Ralfe D. Reber

Reber, Ralfe D. whose career in the oil business spanned 80 years, was a prominent and respected figure in the Kansas oil industry since his arrival in Wichita in 1951 at the age of 31. He had convinced his boss, L.B. Stableford, to move his office from Chicago to Wichita to be closer to the new Huffstutter Field in Phillips County, which the company was developing. With the establishment in 1952 of his own company, Petroleum Management, Inc. (PMI), Ralfe began operating oil and gas leases around the state for Stableford and several other clients, expanding rapidly to operate 450 wells by the late 1950s. He ultimately gained a reputation as a wildcatter and a pioneer in the technique of waterflooding. In 1956, Ralfe drilled his first well with no outside investors, in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, and also completed two successful washdowns. By the mid-1960s, he had expanded into exploration with an initial program of 12 wildcat wells. He developed the 1-million-barrel-plus Stoneman Field in Phillips County in 1965 with 26 wells. The discovery of the Wheatland East Field in Ellis County, also a 1-million-barrel-plus field, followed in 1966. By the 1970s, PMI had drilled over 100 wildcat wells, with more than a dozen discoveries and several field extensions. In the early 1970s, Ralfe purchased more than 200 producing wells from major oil companies who had found it difficult to operate economically in Kansas. Ralfe, however, had developed a specialty in the waterflooding of the Lansing-Kansas City formation, beginning with his design and implementation of the North Huffstutter and Center Huffstutter Units in Phillips County in 1959. His ability to operate relatively low-yield 'stripper wells' efficiently, even in hard times, allowed him to survive the many ups and downs of the oil business over the decades. As an independent oil producer, he drilled over 800 wells in his career. In 1970, he became Kansas vice-president of the National Stripper Well Association and worked closely with Senator Bob Dole's office to influence federal legislation, which included the important amendment to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act that excluded stripper wells from price controls. He served as president of the National Stripper Well Association from 1976 to 1978 and was also on the board of directors of the Independent Petroleum Association of America. He subsequently served as president of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association (KIOGA) from 1979 to 1981, where he had been on the Board of Directors since 1956. During his tenure, he represented the Kansas oil and gas industry in various legislative battles, both at federal level, when President Jimmy Carter introduced the Windfall Profit Tax, and at state level, when he debated Governor John Carlin on television over the Governor's proposed Severance Tax. In more recent decades, despite having reached retirement age, Ralfe remained active in the oil business. After extending the Ray Field and discovering the Pioneer Field in Graham County, he gradually shifted the emphasis of his activities from Western Kansas to Eastern Kansas, making further discoveries in Butler and Cowley Counties. In 2000, he was inducted into the Kansas Oil and Gas Hall of Fame in Great Bend at a ceremony attended by Governor Bill Graves. In 2012, at KIOGA's 75th Anniversary Convention, he received the E.B. Shawver Lifetime Achievement Award. Born in Montvale, New Jersey, in 1919, Ralfe was the third child of Frank and Henrietta Reber. Exceedingly intelligent, he skipped three grades at school and graduated from Park Ridge High School at the age of 15. At age 17, he had already completed two years of college at what is now Fairleigh-Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, and was intending to go to law school. However, a summer job in 1936 at a fuel oil terminal owned by L.B. Stableford on the Hackensack River changed his career path forever. His work ethic and initiative led ultimately to an assignment in St. Elmo, Illinois, to manage the purchase of crude oil for Stableford's newly acquired 5,000-barrel-per-day refinery. By 1941, he was running a field office in Jackson, Mississippi, purchasing and shipping crude oil from the Tinsley Field, the first major oil field in Mississippi, to the refinery in Illinois. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ralfe enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on New Year's Day, 1942. Although on waiting lists for aerial cadets and officers' training school, he volunteered to go overseas, embarking on the Queen Mary out of New York Harbor in September 1942. With the 441st Squadron in the 320th Group, he was sent to a former French base at Tafraoui, just south of Oran, Algeria. Progressing through the ranks of Corporal and Master Sergeant, he received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant by the summer of 1943 and was based in Algiers. After contracting a life-threatening amoebic infection from eating an orange that he had bought from a local and spending several subsequent months in recovery, he was assigned to a new group in Tunis. The group moved to Sardinia, where he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He transferred to Corsica, then in 1944 to the HQ of the 22nd Tactical Air Command in Florence, Italy. While there, he once seized an opportunity to hitch a flight to Rome to do some sightseeing. As he was walking around the Vatican City with a small group of other servicemen, an official approached and invited them to a private audience with the Pope, who personally thanked them for their part in the liberation of Italy. After the war, Ralfe returned to work for Stableford, managing newly acquired oil-producing properties in Illinois and Oklahoma, as well as supervising the reactivation and conversion of fuel terminals at Gale, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee, to handle gasoline and aviation fuel. In 1948, he went to work in Stableford's Chicago office. The next year, Stableford drilled a prospect submitted to him by Wichita geologist Clint Engstrand which resulted in the discovery of the 60-well Huffstutter Field in Phillips County, Kansas. In January 1951, Ralfe convinced Stableford that they should all move to Wichita, because "that's where the oil is." When Stableford returned to Chicago the following year, Ralfe stayed on to start his own company. In 1954, Sondra Brewster walked into Ralfe's office in the Central Building to apply for a summer job as a receptionist. It was love at first sight. In January 1955, he drove to Florida where Sondra was attending college, and they eloped to Georgia. Having grown up in the big band era, Ralfe knew all the words to many classic songs, and he relaxed at home by playing and singing at the piano, even though he had no formal training and did not read music. He always enjoyed being invited by other patrons to perform solo at his and Sondra's favorite piano bars. The two of them also enjoyed dancing, and he taught his daughters how to do the Jitterbug and Lindy Hop, although they found the steps complicated. He took up golf in his 30s and became an avid golfer for the rest of his life, playing with a 4 handicap, even in his 50s. Only snow on the ground could stop him from getting out onto the course, and even as his age slowed his game in recent years, he continued to hit golf balls into a net in the backyard. The Kansas weather was, however, a constant frustration in his efforts to create a beautiful landscape around his home. The tree species that he had known in Mississippi couldn't survive the winter, while the species that he had known in New Jersey couldn't survive the summer. Planting trees and watching them grow over the decades was a source of great pleasure. Blessed with excellent physical and mental health until the end, he continued to go to the office every day until he suffered a massive stroke on December 3rd. He died on December 9, 2015, aged 96, with his family at his bedside. Ralfe is survived by his wife of 61 years, Sondra; their children, R. D. Jr. of London, England, Marta (Mrs. Larry) Warren of Wichita, Jennifer (Mrs. Alan) Poole of Surrey, England; grandchildren, Erin (Mrs. Benjamin) Clarke of Milwaukee, Elizabeth (Mrs. James) Devaney of Lee's Summit, Missouri, Elaine O'Neill of Kansas City, Emma Poole and James Poole of Surrey, England; great-granddaughter, Genevieve Devaney; and by his daughter, Carol Reber Wilson of Hays, Kansas, and her children, Jennifer (Mrs. Isaac) Peña of Longmont, Colorado, and Brett Wilson of Lincoln, Nebraska. Ralfe and Sondra's daughter Roxanne Reber died in 2013. A private service has been held. Messages of condolence can be sent to the family c/o Lakeview Mortuary: http://www.dignitymemorial.com/lakeview-funeral-home-kc. Memorials may be made to the Salvation Army, 350 N. Market, Wichita, 67202, or to the Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice, 313 S. Market, Wichita, 67202.