I was born the last of five siblings, in Houston, Texas in 1932, in the depth of the Great Depression. My father had become a successful building contractor whose early credits had included working on the Panama Canal. Like many others, he lost everything he had gained and accumulated in the Crash of ‘29. On the upswing, he was a construction foreman on the Tower of an institution I later learned to call “t.u.”, completed in 1939. His fortitude and resilience in the face of loss carried us through the Depression, and taught me a life lesson that would serve well anyone interested in the boom and bust business of oil – a lesson which I have since relearned a time or two for myself.

I wish I could say that it was my being among all those Houston Oil Men that led me to choose Geology as my life’s work, but that was not quite the case. My closest association with oil growing up occurred on D-Day, 1944, when a friend and I spent the day walking down a pipeline through a swamp in Old Ocean Field, carrying our fishing rods. The only “oil people” I knew were refinery workers and machinists at Hughes Tool and Reed Roller Bit, though I was familiar with the sight of the many wooden oil derricks with their gas flares lighting up the area around South Houston and Friendswood Fields. Growing up in swampy Houston, I can hardly even claim to have seen a hard rock in its native setting in my childhood.

I learned an appreciation for formal education both from my father, whose own formal education only reached the 6th grade, and on the job at a paint manufacturing company, one of whose employees had an Engineering degree and was the most financially successful man I had yet encountered. In 1950 I was 17 graduating from Houston Milby High School and planning to follow my sisters to Rice Institute to major in Pre-Med or Engineering, when I had this realization that if I went to Rice I’d have to live at home. With that thought, I immediately made arrangements to enter The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). My exposure to various fields of study had been limited, but I enjoyed science and especially biology, and was at ease with math, so I decided to major in Basic Engineering.

Now that we were at A&M, my roommate Leon Gerlich (who was a close boyhood friend) was also an engineering major. We talked continuously about what we really wanted to study and become. His uncle who was a “landman” (whatever that was) suggested that we might consider majoring in Geology.

After studying the catalogs and nosing around I discovered that A&M offered a degree in Geological Engineering. I could change majors and not lose any credits, and as a bonus (to my way of thinking) my course load by necessity would be filled up with Petroleum and other Engineering courses and I would not have to take a lot of liberal arts courses. So that is what I chose.

The first practicing Geologist I was privileged to hear was Michael Halbouty, who addressed the A&M Geology Club that Fall. He was a dynamic Geologist, a successful oil man, and a great motivator, and in later years a personal friend. Mr. Halbouty conveyed an exuberance and satisfaction about his profession that reached and resonated within me. After his speech I knew what I would do with my own life and career.

Photo—Win Sexton and his college roommate Leon Gerlich

Geologist—Win Sexton