Jack Hamilton Tarver

JACK HAMILTON TARVER died Sunday, August 29, 2004, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 87. He was born in Sour Lake, Texas, on January 2, 1917, to Albert Hamilton and Minnie Ora Peeler Tarver. He was the youngest of three living children form this union. Mrs. Tarver passed away suddenly in the 1919 Spanish Influenza epidemic. His father remarried and had two more children. Mr. Albert Tarver was a remarkable man, deeply involved at the beginning of the great oil boom of Texas, the famous Spindletop Discovery in 1902. Mr. Tarver founded Tarver Drilling Company in Shreveport, Louisiana, and passed it to his two sons, Ned and Jack. He was instrumental in the construction of two churches in Shreveport, an active member of the Rotarians, Shriners, and Masonic organizations. Jack attended New Mexico Military Academy in Roswell from 1930-1934 (General Patton, then a Major, once reviewed his class) and Texas A&M College in College Station, Texas, from 1934-1938, earning a degree in Petroleum Engineering. Upon college graduation, he went to work for Pure Oil from 1938-1940 as a geologist. He was deferred from military duty during World War II because of his occupation. In 1940, he began working for Phillips 66 Petroleum as a geologist, retiring in 1982. While at college, he met Marian Berle Lucas of Plainview, Texas, who was attending Texas A&M's sister school, Texas Women's College. After her graduation in 1940, they married and moved to the Texas Panhandle area. They had three children, Michelle, John, and Roger, before divorcing in 1957. Jack met his second wife, Annie Marshall Tardy, of Helena, Arkansas, in 1968 while working for Phillips 66 Petroleum in Lafayette, Louisiana. As a young man, he was greatly involved in Scouting, being a Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Explorer Scout, and Sea Scout and Troop Leader. Jack achieved Eagle Rank, was inducted into the Order of the Arrow and served as a Boy Scout Commissioner in the Llano Estacado District. After graduating from college, he participated in the Aggie Petroleum Engineering Society (APES) and was an active member of the Texas A&M Association of Former Students. After retiring to Humble, a suburb of Houston, Texas, he: continued his participation in APES, became board member in the establishment and opening of the Harris County Public Library, Atascocita Branch, together with his wife, joined and attended the Atascocita United Methodist Church, together with his wife, joined and attended Atascocita-area Republican associations, together with his wife, played golf and bridge regularly with their friends, and together with his wife, extended hospitality to most who came to their door. Survivors include his wife of 36 years, Annie; three children, Michelle Baldwin, of Lewisville, Texas, John S. Tarver, of Humble, Texas, and Roger L. Tarver, of Lakeside, California; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and one sister, Alice Cox, of Houston, Texas. There will be a viewing held at Rosewood Funeral Home in Humble, Texas, on Wednesday, September 1, 2004, at 6:00 p.m. The funeral service will be held at the same location on Thursday, September 2, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. His interment will be following the service at the family plot located in Magnolia Cemetery, Beaumont, Texas.