Allan W. "Skip" Dees

Allan W. (Skip) Dees passed away May 12, 2009 at his Midland residence.

He was born June 23, 1942 in Dallas, Texas, grew up in Kaufman, Texas, and graduated from Kaufman High School in 1960. He earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in January, 1965.

After graduation, Skip joined Texaco as a petroleum engineer in South Texas and worked in various petroleum engineering and engineering management positions in South Texas, Southeast Texas, and Trinidad, West Indies. He became a Registered Petroleum Engineer in Texas in 1974. In 1981, he organized Texaco's Houston Division Regulatory Compliance Department. He was transferred to Midland in 1984 as Regulatory Compliance Manager (and later Environmental, Health, and Safety Manager) for Texas and New Mexico.

Skip was named Texaco Regulatory Affairs Manager in 1994, with responsibilities primarily for Texas regulatory and legislative matters. He served on Texas Oil and Gas Association's (TxOGA's) Production Environmental Committee from 1984 and was its Chairman from 1987 until his retirement from Texaco in November, 2002. During the same period, he was also an active member of TxOGA's Regulatory Practices Committee. He was the first recipient, in 1995, of Texas Oil and Gas Association's Exemplary Service Award. Since retiring from Texaco, he has continued full-time support of these and other TxOGA committees as a Regulatory Affairs Consultant on contract to TxOGA.

Skip served as an Elder of First Presbyterian Church in Liberty, Texas. He served as Deacon and Elder of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Midland, and continued to participate in church committee work when not an elected church officer. He taught adult Sunday School classes in Liberty, and has been a children's Sunday School teacher in Midland since the late 1980's.

He served the Boy Scouts of America for eight years while in Liberty, Texas, as a Cub Scout Pack Committee Secretary and Den Leader and as Assistant Scoutmaster and Scoutmaster. Some of his fondest memories were of the three trips he was able to make to Philmont Scout Ranch as a Scout Leader and of seeing his oldest son earn the rank of Eagle Scout.

Skip was a member and affiliated Past Master of Midland Masonic Lodge No. 623. He was a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Lubbock Consistory. He was particularly active in the various organizations that compose the York Rite of Masonry. In addition to being a past presiding officer of all four of the major York Rite Bodies and an officer in several other York Rite honorary organizations, he had held several appointive and elective offices on the statewide level. As a local representative of the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, he assisted applicants for financial assistance with eye surgery to obtain that assistance since 1993, and he served for several years on a Knights Templar Educational Foundation state committee to review scholarship and educational loan applications. In recognition of his service to Masonry and his community, he was awarded the Knight Templar Cross of Honor in 2003 and the Knight Commander of Temple in 2006 by the Grand Encampment of the United States of America. He was also awarded the Golden Keystone A ward in 2005 by the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons of Texas.

He was preceded in death by his mother, Sadie Sampsell Dees.

Survivors include his wife of 42 years - Billie June Kellar Dees; three children - Randy Dees of Midland, Katherine Short of Corpus Christi, Tx, and Douglas Dees of Burkeville, Tx; six grandchildren; his father - Allen D. Dees of Kaufman and Brownsville; and two sisters - Marilyn Denisco of Columbus, OH and Linda Roy of Shreveport, LA.

A memorial service has been scheduled for Saturday May 16, 2009 at 2 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Midland, with Dr. Tom Lobaugh officiating. The family requests that memorials be made to Trinity Presbyterian Church or to the Knights Templar Eye Foundation, 5097 North Elston Avenue, Suite 100, Chicago, IL 60630.