John Bob Herell was born January 17th, 1924 in Healdton, Oklahoma to Alice Fariss and John Wesley Herell his family moved to Illinois in 1939 and he attended high school there. After graduating high school, he joined the U.S. Navy, serving 26 months in the South Pacific during WWII. After his service in WWII, he attended Southern Illinois University and played varsity baseball. He married Virginia Pizzuto in Murphysboro, Illinois on December 5, 1947. She preceded him in death in 2008. Bob started his early oilfield career working on drilling rigs in Texas and Oklahoma while playing professional baseball during the summer. When he moved to West Texas in 1948, he went to work for The Pure Oil Company in their Andrews warehouse. He was promoted to District Materials Supervisor in 1954 in the Midland District Office. In 1960, he joined the Pure Corporate Office in Houston and was in charge of procuring casing and tubing for both offshore and onshore wells. He also supervised the construction of all of the offshore drilling platforms for Pure Oil. He moved back to Midland in 1966 when Pure merged with Unocal and was the Purchasing Agent for the western district of the United States. He resigned from Unocal and formed Bob Herell Inc. in 1974 specializing in pipe sales for Ultra Deep Oil Wells. In addition to supplying pipe to the West Texas oil industry, he did extensive business in Oklahoma, Mexico, California, Illinois, Colorado, Wyoming and Michigan. He also did business on the Gulf Coast both on and offshore and in many foreign countries including Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Lagos and Niger River Delta in Africa.Bob was the pioneer in the computerized pipe threading process as well as pipe inspection and repair. Bob had two ranches in New Mexico that covered 151 square miles that were his pride and joy. Bob retired and sold his business in 1995. Bob was an avid golfer. It was his passion away from work. He was President of Ranchland Hills Country Club in 1974 and also a member of Midland Country Club. Bob was President of the Permian Basin chapter of The American Petroleum Institute in 1973.He was a member of First Baptist Church in Midland, Texas.He is survived by his two daughters; Janice Kay Thompson and husband Steve and Dana Lee Kiser and her husband Steve. He is also survived by grandchildren John Martin Thompson and his wife Kara, Kelly Elizabeth Thompson-Avila and her husband Erick, Matthew Ryan Kiser and his wife Danielle, Katie Michelle Showalter and her husband Jesse. His great grandchildren are Emily Kay Thompson, Sage Avery Thompson, Nolan Lee Showalter, Ruby Quinn Kiser, Poppy Jane Violet Kiser, plus one on the way.He is preceded in death by sister Sue Drennan, brother Ted Herell and sister Pat Horn. The family would like to express their gratitude for Bob’s caregivers, compassionate friends and family, especially Michael “Rooster” McConaughey. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Aphasia Center of West Texas or Hospice of Midland, Texas.Memorial services will be held at 3:00 pm, Saturday, March 18, 2017 at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Chapel.If you would like to watch Bob's memorial video, please click Tribute Video below.,
