Gregory left record of service
Like a lot of oilfield business people, Truman Laro “Woody” Gregory commenced with tiny and grew to become productive with ingenuity and hard operate.
Gregory was named the Permian Basin Worldwide Oil Show’s 2020 honoree past year, but he died Nov. 6 at age 87 right after the pandemic had pressured the show’s postponement.
Now the Wichita Falls native is remaining identified for the duration of the Oct. 19-21 exhibition not only for co-founding and generating a major results of Gregory Rig Provider, which had 3 destinations and 200 staff, but also for community service.
“Dad was a pal to a great deal of individuals all over listed here,” mentioned his son Don, president of Metallic Fab Goods. “He was one particular of (Oil Demonstrate President) Tommy Pipes’ mentors and he did that for a good deal of persons.
“He was constantly there to support anyone. Like me, he was a rather peaceful male. He did not brag or place himself out there. He was 1 of the tranquil fellas that you see a large amount in the oilfield.” A winner of the Heritage Basis of Odessa’s Award for Excellence in Neighborhood Provider for Business, Woody was president of the Oil Show in 1986 and served on the Odessa Chamber of Commerce Government Committee and the boards of the PBIOS, the Odessa Nation Club, the Petroleum Museum, the Lender of the West and the Ector County Utility District.
Requested how he acquired his nickname, his son explained he disliked “Truman” and was obtaining individuals contact him “Laro,” which his 4-year-previous sister couldn’t pronounce. “She was expressing ‘Rody,’ a family good friend known as him ‘Woody’ and it caught,” Don stated.
“Dad felt like this city had accomplished a wonderful offer for him and he wanted to give some of that again. He and my Uncle Don moved right here in late 1960 or early ‘61 with their cars and instruments and that was about it. We sold Gregory Rig Services in 1998 to Countrywide Oilwell Varco.”
Gregory stated his father “was a intelligent person who would have designed a great engineer, but he never ever had the chance to go to faculty.
“He was pretty mechanical coming out of significant faculty.”
Woody volunteered for 4 a long time in the Air Drive and was a complex instructor at his hometown Sheppard Air Force Base and a crew chief, teaching plane mechanics, in Japan. He labored for Wilson Production in Houston in advance of coming to Odessa.
In a assertion for this year’s demonstrate, the PBIOS stated Gregory “was a gentleman, a mate and an icon for the energy business in the Permian Basin.”
Exhibit Govt Director Tony Fry knew him for 44 decades and confirmed that the person was of a peaceful demeanor, while not shy about business.
“In 1986, when he was president, our business functions had been rather slim,” Fry mentioned. “When Woody explained one thing at a board conference, you’d improved just take him very seriously due to the fact he was value listening to.
“He experienced dry sense of humor that took me a although to get utilized to. He’d obstacle me and I finally figured out that he just preferred to make absolutely sure I had thought all the angles as a result of.”
Don Gregory claimed he and Bro Hill, who’d been the 1996 PBIOS president, “went to his property to notify him who the 2020 honoree was and he questioned, ‘Who is it?’
“We mentioned, ‘It’s you,’” Don explained. “And he stated, ‘No, that can’t be!’ He kept seeking to inform us to give it to anyone else. It was one of the largest honors he experienced ever gotten and he was very grateful.”
