Joe Neilson Gifford

“To whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Joe Neilson Gifford took these words to heart over the course of his long life, lived by them, and passed them on to the huge family who surrounded him with love and prayers on July 31st when he left for heaven.

Joe — “Jody” to those who knew him longest — was born in Enid, Oklahoma, on February 5, 1930, to Joseph Bartholomew Gifford and Lydia Byrtle (Eisberg) Gifford. He came from tough pioneer stock: his great-grandparents ran the Cherokee Strip Land Run of 1893 to homestead near Enid. While his father was away building airfields during World War II, Jody lived on his grandparents’ farm, doing the chores of the men who had gone to war and resolving to never have to slop hogs again. He rode his horse, Prince, to a one-room schoolhouse and roamed the countryside with his cousin Terry and his faithful dog, Sport. Years later, his children begged for “Sport stories,” each ending with Jody’s piercing whistle summoning Sport to rescue them from danger, often a pack of coyotes or a charging bull.

Joe learned golf from his father at age eight and carried a scratch handicap by fifteen. At Lincoln High School in Nebraska (Class of 1948) he was State Golf Champion and president of the National Honor Society. At the University of Nebraska he won the Big 7 Conference golf championship twice, served as Class of 1952 President, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honorary societies, all while working nights at a gas station. Commissioned through ROTC as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army, he served stateside during the Korean War. Afterward, Joe was offered the chance to turn professional in golf, but he chose geology instead, returning to the University of Nebraska on a Sinclair Oil Company Fellowship to earn an advanced degree.

He married Sue Muelhaupt of Des Moines, Iowa, in 1956, and together they welcomed five extraordinary children: Susie, Sally, Daniel, Charlie, and O’Shea, who spent their childhoods at his side through it all, from New Orleans to Algiers to Paris and home to Midland. Joe and Sue’s marriage ended in 1969.

His career with Sinclair carried him from Tulsa to New Orleans and then overseas as Chief Geologist for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, where he discovered the billion-barrel Rhourde el Baguel oil field in the Sahara despite the war raging in Algeria. When a bomb tore the front off his apartment in Algiers, he relocated to Paris where he continued his work, with frequent trips back into Algiers.

In 1964, Joe brought his family to Midland as Sinclair’s District Exploration Manager. He turned down the chance to head Sinclair’s Alaska operations because he had come to love the people and the life here in Midland. He stayed for the next 62 years, engaged in the Permian Basin oil business, first with Sinclair and then as an independent alongside his partners, including Bascom Mitchell. Joe was an innovator in deep well drilling and helped discover more than one trillion cubic feet of gas equivalent and a string of major fields in the Permian and Delaware Basins. In 1967, His #1 Wolf Unit well in Winkler County produced one of the biggest blowouts in Texas history. It raged for forty-eight days before Red Adair arrived in his red Cadillac, along with Boots and Coots and engineer Bob Crittendon, and extinguished it. Footage of the blowout appears in the John Wayne movie Hellfighters and appears in an exhibit about Joe at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum. Joe was later named a “GeoLegend” by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists for his contributions to the oil and gas industry. But ask his family, and they will tell you his proudest titles were husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.

The happiest chapter of Joe’s life began when he saw Emily Goodwin across the courtyard beneath the large live oak tree at Scholz Garten in Austin. He arranged an introduction, and they married in Aspen in December of 1972. They adventured across the world together and remained the love of each other’s lives for over 53 years. Joe always said he and Emily had a marriage made in heaven. And for Emily, Joe was the most kind, generous, humble and faithful man she ever knew. Three beautiful daughters blessed their marriage: Taylor, Marissa, and Sarah.

Joe’s character was perhaps most clearly revealed not in success, but in adversity. In 1982, after oil was decontrolled and banks called the loan on a recently purchased refinery, Joe and his partners lost all of their producing properties. It was a devastating blow. Yet rather than turn inward, Joe turned toward people who were struggling even more. Through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he took on more than one thousand cases, helping families with food, necessities, and urgent needs. He often brought his children along on deliveries, quietly teaching them that generosity was not simply something to admire, but something to practice. Joe held firm to the belief that to whom much is given, much is expected, and he lived it out quietly for the rest of his life.

Joe’s faith was the bedrock of it all. He attended daily Mass faithfully for decades, and served as a lector and Eucharistic minister, until his strength began to wane. He also served on the Parish Councils of St. Ann’s, St. Stephen’s, and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Churches and taught religious education to high school students. His faith was not showy or abstract. It appeared in steady acts of service, gratitude, humility, and the way he treated people.

His generosity was as constant as it was quiet. He anonymously covered college tuition for many Permian Basin students, strongly supported Helping Hands, and was a founding member of the Life Center. His giving reached far beyond Midland, to Heifer International, the Smile Train, Doctors Without Borders, and communities destroyed by natural disasters. He also served his community as president of the Midland Country Club and the Racquet Club and as President of the Board of Trustees of Trinity School, where he directed the school’s first successful endowment campaign. He gave not for recognition, but because he believed every gift carried a responsibility to use it for others.

To Joe, family was paramount. With eight children, twenty-five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren, his home was usually bustling with activity. He could often be found behind the wheel of his gray van taking Sarah and her Trinity basketball team to away games, driving across the country to Taylor’s horse shows, or loading up Emily and the kids for summer vacations, ski trips, and the family’s beloved “Wheels Across America” adventures. He loved animals and always kept some assortment of them, both inside the house and out, no doubt the inspiration for Marissa’s passion for animal rescue. His younger grandchildren called him “BadDad” because granddad was hard to say. When they came to hug him, they would reach into his pocket, where they knew they would find jellybeans, fondly known as “BadDad beans.” It was a small ritual, but one that captured him perfectly: prepared, playful, generous, and delighted by his grandchildren.

Joe leaves an enduring mark on the oil industry and Midland community, but his greatest legacy lives in his family. He taught them to work hard, do their best, remain humble in success, persevere through hardship, give freely of their time and talents, and be grateful and faithful to God. He showed them that a meaningful life is measured not only by achievement, but by whom one loves, serves, and inspires.

Joe was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, Carol Jane (Gifford) Pellegrino. He is survived by his wife of fifty-three wonderful years, Emily Gifford, his children Mary Susan Locker (Karl), Mary Sarah Robb (Mike Newman), Daniel O’Shea Gifford (Christy), Charles Peter Gifford (Liz), Joseph O’Shea Gifford (Rachael), Taylor Kathleen McCarty (Darren), Marissa Suzanne Smith (David), and Sarah Elizabeth Beaufait (Sam), twenty-five grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be at the Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home, 3800 North Big Spring Street from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11. The Funeral Mass will be at Our Lady of Guadalupe, 1401 Garden Lane, at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 12. Burial will immediately follow at Resthaven Memorial Park, 4616 North Big Spring Street. A reception will be held at the Racquet Club, 3009 Racquet Club Drive, from 11:00-2:00. Please join the family at any of these events.

The family thanks Hospice of Midland and Kendall Warren and her wonderful team of caregivers at Heritage Care Advocates. We are deeply grateful for the compassionate care you gave Joe and the kindness you showed our entire family.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Helping Hands of Midland (helpinghandsmidland.com), The Life Center (thelifecentertx.org), Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center (midlandchildrens.org), Circle H Haven (circlehhaven.com) or a charity of your choice.

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