Obit.Tulsa,OK- HERNDON, Chesley C.
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Submitted by Chesley C. Herndon, Jr., <cramjac@aol.com>

Tulsa Daily World, Sunday, October 21, 1962

TOP SKELLY AIDE, OIL LEADER DIES
  Chesley C. Herndon, 76, the man who helped the late W. G. (Bill) Skelly set up his oil 
company in 1919, died in a Tulsa hospital Saturday.  Herndon, of 1120 Woodward Blvd., 
who retired from Skelly Oil Co. in 1956, had been chief counsel or executive vice 
president of the petroleum firm for more than 35 years.  Born at Clarksville, Tenn., 
in 1886, Herndon passed up his father's tobacco business to study law at Cumberland 
University in Tennessee.  He was admitted to the bar in 1909 and practiced law until 1919.
 Herndon was practicing law in Chickasha in 1913 when former President Woodrow Wilson 
appointed him assistant U. S. Marshal for eastern Oklahoma. Known as a conservative in 
dress, taste and habits, Herndon, though eloquent, did little public speaking. He came 
to Tulsa in 1914 as attorney for the C. J. Wrightsman Oil Company. While in Chickasha 
Herndon married Miss Ethel Alta Dunn, sister of Judge Jesse J. Dunn, chief justice of 
the Oklahoma Supreme Court at that time.  Miss Dunn was then head of the piano department 
of the Oklahoma College for Women and is now a regent of that college. Herndon was 
prosecuting attorney for Grady County in 1911-12, prior to the Wilson appointment  
that took him to Muskogee.  He was with Wrightsman until 1916, when he joined with 
Rush Greenslade and James B. Diggs to form the legal department of Gulf Oil Corp., 
or the Gypsy Division, in Tulsa.  Two years later he left Gulf to join Foster Oil 
as attorney and part owner, a connection he severed when he joined Skelly June 9, 1919       
          Skelly Aide 37 Years
During their 37-year association Skelly leaned on Herndon as his "right arm."  Herndon 
became Executive Vice President in 1945. Herndon, a former president of K. O. Division 
of Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association, was chairman of the Oklahoma State Wide 
Proration Committee for several years. Early in his Skelly Oil Co. association, 
Herndon was outspoken with his analyses on the ills of the oil industry.  Often 
his remarks were addressed to the need for conservation and for a balance between 
supply and demand "in order to avoid physical and economic waste." Many of his 
comments centered on a belief that a healthy oil industry was important to a 
healthy economy.
          Assailed Oil Taxes
"Taxes imposed  by the federal government and by the states on the petroleum industry 
and its products are unreasonably high.  It remains true that a beneficial thing which 
the federal and state governments could do for the petroleum industry would be to 
lighten the tax burden which is borne by the industry and its customers. "Another 
helpful thing would be a letup in the constant stream of questionnaires, reports, 
returns, investigations, inquisitions, hostile legislative moves...and threats of 
one kind and another...to which the industry and the people who compose it 
are subject. "This plague is becoming so persistent, so consuming of time and energy, 
so distracting, that it is difficult for a businessman to keep his mind upon his true 
function, which is to operate a sound and successful enterprise in the interest of 
stockholders, employees, customers and the public," he said.
          Saw Firm Grow
During Herndon's tenure with Skelly it grew from a $15 million concern to an integrated 
firm valued at approximately $350 million.
  Survivors include the widow and four children.  The children are 
Mrs. Villard Martin, Jr., 2731 E. 33rd St.; Mrs. Harvey Heller, 1776 E.31st St.; 
Thomas Herndon, 256 E. 27th St.; and Chesley C. Herndon, Jr., Midland, Texas