Obituary of James F. "Jake" Justiss, Sr., LaSalle Parish, Louisiana Copied and Submitted by :Kathy LeMay Kelly, P.O. Box 219, Trout, La. 71371 From The Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal; Micro Film at the LaSalle Parish Library, Located in Jena, LaSalle Parish, La. Wednesday, September 3, 1980 Many Thanks to The Times - Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Jake Justiss Death Claimed Veteran Oilman James F. Justiss, Sr., founder of one of the south's major drilling an oil producing companies, died quietly at LaSalle General hospital on Tuesday, August 26, 1980. Death came at about 4:00 p.m. following an extended illness. "Mr. Jake" as he was more often called, was 83. He had devoted sixty years to oil production in the south. Services were held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday at the Nolley Memorial United Methodist Church of Jena with Revs. Jerome Cain, James Adams and Jay Rogers, officiating. Burial followed in the Nolley Memorial cemetery under direction of Kinner and Stevens Inc. of Jena. Justiss was member of Eddy Justiss memorial United Methodist Church in Trout, the Jena Kiwanis Club, a 32nd degree mason and shriner. Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Wilma Morphis Justiss of Jena; a daughter, Mrs. Paula Maddox of Baton Rouge; a son, James F. Justiss Jr. of Jena; three sisters, Mrs. Iris Stone and Mrs. Mary Morgan, both of El Dorado, Ark. And Mrs. Hortense Wheeler of Colonial Heights, Va. And five grandchildren. Pallbearers were Gene Farley, K. C. Nichols, Robert Loe, J. D. McLawchin, Tom Hunt and Dr. I. C. Turnley, Jr. Honorary pallbearers were Bruce Ganey, R. L. Paul, Robert Breithaupt, C. W. Breithaupt , Cleo Nichols, A. W. Phillips, Robert wood, T. L. Rambin, Norman Welch, Gary Ewing, Russell Metchette, B. L. Walker, Jim cox, Jamey Walker, Steve Crooks, David Sistrunk, Stan Nichols, Keith Tarver, Ray Thompson, Lonnie Lutrick, Joe Paul Steven, Joe Walsh, Tommy Musclewhite, A. G. Cockerham, H. C. Harrison, H. W. Allbritton, Charles Williams, Bob Nolan, W. F. Dalton, L. P. Dobbs Sr., J. C. Duke, Merle Thompson, Charlie Glasscock, Chesley Pruitt, Dick Bradford, Clay Crooks, and Curt Kinards. BEGAN OIL BUSINESS IN ‘20S Oil contributes as much, if not more, to the LaSalle Parish economy than any other industry and James F. ‘Jake' Justiss could be called the "father of oilmen of the parish". He started in the oil industry in December, 1920, as a teaming contractor in El dorado, Ark. That was in the days of the horse, ox and mule and as Justiss recalled in a story printed in the bi-centennial edition of the Times-Signal, "The team would be so long that on a crooked road, you couldn't see the other end". In 1927, he sold his business and started to work for H. L. Hunt as a roustabout in Tullos. After about three months, he moved to Hunt's oil treating department and shortly moved again to a job in charge of production workover and equipment supervision of a well lease. After six months, the production superintendent moved to Arkansas and Justiss was put in charge of the Tullos-Urania district for Hunt Oil Company. In 1928, at the death of the superintendent, Justiss was named general superintendent for Hunt and moved to East Texas and later in 1930, to North Louisiana, where he was in charge of operations there. He remained there until 1937 when he moved to Minden to develop drilling in the Cotton Valley field in Webster Parish. On Christmas eve in 1939, Justiss moved to Olla where a dep well had blown out. The well, Hunt's Good Pine No. 1, brought in the Olla field. Justiss never moved from LaSalle Parish again. On May 1, 1946, He and Carroll G. Mears combined forces to form the Justiss- Mears partnership. Justiss called on his long experience in the oil field with the legendary H. L. Hunt, and Mear's used his expertise in financing. Justiss remained active in the business until just a few years ago, although active management was vested mostly in James Justiss Jr. in his role as president, for the past decade. Justiss-Mears was split into two corporations, a drilling company and an oil company in 1950. Two years later it was reorganized into its present structure and name. In his passing, the world lost a champion oil driller. Justiss estimated drilling over 12,000 wells in his career and he brought in discovery wells in about 20 fields, including the first producer in Alabama in the Gilbert Town field, the Chapel Hill field in East Texas, the Nebo, Olla, Little Creek, and West Catahoula Lake fields in LaSalle Parish. No mistake, "Mr. Jake was a legend in his own time."