Joe Canon

Joe Canon, longtime Midland resident and a pioneer Permian Basin geologist, died at home on February 13, 2008, at the age of 94 years, 3 months. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 6:30 PM to 7:00 PM, Friday, February 15, 2008. A Wake service will be conducted at 7:00 PM, Friday, February 15, 2008 at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory, 3800 North Big Spring Street, Midland. Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, February 16, 2008 at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Midland with Monsignor Larry Droll, officiating. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery in Midland.Joe was born in Sherman, Texas on November 17, 1913, to E.J.C. and Annice Canon and spent his boyhood years with his parents and sister on a farm in Grayson County. He graduated from Oklahoma University with a B.S. degree in Geological Engineering and spent virtually his entire professional career, spanning well over a half century, as an independent geologist. At OU, he met and later married Verna Marie Holcomb of Fort Worth, his devoted wife, who died October 22, 2001, almost 63 years after their wedding date, January 10, 1939.Prior to his marriage to Verna, Joe moved to Midland in 1937 as a geologist with Gulf. He became an independent geologist in 1944. He was a member of St. Ann's Catholic Church. He was also a member of the West Texas Geological Society, SIPES and Midland Country Club. Joe received the Pioneer Award from the West Texas Geological Society during the year 1999.As a geologist who came from a farming family, Joe was an outdoorsman with a special appreciation for the beauty and serenity of natural wonders. He was an avid and accomplished fly fisherman who enjoyed many a cast along trout fishing streams throughout the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and New Mexico. He took special pleasure in summer vacations with frequent trips to these alpine destinations where he combined camping and fishing with family and friends. In later years, he and his beloved Verna veered southward toward the warm balmy clime of the Gulf Coast, cherishing time and travel together as a golden age couple after the teeming Canon family vacation days were done.Joe's acute memory and extensive experience in the energy development of the Permian Basin provided a myriad of anecdotes, lore and wisdom of events, fields and characters connected over many years with the colorful history of the oil patch. He was always astute and often humorous in the details and dates from his vast repertoire of recollections about his life and times in the legendary oil business of West Texas.Survivors include son, Joe Ed Canon and his wife, Josephine of Abilene; daughter, Anne Canon Conrad and her husband, Glenn, of Claude; son, Mike Canon and his wife, Judy, of Midland; son, Gerry Canon and wife, Connie, of Lubbock; son, Chris Canon and wife, Becky, of Canyon; daughter, Carol Canon of Midland; son, Kem Canon and wife, Jane, of Ajo, Arizona; son, Tim Canon and wife, Kim, of Evergreen, Colorado; twenty six grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by infant son, Patrick Harold Canon; and two infant grandsons.In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Verna Holcomb Canon Scholarship Fund c/o St. Ann's Catholic Church, 1906 W Texas AVE, Midland, TX 79701. Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland. Online condolences can be made at: www.npwelch.com,