Richard Arden Morse

June 17, 2012 — 5 Comments

Richard Arden Morse, my father, was born in Independance, Kansas in 1920. His father, Ernie Morse was a jar head, a person who drilled oil wells before the advent of the rotary bit.  They were a natural part of the culture in the Cherokee Strip.  Ernie grew up on the Cherokee Nation and with his grandparents who farmed outside Coffeyville, KS.  When my dad was a kid this part of the world contained the most concentrated  wealth in the world.  Oil was to be found close to the surface.  My father learned fracking from Ernie, who had an 8th grade education. He went to Oklahoma University, Penn State, and later Texas A&M, where he pioneered numerical modeling of oil fields.

Ernie Morse in Coffeeville

Richard at OU

Richard and Ruby marry Nov 1942

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