Donald Earl Jones, Sr.

Donald E. Jones, Sr. was born in Drumright, Oklahoma, born into a family deeply involved in the oil industry.  His grandpa, Asa Wellington Jones, had built wooden derricks for the industry in Pennsylvania and then followed the industry to the boom in Oklahoma.  Don’s dad, John Earl Jones, was a driller for Carter Oil Company for many years who worked to develop the Prairie Creek field.

 In 1937, when Don Sr. was 14 years old, the family moved to Prairie Creek, Indiana, near Terre Haute.  Only three years later, he enlisted in the Army, and served his country in WWII.  When his four years of service were up, he left the Army to become a pumper for Illinois Mid-Continent out of Mt. Carmel, Illinois.  Don Jones, Sr. remained true to family tradition by working in the oil fields of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Michigan.

 In 1946, he married Vanetta Knight and they had seven children.  While his boys were growing up, they spent time with him going to the rigs.  Usually, that was the only way they would be able to see him, since most days he would start at 6:00 in the morning and sometimes not come back until midnight – that is if he didn’t stay the night at the rig.

Don Sr. is truly an explorer at heart, with a deep-rooted passion for hunting Silurian Reefs.  He started a tank truck business in 1956 and soon started drilling his own wells.  He had no formal training, but he spent a lot of time researching prospects at the state survey.  His filing cabinets were nothing sophisticated; they consisted of the top of his dashboard and behind the truck seats. 

His long hours and hard work did pay off.  Along with his investors, he discovered several oilfields, including the Cory North field, the Bowling Green West field in 1972, the Bowling Green South field in 1976, the Clay City North field in 1978, and the Ashboro field in 1980.  Following his years as an explorer, he continued to pump wells for Hux Oil Corp. from daylight until dark until he could no longer work.

Don Sr. definitely knows how to make an impression.  Everyone that knows him will probably be able to recollect one of his quotes.  Some had to do with his life in the business, like how he has found out that “every reef’s got a coal high, but not every coal high’s got a reef.”  But most quotes were funny quotes about life, like “use your head for something besides a hat rack.” 

We’d tell you more, but we wanted to keep this PG-13.