Frederick John Wagner, Jr., 84, of Tulsa, passed away Thursday, February 14, 2013. Fred was born February 7, 1929 to Dorothy Viola Burrows and Frederick John Wagner, in Philadelphia, PA. Fred graduated from Abington High School in Glenside, PA where he played soccer, basketball, and baseball, and was active in Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout with a Bronze Palm. Serving as Aquatics Director at Delmont Scout Camp, he shared his knowledge of swimming, rowing, and canoeing with young scouts. In 1951, Fred received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA. Fred served as president of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, and played four years of Varsity Soccer. He was captain of the championship soccer team for two years and was named Honorable Mention All-American. Fred earned a Master of Arts Degree in Geology from Washington University in St. Louis in 1953. While at Washington University, he enjoyed a four month work assignment for Socony Vacuum Oil Company in Caracas, Venezuela. After a move to Tulsa in 1953 to join the Carter Oil Co. as a Research Geologist, he metCarolyn Louise Lipe. They married on June 4, 1955. He was drafted in August of 1955, trained with the 501st Airborne at Fort Jackson, SC and assigned to the Army Ballistics Missile Agency in Huntsville, AL under the direction of General Schinkle and Dr. Wernher von Braun; establishing a laboratory to analyze solid and liquid propellants for the space program. Their son, Fred, was born in Huntsville in 1956. Returning to Tulsa with the family in 1957, Fred re-joined the Carter Oil Company. Daughter Kristin was born in Tulsa in 1960. With Carter, Fred was involved with geological computer applica- tions leading to the family’s transfer to Tripoli, Libya. Returning to Tulsa in 1968, Fred joined Skelly Oil Company and eventual successors Getty and Texaco. Active with the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, he served as Chairman of the Committee on Statistics of Drilling. He was cofounder and Editor of Geobyte, a technical journal for the AAPG, advancing computer applications for the petroleum industry. After early retirement, he became Science Advisor with the AAPG, Vice President of Petroconsultants in Geneva, Switzerland, and an instructor with Oil and Gas Consultants. During his career, he lived in four countries and worked in twelve. Each home in which the family lived was enhanced by the many skills Fred possessed from woodworking to furniture making. Fred was devoted to his family, actively serving in leadership roles in Boy Scouts, Little League, Tulsa Hurricane Swim Club and Edison High School swimming. Fred accomplished many things in his life, but the greatest was being a loving, responsible, and loyal husband and father. He is survived by his loving and supportive wife of 57 years, Carolyn; son, Fred of Houston, and his children, John and Catherine; daughter, Kristin Henderson and her husband, Stewart, of Fort Worth, and their sons, William, Clay, and Matt. A Memorial Service will be held Wednesday, February 27th at 1:00 p.m. in the Kerr Chapel of First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa, 709 S. Boston Avenue, followed by a reception in the Miller Library. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to First Presbyterian Church of Tulsa’s Building Fund, 709 S. Boston Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74119. Arrangements made by the Cremation Society of Oklahoma. This obituary was published in the Tulsa World on 2/24/2013.
