If you have just labeled this page as a potential copyright issue, please follow the instructions for filing at the bottom of the box.
The previous content of this page or section has been identified as posing a potential copyright issue, as a copy or modification of the text from the source(s) below, and is now listed on Wikipedia:Copyright problems(listing):
Unless the copyright status of the text on this page is clarified, the problematic text or the entire page may be deleted one week after the time of its listing.
Temporarily, the original posting is still accessible for viewing in the page history.
To confirm your permission, you can either display a notice to this effect at the site of original publication or send an e-mail from an address associated with the original publication to permissions-enwikimedia.org or a postal letter to the Wikimedia Foundation. These messages must explicitly permit use under CC-BY-SA and the GFDL. See Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials.
Note that articles on Wikipedia must be written from a neutral point of view and must be verifiable in published third-party sources; consider whether, copyright issues aside, your text is appropriate for inclusion in Wikipedia.
You can demonstrate that this text is in the public domain, or is already under a license suitable for Wikipedia. Click "Show" to see how.
Otherwise, you may write a new article without copyright-infringing material. Click "Show" to read where and how.
Your rewrite should be placed on this page, where it will be available for an administrator or clerk to review it at the end of the listing period. Follow this link to create the temporary subpage.
Simply modifying copyrighted text is not sufficient to avoid copyright infringement—if the original copyright violation cannot be cleanly removed or the article reverted to a prior version, it is best to write the article from scratch. (See Wikipedia:Close paraphrasing.)
For license compliance, any content used from the original article must be properly attributed; if you use content from the original, please leave a note at the top of your rewrite saying as much. You may duplicate non-infringing text that you had contributed yourself.
It is always a good idea, if rewriting, to identify the point where the copyrighted content was imported to Wikipedia and to check to make sure that the contributor did not add content imported from other sources. When closing investigations, clerks and administrators may find other copyright problems than the one identified. If this material is in the proposed rewrite and cannot be easily removed, the rewrite may not be usable.
Posting copyrighted material without the express permission of the copyright holder is unlawful and against Wikipedia policy.
If you have express permission, this must be verified either by explicit release at the source or by e-mail or letter to the Wikimedia Foundation. See Wikipedia:Declaration of consent for all enquiries.
Policy requires that we block those who repeatedly post copyrighted material without express permission.
Instructions for filing
If you have tagged the article for investigation, please complete the following steps:
Place this notice on the talk page of the contributor of the copyrighted material: {{subst:Nothanks-web|pg=Chet Upham|url=see talk}} ~~~~
To blank a section instead of an entire article, add the template to the beginning of the section and {{Copyvio/bottom}} at the end of the portion you intend to blank.
(3) In addition to business and politics, Upham was involved in aviation and ownership of Loveland Ski Area in Colorado, the first to use "artificial" snow.
Chester Robert Upham, Jr., known as Chet Upham (May 19, 1925 – January 24, 2008),[1] was an oil and natural gasbusinessman from Mineral Wells, Texas, who served as the chairman of the Texas Republican Party from 1979–1983, corresponding with the first gubernatorial administration of his friend, William P. "Bill" Clements, Jr. Upham was a delegate to every Texas state Republican convention from 1960–1994 and to the national conventions of 1972, 1980, 1984, and 1992. He was a member of the Business Council organized by GovernorRick Perry.[2]
Family background and early years
Prior to 1900, Upham's grandfather, David A. Upham, came to Texas from Pennsylvania to work on a drilling rig at a time when there were only three such structures in the world. David Upham soon owned and operated what became the fifth rig in existence. Upham Oil and Gas originated in 1914, when David Upham heard about the emerging field in Ranger, located between Fort Worth and Abilene, Texas. In 1917, the senior Upham drilled his first natural gas well in Palo Pinto County. A few years later, David Upham's son, Chester R. Upham, Sr., came to Mineral Wells, the seat of Palo Pinto County, and two men purchased the Consumer's Gas and Fuel Company, a natural gas operation. In 1925, the company extended service to rural communities within Palo Pinto County. In 1926, the company was renamed the Brazos River Gas Company, which served fifteen communities. In 1950, the name was again changed to Upham Gas Company.[3]
After the war, Upham lived briefly with his parents at the landmark Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells.[2] In 1947, he joined his father in the management of Upham Gas Company. After his father's death in 1956, Upham Gas Company was sold and became Southwest Gas, which also handled the distribution system for the city of Mineral Wells.[3] According to Chet Upham's family, some of the first wells that Upham drilled were still in production at the time of his death in 2008.[2]
In 1956, Upham launched Upham Oil & Gas Company, an exploration and production company still in operation. In January 1977, Chester Upham, III, known as Robert Upham, joined the company and became its operations manager. The firm maintains wells in Palo Pinto, Parker, Jack, and Wise counties and natural gas processing plants in the nearby communities of Chico and Strawn, Texas.[3]
Upham was a past president of the interest group, the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owner's Association, the recipient of the 1990 Chief Roughneck Award, and a member and director of the North Texas Oil and Gas Association. He was a member of the Interstate Oil Compact Commission and the Natural Resources Petroleum Council. He was a founding director of Palo Pinto Municipal Water District No. 1 and the Palo Pinto Area Foundation. He was also a director of the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce. He was a member and director of the conservativeMountain States Legal Foundation.[2] He was co-owner of Upham Development Company, a commercial real estate business, in California. He was also a director of City National Bank in Mineral Wells and a regent of the University of Texas.[4]
Active in aviation, Upham flew his own plane until his health made that impossible. He then hired a pilot to transport him around the country. On December 16, 1946, Upham wed the former Virginia Frances Lee, who was born on February 24, 1924, in Phoenix, Arizona.[4] She was a stewardess for American Airlines prior to their marriage.[2] Upham used his background in engineering and oilfield compressor technology to introduce the first artificial "snow-making" to Colorado[5] in 1984, a system now used by almost all major ski areas. His resort, Loveland Ski Area,[6] is still independently-owned by his family and operated by his widow. Loveland "consistently has the best 'snow' conditions in Colorado," the family maintains. Upham and Loveland general manager Otto Werlin (1926–2008), conceived the idea of artificial snow from observing the pumps and compressors being used to dig the nearby Eisenhower Tunnel, built between 1968 and 1973 on Interstate 70 under the Continental Divide.[5]
Political matters
Upham was named Texas Republican chairman in 1979, when Ray Barnhart of Pasadena resigned to join the Clements administration as one of the then three members of the Texas Transportation Commission. During the Clements first term, Upham worked closely with the administration, but Republican growth remained slow even with the statewide victory of Ronald W. Reagan in Texas in 1980. In 1983, blamed for poor Republican election showings, Upham was replaced as GOP chairman by Houstonoilman and philanthropistGeorge W. Strake, Jr., who had been the unsuccessful nominee for lieutenant governor in 1982 on Clements's failed reelection ticket. Strake lost to DemocraticincumbentBill Hobby, also of Houston, whom he attempted to brand in the campaign as a "liberal." Texas Monthlymagazine later reflected that "squabbling and demoralized Republicans turned on" Upham mistakenly as "a postelection scapegoat."[7]
Upham was an admirer of Ronald Reagan, whom he described as a man of principles who did not waver in his beliefs: "The thing about Ronald Reagan so many of us were so very, very proud of is that he didn't worry about the polls," Upham told the Mineral Wells Indexnewspaper.[2] He claimed in a 1983 interview with The Washington Post that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who was unseated by Reagan in 1980, "pushed" the Texas oil and gas industry "into the Republican Party. There's no question about it. The principles of the Republican Party are more akin to the things that oil and gas people are seeking."[8]
State RepresentativeJim Keffer from House District 60 said that Upham "shepherded Texas into a vibrant two-party system, giving many Texans a voice in government for the first time."[2] State Senator Craig Estes of Wichita Falls, representing District 30, likewise called Upham "a legendary pioneer in helping to grow the Republican Party of Texas."[11]
Death and legacy
After a five-year struggle with bone cancer, Upham died in the Palo Pinto General Hospital in Mineral Wells. In addition to his wife, he was survived by daughters, Barbara Lee Upham, formerly Barbara Kemp, and Dr. Mary Kathleen Upham, and son, Chester Robert Upham, III, and his wife, Lori. A second son, Richard Lee Upham, preceded his father in death. He had five grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. Services were held in the First Christian Church of Mineral Wells, where Upham was a member. He is interred at Woodland Park Cemetery in Mineral Wells.[2]
Mineral Wells Mayor Clarence Holliman, who left office on May 20, 2008, described Upham, accordingly: "He was a giant among men that always kept an humble spirit and that was just who he was . . . a tremendous support system for me with his wisdom, with needed resources or just somebody that you could sit down and enjoy a conversation with. I count it a privilege and a blessing to be counted among his friends." When asked what one word could describe Upham, Holliman replied, "'Real' in every sense of the word, because no matter who you were, Mr. Upham was always Mr. Upham. ... Whether it was someone he worked with or just met, he was always the same."[2]
Upham donated in 2007 to U.S. SenatorJohn McCain's presidential campaign. His son was an active donor to the successful reelection of Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas in 2008.[12]
On May 19, 2008, the first "Chet Upham Day" was posthumously proclaimed on his birthday in Mineral Wells. U.S. RepresentativeMac Thornberry of Clarendon sent a statement to the event: "In business, [Upham] left an indelible mark on the oil and gas industry, contributing greatly to the economy and job base of Palo Pinto County. . . . Today, Chet is being honored for the many contributions and lasting achievements, not only in the state and area, but in the hearts of so many people ... All who have benefited from his efforts have been blessed as we have experienced the epitome of excellence, leadership and character."[13] Gayle Gilmore of the staff of State Representative Jim Keffer said that Upham "was a Republican when it wasn't cool to be a Republican."[13]
Lufkin Industries is an American manufacturing company based in Lufkin, Texas and one of the largest employers in the city. It was founded in 1902. Lufkin produces machinery such as power transmission gearboxes, oilfield pumping units and oilfield electrical equipment. Lufkin joined GE Oil & Gas in July 2013. GE Oil & Gas and Baker Hughes merged in 2017 to create Baker Hughes, a GE Company. The reach of the company is worldwide, with many of their products and services available on a global scale.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
