I, Thaddeus “T.E.” Gill, Jr., a country boy at heart, passed away on February 19, 2016. My family will receive friends from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Monday, February 22, 2016 at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home of Midland. A private family graveside service was held for me at Resthaven Memorial Park. I was born on June 12, 1930 as the first living child to my parents, Thaddeus Gill, Sr. and Laura B. Herd Gill, in a two-room apartment over a private car garage in Wichita Falls, Texas, the first of nine children. Through the years we moved to Ma and Pa Gill’s farm in Henrietta, Texas, the Willow Springs community north of Henrietta, and Ft. Worth, Texas where my other siblings were born, John Richard, Bobby Wayne, Anita, David, Jerry, Mollie, Paul, and Jimmy. I attended school in a one-room schoolhouse in the Willow Springs community until it was consolidated into the Henrietta school system. I graduated from Henrietta High School in 1947. That fall I enrolled in Hardin Junior College in Wichita Falls which became a four-year college, Hardin College, and then was Midwestern University when I graduated in May 1951 with a BS in Chemistry with a Math minor. After time spent in the service, I attended the University of Texas in Austin where I received another BS degree, this time in Petroleum Engineering in 1956.After graduating from Midwestern University, I enlisted in the US Army in July 1951 in Abilene, Texas followed by Basic Training, a 12-week Leadership Course, and then a 26 week Officer Candidate School. I graduated from OCS and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in July 1952 and assigned to the 548th Field Artillery Battalion at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma where I served for two years before being assigned to the 64th Field Artillery Battalion, 25th Division on the 38th parallel in Korea. I was discharged in November 1953 in San Antonio, Texas but remained in the Active Reserve while in school in Austin and was promoted to rank of Captain before transferring to Inactive Reserve in 1959.After graduating from OCS in 1952, I met Martha Jane Smartt in Dallas. She was quickly captivated by my officer’s uniform and enticed me into marrying her on January 24, 1953 before I left for my duty station in Korea. While in Austin, Texas at UT, “Ginger,” was born, followed by Thomas and Richard in Sherman, Texas and finally “Greg” in Corpus Christi, Texas.After graduating from UT in January 1956, I began working as a Petroleum Engineer for Standard Oil Company of Texas which later merged into the Chevron Corporation retiring after 30 years. During my years with Standard and Chevron, we worked and lived in Sherman, Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, Gainesville, Texas, Maracaibo, Venezuela, Midland, Texas, Rangely, Colorado, and Denver, Colorado. After retiring I operated a personal consulting firm, Gill & Associates designing waterfloods and for seven years taught five-day seminars on “Operating and Monitoring Waterfloods, traveling and teaching in the U.S., Canada, Orman, Venezuela, Argentina and Peru.My parents and our son, Thomas, as well as my brother, Bobby Wayne and sister, Anita preceded me in death.I am survived by my wife of 63 years, Martha Jane Smartt Gill, daughter, Ginger Torsell, and sons Richard and Greg Gill. ,
