Memorial to Sherman Alexander Wengerd1915-1995

DON ALD L. EVERHA RTGrand Junction, Colorado

Sherman Alexander Wengerd was born on February 17,1915, in Berlin, Ohio, o f German-Swiss Mennonite ances­try, and died on January 28, 1995, in Albuquerque, New M exico. D uring his nearly 80-year life span he distin­guished himself as an outstanding and influential individ­ual, petroleum geologist, and educator.

Sherm an (known to his friends and colleagues as Sherm) attended the College of Wooster, near his north­eastern Ohio hometown, where he received an A.B. degree in geology in 1936. He then went on to Harvard University, where he received an M.A. degree in 1938, was an Austin teaching fellow, assisting Kirtley F. Mather, from 1938 to 1940, and received a Ph.D. degree in 1947. In June 1940 he married Florence, the eldest daughter o f Kirtley and Marie Mather. Upon receiving his Harvard master’s degree in 1938, Sherm worked for the Shell Oil Company in the M idcontinent area o f the United States, and then was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1942. He served in the Arctic and Pacific arenas, left active duty as a lieutenant commander in 1945, and retired in 1966 as a com­manding officer in the Naval Research Reserve, with the rank of captain.

Sherman Wengerd’s long and meritorious career as an educator in the field o f geology began with his appointment in 1947 as assistant professor of geology at the University o f New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, which remained home base for Sherm and his family for more than 47 years until his death. He retired as professor of geology in 1976, but returned in 1982 as distinguished professor of petroleum geology. Sherm's title in the later years o f his career was Professor Emeritus of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of New Mexico. His lead­ership in the department at UNM was prodigious. As noted by his colleague, Wolfgang E. Elston, “His courses introduced sedimentology, photogeology, petroleum geology, stratigraphie analysis, and hydrogeology into the curriculum, and trained and inspired generations o f students for careers in the petroleum industry, academia, and government service.” Sherm Wengerd's publications list includes more than 140 titles, covering such diverse topics as petroleum geology, sedimentology, stratigraphy, photogrammetry, geomorphology, and timely issues in the geologic profession. He also contributed more than 250 articles to regional guidebooks, national bulletins, AAPG and AIPG newsletters, memorials, and chapters in reference books and ency­clopedias. He supervised 30 master’s theses and Ph.D. dissertations and was so highly regarded by his students and protégés that a special symposium was held in his honor at UNM in 1990.

Sherm Wengerd was exceptionally active, and assumed leadership roles, in a very long and impressive list of professional organizations. His greatest involvement was with the American Association o f Petroleum Geologists, which he joined in 1942 and of which he subsequently becam e ed ito r (1 957 -1959 ), p residen t (1971 -1972 ), chairm an o f the advisory council (1972-1973), a council member (1972-1975), and winner of the Sydney Powers Gold Medal (AAPG's highest award) in 1992. Wengerd became a Fellow o f the Geological Society of Amer­ica in 1953 and was a charter member o f the American Institute o f Professional Geologists

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(AIPG), a founder of the Four Comers Geological Society, and a member of more than 20 other professional societies, associations, and clubs.

In addition to his outstanding academic and educational achievements, Sherm Wengerd was a very astute and successful businessman in the petroleum exploration and production field. He was a director of the Thompson International Corporation, a member of the Advisory Board of Energy Equities, Inc., a director of Public Lands Exploration Inc., executive vice president of Paisano Oil Co., vice president of Oil Recovery Corp., exploration manager of Federal Oil Shale Inc., and a director and part owner of the Capitan Oil and Gas Co.

Sherm, with his wife Florence, was a world traveler. He spent a summer in Angola for Petrofina Oil Company and in connection with that work spent much of another summer in Portugal and Spain. After he retired, he and Florence visited nearly 100 countries, and they went to Frobisher Bay (Baffin Island), where in 1943 Sherm had been on board the Effie M. Morrisey, a ship owned and piloted by Captain Robert (“Captain Bob”) Bartlett of Arctic exploration fame. Sherm was also an enthusiastic skin diver and airplane pilot, and enjoyed photography, sailing, oceanography, carpentry, and investment finance.

The foregoing condensed and incomplete summary of Sherm Wengerd's professional accomplishments and wide interests clearly reflects the strong character and personality of the man. Stocky in build, he exuded unbounded energy and enthusiasm in everything that he under­took, and he had a wide variety of intense interests other than geology. His family, friends, and colleagues will not forget his sparkling blue eyes, neatly trimmed mustache, infectious chuckle, great sense of humor, and an invariably positive outlook on life. Sherm's high ethical standards were one of his hallmarks, and in keeping with his loyal membership in the Congregational Church (United Church of Christ) he exhibited impeccable morals. He was a loving and caring husband and father, always proud and supportive of his wife Florence in her musical and other cultural activities, and of his four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, in all of their widespread undertakings and activities.

Sherm Wengerd had the soul of a poet. His good friend Don Zieglar, in his comments at the Service of Thanksgiving in Memory of Sherman Wengerd, recalled that when Sherm was awarded the AAPG’s Sidney Powers Award, he acknowledged his peers and colleagues and friends and then said, “I have stood on the shoulders of giants who have allowed me to see far distant horizons and to them I am most grateful.” Don Zieglar accurately noted that he and many others had stood on Sherm's giant shoulders and had thereby been privileged to see far distant horizons as well. Florence has commented, “When we married he (Sherm) gave me a locket in which is engraved the first two lines of a Robert Browning poem:

Grow old along with me!The best is yet to be.”

And, said Florence, “So it was!”One of Sherm Wengerd's greatest joys in life was spirited debate, on almost any subject.

And perhaps his most favorite sparring partner in this respect was his beloved and much- admired late father-in-law, Kirtley Fletcher Mather, the distinguished geologist, scientist- scholar, author, and social activist. Sherm's inborn conservative tendencies and Kirtley's liberal outlook resulted in memorable conversations and dialogue that provided important insights and contributed tremendously to the lives of those around them.

Geologists, educators, and progressive, creative human beings throughout the world have benefited immeasurably from the life and influence of Sherman Alexander Wengerd. He is much missed by those whose lives he touched.

MEMORIAL TO SHERMAN A. WENGERD 71

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF S. A. WENGERD1947 (with Smith, N. C.) Photogeology aids naval petroleum exploration: American

Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 31, p. 824-828.1948 Lithologie variations of the Viola Limestone of the Arbuckle geosyncline [abs.]:

American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Annual Meeting Program (also in Oil & Gas Journal, v. 46, p. 121).

------ Femvale and Viola limestones of south-central Oklahoma: American Association ofPetroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 32, p. 2183-2253.

1950 Triassic rocks of northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado: New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Guidebook 1, p. 67-75.

1951 Reefing limestones of the Hermosa formation, San Juan County, Utah [abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 35, p. 1107-1108 (also in Oil & Gas Journal, v. 49, p. 115-116).

------ Reef limestones of the Hermosa formation, San Juan County, Utah: American Associationof Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 35, p. 1038-1051.

1952 (and Gill, J. J.) Geology of the Chromo Oil Field, Archuleta County, Colorado, in Geolog­ical symposium on the Four Comers region, Four Comers Geological Society, p. 107-112.

1953 Pre-Triassic stratigraphy of the Four Comers region [abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 37, p. 2611-2612.

1954 (and Strickland, J. W.) Pennsylvanian stratigraphy of the Paradox salt basin, Four Comers region, Colorado and Utah: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin,v. 38, p. 2157-2199.

1956 Sealing factors for nonstructural Paleozoic oil in the Paradox Basin of the Four Comers region [abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Annual Meeting Program, Chicago, p. 26-27 (also in Oil & Gas Journal, v. 54, p. 139).

1958 Pennsylvanian stratigraphy, southwest shelf, Paradox basin: Intermountain Association of Petroleum Geologists Guidebook to the Geology of the Paradox Basin, 9th Field Conference, p. 109-134.

------ (and Matheny, M. L.) Pennsylvanian system of the Four Comers region: AmericanAssociation of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 42, p. 2048-2106.

1959 Pennsylvanian paleogeology and the search for oil in the Lucero basin, central New Mexico [abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 43, p. 1108 (also in Oil & Gas Journal, v. 57, p. 211-212).

------ Stratigraphie controls on Pennsylvanian oil of the Paradox basin, Four Comers region[abs.]: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 43, p. 1778.

1960 Definition of bioherm, biostrome, stromatolite: in Encyclopedia of Science and Technol­ogy: New York, McGraw-Hill p. 190-191,207,245 (also in the 2nd and 3rd editions, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Geological Sciences, 1978, p. 54,61, 803).

1962 Wildcat oil in southwest New Mexico: World Oil, v. 155, p. 51-58.------ Pennsylvanian sedimentation in the Paradox Basin, Four Comers region, in Branson,

C. C., ed., Pennsylvanian System in the United States: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Symposium, p. 264-330.

1963 (with Mather, K. F.) Pleistocene age of the “Eocene” Ridgeway till, Colorado: Geological Society of America Abstracts for 1962, p. 203.

1964 (and Mather, K. F.) Sedimentary history of the Ridgeway till and superjacent strata,San Juan Mountains, Colorado [abs.]: Geological Society of America Special Paper 76, p. 296.

1965 Salt tectonics of the Cuanza Basin, Angola, Portuguese West Africa |abs.|: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 49, p. 336.

1971 Chronostratigraphic analysis and the time surface: Socicdad Geolôgica Mexicana Boletin, v. 32, p. 1-13.

1975 (with Szabo, E.) Stratigraphy and tectogenesis of the Paradox basin: Four Corners Geological Society Field Conference Guidebook 8, p. 193-210.

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