic as I and he was by my side through many, many ranch projects. Another great satisfaction has come through working with my dear friend Frank Velasco as we put together and developed the irrigated Fort Stockton farms, which today produce 16,780 tons of alfalfa hay a year.” Claytie told me repeatedly that none of the giant strides forward during the Giddings boom would have been possible without Bob Lyon and Travis Lynch and their team of gas buyers, as well as Bob’s presiding over administration and contracts. He went on to salute Bill Haverlah for his lease acquisitions; Charlie Moody, for his pipeline building; Jack Bradford and Dave Greenlee, for their well drilling ; Wally Raschall, for his building the gas plants; Clint Atkins, for his early oversight; and Quatie Wolfshohl, for overseeing all Clajon activities. “In later years, there were friends and employees such as Sam Pfiester, Pat Reesby, Paul Latham, Mel Riggs, and Kelly Beckham in oil and gas; Nancy Carpenter, Martin Sullivan, Clay Cowart, James Ramirez, and Paul Henderson in agriculture; Ray Ramirez, the estate manager; and, especially, my right arm and loyal, capable assistant for twenty years, Denise Kelly. I am certain that Paul, Mel, my son-in-law Greg Welborn, John Kennedy, and Sam Lyssy will all be key players as we continue to grow.” Most recently, Greg took over the land operations from son-inlaw Jerry Groner, who started his own company, and son Clayton Wade moved from Alpine to Midland to work full-time for CWEI and learn the producing end of the oil business. Son Jeff is a farm and ranch manager who manages the High Lonesome Ranch, and daughter Kelvie works part-time in real estate. Finally, in Claytie’s mind and heart, there will always be a special place for the five men, friends as well as colleagues, who died in the company plane crash in 1990: Bob Smith, Randy Kidwell, Jamie Winkel, Aaron Giebel, and Ken Mardis. 404 R E C O G N I T I O N S ...