Obituary

Stanley Hall Shryock was born on March 9, 1932, in Wichita, Kansas to Howard and Neva Shryock.  He had an older brother Howard Jr. and younger sister Janet.  Howard and Neva both taught school as well as farmed and ran a drug store to support the family.  He recorded his life history on September 14, 2007, which is included here.

Elementary, junior high and three years of high school were completed at Gage, Oklahoma. In 1949, I enrolled in the Boise City High School graduating in the spring of 1950. That fall, I enrolled at Panhandle A&M College and completed three years. During the last year at PAMC, I met a lovely young lady, Carolyn K. Goff, and we were married in December at the Marella Methodist Church in the Griggs community of Cimarron County. We moved to Stillwater, OK in the fall of 1953 and I enrolled at Oklahoma A&M majoring in Chemical Engineering.

1954 brought employment with Halliburton, an oil field service company, in Duncan, OK as a Research Chemist. Our son, Steven, was born in April. Two years later, our daughter Angela was born in May and soon afterwards, we were transferred to Norwalk, CA where I continued working for Halliburton as a Division Chemist. As technology on methods of completing and stimulating production on oil and gas wells improved, I was assigned the responsibility of teaching the field operations personnel how to use these processes. During this time, opportunities for me to advance occurred so in 1969, I was promoted to the position of Assistant Division Engineer with work assignments in California, Alaska, Nevada and Mexico. As my experienced broadened, I authored and co-authored several technical papers published by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and American Petroleum Institute.

Our third child, David, was born in 1961. Unfortunately, he was accidentally killed while working at a service station in California at the age of 18. Our Faith and God’s Grace was a blessing to help us overcome the grief from the loss of our son.

In 1972, I was promoted to the position of Division Engineer with more responsibility and travel requirements. The start of drilling activities on the North Slope of Alaska opened up more opportunities due to drilling in permafrost and attempting to complete wells in this cold environment particularly when it came to cementing casing with a slurry mixed with fresh water. Halliburton was very active cementing casings in geothermal steam wells that often-encountered temperatures above 400 degrees F. This made my experiences unique in that I had worked on both the coldest and hottest wells that been drilled up until that time.

1983 brought a new experience that my wife and I enjoyed very much. We were transferred to Singapore. The oil, gas and geothermal wells that Halliburton did engineering and service work throughout Asia, so we had the opportunity to work and visit in 16 different countries. It was a great place to live, make new friends and worship in Christian Churches.

We decided to return to the States in 1991, so I requested and was granted a transfer to Duncan, OK.  After 8 months, Halliburton offered me the opportunity to take early retirement. Since Carolyn’s parents C.F. and Reba Goff, still lived on a farm outside Boise City and my mother, Neva Shryock, lived in Boise City, we chose to move back to help care and spend some quality time with them. Fortunately, all three of them lived 7 – 8 years after we arrived in 1992. We have lots of friends here and enjoy our life and membership in St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.

Our Dad was a dedicated and loving husband and father, who worked hard as a respected employee and representative of Halliburton, widely known in the Western US and later in Asia.  At home, he supported us in school, sports, and church serving as a board member for girls softball, church Trustees and pre-school.  He and our Mother Carolyn were founding members of the Brea United Methodist Church, where Mother was the organist, and Dad sang in the choir.

Dad was instrumental in setting off Steve’s career in the oil industry, introducing me to the department chairman at USC.  His industry reputation opened doors for Steve. Angie considered him her hero for whole-heartedly supporting her every endeavor.

After retiring in Boise City, Oklahoma, Stan and Carolyn made many friends and enjoyed living near many family members in the five states area.  Dad was instrumental in developing the golf course in Boise City. Again, they were both active in the St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, serving in music, boards and Sunday school.

After our mother passed away in 2015, Dad missed her very much.  He worried about leaving all the many treasures they had collected in their travels but came to California anyway to be closer to his family.  He enjoyed his final years quietly enjoying seeing his great grandkids grow up.

Stanley was preceded in death by our mother, Carolyn, son David, his parents and brother.  He is survived by his sister Janet Northcutt, his son, Steven Shryock, his daughter Angela Wilson, his granddaughters, Erin Irving and Sarah Dean and their husbands Craig Irving and Joshua Dean, his grandson Keith Wilson and his wife Halisha Wilson, and his great grandchildren Avery Irving, Jacob Irving, Emma Dean and Noah Dean.