Kenneth W. Davis Jr.

1925 - 2017

Kenneth W. Davis Jr. passed away Thursday, March 16, 2017, due to heart complications. A private service was held for the family. Entombment was in the family Mausoleum at Greenwood. Ken was born July 14, 1925, in Orange, Texas, to Kenneth W. Davis Sr. and Alice May Bound. At 18, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served an active tour of duty in Italy during World War II as a rifleman in the 34th Infantry Division. He participated in the North Apennines and Po Valley Campaigns, earning the Combat Infantryman Badge. After returning home to the U.S. from occupation duty in 1946, Ken left the army to continue college, graduating from Texas A&M in May 1949 with an engineering degree. His first job after graduating from college was with Mid-Continent Supply as a salesman and warehouse man in 1950. In May 1950 he moved to Lubbock as the Executive Vice- President of Livermore Inc., where his three children were born between 1951 and 1953. In 1954, Ken moved to Tulsa as the Vice-President of Exploration for Loffland Brothers. In 1957, he became President of Loffland and then in 1958, Board Chairman. In 1959, Ken became President of KIII, which grew into one of the largest privately-held conglomerates in the United States, with 85 companies under his management. Under his leadership, Loffland Brothers became the world's largest drilling contractor with many pioneering accomplishments, including: In 1957, the discovery well in the Zelton oilfield in Libya; 1958, largest contract ever awarded to a drilling contractor; 1964, drilled for geothermal energy in Southern California; 1965, built the world's first jack-up rig capable of operating in water depths of 300 feet and drilled the first well from a fixed platform off the coast of England; 1967, drilled at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and drilled wells in Nigeria during the Nigerian Civil War; 1969, drilled a world record 4,000-foot deep, 10-foot diameter nuclear test shaft in Nevada; 1972, drilled the world's deepest well (30,050 feet) in Oklahoma; April 1974, set a new record in Oklahoma with a well to 31,441 feet, at which time they were forced to stop drilling when they encountered brimstone, or as he said, "they had reached Hell." In 1975, Hay Associates ranked Loffland Brothers superior in its internal management compared to over 130 other large, prestigious companies. "Management by Objectives," introduced by Ken, was considered a major contributor to Loffland's results. In 1981, Ken moved back to Fort Worth where the company's headquarters is located, and where he met his wife Alinda in 1979. In his later years he was committed to the ongoing stewardship of his remaining companies, including Great Western Drilling Company, and he worked seven days a week until the time of his death. Ken was dedicated to his family and was a conservative Republican who loved the country that gave him the freedom to live his life as he chose. Ken Davis is preceded in death by his parents, Alice Mae and Kenneth W. Davis Sr.; his son, Alan Tucker Davis; his daughter, Kay Davis. Survivors: Wife, Alinda of Fort Worth; daughter, Alana and husband, Kevin Marsh, of Tennessee; three grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; brothers, T. Cullen Davis and William S. Davis of Fort Worth.