"We pay our respects tonight to one of our Dearest Friends, one of our true industry leaders and to the very first president of the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association---Paul Stock.

Paul Stock was born into an oil family at Florence, CO in 1894. His great grandfather had been an associate of Colonel Drake and had helped drill the third oil well in this country. His father, Hugh Edward Stock, was a pioneer driller and oilman too, and his search for crude brought him to Casper in 1909 and shortly thereafter he was credited with bringing in the first well in the FAMED SALT CREEK FIELD.

Paul started his oilfield career at the age of 15 as a roughneck for his father and he learned the business from tool dresser to driller, and finally to independent operator.

Paul Stock has been active in drilling and leasing in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, California, Montana, Wyoming, Cuba, and Mexico. He served as President of the Uinta Gas Co. in 1930; President of the Stock Oil Company in 1932; and President of the Yale Petroleum Co. in 1934. The latter company merged with the *Texas Company in 1944. *Note: I believe that's "Texaco".

During World War I, Paul served with Company "C" of the 13th Ammunition Train and, in World War II he was a member of the Production Committee of District 4, Petroleum Administration for War.

He has held Directorships in the American Petroleum Institute, has been a member of the IPAA, and, as mentioned earlier, a member and past President of the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association. And just to prove he's never too busy to pay attention to his civic duties, I should mention that he served three terms as Mayor of his home town, Cody, Wyoming.

To recite his honorariums would take an inordinate amount of time, but evidence of the respect the public has for him is shown by the fact that Paul Stock was chosen 'The Grand Old Man of Production' at the 15th International Petroleum Exposition in Tulsa, Oklahoma and in 1967 was selected 'Wyoming's Oil Man of the Year'.

His good works among his fellowmen are legendary. He has contributed generously to worthy Nursing Homes: He helped build the Buffalo Bill Boy Scout Camp near his home: He sponsored the Rotary Club War Memorial in Cody; He has serve on the Board of the W.R. Coe Memorial Hospital for many years; He has made sizeable financial contributions to the Gottsche Rehabilitation Center, a Medical Clinic for the crippled; And, he has generously endowed Churches building new places of Worship in Cody.

In 1967 Paul Stock acquired the land and buildings of the Buffalo Bill Museum for the City of Cody and an athletic field for the Cody Public Schools; in 1968 he built an olympic sized indoor swimming pool for the Cody schools and the general public; This year, he built a Surgical Wing for General Rose Memorial Hospital in Denver, and just recently he donated 160 acres of land to the Yellowstone Boys Ranch of Billings.

Paul Stock is not a pretentious man - he still gets a kick out of his operations in the oil business and obviously enjoys offering a helping hand to those less fortunate.

It is with the Greatest Pleasure that I Present Paul Stock with an Honorary Life Membership in the Rocky Mountain Oil and Gas Association."