Charles Edwin "Chuck" Jacobs

1922 - 2015

Chuck Jacobs, former longtime resident of Albany, Texas, and most recently a resident of Fort Worth, passed from this life on Thursday, March 12, 2015. Visitation: 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Thompson, Harveson & Cole Funeral Home. Memorial service: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas. Interment: Private in Albany Cemetery in Albany. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, contributions may be given to the Old Jail Art Center, 201 S. 2nd St., Albany, Texas 76430; or to the Charles E. Jacobs Foundation, P.O. Box 2770, Albany, Texas 76430. Charles Edwin Jacobs was born Dec. 19, 1922, in Mangum, Okla., to Alva E. and Ruby W. Jacobs. The family moved to Lamesa in the late 1920s where his father operated an independent cotton gin. Upon graduation from Lamesa High School, Chuck attended Texas Tech University for a short time before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin where he graduated with a BBA degree in August 1943. Upon graduation, he entered the United States Navy where he received his wings as a naval aviator and spent the remainder of World War II as a naval aviator instructor. After the war, Chuck married Marilynne Howsley of Albany, and moved to the Albany area where he gained his first experience in the oil field working for Lester Clark of Breckenridge. He and his father-in-law then spent about a decade acquiring leases and drilling their own wildcats in a broad area of West Central and West Texas. Among their successes was the Glen Cove Field in Coleman County, where they drilled 40 consecutive flowing oil wells and built a gas plant capable of providing enough fuel to light the entire county. Prior to the death of his father-in-law in 1963, Chuck started his own oil and gas exploration company, concentrating his efforts on the large ranches in the northwestern part of Shackelford County. As an independent oil man, wildcatter and investor, Chuck participated in drilling more than 1,000 wells in a career spanning more than half a century, with oil and gas ventures in more than a dozen states in the U.S. and several foreign countries. He first employed the services of Abilene geologist, Bill Burton, in the late 1950s, and then hired petroleum engineer, Glenn Picquet, in 1975, as a team building successful operations through the drill bit on the Lambshead, Nail, and Hendrick ranches. Along the way, Chuck served as a member of, and in positions of leadership for, numerous oil and gas trade organizations including many years with Texas Midcontinent Oil and Gas Association, West Central Texas Oil and Gas Association, Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners, and Independent Petroleum Association of America. While oil and gas was his passion, he also was involved in banking, real estate, and the stock market. Chuck was a major stockholder and a longtime director of First National Bank Albany/Breckenridge. He also was a community volunteer, serving or leading many of the civic organizations in Albany, including president of the Albany ISD School Board, and representing Albany for many years on the board of the West Central Texas Municipal Water District. Chuck was also a steady benefactor of Albany projects, working quietly behind the scenes with others, to keep Albany special - among them: Fort Griffin Fandangle, Albany Golf Club, The Old Jail Art Center, and Albany schools and churches. His effors and financial support were often instrumental to the successful completion of projects without the general public's knowledge; and the Foundation he leaves behind will benefit Albany for decades. Over the years, he was a longtime member of First United Methodist Church as well as Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church, both in Albany. Chuck was a former member of the Board of Directors of McMurray College. He loved his friends, his country and his freedom, along with aviation, golf, quail hunting and travel. An avid and accomplished golfer, he made numerous trips abroad representing the United States as an ambassador of good will in Eisenhower's People-to-People program. But Chuck will be remembered most as a successful oil man with conservative values and a commitment to his community. The family gives special thanks to caregivers Alex, Daniel and Randy, in addition to the James L. West Center in Fort Worth. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Earl W.; and sister, Carol. Survivors: His wife, Marcia Brewer Jacobs; his daughter, Lynne Teinert and husband, Clifford, of Albany; grandson, Andrew Woodward and wife, Melinda, of Dallas; granddaughters, Ginny Ivy and husband, Paul, and Sara Birkla and husband, Matt, both of Albany; five great-grandchildren; nieces, Cay Meadows and French Anne Young; nephew, Kenneth Charles Pruitt; stepson, Marc Deen dePlante and wife, Brandy, and their son, Jacob Deen dePlante.