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MEMORIALS
FRED M. OGLESBY, JR.
(1924–2002)
By Dick Donley
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Fred Oglesby died April 26, 2002,
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from complica-
tions following heart surgery. Fred was
an Oklahoma native. He was born in
Ponca City and graduated from Tulsa’s
Will Rogers High School and from
Oklahoma State University.
He started his geological career
with a small independent oil company,
generating prospects and sitting wells
in Osage County, Oklahoma. In 1952,
he went to work for Cities Service Oil
Company in Bartlesville. During his
30-year career with that company, he
worked also in company offices in La-
fayette, Louisiana; Amarillo, Texas;
Tulsa; and Denver, Colorado. Geologi-
cally, he was best known in the com-
pany for his work on stratigraphic
traps in the Guymon-Hugoton basin,
principally the Morrowan sands. In
AAPG Bulletin, v. 87, no. 1 (January 2003), p. 181
Contents
1956 he returned to Bartlesville in a
geological staff position. In that capac-
ity he served as liaison between district
and region offices and the head office.
Fred had a real talent for working with
younger geologists, helping them con-
vert their prospect concepts into man-
agement-selling maps and graphic
displays.
Fred spent several years in Tulsa in a
special planning section, then moved to
Denver as administrative manager of
the newly formed Western Region cov-
ering the Rocky Mountains, California,
and Alaska. In 1976, he returned to
Tulsa as a member of the Exploration
Affairs Group responsible for recruit-
ment, training, and development of ge-
ologists and geophysicists. Fred was an
outstanding teacher in the company’s
Exploration Training Program and a top
recruiter. He worked as recruiting coor-
dinator until his retirement in 1983.
During World War II, Fred served as
a navigator on a B-17 bomber with the
8th Air Force stationed in England. On
its 13th mission, his plane exploded
shortly after takeoff. Miraculously, Fred
survived, somehow managing to pull
his ripcord and land safely in a rural
area of coastal England. His left leg,
virtually severed in the explosion, had
to be amputated just below the hip.
After two months of healing in a mili-
tary hospital in England, Fred returned
to the states and Walter Reed Hospital
in Washington, D.C. He spent the next
nine months there, undergoing therapy
and learning to use a prosthetic leg.
One of the highlights of his stay at
Walter Reed was a White House visit
with Eleanor Roosevelt.
In May 1945, Lieutenant Oglesby
was retired for disability from the Air
Force. Back in civilian life, he reen-
tered Oklahoma State University
(then Oklahoma A&M), and got on
181
with his geological education and
career.
Fred never considered the loss of his
leg a handicap. He walked with a limp,
but co-workers generally did not realize
he was an amputee. For many years, he
was an avid golfer, and for a time
served as head of the Greens Commit-
tee at Sooner Golf Course in Bartles-
ville. When fishing or sitting on wells,
he often wore a peg leg. Friends re-
member him as the hit of Halloween
costume parties dressed as a peg-legged
pirate with his parrot, Willie, perched
on his shoulder.
In retirement, Fred concentrated on
his children and grandchildren, and his
hobbies—woodworking, traveling, and
the Confederate Air Force. Although
no longer active in petroleum geology,
he never lost his love for his science. A
plane table, alidade, and stadia rod oc-
cupied a corner of his den, and a lunch
date might include a drive out to a
nearby outcrop just to check out the
rocks.
Most of his travels were by car. Fly-
ing, when he had to, was always “white
knuckle time,” but he still loved the
planes themselves. He belonged to the
Arizona Wing of the Confederate Air
Force, an organization dedicated to the
restoration and maintenance of World
War II aircraft. He and 12 other mem-
bers sponsored a B-17, an old 8th Air
Force plane, painted in the colors of
Fred’s squadron. He frequently traveled
with the plane, driving between stops,
on its annual nationwide tours.
Fred was buried at Ft. Gibson, Okla-
homa, National Cemetery with military
honors. He was preceded in death by
his wife, Alice June Harris Oglesby,
and is survived by his former wife
Sarah Osasa, his son Kirk, his daughter
Sarah G. Dreo, and two grandsons,
Joseph and Robert Oglesby.